Several wrestlers from the city excelled at Saturday’s regional championship meet. Cheverus’ Teigan Lindstedt, left, came in third at 182 pounds, Portland’s Hussin Al-Saadi placed fourth at 138 pounds, Cheverus’ Keagan Rice was fourth at 152 pounds, Portland’s Zack Elowitch was first at 160 pounds, Cheverus’ Sean Sullivan was first at 220 pounds, Portland’s Malcolm Gartland was first at 195 pounds, Cheverus’ Marshall Fowler finished fourth at 195 pounds and Portland’s Harry Deganhardt was runner-up at 285 pounds.

Portland/Deering’s Caroline Lerch lunges for the puck during last week’s 7-1 loss to Falmouth in a South Region quarterfinal.

While the basketball tournament (see story) will garner plenty of attention in the days to come, just about every other winter sport is in the process of determining champions as well.

Last week saw conference and regional champions crowned and there’s plenty of hardware still to come.

Here’s a glimpse:

Girls’ hockey

The Cheverus/Kennebunk girls’ hockey team advanced (barely) to the South Region Final after going overtime to defeat Cape Elizabeth/Waynflete/South Portland, 1-0, Saturday.

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Cheverus/Kennebunk, the top seed in the region, couldn’t score for 45 minutes, but thanks to goalie Trinity Atwater’s 23 saves, the game remained scoreless. Then, early in the second OT, Lucia Pompeo won it, ending Cape/Waynflete/SP’s season at 10-10.

“I have the puck, there’s no on me, I’m just going to take it to the net and see what happens,” Pompeo said.

“It’s playoff hockey,” said Cheverus/Kennebunk coach Scott Rousseau. “You get to this point in the season, there are no freebies or easy outs.”

Cheverus/Kennebunk improved to 16-2-1 and advanced to meet No. 2 Scarborough (14-4-1) in the South Region Final Wednesday evening in Lewiston. Cheverus/Kennebunk won both regular season meetings, 2-0 on the road and 3-0 at home. The Stags are 2-1 all-time in the playoffs versus the Red Storm, with a 4-0 win in last year’s semifinals the most recent.

If Cheverus/Kennebunk makes it to the state final for the second year in a row, it will face either Lewiston (19-0) or St. Dom’s (14-4-2) Saturday in Lewiston. Cheverus/Kennebunk lost twice to Lewiston this year, 3-2 and 1-0. The teams have played just once before in the postseason, a 3-0 Stags’ win in the 2010 state final. Cheverus/Kennebunk beat St. Dom’s, 4-1, at home, then settled for a 2-2 tie against the Saints on the road. The teams have no playoff history.

Portland/Deering, the No. 6 seed in the South Region, was ousted, 7-1, by No. 3 Falmouth in the quarterfinals and finished 5-14. Emliy Demers had the goal and Christiana Gannon made 29 saves, but a 4-0 first period deficit proved too much to overcome.

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“I don’t think the score was how we played,” Portland/Deering coach Tom Clifford said. “I couldn’t be more proud of the effort we had.

“Looking at our schedule going in, we knew we had a much tougher schedule this year. To the kids’ credit, from day one, their goal was to make the playoffs.”

Indoor track

The Southwestern Maine Activities Association indoor track championship meet was held Saturday in Gorham.

Cheverus’ girls team had the best showing, scoring 103 points and coming in third behind Thornton Academy (110.5) and Gorham (107.5). Portland (38.5 points) was ninth and Deering (22.5) placed 13th.

The Stags were led by Victoria Bossong, who set a new state record in the junior 400 (57.05 seconds) and new league marks in the junior 55 (7.39) and junior 200 (25.7). Emma Gallant won the senior 400 (1 minute, 00.46 seconds). Cheverus’ 4×200 open relay team also came in first (1:50.74).

The Bulldogs got a win from Vanessa Connolly in the junior shot put (32 feet-6 inches).

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In the boys’ meet, won again by Scarborough with a whopping 216 points, Deering (63) finished fifth, Portland (59) placed sixth and Cheverus (44) was eighth.

The Rams got wins from Ben Vachon in the junior triple jump (37-10.25) and Alec Toxell in the open two-mile (9:56.17).

The Stags got a win from Frank Morang in the junior long jump (19-00.75).

