Brunswick’s Alexis Morin looks for a shot while being guarded by Cony’s Abby Morrill, left, and Maci Freeman during the Class A girls’ basketball championship at Cross Insurance Arena on Saturday. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

As Brunswick senior Lexi Morin went through the recruiting process, she started to realize she didn’t want to pick between competing in soccer, basketball or track and field at the collegiate level. So she picked a school that didn’t make her choose.

“I looked at Division I, I looked at Division II, I looked at Division III, and at every place I went, I kind of struggled with like, ‘Oh, my God, if I did this here, I’d have to give up another sport’ … I really want to play at least two sports, and if I can, and if it was possible, three sports,” Morin said. “USM really made that possible for me, so that’s why it was one of my top choices to go there.”

A scoring machine on the pitch, Morin was twice honored as the KVAC A girls soccer player of the year and as a Varsity Maine All-State selection. Just as dominant on the hardwood, Morin helped the Dragons win the 2024 Class A championship and this season was named a Miss Maine Basketball finalist and Varsity Maine All-State while averaging 16.6 points and 7 rebounds this season. Morin is also the defending Class A champion in javelin. Her 124-foot and 3-inch throw at last year’s KVAC A outdoor championship is a school record.

Morin said she’s excited to contribute to all three University of Southern Maine programs. She says the strong communication between coaching staffs will help with the transition from season to season.

“Every coach — for soccer, basketball and track — they (know) when I’m in a season for that sport, I am locked into that sport until that season ends,” Morin said. “Then I’m on to the next. But I’m still able to go to practices and watch what’s going on and kind of figure it out.”

Another reason Morin said she couldn’t specialize was that each USM team’s recent successes were too good to ignore.

The USM women’s soccer team has won the Little East Conference and appeared in the NCAA tournament each of the past three years. The women’s basketball team reached the LEC championship game and has a growing underclassmen core. Track and field head coach Rob Whitten has coached four All-Americans, including 2021 javelin national champion Sophia Slovenski.

As Morin prepares for the upcoming outdoor track season with Brunswick, she says the decision has taken some weight off her shoulders and will allow her to focus more on her goal of throwing the javelin at least 135 feet.

“I’m always pushing myself, anyways, to do better in whatever I’m doing, if that’s soccer, basketball or track,” she said. “So even though I’m committed, I’m definitely going to go out there and try my hardest.”

Bath YMCA swimmers head south

Three relay teams from the Bath Area Family YMCA have placed in the top 30 at the YMCA Short Course National Swim Meet in Greensboro, North Carolina, this week.

In Monday’s 200-yard medley relay, a team of Layla Hammer, Olivia Colaluca, Addison Pollis and Charley Carleton finished 27th (1:48.53) in the girls preliminary race. The boys team of Joshua Langworthy, Brady Chubbuck, Gaffney McDonough and Sawyer Wright placed 21st (1:34.30) in the same event.

David Mitchell, Langworthy, Wright and McDonough finished 20th (1:25.51) in Wednesday’s 200 free relay preliminary race. McDonough also placed 20th (20.92 seconds) in the 50 free prelims on Thursday.

Other notable finishes through Thursday afternoon include Hammer finishing 32nd in the 100 back (57.38) and McDonough finishing 40th in the 100 fly (50.52).

The meet ends Friday evening.

Quick starts put Bowdoin lacrosse past Bates

The Bowdoin men’s and women’s lacrosse teams used early streaks of goals to surge by their Bates College counterparts Wednesday. The Bowdoin men won 17-7 in Brunswick and the Bowdoin women beat the Bobcats 15-12 in Lewiston.

In the men’s game, the eighth-ranked Polar Bears (10-1, 5-1) strung off the first five goals and 10 of the first 12. Patrick Fitzgerald notched a hat trick and had an assist, while Chris Berry, Jason Lach, Sam Raye-Steiner and Huck Trafton (four assists) each scored twice. Riley McClure and Jack Goldbach scored two goals apiece for the Bobcats (7-5, 2-4).

The Bowdoin (5-5, 1-5) women scored seven goals in the first 10 minutes of play. Bates (6-5, 2-4) outscored the visiting team in the next three quarters, but four points from Lauren Wong and Caroline Keating were not enough close the gap.

Molly Reed scored five goals and added one assist for the Polar Bears, Miya Imaeda scored four goals and Grace Harvey notched a hat trick.