That does conclude our state champion spotlight series where we interviewed every state champion in Alpine and Nordic for each class and for each discipline. Here are links to each interview: State Champion Spotlight - Beckett Cote | State Champion Spotlight - Tait Harvey | State Champion Spotlight - Alden Reardon | State Champion Spotlight - Thatcher Riley | State Champion Spotlight - Logan MacLeod | State Champion Spotlight - Sophie Simard | State Champion Spotlight - Margo Hesson | State Champion Spotlight - Rowan Barry | State Champion Spotlight - Clara White | State Champion Spotlight - Cooper Dodge | State Champion Spotlight - Landon Marquis | State Champion Spotlight - Nora McCourt | State Champion Spotlight - Ian Christie
Up next in our state champion spotlights is Ian Christie of Falmouth. He was the 2025 Class A Slalom state champion. He also won the SMAA giant slalom and slalom titles. We asked him what he was thinking about at the start and his favorite moment from the season:
We continue our state champion spotlights with senior Nora McCourt of Mt. Blue. She was the 2025 Class A Classical, Freestyle, and Pursuit state champion. She also won the KVAC Nordic titles. We asked her about her success and her plans for next year:
1) What were your preparations leading up to the state meet?
I had a lot of intense racing leading up to states so I tried to reduce my training intensity and let my body recover so that I would have enough energy for the two days of racing in a row.
2) How did you deal with the pressure and emotions that come along with competing in a state meet?
I spent a lot of time focusing on how fun it was going to be for me and my team, and I reminded myself that I would be happy with any result as long as I felt like I pushed myself as much as I could.
3) What was going through your mind at the start?
I was focusing on the countdown clock and telling myself that I was perfectly prepared to have an amazing race!
4) What do you contribute your success to?
We will now interview senior Landon Marquis of Camden Hills in our state champion spotlight series. He was the 2025 Class A giant slalom state champion. He was also the KVAC slalom and giant slalom winner. We asked him about his plans for next year and he shared a special moment from the season:
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We continue our state champion spotlight series with Cooper Dodge of York. He was the 2025 Class B slalom state champion. We asked him about his plans for next year and what moment he will remember the most from this season:
1. What were your preparations leading up to the state meet?
2. How did you deal with the pressure and emotions that come along with competing in a state meet?
I had no expectations going into the race; I think that was my biggest advantage, though I didn’t finish either GS run it was definitely a wake up call going into slalom. I trusted my slalom skiing a little bit more, and being familiar with the hill, I just had to focus on myself and throw down 2 fast/clean runs
3. What was going through your mind in the start?
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