LISBON FALLS

A new track for a team coming off its first-ever State Class C outdoor track championship!

For the Lisbon High School track team, that is the reality as the spring track season begins. The Greyhounds will host their first track meet on April 28, a big step for a program that struggled to practice on a dirt track.

Amazingly, Lisbon has succeeded, with both the boys and girls entering the Mountain Valley Conference season with nine straight Regional titles, with 10 the goal of this year’s group.

Now, with the new digs, Lisbon has been able to practice well and will hold its first home meet on April 28.

“We are encouraged with our Seniors’ leadership, as well as the process of finding out which events fit each athlete,” said Lisbon longtime coach Dean Hall. “Those two steps make a team very competitive.”

The boys return a lot of talent, with seniors Charles Adams (hurdles), Christian Booker (hurdles, jumps), Travis Caton (throws), Andrew Golino (throws), Nick Rogers (sprints), Jeff Willey (race/walk, distance) and Johnny Yim (hurdles, jumps), along with junior returnees Henry Adams (sprints, jumps), Jake Angelico (pole vault), Austin Bedford (pole vault, sprints), Brett Carter (distance), Jordan Cole (distance), Shawn Grover (sprints, jumps), Nick Harriman (distance) and Nick Huston (middle distance). Among the sophomores, look for Kurtis Bolton (pole vault, jumps), Bradley Boulet (middle distance, throws), Garrett Caton (sprints, jumps), Silas Crosby (distance), Jacob Fusaro (jumps, hurdles), Reece Martin-Morong (throws) and Mike Schlotterbeck (race/walk, hurdles).

The Greyhound girls, who finished eighth in Class C last season, have seniors Allie Bubar (throws) and Mia Durgin (pole vault, throws), along with juniors Abby Gamache (race/walk, distance), Charlotte Mooney (race/walk, jumps) and Bree Sautter (middle distance) looking to make some noise. The returning sophomores are Jasmine Clark (throws), Chase Collier (hurdles), Bailey Eveson (distance), Ciera Miller (throws) and Danielle Schafer (distance).

There were a few significant losses from last season’s state title run, most-notably race/walk specialist Tyler Bard and Brunswick transfer Adrianna White.

However, Hall has a bevy of promising newcomers, including seniors Max Poulin, Draven Walker and Mikayla Yanez, juniors Jon Melnick, Brock Vachon and Deliah Schreiber, sophomore Chandler Riordan, and freshmen Ben Blake, Joe Fusaro, Dylan George, Bradley Harriman, Steven Martin, Morgan Perron, Jonah Sautter, Ethan Vachon, Kayne Wentzheimer, Tony Whittemore, Emily Brewer, Sydney Douglas, Emma Houle, Anna Wiley and Melissa Wood.

Mt. Ararat

Diane Fournier (girls) and Cuyler Holden (boys) coach the Eagles this season.

Fournier returns a young lineup that finished eighth in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Championships.

“The girls team is young and inexperienced, but hard-working. All are very dedicated and full of energy,” said longtime Eagles coach. “Our numbers are not bad, though we always want more.”

Seniors are Jessy Doyle (jumps, 4 x 100), Lauren Grant (hurdles, triple jump), Jun Inaba (hurdles, long jump), Abbey Morgan (jumps, shot put), Kaitlin Volk (400, 800) and Priscilla Whitney (200, LJ), while the juniors are Rachel Eggleston

(shot put, 800), Summer Gray (hurdles, 400, 100), Brianna Hamilton (200, 400, HJ), Sara Napoleon (HJ, 4 x 400), Angel Ortiz (200, 4 x 400) and Camille Wood (middle distances, 4 x 800).

Fournier’s sophomores are Isabel Burch (hurdles, 800), Haley Frizzle (shot put, discus), Lauren Labbay (pole vault, LJ), Emily McCracken (PV, 4 x 100) and Ashley Parker (200, PV), with 11 freshmen joining the fold.

