The Camden Snow Bowl Middle School Racing team earned a number of top marks during the two-day State Class A Championship Friday Feb 17, and Saturday, February 18, in western Maine.

The races were hosted by the Sugarloaf Area Ski Team and Mt. Abram Nordic and the Farmington Area Ski Team, respectively.

Each day of the two-day Maine Junior Ski Festival featured an alpine event and a Nordic event with 10  teams and more than 240 competitors representing more than 10 participating schools and clubs.

The first day of the State Festival at Sugarloaf featured two runs of giant slalom set on Narrow Gauge in the morning and then a 3K Nordic freestyle race in the afternoon.

In the girls’ race, Gordon Taylor from FAST placed first with Alice MacKay just 4/100ths behind in second. Isabelle Manahan from Camden Snow Bowl finished a solid sixth followed by teammate, and newcomer to the CSB program, Olivia Britton in eighth place.

The boys' race pitted two season-long rivals CSB's Oscar Horovitz and SAST's Jake Tyler in one of the few contests this year where both racers had two clean runs.

Horovitz's 22.85 first run time would not be bested for the remainder of the day and that, along with a strong second run was enough to win the race by less than 4/10ths of a second over Jake.

Recent CSB addition Lake Lindelof followed in fifth place.

"We have a strong contingent of eighth graders, who've been skiing together for as long as they can remember," said Coach Mike White. "And Emerson Brott and Devon Smith both showed they could ski well under pressure and scored points for us today."

Nine CSB racers would then move on to the Carrabassett Outdoor Center and race a challenging 3K freestyle Nordic race.

Primarily an Alpine program, CSB has been slowly building its Nordic program, bringing in volunteer coaches Barney Hildreth and Steve Frampton.

"Our CSB Nordic team would definitely win the ‘Has the Most Fun Award,’ if there was one," said Hildreth. "And what these kids might lack in training time and experience is more than doubled by enthusiasm and pure grit. They simply do not give up."

Day Two took place just a few miles south at Farmington's Titcomb Mountain and included a challenging and long slalom course on Otter Slide trail and a 3K classic race on Titcomb's extensive Nordic trail network.

Realizing the effort of her season's long devotion and training, CSB's Isabelle Manahan topped the leader board with a commanding win over second place Riley Jerome from WMAR by more than a second.

"Isabelle has been delivering top five finishes all year and seeing her on the top step of the state meet podium after skiing her best two slalom runs of the season couldn't please me more," said Coach White. "And while we're recruiting hard for next year, you'll not find anyone cheering louder than our girls for their CSB teammates."

White said: "Winning the boys slalom was Jack Kearing from FAST over his teammate Josh Smith in second. The CSB boys skied the slalom course as they have all year, in full attack-mode. This did however result in two of their fastest, Emerson Brott and Lake Lindelhof straddling gates on the challenging set.”

Coach Horovitz said: “Even with two of our guys out, our deep bench of talented eighth graders, including Devon Smith, Rhys White and Noah LaChance, scored points for us today. They all skied a perfect balance of aggression and smarts."

As on Day One, the nine CSB skimeisters changed out of their rigid Alpine gear and onto their skinny skis for the final contest of the meet, a classic style race on Titcomb's excellent Nordic trails.

Joined by nordic specialist Elsie Hildreth, team CSB set out at 15 second intervals on a challenging and hilly track.

"We spend much of the morning preparing the team's skis with the right glide and kick waxes," said Coach Steve Frampton. "And then, with less than an hour before the race start, the sun came out and temperatures spiked to over 40 degrees. This left us very little time to strip off and reapply waxes for the warmer temps, but we made it."

Despite the challenges, CSB put several skiers in the top 25 of a very competitive field.

When the snow had all settled and the final points added up, the Camden Snow Bowl Middle School Racing team had amassed a surprising number of awards, not the least impressive were the individual skimeister awards from this decidedly alpine focused team.

CSB Girls
Slalom Team– First Place
Slalom Individual - First Place – Isabelle Manahan
Alpine Combined Team (GS & SL) - Third Place
Overall Team (Alpine & Nordic)- Third Place

Skimeister
Eli Andrus- Third
Abigail Williams – Fourth
Charlotte Taylor – Eighth
Lizzy Larson – Tenth

CSB Boys
Slalom Team – Second Place
Giant Slalom Team – First Place
Giant Slalom Individual – First Place – Oscar Horovitz
Alpine Combined Team (GS & SL) First Place
Overall Team (Alpine & Nordic) Third Place

Skimeister
Oscar Horovitz- Fourth
Rhys White – Eighth
Britt Lafiuara – Eleventh
Tanner Robinson – Thirteenth
Emerson Brott – Eighteenth

Some CSB State results
Girls giant slalom: 6, Isabelle Manahan 50.69. 8, Olivia Britton 51.20. 28, Abigail Williams 59.03. 37, Charlotte Taylor 1:02.78. 54 Eli Andrus 1:32.43. 57, Lizzy Larson 1:57.51.

Boys giant slalom: 1, Oscar Horovitz 48.43. 5, Lake Lindelof 50.03. 9, Emerson Brott 50.94. 11, Devon Smith 51.34. 16 Noah LaChance 53.01. 18, Rhys White 53.26. 26, Tanner Robinson 55.45. 28 Britt Lafiuara 56.08. 40, Wilson Fedarko 59.18. 71, Ryan Southworth 1:17.18.

Girls slalom: 1, Isabelle Manahan 1:37.07. 4, Olivia Britton 1:39.83. 8, Eli Andrus 1:41.87. 26, Abigail Williams 1:53.08. 50, Charlotte Taylor 2:12.87. 54, Lizzy Larson 2:32.77.
Boys slalom: 8, Oscar Horovitz 1:35.79. 12, Devon Smith 1:38.51. 13, Rhys White 1:39.78. 17, Noah LaChance 1:40.72. 24, Tanner Robinson 1:45.33. 27, Britt LaFiuara 1:46.15. 31, Jaxon Lowe 1:50.53. 50, Ryan

Southworth 2:03.51. Emerson Brott DNF. Lake Lindelof DSQ.

It should also be mentioned that in and around the very busy Middle School League racing calendar, several of the CSB athletes have also been competing in separate USSA (United State Ski & Snowboard Association) races around the state.

"Along with volunteer coach Jamie Weymouth, we've been offering our kids the opportunity to ski at different venues and with different kids than they see at Middle School races," said Conover.

While not as difficult a snow year as last year, the 2016/17 season presented its own challenges. 

"It's always challenging to find early-season training space on such a small hill, but the Camden Snow Bowl did a remarkable job working with us to make it happen,” said CSB coach Charlotte Horovitz, in a news release.

Volunteer coaches include Horovitz, Mike White and Jen Conover.

"We love these kids, this program and the amazing amount of support we receive from the Ragged Mountain Ski club, our dedicated parents and of course, the Camden Snow Bowl," said Conover.

"We really encouraged our kids to enjoy the individuality and specialness of all the mountains we visited." said coach Horovitz. "This did mean a very busy racing calendar, especially with coach Mike being off skis due to an early season injury."