Windham swim team met state qualifying times despite loss

Windham had a great meet against Cheverus on Monday evening, January 15. Although Cheverus won both the boys and girls meet, Windham had some fast-qualifying times. 

Katharyn Lucas

For the girls, Elizabeth Lucas won the 200-free event by a slim margin of .12 of a second with a State qualifying time of 2:25.90. The 200-free relay team of Chloe Wilcox, Rosie Haibon, Haley Theberge and Katharyn Lucas had an outstanding win with a time of 2:00.19. The 400-free relay team of Katharyn Lucas, Chloe Wilcox, Elizabeth Lucas and Hannah Maurais swam to an easy win gaining 8 points for the team. 

For the boys; Evan Desmond had outstanding state qualifying times in both the 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke events. The 400-free relay team of Griffin Black, Davin Farinella, Evan Desmond and Simon Gabaree had an amazing swim with a winning time of 4:17.94.

Congratulations to all the swimmers and we look forward to our next meet on Friday, January 26 against Yarmouth.

Windham Indoor Track sends two to state by Matt Pascarella

Windham was ready with perseverance and determination as they competed with Biddeford, Noble and South Portland at USM on Saturday, January 20. Everyone on the team was giving it their all in every event. 
 

A couple individuals qualified for state that included Hannah Langstaff, who qualified in the 400-meter dash Junior Division with a time of 1:05.33. She was also the Junior Division Athlete of the meet.

Riley Silvia also qualified for state in the girls’ shot put Junior Division with a score of 28 and 06.75 feet.

As I watched the races and other events and I saw Windham as a team with high stamina. Everyone on the team was eager to win and pushed through the pain and struggled to achieve their very best. Windham athletes were giving no less than 100 percent; often times more. 

Windham placed third on the girls’ team with a score of 82 points and placed second on the boys’ team with a score of 110 points. 

Coach Denise Curry was pleased with how the day went. “The meet went well, and we got more state qualifiers. Our 4x800 Meter Relay Division team set a personal record/best by 20 seconds today. So, we’re looking good going into the state championship in that event. We have one more regular season meet before states for SMAA (Southwestern Maine Activities Association). We’re working on getting people in the right positions and figuring out what their best event is to qualify.”

The complete points totals are as follows:

Girls                                                                                        Boys

1 Noble High School 144.5                                                    1 Noble High School 121
2 South Portland High School 85.5                                        2 Windham High School 110
3 Windham High School 82                                                   3 South Portland High School 89

4 Biddeford High School 78                                                   4 Biddeford High School 74

Hailey Applebee

Hannah Langstaff was the JR division athlete of the 120 meet

Molly Skovark is the top pole vaulter for Windham

Rohullah Habib

Wyatt Yost

Coach spotlight on Edward “EJ” Regan by Matt Pascarella

Coach Regan

Edward “EJ” Regan graduated from Bonny Eagle High School in 1998 and attended the University of Maine to earn his degree in secondary education in English. He taught English at Lisbon High School from 2002 to 2008.
 

Although Regan has been an English teacher at Windham High for the past 10 years, he has been teaching English, overall for 16 years. He currently is the girls’ JV basketball coach and has been since 2012.

It was during Regan’s second year teaching at Lisbon High School that he got into coaching. 

He’s always been a fan of basketball and wanted to continue to be a part of the game. A middle school coaching position opened in the girls’ program and he became involved at that point, coaching for four seasons. Also, while at Lisbon, he was the JV boys’ basketball coach for a season and the middle school softball coach for two seasons.

Regan moved to Windham in 2008. He continued coaching as the seventh-grade girls’ basketball coach, which he did for two years prior to becoming the high school coach of the freshman girls’ team. 

Regan coaches because it gives him the opportunity to connect with students outside of the regular classroom setting. He loves to see students challenge themselves and improve athletically. Coaching also provides an opportunity to work with students he does not have in the classroom and, as a result, Regan gets to know more students. 

You will also find Regan coaching the softball program which he has done since 2009. He has also been the freshman team coach for three seasons and the JV coach for five, as well as the varsity assistant for one season. Regan has coached boys and girls middle school soccer in Windham for six seasons. He’s been coaching 10 total seasons overall in the girls’ program. 

By the end of every basketball season, Coach Regan wants his players to have an enjoyable experience competing, bonding with peers and walking away with a better understanding of what it means to be on a team. He also hopes the players learn that everyone brings something to the table and that they develop a love of the game of basketball.

