Let sleeping bears lie, even if there is a Nordic ski championship to be settled.

Halfway through Saturday’s Chummy Broomhall Cup, the collegiate Maine state championship, a bear den was discovered near the race course in Presque Isle, with a mother bear and her two cubs inside.

The men’s race had already been run when the sleeping bears were spotted.

“The men likely skied right by the den, but saw it on their cool down,” Colby Coach Tracey Cote said in a press release on the Mules’ website.

“They changed the course for the women. That’s the first time that’s ever happened to me at a race.”

The women’s race was delayed 30 minutes as the course was rerouted. It shortened the length somewhat. Bates sophomore Kaelyn Woods of New Gloucester won the women’s race in 23:10.3.

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Colby junior Zane Fields of Woodstock, Vermont, won the men’s race in 23:38.3 over the 10-kilometer course.

Colby won the overall team competition, followed by Bowdoin, Bates, UMaine-Presque Island and UMaine-Farmington.

FOOTBALL

MAINE: Jamil Demby, a 6-5, 335-pound offensive lineman, accepted an invitation to the NFL scouting combine at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis from Feb. 27 to March 5.

Demby will be grouped with the other offensive linemen and will join the running backs, place-kickers and special teams the first day of on-field workouts on Friday, March 2.

Demby is first Black Bear to compete at the NFL Combine since Kendall James in 2014.

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MEN’S HOCKEY

MAINE: Black Bears goalie Jeremy Swayman continues to pile on the Hockey East awards, receiving his second straight “Defensive Player of the Week” honor.

Swayman made 28 saves in each game last weekend in a two-game sweep of the University of Massachusetts, both by 3-2 scores.

UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND: The Nor’easters moved up three spots, to No. 6, in the U.S. College Hockey Online national Division III poll, released Monday.

UNE defeated Becker 7-3 Saturday, setting a school record for wins. The Nor’easters are 16-3-2, 9-3-2 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference. UNE is riding a 15-game unbeaten streak (14-0-1).

MEN’S BASKETBALL

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(4) DUKE 88, NOTRE DAME 66: Freshman Gary Trent Jr. had 22 points and tied a season high with 10 rebounds, and the Blue Devils (19-3, 7-3 ACC) beat the Fighting Irish (13-9, 3-6) in Durham, North Carolina.

(24) MICHIGAN 58, NORTHWESTERN 47: Charles Matthews scored 14 points, and the Wolverines (18-6, 7-4 Big Ten) outlasted the Wildcats (13-10, 4-6) in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

POLL: No. 2 Virginia received 17 of 65 first-place votes from a media panel in the AP Top 25 released. Villanova remained No. 1 for the fourth straight week, receiving 47 first-place votes.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

POLL: UConn (20-0) is once again the unanimous No. 1 team, receiving all 32 votes from the national media panel. UConn cruised to easy wins over Memphis and Tulane. Next up is a trip to South Carolina on Thursday to face the No. 7 Gamecocks.


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