RUMFORD — Every day after school, Izzy Gerencer makes the 45-minute drive from St. Dominic Academy to Maranacook to practice with the Black Bear Nordic skiing team. 

On Wednesday, that dedication paid off as the lone Saint skier in the Mountain Valley Conference finished in front of a pack of 33 in 19 minutes, 14.60 seconds on Day 1 of the KVAC/MVC Nordic Championships at Black Mountain. She beat out Telstar’s Carla Boyle-Wight by 52 seconds, the largest margin of victory for any skier on the day. 

“I’m not surprised by that,” Maranacook coach Steve DeAngelis said. “I fully expected her to win that race. She’s definitely the best skier in the MVC. It’s cool because she works hard. She has to drive all the way from school from St. Dom’s to Maranacook to ski every day. She gets there a little late and she skies into the darkness because she’s there late. She’s tough as nails. She deserves it.”

Much to DeAngelis’ dismay, Gerencer doesn’t factor into Maranacook’s scoring despite training with the team during the season. 

Gerencer led from start to finish, creating separation going down the first slope.  

“I just tried to get out ahead of everybody and then just keep my lead the whole time,” Gerencer said. 

Gerencer said she thought Boyle-Wight was right behind her coming down the final straightaway, but she didn’t come into frame until well after Gerencer had crossed the finish line. Boyle-Wight finished in 20:06.6. 

Telstar did have three finishers in the top six and leads the team competition with 25 points. Monmouth grabbed four spots in the top 10, finishing 6-10 and has 34 points.

Those that won the KVAC events battled more than just the course. Both Maranacook’s Ethan Harriman and Mt. Blue’s Julia Ramsey were fighting off illness coming into the race. 

Harriman said he’d been sick for a week coming into Wednesday, but that didn’t stop him from completing the race in 14:56.90, more than 10 seconds ahead of Leavitt’s Harrison Knowlton. Harriman went against his typical approach by jumping out to a fast start. In past races, Harriman preferred staying back at the beginning to avoid the early congestion. But as the first in line for his team, Harriman opted for something different. 

“I usually don’t start out as fast as most of them because I like to continually gain ground,” Harriman said. “I need to be able to maintain. I tried to get out a little faster this time because I had teammates behind me. You just try not to get poled or pole other people.”

Maranacook is in a three-way battle for the team lead. The Black Bears currently sit third with 28 points. Mt. Blue holds the narrow edge with 25, followed by Leavitt with 26.  

Ramsey said she’d been dealing with a fever a couple weeks ago, but has since felt a bit better. The only problem is the chest congestion still lingers and it makes it difficult to breathe at times. On top of that, Ramsey didn’t have a chance to take a breather because Maranacook’s Abby Despres was in hot pursuit the whole race. Ramsey crossed the finish line in 19:22.00, just ahead of Despres, who finished in 19:23.10.

Ramsey nearly had to come to a complete stop at the 4K mark, known as the “High School Hill”, but managed to push forward. 

“I almost passed out,” Ramsey said. “I’m just getting over being sick so it’s really hard for me to breathe. It was very hard to breathe at that point, but I pushed through at that point. You have to.” 

Ramsey won the race over Despres, but Maranacook holds the team lead over Mt. Blue by 10 points. The Black Bears placed four skiers in the top 10, accumulating 25 points. The Cougars had three skiers in the top 10. Leavitt’s Mackenzie Varney placed third in 19:35.5 and the Hornets sit in third as well with 65 points. 

Dirigo’s Keenan Martin wasn’t sick, but still had the same success. He and teammate Ben Buck finished 1-2 to give the Cougars an 10-point lead over Telstar with 24 points. Martin finished the race in17:33.80, followed by Buck in 17:37.60. Both finished nearly 20 seconds before the next competitor. 

“It was a battle for first for most of the race,” Martin said. “It was rough. The conditions were like hitting mashed potato going up the hill. It was nice on the downhill. Track was pretty decent.” 

The final day of the KVAC/MVC Championships is Saturday at Titcomb. The four winners know there’s a target on their backs. 

“I really have to get used to the idea of being chased,” Ramsey said. “It’s my home course, so that’s a really good thing. I know how to ski it. I think my main thing is know people are going to be there the whole time and get used to it.”