What makes a successful season? It’s not just wins on the court. If players are able to improve their fundamentals and apply that to their games, Regan sees that as a success; if players learn to understand their roll on the team, and work hard within that roll, that’s a success.  If the JV players and the [players who play both JV and Varsity] can mesh together on the court, that’s also a success.

For Coach Regan, being involved with sports is a great way for students to escape the daily stresses of school and life; and he likes to be a part of the healthy outlet sports provides.  

In addition to coaching and teaching, Regan’s life includes his wife, Chelsey (formerly Graves) who graduated from Windham in 2001. They’ve been married for nine years and have two children; Lily, who is seven and Sawyer, who is five. They also have a dog name Charlie.

Regan enjoys spending time with his family, camping, fishing, boating, going to the beach, snowboarding and carpentry.

Boys battle Bangor in double header by Matt Pascarella

JV

Windham came out with intensity. They had great teamwork and excellent ball control from the beginning. 

 #11 Anthony Gugliuzza, #12 Ryan Walker, #23 Hayden Bilodeau

Bangor was pressuring, but the Eagle’s defense was staving off Bangor’s force. Windham kept up the enthusiasm at the start of the second quarter, keeping a comfortable lead over Bangor. The Eagle’s solid offense and defense, kept Windham ahead in the first half.

At the half, Windham led 26-19.

At the start of the third quarter, Windham took to the court with a veracity, ready to shut down Bangor. Despite the Eagle’s lead, Bangor was not far behind.

Bangor was trying hard to steal this one, but the Eagles were not about to let that happen. With 4:24

#12 Ryan Walker, #13 Drew Curtis and #15 Sean Cunniffe

left on the clock, Windham was up by three. 

As the final minutes played out, the Eagles were capitalizing on any mistake Bangor made and worked to secure rebound opportunities.

Final score: 49-38, Windham.

“They played really well together; the attitudes were very, very good,” said Varsity Coach Chad Pulkkinen, filling in for Coach James Clark. “That allowed us to stay ahead. The first half, we got into a lot of foul trouble, which allowed [Bangor] to get a lot of points from the foul line. In the second half, we played with our feet a little bit better and came together as a group and made some great plays . . . everyone stuck together and that’s what basketball’s all about . . . guys all contributed from the bench.”

Varsity

Windham takes the court and immediately begins pressuring Bangor. The Eagles had good teamwork, moving the ball around quickly. Bangor was pressuring Windham, but the Eagles were pressuring back.

#3 Nick Curtis and #21 Dierhow Bol 

Windham had good offense and defense early on. 

Bangor had a small lead, but the Eagles were working hard to get back on top. Windham got several turnovers in the second quarter. Windham had worked hard and had done well to close the points gap.

At the half, the scoreboard read 30-26, Bangor.

The Eagles took the court determined to regain the lead in the second half. Windham continued moving up and down the court with speed and agility. They also doubled up their teamwork, passing quickly and moving the ball around, up and over Bangor’s players.

After the third quarter, the score was 44-42, Windham.

At the start of the fourth quarter, Windham was working to keep Bangor in the red. 

Both teams were putting the squeeze on each other and tensions were running high, on the court and in the stands. These final two quarters were heavy “edge of your bleacher seat action”; each team holding the lead for several moments.

Windham came together in the fourth quarter giving well over 100 percent. Every basket they made -

#5 Nathan Watson and #10 Nazari Henderson

the crowd went wild. Neither team was letting up. Three minutes left in the game. This was the definition of a nail biter.

With 1 minute 14 seconds on the clock, Cam Brown gets a turn over and ties the game up at 61. With 35 seconds left on the clock, Bangor is up by two. 

Now, with 23.5 seconds left Bangor is up by one. 

Windham pulls ahead 64-63 with 13.8 seconds left. 

Then Bangor is up by two with 7.3 seconds left in the game.

As the final play of the game, Windham went in for the layup to send the game in to overtime, but didn’t make it. 

Bangor won 66-64. 

Coach Chad Pulkkinen commented on the team and the game:

“We did a decent job; we had opportunities to steal the game and we came up short. Our guys did a good job sticking together towards the end and coming back, we had a chance to tie it up and then we took the lead and we went back and forth at the end. As a team we need to get back to work; we need to get better, learn from it and keep going. We’ll be ready and . . . more prepared next game.”