WHS swim team sets a high bar for season after Cheverus meet

By Matt Pascarella

Windham’s swim team came out incredibly strong in their first meet of the season at the Portland YMCA on Friday, Dec. 13 against Cheverus. Windham had a first-place finisher in almost every event with Windham’s boys finishing first with a score of 86-64 and Windham’s girls tied with Cheverus with a score of 65.

Windham senior Sarah Inman competes in the butterfly event
at the Portland YMCA during a prep swimming meet on
Friday, Dec. 13 against Cheverus High School.
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA
 

“I was really proud of the team and I’m looking forward to the season,” said Windham sophomore Sullivan Scharf. “Today was ... get out there and have a first meet. We were just looking to get in the pool and get some times up there. The cheering was really good, everyone was supporting each other, everybody was really working together. I like our relay teams a lot ... I like how Coach Small puts them every week so they’re a little bit different, so we get to work with different people each time. In practice I think we need to put in a little bit more work.”

Scharf finished first in the 200-yard Individual Medley with a 2:07.72-minute time. He also finished first in the 500-freestyle with a time of 5:04.99.

Windham freshman Rocco DiDonato finished first in the 200-freestyle with a 2:21.16 time. DiDonato finished second in the 100-freestyle with a time of 1:03.65.

In the 100-backstroke, Windham freshman Nick Chasse finished first with a 53.16 second time.

Windham junior Pascal Hentsch finished first with a 1:26.03 time in the 100-breaststroke.

In the 100-butterfly, Windham freshman Peter Funk finished first with a 59.95 time. He finished second in the 100-backstroke at 1:02.55.

“Coming to today, I was excited to know that we were going to have a lot of good teamwork, and we were going to cheer each other on,” said Windham senior Martina Jefferson. “We have a lot of new swimmers, so I expected there would be some nervousness ... but honestly, we barely had that. We had a lot of encouragement from everyone else and I think it went great. I think a lot of us have been great at keeping that stroke long and on the backstroke, we’ve been getting that pop kind of. I think also streamlines have been great. Our starts need a little more work ... because we want to aim to go out farther because that will decrease our time, but otherwise there’s not really a lot we have to change.”

Jefferson finished second in the 100-backstroke with a time of 1:19.32. She finished third in the 100-freestyle with a 1:10.46 time.

In the 200-freestyle, Windham senior Morgan Farley finished first with a 2:28.13 time. She was also first in the 500-freestyle with a 6:34.04 time.

Windham senior Sarah Inman finished first in the 200-individual medley at 2:34.06 and first in the 100-butterfly at 1:14.45.

Windham freshman Stephanie Roghelia finished first with a time of 27.30 in the 50-freestyle. In the 100-breaststroke she finished first with a 1:17.79 time.

“Immediately I think we exceeded the expectations we had for the first meet of the year,” said Windham swim team coach Peter Small. “Six of the 24 kids (on the team) have swum high school before; across the board kids with experience, kids without experience did things today that we were really hoping to see. First meet of the year, we always say this is your benchmark, pace it the way we’ve talked about ... try to get the technique at the greatest level we’ve worked on, but this is your benchmark. It’s from here that we measure improvement over time; times were faster, the technique was better, our turns, while we still need work was definitely better than I was expecting.” <

Windham High’s indoor track and field team ready to start season

By Matt Pascarella

Since mid- to late-November both the Windham High School boys’ and girls’ indoor track and field teams have been practicing and working on their skill sets and technique as the start of their regular season nears.

Windham senior Carter Engelman practices hurdles in the
halls of Windham High School on Thursday, Dec. 12 as
the WHS indoor track and field team gets ready for the
start of the season launching Dec. 21 in a meet at the
University of Southern Maine in Gorham.
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA  

Teams have been practicing indoors, in gyms, working out in the weight room and outside to make sure they start the season strong. Both newcomers and veteran athletes have set goals for themselves and are nervously ready for the season to start.

