January 25: Lucas Barstow, skiing for Gould Academy in Bethel, won the 2025 Men's Jon
athan Sassi Memorial 5k Freestyle at Black Mountain of Maine. Barstow, who finished 6th in thr 2024 Sassi 5k Classical race, led a field of 153 skiers, skating across the finish line in 12:08.2. Finishing in second place was Alden Reardon of Fort Kent, who completed the race in 12:31.8. Waterville's Becket Cote stepped up to the podium with a 12:37.9 finish.
Fourth place went to Mt. Blue's Henri McCourt with a time of 12:48.0. Grabbing the fifth spot was Gould's Will Brown with a time of 12:54.5, while Portland's Henry Morrison took sixth at 13:03.5.
Rounding out the top 10 were Elias Bartlett of Mt. Blue (13:08.8), Ian Brown of Gould (13:13.2), Parker Nellis of Gould (13:26.5), and James Crowley of Gould (13:38.9)
In the women's race, Orono's Clara White took the gold. White,
who finished 3rd in the 2024 Sassi Memorai Classical, skated to a time of 14:20.5. Winning the silver was Gould Academy's Kate Carlson with a time of 14:34.9. The bronze went to Nora McCourt of Mt. Blue, finishing in 14:50.3.
McCourt's teammate Maya Kellett took the fourth spot with a 15:18.7. In fifth place was Gould's Reese Furneaux with a 15:24.3 finish. Mallory Raymond of Gould took sixth place with a skate time of 15:46.9.
Also finishing in the top ten were Lucy Heggett of Freeport (15:57.0), Rowan Barry of Greely (16:03), Freeport's Reed Proscia (16:10.4), and Rowan Tanguay (16:16) of Fort Kent.
The Sassi Memorial, which was changed from it usual classical race to a freestyle event because of snow depth, debuted in1991 as the Jon Sassi Invitational.
Huge shoutout to the well-oiled Chisholm Ski Club volunteers for an outstanding job in preparing the course without much help from Mother Nature, and hosting a fantastic day of racing. We look forward to seeing most og these same high school racers again at the Maine State Nordic Championships on February 17th and 18th.
For complete results, CLICK HERE.
RACE PHOTOS AT 