KVAC Class A boy’s
hockey accolades
TOPSHAM — Noah Austin was recently named the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A boy’s hockey Player of the Year, while head coach AJ Kavanaugh earned Coach of the Year honors.
Austin, who recently won the Travis Roy Award, was named to the First Team, while Eagles defenseman Cam Poisson was named on the Second Team.
Senior Cade Charron was named to the All-Academic team.
BMS wrestling team competes in tourney
BELFAST — Bath Middle School’s Braeden Cunningham won the 111-pound title by beating Eli Hoshide of Bangor Area Wrestling, 2-0. Cunningham had lost to Hoshide (11-0) last year in the league championships at Belfast High School.
The seventh-grader won his first match via pin in the quarterfinals, then beat a wrestler from Oxford Hills that gave him his only loss during the regular season in the semifinals to gain a berth into the finals.
“Cunningham [Braeden] has come a long way this season,” Bath Middle School wrestling coach AJ Reno said. “He wrestled one of the smartest matches I’ve seen in one of our middle schoolers since I’ve been coaching. He has a target on him next year as the wrestler to beat, but I know he’ll work just as hard to come home with another title next season.”
Other Bath standouts, Sean Bonzagni placed fourth in the 81 division.
“Sean is another wrestler that proved he wanted more this season,” Reno added. “Last year he didn’t qualify for the league championships, but all season this year I could see the determination and the fire in his eyes that he wanted more. Sean will just keep improving and I have no doubt that he’ll be looking for a title himself next season.”
Bath’s other three wrestlers that qualified for the championships wrestled well and gained much needed experience and exposure to the level of competition that it takes to place in the Pine Tree Wrestling League.
Isaac Strout and Aubrie Cobb, both sixth graders, were one win away from going into the match that determines third and fourth place, while Alton King, a first-year wrestler, wrestled hard but did not place.
“I look forward to next year,” Reno said. “I’m losing only a few wrestlers to the high school next year. We’ll be a solid team that will hopefully make a run for the regional or even the championship title next year.”
The Pine Tree Wrestling League includes 24 varsity teams, with independent wrestlers representing another seven schools. Team Sportsmanship Awards were given to Mountain Valley in the west region, while Erskine Area Wrestling won the the East award.
The tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler trophy was awarded to Camden Rockport’s 105-pound wrestler Michael Rollins.
Skowhegan Middle School won the league title, with Troy Howard Middle School finishing as runner-up and Oxford Hills Middle School finishing third.
Eno tallies goal
in USM lax loss
GORHAM — Benjamin Avakian scored nine goals and dished off one assist as the visiting Massachusetts Maritime Academy Buccaneers held off a fourth-quarter comeback bid by the University of Southern Maine Huskies to take a 13-11 victory Saturday afternoon in a non-conference men’s lacrosse match at Hannaford Field.
The Huskies dropped their second straight game to slide to 2-2 on the season. The Buccaneers extended their winning streak to three games with the win and improved their overall record to 4-2.
Junior Tristan Dundas led the Huskies scoring five goals and passing off one assist. Nick James chipped in with a goal and two assists, while Joe Cullinan and former Brunswick standout freshman Andrew Eno each had a goal and an assist. Second-year goalie Griffin Hanson made 14 saves.
Southern Maine will travel to New Hampton, N.H. this evening (7 p.m.) to play Northern Vermont University-Lyndon at the New Hampton School.
Bowdoin swimming
and diving excel
GREENSBORO, N.C. — The Polar Bears left Greensboro with two top-20 teams. The women placed 12th with 112 points, nearly doubling their psych sheet projection of 59 points. The men scored 38 points to finish 19th.
The final morning of Nationals began with another school record. Mary Laurita touched in 51.70, lowering Sterling Dixon’s school record of 51.87, to touch 26th overall.
The women’s 400 freestyle relay of Laurita, Marshall Lowery, Dixon, and Amanda Banasiak entered the meet as the 18th seed. In prelims the team destroyed the school record of 3:27.83, touching in 3:26.51. That time earned eighth place and a spot in the Championship final.
In finals the quartet slashed another 1.2 seconds off the record, touching in 3:25.30, fifth in the country for All-American honors.
Mary Laurita led off in a 51.64, lowering her own hours-old school mark.
The men’s 400 freestyle relay of Karl Sarier, Ted Mebust, Julian Abaldo, and Andrew Macdonald raced to a 3:03.06 in prelims. That time finished 14th and earned them a lane in the consolation final. At night the quartet moved up to 13th, touching in 3:02.34.
On Saturday afternoon senior Mitchell Ryan scored 519.80 points on the three-meter board to return to finals in fifth place. At night, he scored 495.95 points, including executing the dive with the highest degree of difficulty in the entire meet. That score earned him eighth place and All-American honors.
Lowery finished 24th in the 200 back in 2:04.35.
Sarier touched 19th in the 100 free with a 45.04.
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