“With track it’s all about self-improvement,” said Windham senior Carter Engelman. “I love to (achieve personal bests) in my events, that’s my goal. I’m hoping for 14-6 feet in the pole vault; looking to break the school record in the 55-hurdles too. I’d love to see everybody improve, we’ve got a lot of great new freshman, and a lot of great returning runners and jumpers and they’re putting in the work and it’s going to be great to see them improve. There’s always a level of nervousness. I’m able to decrease the pressure myself by making it about improving and not comparisons, but there’s always a little bit of stress.”

To help prepare, Engelman and the boys’ team have been doing a lot of running and have been focusing a lot on strength in the weight room. They are also focusing on the technical aspect and dialing it in before the season, making their forms better and working hard to make improvements.

“We have a lot of good leaders and a lot of kids that are really stepping up helping with practices and helping the younger athletes,” said Windham boys’ indoor track and field coach Paula Pock. “They are getting anxious to compete. We’re really focusing on our strength and (being) mentally strong to help us get through some of those events and just not overthink it. We know we’ve put in the hard work and now we have to put it together in the meet. Our goal is to see a lot of kids qualify for the Southwestern and state meets. We have some kids that are setting some high goals to perform well at those meets.”

The girls’ team has new members who are excited to be part of the team and are ready to compete.

“I love to work out and running is always fun and to be part of a team (is why I joined indoor track),” said Windham freshman Taylor Hall. “I heard great things about the coaches, so I wanted to see what that was like. I would love to do really well in the 50-yard dash as well as the long jump; hopefully come close to the school record, maybe even break it. Definitely (get a personal best) in everything and to become a nicer, more talkative person to my peers, being part of a team helps with that. I love the feeling of the nerves though; it helps you get going.”

According to the girls’ indoor track and field coach Jeff Riddle, each day is an investment in how the team will train to implement into the next day. The first two and a half weeks, they were just investing for the next day and the day after that. The team has responded extremely well to all of it and Riddle helped to ease any nerves by telling the team that the first two meets are like a practice with your uniform on.

"Setting the sequence and flow of each day that’s how you build to capacity,” said Riddle. “I would like to see the team unified and have a blast doing this, to showcase and perform everything that they’re learning into their events and do it for and with each other. I think they’re going to have significant success.”

Windham’s indoor track and field team kicks off the season at 9 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 21 at the University of Maine in Gorham against Bonny Eagle, Deering and Falmouth High Schools. <

Her Mainely Girl Adventures: Deer Season

By Staci Warren

Deer season began on Nov. 2. I spent the pre-season setting game cameras and hoping to see a big buck, but the cameras showed nothing but a couple spikehorn bucks and does. As opening day approached, the deer went elsewhere. Not seeing any action on my game cameras, I opted for a spot I didn’t have a camera hung, and that is “tried and true” in annual deer behavior, with hopes I’d see a buck chasing a doe.

Staci Warren is shown with
the buck she took home for
the 2024 deer season.
It ended up being the
largest one that she's 
harvested so far.
PHOTO BY
JOHN WARREN

That’s not something I’ve seen often, but the rut and does in heat tend to bring in big bucks that don’t normally hang in my area. I’ve only shot one buck that I’d say was “big.” In 2011, I shot an 8-point buck, but it wasn’t big enough for The Maine Sportsman’s Big Buck Club.

The first morning, I gave myself a half hour to get into my stand. The walk was long, and I have to navigate over a brook and a boulder field before I hike up the hill to my stand. I struggled getting in. I felt like I was exceptionally clumsy in my boots, but I think it was all the tension my body was holding. Once in my stand, I settled in for the sunrise. I could feel myself relax. I listened for sound of deer. I saw a Barred owl, usually a good sign that I’ll see other game. The first day didn’t disappoint; I saw a group of three does that just appeared out of nowhere.

