UMF’s Rhi Jackson battles with Maine Maritime’s Tori Coope (18) for the ball during a North Atlantic Conference quarterfinal lacrosse game in Farmington on Friday. Jackson has been named to the all-conference first team.
In her first season as head coach, Lewiston High School graduate Beth Lebel led the University of Maine at Farmington women’s lacrosse team to new heights.
The Beavers won a program-record nine games in the regular season, and followed that up by advancing to the North Atlantic Conference tournament semifinals for the first time.
Now, Lebel has been selected as the NAC’s coach of the year in voting conducted among the conference’s coaches.
Lebel highlights the list of Beavers receiving all-conference honors. Senior defender Erica Letellier (Biddeford), senior midfielder Rhi Jackson (Saco) and junior attacker Carly Raymond (Topsham) all were named to the all-conference first team.
Freshman goalkeeper Samantha Bickford, a former Oxford Hills standout, was voted to the second team.
UMF senior Alaina Shorey was chosen for the NAC sportsmanship team.
New England College’s Allison Granata was named player of the year. NEC goalkeeper Mackenzie Meegan is the defensive player of the year, and Colby-Sawyer’s Brittany Ireland was picked as rookie of the year.
Lebel was hired as the Beavers’ head coach last June after spending two seasons as an assistant coach. She also is an assistant for UMF’s women’s soccer team.
Following her career at Lewiston High School, Lebel was a two-sport standout (lacrosse and soccer) at UMF before graduating in 2014.
Four Mustangs moving up
Four members of the Central Maine Community College men’s basketball team have decided where to continue their careers.
Guard/forward Pietro Badalassi will play at the University of St. Francis in Joliet, Illinois; guard Rob Skinner will play professionally in Australia; forward Cornelius Lawhorn is moving on to Lincoln Christian College in Illinois; and Sheveran Hardy is going north to the University of Maine at Augusta.
A press conference will be held Wednesday, May 3, at the Kirk Hall gym at 11 a.m. It can also be viewed online at www.cmmustangs.com.
Runners/jumpers-up
The Bates College women’s track and field team raced and leaped to a runner-up finish at the NESCAC championships over the weekend, the program’s highest finish at the annual conference meet.
Senior Allison Hill of Brunswick was part of three first-place finishes for the Bobcats. Individually, she won the 100-meter dash (in which she missed tying the meet record by one-hundredth of a second) and the 200, setting a new team record of 24.82 seconds.
She also ran the second leg of the winning 4×100 relay along with Edward Little High School graduate Anna Beaudet, a freshman from Auburn; junior Sally Ceesay of Bronx, New York; and senior Claire Markonic from Millerton, New York.
Sophomore Ayden Eickhoff (Corvallis, Mont.) also earned an individual title for Bates, taking first in the 800.
Williams won the team title, its 16th in the past 17 years, with 239.83 points. The Bobcats were a distant second with 107 points.
Bates’ previous high NESCAC finish was third place in 1989. The Bobcats placed fourth at NESCACs in 2015 and 2016.
The Bates men placed fifth, their 19th consecutive year finishing in the top five at the NESCAC championships.
The Bobcats fared well in the throw events. Junior Adedire Fakorede (Newark, New Jersey) won the discus and hammer throw, and placed third in the shot put. Sophomore Tyler Harrington (Haverhill, Massachusetts) took first in the javelin.
The Bates men and women move on the the New England Division III championships this Friday and Saturday at Williams College.
Second for Beavs
The UMF men’s track and field squad took second at the North Atlantic Conference championships in New London, New Hampshire.
Colby-Sawyer placed first with 216 points. UMF finished with 127.
The Beavers were led by senior Sean Cabaniss (Vassalboro), who placed first in the long jump and triple jump, fourth in the 200 and fifth in the 100. He also was part of UMF’s second-place 4×100 relay.
Big performances in Little East
Athletes with local ties had good showings for the University of Southern Maine at the Little East Conference track and field championships.
Nick Harriman, a freshman from Lisbon, placed first in the men’s 5,000-meter run, and Edward Little graduate Trey Rogers, a junior, ran a leg of the Huskies’ title-winning 4×400 relay.
In the jumping events, senior Connor Harris of Auburn won the long jump, and sophomore Drew Gamage of Sabattus took first in the triple jump.
Gamage, who attended Oak Hill, was named the LEC field athlete of the week for his performance.
In the women’s pole vault, freshman Katie Ferrara, a former Edward Little standout, tied for second place.
Lewiston’s Adela Kalillwa placed second in the long jump and triple jump, and was fourth in the 100.
Huskies junior Rachel Ingram of Winthrop took fourth in the triple jump.
Patrie is All-CCC
Steven Patrie, a former multisport athlete at Lewiston High School, was honored by the Commonwealth Coast Conference.
Patrie, a senior at Western New England University, was picked as an All-CCC men’s lacrosse first-team defender.
NAC POW
Zach Glazier of Winthrop was chosen as the North Atlantic Conference men’s lacrosse player of the week, the conference announced Monday.
Glazier, a sophomore at Husson University, notched his 100th career point last week. In a 14-10 win over Maine Maritime, he scored three goals and dished out three assists. He then had seven assists and scored two goals in an 18-11 NAC quarterfinal win over the Mariners later in the week.
Glazier’s seven assists tie the Husson single-game record.
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