“I expect from the girls a lot of growth from the younger athletes and leadership from those who’ve been on the team a few years,” said Fournier, whose Eagles open at home Thursday against Gardiner and Leavitt. “Even though we are hosting A states, it will be exciting to see how we will end up doing.”

Holden has some talent among the Mt. Ararat boys, but the long winter has kept his team bottled up.

“With the long-lasting winter weather, we only got on the track a week ago because it was completely covered in snow and ice,” said Holden, whose Eagles got things going at home on Thursday. “We did a lot of general conditioning in the gym, hill workouts, etc., and even went so far as to bring the high jump mats into the building. The athletes stayed focused and made the best of it. “

Senior returnees for Holden are Matt Gott (mile, two mile), Steve Johnson (800), Nick Breed (100, 4 x 100), Andrew McCracken (pole vault, 110 hurdles), Alex Halliday (100, 200, 4 x 100 relay) and Josh Furgeson (100, 200). Also, Columbian foreign exchange student Mikhail Parra has joined the fold.

Morse

The Shipbuilder boys enter the season with a strong distance and jumping lineup, while the girls are small with a handful of newcomers.

The Morse boys, which finished seventh in the KVAC Class B meet last season, has seniors Max Lareau (long jump, placed in State meet last year, pole vault, 100 and 4 x 100), Cody Marenius (PV), Chad Bonti (jumps, sprints) and Balt von Huene (distances). The juniors are Sean Detwiler (hurdles, sprints), Aaron Ouellette (distances), Chris Walfield (distances) and Nathaniel Ramos (distances), along with sophomore Evan Parsons (throws).

“We have quite a few boys out this year, but not a lot of experience,” said Morse coach Shawn Guest. “Max should do well in his events, and there may be some surprises with the other kids.”

On the girls side, there are no seniors out this year, with juniors Asia Derosby (throws), Maeve McGowan (distances) and Amelia Franklin (distances) the only returning upperclassmen.

Sophomore returnees are Kelsea Albertson (distances) and Danielle Harris (throws), while newcomers include Michaela Wright (throws), Marissa Wright (throws), Abby Minot (jumps) and Emma Gould (distances).

“I expect Maeve, Amelia and Kelsea to really show what they have this season,” said Guest, whose Shipbuilders opened their season on Thursday at Winslow.

Freeport

The Falcons took a big hit to graduation, with several solid athletes departing after leading both the Freeport boys and girls to 10thplace showing in the State Class B meet last season.

Freeport is coached by Matt Greear, who is assisted by Matt Hartz and Halie Lyons.

Returning to the fold this year is senior Nick Wilson (100, 200, long jump), juniors Chandler Vincent (distance), Erik Brobst (distance), Hannah Schnyder (distance), Maddie Squibb (400, 800), and sophomore Henry Jacques (distance).

The Freeport newcomers are sophomores Chandler Wyman (100, 200), Hunter Lillard (100, 200), Mikaela Fleenor (100, 200) and Emily Latulippe (100, 200), along with freshmen Patricia Dupere (100, 200, hurdles) and Joe Ashby (1,600).

“Although we don’t have competitors in all events I expect us to be very competitive in the events we run,” said Greear, whose Falcons open May 1 at Lake Region. “Realistically, I think we will score our fair share of points, but may struggle to win a meet outright. I expect all-out effort and sportsmanship from our team this year.”

Wiscasset

Wolverines head coach Warren Cossette has a small, but athletic group of athletes this season.

“I expect that the team will improve all year,” said Cossette, whose tracksters open the Mountain Valley Conference season on April 28 at home. “This is a great group of kids that want to work hard. We will be focused on qualifying.”

Returning athletes are Sam Storer (100, 200), Brandon Goud (distances) and Gabby Chapman (long jump).

The newcomers are freshmen Ayana Main (long jump, triple jump), Max Sampson (sprints) and Angus Putnum (distances).