I never heard them coming since the breeze was steady and the leaves rustled constantly. Cautiously they crossed the opening in front of me, only 20 yards away. With the wind in my face, they never smelled me. I watched as they stopped and fed off to my right before heading over a ridge. Not even a half hour later, I got a glimpse of movement. A deer was headed my way. It circled to my left and came up the hill parallel to my stand and then stopped to eat acorns. Luckily, it didn’t smell me.

Then three more joined in and I sat frozen in my stand as I watched them cross out in front of me and leave. I left feeling happy and for the first time in weeks, I felt refreshed and not anxious.

My second weekend was a lot like the first, only the deer that appeared from nowhere seemed to be a buck that had lost its antlers already. The top of its head had clear signs of a pedicle where an antler should be. It was a nice deer, but I chose to watch it since I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I then had a doe come in on my right, but behind me. She didn’t get that far before she blew, alerting others that I was there. She stomped off through the woods. I was actually having fun seeing all this wildlife and again, I left feeling more relaxed than when I got there.

After the first two weeks, things seemed to go dead. No deer sighting and no deer on camera, not even at night. It was a little disheartening since I, for the first time in my life, took the third week of deer season off to hunt, and after the election, I really needed some treestand therapy. I hunted the first of the week without seeing anything. In an effort to change things up, I decided to sit close by in a stand that had no sign, or not much sign, around it when we scouted earlier in the season. I hadn’t sat there for two years. I rode my four-wheeler down to the paved road and parked. I crossed and then walked the remaining 100 yards into my tree stand. I left early because it was such a beautiful day. The sun was shining, and it was sort of cold. I wore my cold weather gear and even though the wind was pretty steady, I was very comfortable.

I knew I’d have to watch for movement since the wind and noise from traffic would drown out any footsteps of a deer. I looked to my left and began scanning the area for movement. I checked the time on my phone. I had two hours to hunt. I put my phone away and looked up. Straight out in front of me, I caught the hind end of a deer. About fifty yards out there is a line of trees, from which the deer appeared and disappeared. I took out my buck grunt and gave a couple grunts.

Disgusted with myself for not seeing the deer earlier, I watched the woods. Then a doe appeared. It ate along the edge of the woods and walked through an opening and moved away from me. I gave a couple more grunts. About five minutes passed. I hadn’t really gotten too excited since it was just more does, when a doe bound out of the tree line, and circled up and around me.

She stopped to eat acorns. I then saw another doe, and I thought what if a buck was chasing her?! And then I saw the buck step out from the edge of the trees. He grunted, spotted her and headed my way with his head down as if being led by the tip of his nose. I got into position without moving quickly. It approached on my right, and I shoot right. I stood up and used the tree to brace myself. I waited for a clear opening, exhaled and squeezed the trigger. I got my biggest buck yet, but I still didn’t make the Big Buck Club. Maybe next year.

Staci Warren provides a unique woman’s perspective and column on the outdoors every month. She is a freelance writer whose blog, My Mainely Girl Adventures, is about a woman hunting, fishing, trapping, foraging and living in the Maine outdoors. She also loves camping, star gazing, wildlife watching, and hunting for fossils. She’s an active member and board member of the New England Outdoor Writers Association and is a monthly columnist and feature writer for The Maine Sportsman Magazine. In her free time, she enjoys mentoring women hunters and trappers. <

WHS boys’ basketball downs Gorham for road win

By Matt Pascarella

In their second game of the season, Windham varsity boys’ basketball showed they can battle against tough teams on the road. The Eagles hit the court to take on rival Gorham on Tuesday, Dec. 10 at Gorham High School. These are two completely different teams from last year and Windham fought hard early in the game. Although Gorham made up some ground in the fourth quarter, Windham secured a 75-67 win.

Windham junior Tyrie James is shown mid-air and about
to take a shot at the hoop against Gorham during a boys'
prep basketball game in Gorham on Tuesday, Dec. 10.
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA 

“Coming into this game we wanted to play our best basketball and try to get better at the things we’ve been working at,” said Windham varsity boys’ basketball coach Chad Pulkkinen. At times we played pretty well and we kind of let our guard down at other times; at the end of the day our guys found a way through. Staying together (went well), continuing to keep the lead, all those things that help you win come February, March. It’s a good experience for our guys to come into a great atmosphere. Continuing to trust one another and continuing to move the basketball more; on the defensive end, shrinking space – making it harder for the offense (need work). All fixable things. We’re not trying to reinvent something new; it’s just getting better at some of the basics, we’ll get there; our guys are smart, and they’re motivated.”

