Nora McCourt of Mt. Blue successfully defended her Class A classical title and Beckett Cote of Messalonskee won the Class A boys race Tuesday on the opening day of the Nordic skiing state championships at Black Mountain in Rumford.

McCourt completed the 5-kilometer course in 16 minutes, 34.7 seconds, more than a minute ahead of her teammate, runner-up Maya Kellett (17:39.4). Edward Little’s Nora Condit was another two minutes back in third place (19:47.3), followed by Falmouth’s Zora DeSilva (20:33.9), Portland’s Heloise Bampton (20:39.8) and Emma Price (20:39.8), Anica Hickey of Cheverus (20:41.0) and Eli Tardiff of Falmouth (20:43.6).

Cote posted a time of 14:49.6, beating defending champion Henri McCourt of Mt. Blue (15:05.2). Mt. Blue, though, is well-positioned to repeat as the Nordic boys team champion going into Wednesday’s freestyle pursuit after placing five skiers in the top 13, including third-place Elias Bartlett (16:10.2) and sixth-place Grayson Hoeft (16:34.2).

Deering’s Zeke Zelonish (16:19.7) and Asa Tussing (16:26.1) finished fourth and fifth.

Greely’s Tait Harvey (14:58.9) and Rowan Barry (17:32.0) swept the Class B individual titles, both winning by more than a minute.

The Yarmouth boys had five skiers in the top 10, led by runner-up Alexander Gordon (16:20.9). He was followed by Leavitt’s Jacob Dening (16:31.2), Freeport’s Owen Dawson (16:53.8), Yarmouth’s Leif Hellstedt (17:01.1), Greely’s Keenan Barry (17:12.7) and Yarmouth’s Eli Chalmers (17:13.8).

Ida Waterman (19:10.1) was the Class B girls runner-up. Freeport’s Lucy Huggett (19:12.4) and Reed Proscia (19:16.0) and Greely’s Evelyn Lacasse (19:19.3) rounded out the top five, and Leavitt’s Haley Marston (19:45.7) and Heather Mousseau (19:52.5) placed sixth and seventh.

In Class C, Alden Reardon (15:42.2) of Fort Kent and Clara White (16:48.2) of Orono repeated as classical champions.

Reardon will start Wednesday’s pursuit race with a big lead over Samuel Geissinger (16:46.6) of Spruce Mountain. Fletcher Marquis (16:58.1) of Fort Kent, Ben Chartier (17:39.9) of Fort Fairfield and Quinn Michaud (18:28.9) of Fort Kent placed third through fifth.

White’s winning time was more than two minutes faster than Rowan Tanguay (19:08.9) of Fort Kent. The rest of the top five was Leah Kramer (19:23.0) of Waynflete, Soren Stark-Chessa (19:28.4) of Maine Coast Waldorf and Addison Chasse (21:37.5) of Fort Kent.