January
The Presque Isle High School Athletic Hall of Fame inducted its latest class during a ceremony at the Northeastland Hotel, which included Angela Pulcifur Fleming from the Class of 1997, Todd Gammon from the Class of 1991, and the late Clarence Burnett from the Class of 1932.
Mike Pankow, who spent four years as the head baseball coach at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, announced his resignation to take the same position at Bay College in Escanaba, Michigan. Pankow’s teams went 25-107 during his tenure.
Presque Isle’s Max Bartley tucks in a downhill at Thursday’s classic event during the Class B and C Nordic State Skiing Championships in Fort Kent. Bartley came in first in the Class B standings. (Don Eno)
Husson University junior basketball player Mackenzie Worcester reached the 1,000-point mark. Worcester is a 2015 graduate of Washburn District High School. She reached the milestone while playing in just 66 games, making her the fastest Husson player to accomplish the feat.
The Presque Isle Middle School cheering team won the Aroostook League title at a competition held at Central Aroostook Junior-Senior HIgh School. The host Panthers placed second.
Presque Isle senior basketball players Emily Wheaton and Griffin Guerrette each reached the 1,000-point milestone for their careers. Wheaton pulled off the achievement during a game at Old Town Jan. 15, while Guerrette hit the mark Jan. 29 at home against Orono.
Central Aroostook placed first at the Aroostook League high school cheering championship held in Caribou. Houlton was second and Presque Isle third. Central Aroostook received the Spirit Award. The Panthers went on to come in second place at the Class D regional championships in Bangor.
Wheaton and fellow senior Madelyn Wing both announced they would attend Husson University as athletes. Wheaton will play basketball and Wing will swim.
February
Blayne Tardif of Mapleton and Faith Sjoberg captured championships in their respective age divisions at the Elks Hoop Shoot state championships held in Fairfield. Tardif was first in the 8-9 year-old division and Sjoberg took the 12-13 year-old division.
UMPI hosted the Maine Collegiate Ski Championships held at Nordic Heritage Center. Colby won both the women’s and men’s team titles. For the Owls, Jason Bartley was 13th overall and Connor Hrynuk was 17th in the men’s competition.
Central Aroostook captured its fifth consecutive Class D state championship in cheerleading. The Panthers, coached by Sami Allen, posted 62.7 points to defeat runner-up PVHS of Howland by 2.6 points.
Griffin Guerrette scored a career-high 44 points to lead Presque Isle to a 74-57 win over Caribou in the regular season basketball finale held in Presque Isle.
Presque Isle senior Max Bartley was victorious at the Class B state championships in the classic race, winning the 5K event in 15:30. Earlier in the month, he won both the classic and freestyle ski titles for the Aroostook League. His winning time in the classic race was 16 minutes and 36.5 seconds on Madawaska’s five-kilometer course. He finished in 14:24 in the freestyle event held at the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle.
Junior Lane Grass of Central Aroostook was second in the slalom and sixth in the giant slalom to lead local skiers at the Aroostook League alpine ski championships. Isabelle Higgins, a freshman from Presque Isle, registered top-10 performances in both disciplines.
Madelyn Wing placed first in the 100 butterfly and second in the 200 freestyle at the PVC swim championships held at the University of Maine at Orono. At the Class A state meet, also held at UMaine, Wing came in fifth in the 100 fly and seventh in the 200 free.
At the basketball tournament, the Fort Fairfield boys were the Class C regional runners-up, falling to George Stevens Academy in the finals. The Presque Isle girls also ended up as the runners-up in Class B, falling to Winslow in the regional championship. Emily Wheaton was named MVP of the Class B tournament.
March
The Presque Isle Wildcats hockey team reached the Class B North championship game by beating Camden Hills in the quarterfinals and Waterville-Winslow in the semifinals. In the finals, Old Town-Orono handed Presque Isle a 6-1 defeat.
Emily Wheaton and Griffin Guerrette, both of Presque Isle, and Fort Fairfield’s Isaac Cyr were selected to play in the McDonald’s Senior All-Star Basketball Games held at Husson University. Fort Fairfield boys’ coach Logan McLaughlin was chosen as a coach in the Class C-D game. Wheaton and Guerrette were also both named Big East Conference Players of the Year.