Windham started the game with extreme hustle. Both teams played a fast-paced game where Windham secured turnover after turnover early on. They rebounded well and moved the ball but despite an Eagles lead, Gorham wasn’t far behind. Windham defense did make it hard for the Rams’ offense.

In the second quarter Windham junior Tyrie James hit two three-pointers. Windham sophomore Colin Janvrin also sunk a three-pointer. Moments before the first buzzer sounded, Gorham went in for the dunk and missed, and after the first half, Windham led 37-30.

“We think of every opponent as the same,” said James. “We’re going to work as hard as we can for each opponent, we’re not going to look past anyone; we’re going to try our best the entire game. We made reads of how (Gorham) played defense. We had to adjust to their offense in the first half. I think we didn’t play our best game, but everyone was playing defense, everyone was hustling, you could tell we had energy. You can always improve. Anything can get better.”

Windham held onto a substantial 10-point lead early in the third quarter. Janvrin knocked down two more three-pointers. Windham held a 15-point lead late in the third quarter.

“The mindset of the game was to ... get a win by playing together as a team and keeping ourselves composed against a team we are rivals with,” said Janvrin. “I think we handled adversity well. Some things we need to work on as a team is hustling back on defense and stopping people from getting open shots.”

Five minutes remained in the game and 10 points separated the teams. Gorham worked hard to close that gap, and succeeded a little, but Windham wasn’t going to let them have this one. The gap fluctuated, but Windham remained out in front until the final buzzer.

“We knew they were a totally different team,” said Windham senior Creighty Dickson. “They got new guys, but they still shoot the ball like a lot, and we needed to come out with energy and play our defense. There were certain times when we just let off the gas and let them come back. I thought our trapping was pretty well on defense. Our ball movement in the first half wasn’t very good, but we improved in the second half.” <

Trail Blazers hockey launches new season with 7-1 home-opening victory

By Matt Pascarella

In the first game of the regular youth ice hockey season, the Windham/Bonny Eagle/Westbrook Trail Blazers pummeled Biddeford/Old Orchard/Massabesic, or Boom, on Thursday, Dec. 5 at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham. The Trail Blazers scored five goals in the first period, kept up the intensity and earned a 7-1 win.

Trail Blazers senior Sam Foley of Windham fires a shot on
goal at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham during
the youth ice hockey team's home opener against
Biddeford/Old Orchard Beach/Massabesic on Thursday,
Dec. 5. PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA.

“If we show up prepared, we can take it to them and win,” said Windham senior and captain Sam Foley. “It depends on how we preform, how we start off; if we start hard early, it’s going to be easy for the second and third period. Just keeping that energy early, getting the locker room going, and being positive helped. Shooting (went well); we were getting every puck to the net. Moving as a line, getting everyone through and moving our feet made it a lot easier. Defensive zone ... needs work, because once we get up two or three goals we start focusing more on offense and making it harder to get the puck out.”

The Trail Blazers got the sticks going early when, less than a minute into the first period Foley scored. A very short time later, Windham senior Shaun Traina flicked the puck past the goalie and the Trail Blazers led by two.

Windham senior Philip Traina scored, then Bonny Eagle sophomore Colby Bailey scored for the Trail Blazers. Philip Traina scored again, and the Trail Blazers defense held off Boom for the entire first period. Trail Blazers led 5-0 after one period of play.

