NEWRY — First the points leader was knocked out, then the top qualifier, followed soon by the local product.

Robert Cone survived the upsets, and six rounds featuring 12 total runs to win the World Pro Ski Tour’s season final event, the Visit Maine Pro Ski Championships at Sunday River on Saturday.

“It feels great. I’m exhausted, but I’m definitely excited to take the win here at Sunday River,” said Cone, a Killington, Vermont native and Middlebury College product.

It was Cone who knocked out Carrabassett Valley’s Sam Morse in the round of 8, then points runner-up Garrett Driller in the semi-finals, where he had to rally after trailing following the first of two runs. He then won the first run against Tanguy Nef in the finals and closed out the Swiss skier in the second run for the victory.

“There’s probably a little bit of a different focus each athlete that I went against, the way that they skied, took the jumps and took some of the bumpy parts of the course. But overall it was consistency that allowed me to take it today,” Cone said.

Racing on the slightly faster red course helped Cone rally in the semis, he said.

Nef, who skis for Dartmouth College, agreed that the two courses on the Monday Mourning trail skied a little differently.

“I knew that the blue course was the slower o,ne kind of. So I thought I had a good chance on the red course (on the second run). I skied a little bit conservatively (on the first run), maybe, and he had an awesome run, so I can just applaud,” Nef said. “And I think I skied pretty solid, didn’t really want to change too much because I’m getting tired and trying to avoid injuries, also, is part of the equation, and I think I managed to do that well. And I’m happy with my second place.”

Nef hadn’t trailed all day until the finals. He knocked out No. 2 qualifier Alex Leever in the second round and No. 7 qualifier Tucker Marshall in the third of six rounds, holding off Leever in his second run and pulling away from Marshall. He again had a good first run against Thomas Woolson in the semi-finals and was able to coast to victory despite Woolson winning the second run.

Driller beat Woolson in the consolation finals to take third place in the event. But that wasn’t enough to overtake Phil Brown for the overall tour title.

Brown was ousted in the round of 16 by Guillaume Grand, who later lost to Woolson. Brown said he thought his points lead was insurmountable, so Saturday was a “free day to just ski and have fun.”

“I’m super stoked that I was able to keep some consistency throughout the season, and obviously I won a couple events, so that was super-exciting,” Brown said. “Unfortunately today didn’t go super well, but you really can’t win them all. And I’m actually just stoked to see that these guys were having a blast up there (on the podium).”

Brown wasn’t the only favorite that was upset. Morse knocked out former World Cup competitor and No. 3 qualifier Michael Ankeny in the second round.

“That was huge. That was definitely a big upset. Ankeny’s, like, one of the best guys here, for sure. I got lucky. He had trouble off that first jump the first run, and then I just kind of kept hammering him home from there,” Morse said. “The second run, he was out in front and I just kept him within — I knew I had two tenths on him, so you just kind of sit on their bumper and try to make it down and not have them beat you by too much.”

Morse out-raced former Colby College skier Craig Marshall in the opening round. He found himself in a first-run deficit against Cone in the third round, but he couldn’t make up enough ground on the “super-talented” skier in the second run.

Turner native Sam Ricker bowed out in the first round to Ankeny, who initially retired after last year’s tour finale at Sunday River, but came back and skied in select events before retiring for good this time around.

JUNIOR PRO CHALLENGE

In between runs for the pro skiers, junior skiers from Gould Academy and Carrabassett Valley Academy squared off in their own dual-skiing knockout bracket in the Mountain View at Trail’s End Jr. Pro Challenge.

Gould skier and Yarmouth, Maine native Killian Marsh survived four rounds and won the title, and the $1,000 scholarship that came with it.

“It’s a lot different than the two-run events. You’ve got to have a lot of endurance to win this, and it feels pretty good,” Marsh said.

Marsh beat out Luke Goff in the finals, which he called “intense.”

“I mean, it could have gone either way, but it feels pretty good to come out on top,” Marsh said.

Top qualifier Charlie Seavey, of CVA, won the consolation finals, beating Tim Teguis. Seavey easily won his first-round matchup with Jackson Knoblach and had a slight edge on Goff in the second round, but fell in his second run.

Goff fell in the first round of the finals, but was able to win the second run for a slightly closer finish with Marsh.