RUMFORD — A KVAC or MVC Alpine championship can’t be won on the first day, but it can be lost.

 

With that said, the Mt. Blue boys made successfully defending its KVAC championship a little bit easier, placing four skiers in the top eight and accumulating 19 points during Day 1 of the KVAC/MVC Alpine Championships at Black Mountain on Wednesday.

 

“We skied really well today,” Mt. Blue coach Mark Cyr said. “The kids skied smart. There were a couple places in the course that they had to back off, other places they could go a little firmer, a little faster. They skied really well. They picked and chose where they skied aggressively and where they had to back it off a little bit.”

 

Dylan Roberts shook off a couple near falls during both his runs to pace the Cougars with a second-place finish. He entered his second run in fifth place after completed his first run in 56.66 seconds. He crossed the finish line in 56.28 in his second run for a combined time of 1:52.94.

 

“The conditions were OK,” Roberts said. “They were a little powdery at first, but when a few people went on the course it kind of got icy again, which is what I like. I flipped a little bit, but ended with a good time. I felt the ice on my hip and I just knew I had to get back up. As I was sliding, I jammed my skies up and through myself up and kept skiing.

 

Kyle Farrington (1:53.65), Anthony Franchetti (1:58.19) and Miles Pelletier (1:59.03) rounded out Mt. Blue’s scoring with third-, sixth- and eighth-place finishes, respectively. 

 

Despite his near falls, Roberts was the lone Mt. Blue scorer to record a fast second run. The other three added at least another second on their final run.

 

“He had a bobble on his first run and a bobble on the second run in the same exact spot, but he didn’t lose a lot of time,” Cyr said. “He got back in. They have to be mentally tough, not just physically strong and fast. If they make a mistake they have to mentally be able to get back in the game,get back on track. There’s no one in a high school race that’s going to ski from the top to the bottom without some sort of slight mistake, which we call a bobble.”

 

Spruce Mountain’s Deven Pomeroy (1:55.12) and Oxford Hills’ Chris Burns (1:57.49) finished fourth and fifth, respectively. 

 

Mountain Valley was equally as dominant and will take a commanding lead into the second day of the MVC championships. The Falcons finished with four in the top five, including the top-three finishers and accumulated 11 points. Nick Newman posted the fastest time among MVC participants with a 1:52.38. Nate Legere (1:55.90) and Andrew Arsenault (1:56.47) finished right behind him.

 

Newman wasn’t the other Mountain Valley skier to finish with the fastest MVC time of Day 1. Sarah Klein not only finished with the best MVC time on the girls’ side, but had the fastest time of anyone on the day. Klein led after her first run of 52.91 and heightened her advantage after her second run of 54.00. Her final time of 1:46.91 was more than three seconds faster than Edward Little’s Brooke Lever.

 

It didn’t come without it’s fair share of bumps.

 

“First run I almost fell on the headwall second blue gate,” Klein said. “I came across and there was a cross rut from the guy’s run and my inside ski came up in the air and somehow I got it back on course. The second run I came down and I knew that rut was there. I kind of set myself up for it. The second-to-last blue gate, there was a rut right there and I was focusing on the finish line completely, so I almost messed that up.”

 

Lever’s time of 1:50.70 was best among KVAC participants. Lever edged Maranacook’s Erin Guilmet by 0.24. 

 

Klein said being in first place after Day 1 won’t change the way she races on Day 2 in the slalom.

 

“It’s two completely different races,” Klein said. “Slalom I’m just going to go into it with the same mindset I had today, focused on the turns, on the course itself. I have a pretty good mindset of making things fun for myself rather than get down if I do something wrong.”

 

Edward Little’s Maxx Bell’s day ended on a sour note after crashing on his second run and failing to finish. He entered the second run in first place after completing his first trip down the mountain in 54.21. Maranacook’s Sven Maurer, who was 12th after his first run, also crashed on his second run.

 

The final day of the KVAC/MVC Alpine Championships is Saturday at Titcomb Mountain.