“We really just want to make sure we play our game, play hard, physical, outskate teams, outwork teams, we want to play heavy in the offensive end,” said Trail Blazers coach Bobby Fothergill. “Having a young goaltender, we wanted to make sure we protected him; the best defense is a good offense. We got the firepower, we’re three lines deep; the offensive rotation – moving pucks high to low – playing positionless in the offensive zone and having a shooter’s mentality getting pucks on the net early. (The Trail Blazers) were hungry, they’ve been itching to get out there and play. The way last year ended left a sour taste in their mouths, they want a playoff win. We’re going to stay with that attack mentality, shooter’s mentality, pucks to the net, forechecking and backchecking, and good D-zone coverage. We’re also going to talk about just because you’re up five goals doesn’t mean the game is over, you don’t want to let teams back in. We’ll learn and grow from it and get better each game.”

The second period brought just as much hustle from the Trail Blazers players, although Boom’s goalie stopped a few more shots. Bonny Eagle junior Mason Caron scored on a power play. Then Windham senior Erik Dupont sent the puck right through the goalie’s legs.

In the third period, the Trail Blazers did not take their foot off the gas; the game was theirs to win, and they were going to do so. The Trail Blazers consistently had the puck and took shot after shot on goal. Boom’s goalie made several key stops but the Trail Blazers outshot their opponents, 53-11.

“I think we decided we were going to come out, play the body a little bit, get some nice quality shots on goal and try to put the puck in the net – get a nice lead to start,” said Bonny Eagle junior Colby Haskell. “After the first goal, we figured it’s just a 0-0 game, we still got to work as hard as we can and bury some goals. We did play for the full 45 minutes. I liked how we played physically, our shots were nice, selected and our hits were on-point. Our passing needs some work and definitely ... just moving our feet, keeping up with the pace. I think once that second and third period hit us with that long change, it really slowed us down after the first.” <

Wolfpack wrestling off to powerful start in preseason tournament

By Matt Pascarella

In a preseason tournament, the Windham/Gray New-Gloucester/Westbrook Wolfpack varsity wrestling team showed they are ready for the regular season as the team wrestled schools from all over the state in the Westlake Invitational on Saturday, Nov. 30 at Morse High School in Bath. The Wolfpack finished fourth out of 19 schools with a score of 137.

Windham freshman James Swan works to move his opponent
to his back on Saturday, Nov. 30 at Morse High School in
Bath early in the preseason prep wrestling Westlake
Invitational. PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA  

“Our team first round – amazing,” said Gray New-Gloucester senior Jameson Hart. “That was super exciting. It means that we are practicing right. We are at a good spot we just got to work harder and we’re going to be a threat this year.”

The Wolfpack secured multiple wins and Windham senior Ayden Cofone (126-weight class) won his finals match. Other tournament placers were Westbrook sophomore Cole Tanner (165) finished second, Windham freshman James Swan (106) finished third, Westbrook sophomore Sajjad Jumaah (138) finished fourth, Windham junior Junius Pope (190) also finished fourth.

“It always feels good to win even in ... tight matches where you got to dig deep and push the pace,” said Cofone. “That's my fourth time winning that tournament and it felt more competitive each time which is good. I’ll use this tournament to set the season and really push hard to win the tougher tournaments down the road and to work harder and learn; I'm focused on growing as a wrestler and getting ready to flip the switch to college wrestling.”

After a very successful quarterfinal round, all 14 Wolfpack wrestlers advanced.

In the quarterfinals, Jumaah had an incredible match against Mount Ararat. Mount Ararat had a big lead most of the match, but Jumaah was not going down without a fight. Toward the end, mere points separated them and Jumaah’s perseverance earned him the 17-16 victory.

“I went into the match confident and it’s not I have to wrestle the second seed kid – it’s I get to wrestle the second seed kid,” said Jumaah. “I got a pretty hard blow to my nose... during the match. I had to take some injury time as well because ... I couldn’t wrestle right. When I got set on top, I was like the team needs this; that set a fire in me and I just went, I wrestled hard. I took a deep breath, I relaxed myself, I didn’t think about the score ... I had to keep going after it because there was no way I was going out like that.”