Goalie Andre Daigle and defenseman Cameron Levasseur defend the net for Presque Isle during the Class B North hockey final against Old Town-Orono played in March. The Wildcats defeated Camden Hills and Waterville-Winslow earlier in the playoffs to earn the right to play in the regional championship game. (Courtesy Terry Sandusky)
Hannah Graham of Presque Isle was a junior on the Bowdoin College basketball team that made it to the NCAA Div. III Final Four held in Rochester, Minnesota. Her team finished as the national runners-up, falling to Amherst College in the title game.
Roger Stinson was named interim coach of the University of Maine at Presque Isle baseball team, taking over for Mike Pankow.
The Fort Fairfield girls and boys were the winners of the Div. 2 Aroostook League volleyball tournaments. The Ashland teams were runners-up in both tournaments.
UMPI softball pitcher Sara Packard, a senior from St. Albans, registered the 500th strikeout of her career during a 16-3 win over Lehman College.
Randall Himes was hired as head coach of the Presque Isle track and field team and Kelly Koziol took the head coaching job at Fort Fairfield High School.
Presque Isle’s Faith Sjoberg was the winner of the New England championship in the Elks Hoop Shoot free throw competition. She came in first in the 12-13 age division at the event held at Westbrook High School. It marked the third time in the last four years that she placed first in her age group at the New Englands.
April
Presque Isle senior basketball player Emily Wheaton was named a first-team selection on the Bangor Daily News All-Maine Schoolgirl Basketball Team. Griffin Guerrette of Presque Isle earned a spot on the boys’ second team. Wheaton was also one of three finalists for the state’s coveted Miss Basketball Award.
The UMPI track and field team participated in its first ever collegiate meet at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York. The team is coached by Christopher Smith, who is also the cross country running coach at the university.
Ron Ericson stepped down as the Washburn District High School athletic administrator. Ericson was also a longtime girls’ high school basketball coach whose team won four state championships in the 1980s.
Logan McLaughlin announced he was stepping down as coach of the Fort Fairfield boys basketball team. He coached four years and led the team to the 2015 Class D regional title. In other coaching news, Kevin Jackins was hired as the Central Aroostook softball coach and Mitch Ross as the Panthers’ varsity baseball coach.
Curtis and Gabrielle Wheeler of New Sweden coasted to wins in the UMPI Spring Runoff 5K Road Race.
Excessive snow and rainy weather in April caused numerous baseball and softball games to be delayed at the outset of the high school season.
May
Faith Sjoberg took sixth place in the country in the 12-13 age division at the Elks Hoop Shoot National Finals held in Chicago. She made 20 of her 25 attempts in the final competition of a successful Elks free throw shooting career which saw her reach the nationals on three occasions.
The UMPI softball team finished as the runners-up at the American Collegiate Athletic Association post-season tournament held in Canton, New York.
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- Ron Ericson (Contributed photo)
Tim Olore and Angela Norsworthy were announced as the new inductees into the Presque Isle High School Athletic Hall of Fame and both will be honored at a ceremony in January of 2019.
Vaughn McLaughlin was named the coach of the Fort Fairfield boys’ basketball team and Cody Tompkins was hired as the boys’ soccer coach for the Tigers.
Andre Daigle made it to the state tennis singles championship tournament for the second consecutive year. Daigle, a junior at Presque Isle High School, qualified during a tournament held in Caribou.
June
The Fort Fairfield Tigers made it into the state championship game in Class D baseball, beating Stearns in the quarterfinals, Katahdin in the semifinals and Bangor Christian in the regional finals. The team, coached by John Ala, fell short against Richmond in the title game, falling by a score of 11-0.
The Washburn softball team and the Fort Fairfield baseball team were recognized by the Maine Principals’ Association with Good Sportsmanship Awards in Class D.
July
Fifty seven-year-old Ralph Michaud of Presque Isle finished in a six-way tie for 16th place in a field of 132 golfers at the 99th Maine Amateur Golf Tournament held at Belgrade Lakes Golf Club.
The Presque Isle junior girls softball team captured the championship at the Maine Potato Blossom Festival tournament held in Fort Fairfield. The tourney is for recreation department squads with players between the ages of 8 and 12.
