Falmouth’s A.J. Noyes captured state titles in the slalom and giant slalom, helping the Yachtsmen to a team title last month. File photos

A.J. Noyes doesn’t remember much about the first time he went skiing. It was at Loon Mountain in New Hampshire and he was only 2.

“I’m sure it went pretty well,” he said, “because I haven’t really stopped since.”

A junior at Falmouth High, Noyes won the slalom and giant slalom titles at the Class A state meet last month at Shawnee Peak in Bridgton to lead his team to a fourth straight Alpine championship. He was the only skier of any class or gender to sweep both Alpine disciplines, and he followed that by becoming the top qualifier for the Eastern high school championships in the Alpine Shootout held at Black Mountain in Rumford at week later.

“He definitely proved that he was the best high school skier in the state,” said Falmouth Coach Tip Kimball. “I can’t say he won them all, but he came pretty close.”

Noyes is our choice as Varsity Maine Boys’ Skier of the Year.

This wasn’t his first time winning an individual state championship. As a freshman, he won the Class A slalom, placed third in giant slalom and was Maine’s top qualifier for the Eastern championships. As a sophomore, he was second in Class A giant slalom, apparently second in slalom, and second in the Shootout. He wound up being disqualified in slalom for alleged on-course profanity that he denied and Kimball formally protested, to no avail.

In any case, Falmouth held on to defend its team title.

“So I wasn’t really worried about it,” said Noyes, an honor roll student. “The team goals are always ahead of the individual goals.”

Kimball, who has a rule that any skier who fails to hike and complete a run after missing a gate must clean the bus afterward, uses the incident as a teaching moment.

“That comes up when I give my talk to the team before the state meet, or any meet,” Kimball said. “He rolls his eyes and he laughs. He totally gets that. He’s a great kid, very outgoing, well-liked, definitely a pleasure to be around.”

In 10 regular-season races leading up to the state meet, Noyes won seven times, was runner-up to Marshwood junior Sean Maguire twice (in early January), and once failed to complete the course, in a slalom race at Shawnee Peak where he put down the fastest second run.

The Eastern championships did not go as well, with a pair of first-run crashes to go along with a 68th in giant slalom and 71st in slalom, but Noyes may be forgiven for looking ahead to lacrosse. He plays goalie for a Falmouth team that lost to Thornton Academy in the Class A state championship game last year.

Noyes has plans of playing lacrosse in college. He has a sister, Alison, who plays volleyball at Cal Tech. He is considering computer science as a college major, but is open to other subjects.

Since he was 8, Noyes has trained with the Carrabassett Valley Academy weekend program. He plays golf in addition to lacrosse and does a lot of mountain biking, but skiing is his passion.

“I like the adrenaline part, getting from one edge to the other edge, and getting faster and faster,” he said. “Trying to chase speed, it’s intoxicating. It’s so much fun. I’ve fallen in love with it.”