In the quarterfinals, Hart (157) took on Mount Ararat and pinned his opponent in under a minute.

Cofone pinned his Gardiner opponent with a minute remaining in the quarterfinals. He won his finals match 5-2 against Oceanside.

Cofone said he saw a lot of great heart and growth from last season. He said they need to wrestle their matches and not their opponents while working on cardio to set the pace of the match.

Windham senior CK Kennedy (175) fought a very close match against Bonny Eagle where he made up points after being down. Kennedy left it all on the mat, but narrowly lost 11-10.

“We have been able to get a lot accomplished in practice because the kids are paying attention and working hard to improve their skills,” said varsity Wolfpack coach John Nicholas. “We also talked about what it takes to win a big tournament and how to prepare yourself for each round. Besides the first round, (that went well) we had many kids that were able to battle back after a loss and push themselves into the consolation finals. We need to continue to work on our conditioning and clean up on some of our technique. I think the future is bright for the Wolfpack. We have a solid core of veterans mixed with some talented newcomers. It may take a little while, but we should be right in the mix by the end of the season.” <

WHS varsity girls’ basketball topples Bonny Eagle to close preseason

By Matt Pascarella

Windham High’s varsity girls’ basketball team played their last preseason game on Tuesday, Dec. 3 at Windham against Bonny Eagle. Windham defense kept Bonny Eagle completely scoreless in the first half and limited their scoring abilities in the second half as the Lady Eagles walked off the court with a 46-17 win.

Windham sophomore Mackenzie Delewski focuses while
navigating her way between two defenders during a
preseason varsity girls' basketball game against Bonny
Eagle at Windham High School on Tuesday, Dec. 3.
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA

“We went out and put some good ball pressure on them and forced a lot of turnovers early,” said Windham varsity girls’ basketball coach Brody Artes. “That’s kind of our identity and what we’re looking to do this year. We’re still evolving with our offense, and we try to get better every day with that, but our difference in intensity was good. We rebounded really well. Marley was fantastic on the boards early on, but as a whole we did a really good job.”

While the game took a slow offensive start, Windham defense did not let Bonny Eagle score a single basket in the first quarter, thanks to a last-second block before the buzzer. The Lady Eagles moved the ball well and snagged rebound after rebound, while turning the ball over a number of times.

In the second quarter, Windham junior Victoria Richardson sank one of her three three-pointers she would drop during the game. Windham’s defense kept Bonny Eagle scoreless, and Windham pulled out front with an enormous lead. At the half, Windham led, 22-0.

“We’ve had a bunch of good practices in the past week where we’re just all really connecting as a team,” said Richardson. We have a lot of new freshmen this year and ... recently we’ve been doing a good job connecting and we really showed that in the game today. I think our defense went really well – we’ve been working on that a lot in practice. We could get a little stronger, I know personally I need to get stronger (and not so much in our heads). I think we’re going to be a really strong team and if we play like we did today I think we can beat a lot of the teams that we think we can’t beat.”

Although they had a substantial lead, the Lady Eagles kept up their hustle in the second half. Junior Marley Jarvais connected on a three-pointer early in the third quarter. Windham stayed with the ball and grabbed rebounds.

Bonny Eagle did eventually score, but Windham’s defense continued to limit those opportunities. Windham remained strong with a very substantial lead throughout the game.

Windham freshman Yani Kostopoulos also had a nice block late in the game.

“I think this was a good game,” said Windham sophomore Mackenzie Delewski. “We really showed our defense considering they didn’t score in the first half. I feel like we played really well together, that our zone was really good; we did really good at being patient with the ball. We work really hard not just for ourselves but for each other; we get rebounds, we’re not selfish with the ball, we do good passing, and our shooting was really good today. I feel like a lot of people felt like this year would be a growing year because we’re still pretty young, with only one senior, but I feel like we’re kind of selling ourselves short and we’re a lot better team than we think we are.”

Windham faces Lewiston at home on Friday, Dec. 6 in its season-opener; tip-off is at 6 p.m. <