Kati Roy and Clint Deschene, both of Presque Isle, notched holes-in-one a week apart at Presque Isle Country Club.
Presque Isle’s Emily Wheaton is a finalist for the Miss Basketball Award for the state of Maine. (Joseph Cyr)
Andrew Bouchard of Caribou took the men’s and overall title and his wife, Julie, was the women’s winner in the Spud Cycle Classic 25-mile bicycle race held as part of the Maine Potato Blossom Festival in Fort Fairfield.
A field of 53 runners competed in the annual Maine Potato Blossom Festival 5-Miler road race, which was held in Fort Fairfield. P.J. Gorneault of Caribou and Tracy Guerrette of Bangor were the overall champions.
Jeff Ashby, Paul Burtchell, Stephanie Fields Beaulieu, Andrew Lynch, Mark Sprague and Stephen Thibeau were inducted into the Fort Fairfield High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
August
Porter Gervais of Houlton won the 51st Coca-Cola Spudland Open golf tournament in a playoff. Clinton Deschene of Presque Isle took low net and Ralph Michaud won the Joseph J. Freeman Award as the Presque Isle Country Club member with the low gross score in the tourney.
Chance Bragan was the winning pitcher in Presque Isle’s 3-0 victory over Woodland/AFSL/CFCU in the Aroostook/New Brunswick Pony League baseball championship game played in Presque Isle.
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- The Presque Isle boys soccer team celebrates after defeating Freeport, 3-2 in overtime, for the Class B state soccer title. It was the Wildcats’ first-ever state championship in the sport. (Courtesy of Carl Cleeves)
James “Chico” Hernandez of Washburn hauled in five medals at the Maine Senior Games track and field championships. The 64-year-old placed second in both the javelin and shot put, was third in the long jump and fourth in both the discus and 50-meter dash in his age division. The meet was held at Scarborough High School.
Inglorious Batters won the regular season title and followed that up with the playoff championship in the Caribou-Presque Isle men’s softball league. They registered a 5-4 extra-inning triumph over Performance Printing/Lakeview in the finals.
Cameron Construction was crowned champion of the Caribou-Presque Isle Co-Ed Softball League following a 7-5 win over National Guard in the finals played in Presque Isle.
David DeMerchant of Presque Isle umpired in the Class B 16-and-under girls fast pitch softball national tournament held in Sterling, Virginia. DeMerchant, who also officiates baseball, soccer and basketball, has been a certified umpire in softball since 1978.
Thomas Wire of New Limerick was the overall winner and Katie Malone of Caribou was the female champion in the inaugural Big Run Around the Mountain Half Marathon held at Bigrock Ski Area in Mars Hill.
September
Sarah Beasley, Glenn Sharp, Gerald Hutchinson, Jr. and Adam Smith were inducted into the University of Maine at Presque Isle’s Athletic Hall of Fame.
The duos of Tim Gagnon-Phil Pelletier and Alexis Madore-Nancy Carvell were the winners of the Men’s and Women’s Twilight Leagues held throughout the summer at Presque Isle Country Club.
Senior Savannah Rodriguez, an all-state goalkeeper for the Presque Isle girls’ soccer team, suffered a torn ACL during the first half of the team’s opening game against Ellsworth played at the Gehrig Johnson Athletic Complex.
Washburn’s Kenzie Worcester, a junior guard for the Husson Eagles, was selected to the North Atlantic Conference all-conference first team. (Courtesy of Monty Read)
Joe Kovach of Caribou became the third golfer to notch a hole-in-one at Presque Isle Country Club in 2018.
Valentine Degiovanni placed first at the UMPI Invitational cross country meet. The freshman from Nice, France, completed the five-kilometer course in 22 minutes and 26 seconds. Maine Maritime Academy and Thomas College were the other teams competing at the Owls’ only home meet of the season.
Madison Michaud became the first player from Presque Isle High School and only the 19th girl in the state to score 100 goals in a career. The senior surpassed the milestone during a road match at Foxcroft Academy.
The Special Olympic soccer team, the Grasshoppers, completed its third season. Twenty seven players competed and were part of wins over the Presque Isle girls’ and boys’ varsity teams. Carl Michaud is the team’s head coach.