The Bulldogs’ junior 4×200 relay team finished first (1:39.53).

Next up is the Class A state meet Monday, Feb. 18 in Gorham.

Swimming

The swimming Southwesterns championship meets were contested last week.

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Cheverus’ boys scored 294 points to win the North Southwesterns title. The Stags got wins from Brim Peabody in the 200 freestyle (1 minute, 48.62 seconds) and 500 free (4:52.63),, Quinton Hastings in the 50 free (22.33 seconds), Jack Martin in the 100 backstroke (56.92 seconds), John Hight in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.05) and their 200 medley (Martin, Hight, Owen Gallo-Wagoner and Alex Drago, 1:47.02) and 200 freestyle (Phineas Underwood, Hight, Drago and Hastings, 1:33.33) relay teams.

Deering (110 points) came in eighth. The Rams featured Owen McLaughlin, who won both the 200 individual medley (1:58.49) and 100 free (47.81).

In the girls’ meet, won by Cape Elizabeth with 365 points, Cheverus (140) was fourth and Deering (97) came in seventh.

The boys’ South Southwesterns meet saw Portland (255 points) finish a close second to Kennebunk (290), while Waynflete (49) was ninth.

The Bulldogs got wins from Josh Ying in the 50 free (23.21), Will Couture in the 100 butterfly (a new meet-record time of 52.77 seconds) and 100 backstroke (54.12) and their 200 medley relay team (Couture, Paul Gauthier, Ying and Beo Endicott, 1:46.09).

In the girls’ meet, won by Kennebunk with 243 points, Portland (83) was seventh and Waynflete (20) placed 11th.

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The Class B boys’ state meet will be held Saturday at the University of Maine in Orono. The Class B girls’ meet is Monday of next week at UMO, while the Class A boys’ meet is the same day at Bowdoin College in Brunswick. The Class A girls’ state meet is next Tuesday in Brunswick.

Skiing

The SMAA Alpine ski championships were held last week. Cheverus’ Annesley Black won the girls’ slalom crown with a two-run combined time of 1 minute, 56.76 seconds.

The skiing state meets begin later this week.

Wrestling

The wrestling Class A South regional championship meet was held last weekend in North Berwick where Portland had 103 points and came in fifth (Noble was first with 205 points). Cheverus (87) was eighth and Deering (24.5) finished 13th.

The Bulldogs produced two individual champions, Malcolm Gartland at 195 pounds and Zack Elowitch at 160.

“I finished third (in the state) as a freshman and sophomore, second last year and hopefully first this year. That’s the goal,” Elowitch said.

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Portland’s Harold Degenhardt was a finalist in the heavyweight division, but lost to Scarborough’s Addison Boisvert.

Cheverus’ Sean Sullivan won the 220 pound title.

The Class A state match is Saturday in Augusta.

Boys’ hockey

The Portland/Deering boys’ hockey team was 7-8 and fourth in the Class A South Heal Points standings at press time following a 4-3 overtime win over Cape Elizabeth and a 5-1 home loss to St. Dom’s. In the victory, Jake Luce tied the game in regulation, then he scored the winner in OT. Donnie Tocci had the goal against the Saints. Portland/Deering visits Thornton Academy Saturday, goes to Scarborough Monday, then closes the regular season at home versus Scarborough a week from Thursday.

Cheverus fell to 6-10 and seventh in the region after losses to visiting Scarborough (5-0) and host Yarmouth (5-4). Against the Red Storm, the Stags only trailed, 1-0, going to the third period before the game got out of hand.

“We did a good job generating chances,” said Cheverus coach Mike Carmody. “If a bounce or two had gone the other way, it might have been different.”

The Stags host Thornton Academy Thursday and finish the regular season Saturday at home versus Falmouth.

The South Portland/Freeport/Waynflete co-op squad was 9-6 and third in Class A South after a 5-1 win at two-time defending Class A state champion Lewiston and home victories over Thornton Academy (3-1) and Marshwood (10-2). After hosting defending Class A South champion Biddeford Wednesday, SP/Freeport/Waynflete plays at Scarborough Saturday, then closes at Massabesic Thursday of next week.

Portland Press Herald staff writers Steve Craig and Kevin Thomas contributed to this story.

Michael Hoffer can be reached at mhoffer@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @foresports.


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