Sport: Boys basketball
Coach: Jim Ray
Last year’s record: 19-3, lost in Class B state final 56-46 to Maranacook
Key players: Alex Bowe, Conor Lawler, John Messina,
Key games this season: Greely, Falmouth, Yarmouth, Freeport, Lake Region
Season outlook: The Capers will be looking to make another run at the Class B Western championship and trying to get over the hump in the state championship game. “We should be competitive again,” Ray said. “A lot will hinge on leadership, chemistry and commitment to doing the little things well.”
Sport: Girls’ basketball
Coach: Chris Roberts (2nd year)
Last year’s record: 1-17
Key players: Haley Thompson, Alicen Johnson, Gabe Donahue, Morgan Pillsbury, Ruth Perkins
Key games this season: Roberts said all of the Capers’ games will be key games this season.
Season outlook: Roberts said the Capers have a tough early-season schedule, which will give them a good test before the new year. “We’re looking to improve upon last year’s record and be more competitive with Western Class B teams,” the coach said. “Playing seven games before the Christmas break, several against top teams, will provide us with a good look early in the season at how we stack up.”
Sport: Ice Hockey
Coach: Jason Tremblay (5th Year)
Last year’s record: 11-10
Key players: Forwards – Zack Labbe, Sean Eubanks, Sam St. Germain; Defense – Zach Breed, Mike Holden
Key games this season: Biddeford, Dec. 22; Greely, Jan. 5
Season outlook: “We return many players from last year’s team and look to compete for the top spot in Class B West,” Tremblay said. “We will have a challenging schedule playing three top teams from Class B East and five of the top Class A teams, including Biddeford, Thornton Academy, and Scarborough.”
Sport: Boys and girls indoor track
Coach: Doug Worthley
Last year’s record: Boys: 8-6
Girls: 10-4
Key runners: Boys: Brenden Shields, sprinter, Matt Rand, Jon Bass, Finn Melanson, Peter Brigham, Max Pulisfer and Brendan Taylor
Girls: Marita Stressenger, Hannah Doss, Rachel Nichols, Merideth Riker, Colleen Thibeault and Emma Hockmuth.
Key meets this season: We’re looking forward to the league championships and the state meet.
Season outlook: Worthley said he is looking for the Caper boys to have a little better showing than they did last year, which was highlighted by Rand winning the state two-mile championship.
On the girls side, Worthley said that the Capers have a strong distance squad, led by Stressenger and there have been other surprises in the early going. Worthley said he expects the girls to stay about where they were in the standings last season.
Sport: Boys and girls swimming
Coach: Ben Raymond, head coach; David Croft, assistant coach; Mike Bartley, diving coach
Last year’s record: The boys finished in second place at the Class A state meet, the girls finished in third place at the Class A state meet
Key swimmers: Boys: Zach Gavin, Paul Wennberg, Chris Makrides
Girls: Nora Daly, Rosie Wennberg, Emily MacDuffie, Paige St. Germain, Lexi Bass, Heather Kraft, Madeline Kraft, Morgan Mancall (diver)
Key meets this season: “The key meets this season are the Class A state meet for both the boys and the girls,” Raymond said. “The dual meets are not as important they are just opportunities to qualify for the state meet. We do have a meet with Phillips Exeter Academy on Dec. 10 that should be a great meet for the girls team.”
Season outlook: “The boys team should look to be in the top three at the end of the season with strong individual performances by Zach Gavin, Paul Wennberg and Chris Makrides,” Raymond said. “All three swimmers have experience and competed well at least year’s state meet.”
Raymond said he had high expectations for the Caper girls. “The girls team should look to contend for the state title,” he said. “We have very strong front-line swimmers with a growing supporting cast of swimmers that will score points at the state meet. All the girls mentioned in the key swimmers portion should look to finish their individual events in the top eight and many should be in the top three. Nora Daly and Rosie Wennberg are two of the top swimmers in the state.”
Sport: Nordic skiing (girls and boys)
Coaches Wyatt Dumas and Deven Morrill
Last year’s record: The girls finished second in the Class B state meet, and the boys finished ninth.
Key Skiers: “The key to our team this year will be our two captains, Michael Takach and Zoe Croft, they are leading a team of incredible people,” Dumas said.
Key meets this season: “The key regular season race for us as always will be the Sassi Memorial 5k classic, a race in which the majority of high school teams from all classes compete, and our girls won last year,” Dumas said.
Season outlook: “The season is looking really promising,” Dumas said. “We have a lot of strong hearty kids on both our boys and girls teams. They are a really coachable group. The girls team looks similar to last year, which is fantastic, but we didn’t graduate any boys last year, so they all have the benefit of another year of experience and that’s very exciting.”
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