The Ashland golf team won the Aroostook League title to earn a spot in the state tournament for the first time since 2004. Graham Berry of the Hornets shot a 94 to share medalist honors with Hodgdon’s Nathan Tuttle at the league championship held at Portage Hills Country Club. Ashland ended up in ninth place at the state event.
Trevor Parent resigned after four games as the University of Maine at Presque Isle women’s soccer coach. He had coached six seasons and his team’s went 27-65-4 overall. Keli Marston was named Parent’s successor for the remainder of the season.
October
Libby Boone and Gabe Rand were the Presque Isle golf team’s qualifiers in the Class B state championships after making the cut during the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A championships held at Natanis Golf Course in Vassalboro. Boone is a Presque Isle High School senior, while Rand is a senior at Caribou High School.
Ashland’s Graham Berry attempts a putt during Wednesday’s Aroostook League Championships at Portage Hills Country Club. Berry was the co-medalist with a 94, tying Hodgdon’s Nathan Tuttle for the honor. (Kevin Sjoberg)
Goalkeeper Savannah Rodriguez made an improbable return to the field after missing several games with a torn ACL. The Presque Isle High School senior made her debut at home against Old Town and played the entire first half of her team’s 6-0 victory.
The Central Aroostook boys and girls and the Presque Isle girls soccer teams clinched top seeds in their respective divisions heading into the Maine Principals’ Association playoff tournament. CA competes in Class D and Presque Isle in Class B. Panther junior Katelyn Levesque reached the 100-goal milestone during a quarterfinal win over Bangor Christian.
November
The Presque Isle boys overcame a 2-0 second-half deficit and beat Freeport in the Class B state soccer finals. Kyler Caron and Torey Levesque both logged goals for the Wildcats to force overtime, setting the stage for Drew Cameron’s game-winner with 9:32 left in the second overtime period. It was PI’s first soccer title in school history and it marked the first time in 25 years a team from the North or East prevailed in Class B.
The Presque Isle girls were beaten by Cape Elizabeth, 2-1, in overtime to fall in the Class B title game in soccer. Clara Kohlbacher tallied the Wildcats’ lone goal. The Central Aroostook girls also made it to the state championship game for the first time ever, but fell to North Yarmouth Academy, 3-1. Katelyn Levesque scored for the Panthers.
Madison Michaud was named Player of the Year in the Penobscot Valley Conference for Class B girls’ soccer.
James “Chico” Hernandez captured a bronze medal in the World Masters Sambo Championships held in Casablanca, Morocco. The 64-year-old Washburn resident, who coaches wrestling in Caribou, competed in the 100 kilograms and over weight class in the 60-64 age division.
UMPI’s Christopher Smith was named North Atlantic Conference women’s cross country Coach of the Year. Smith began coaching at UMPI in 1987.
Wildcat senior Madison Michaud competes with Paige Plissey of Hermon for possession of the ball during a match this fall. Michaud recently earned All-State girls’ soccer honors from the Maine Sunday Telegram. (Kevin Sjoberg)
Former Ashland soccer standouts Amber Chasse and Morgan Doughty made their mark in their first season of collegiate soccer. The University of Maine at Machias freshmen were honored by the United States Collegiate Athletic Association, Chasse as a Div. II second team All-American and Doughty as an honorable mention selection.
Kenzie Worcester was named Husson University’s Athlete of the Year. Worcester, who is from Washburn has been a standout basketball player for the Eagles.
Nicole Ward took over for Von Perry as the head coach of the Presque Isle High School varsity Nordic ski team.
Mandy Graham of Mapleton was the women’s winner at the Turkey Trot 5K Road Race, held the Saturday after Thanksgiving in Caribou.
December
Presque Isle High School senior Madison Michaud was one of three girls’ soccer players in the state named as All-American. The announcement was made at the Maine Soccer Coaches All-Star Banquet held in Bangor. Jonah Hudson of the Wildcat boys was named to the All-Region team which represents the New England states. Only eight boys of Maine were selected.
The Washburn boys’ basketball team ended a 25-game losing streak thanks to a buzzer-beating jump shot by Colby Hewitt, which helped the Beavers top Madawaska at home, 47-46. The team followed that up with another win over Wisdom two nights later.
