WHS varsity golf falls to Greely but shows early season improvement

By Matt Pascarella

After Windham varsity golf opened its 2024 season with a big win over Westbrook, Windham traveled to take on Greely on Thursday, Sept. 5 at Val Halla in Cumberland. That’s a par 36 course and although WHS turned in a strong effort, it lost, 10-3, to the Rangers.

Windham senior Joe Donnelly watches his putt during a prep
golf match against Greely at Val Halla Golf and Recreation
Course in Cumberland on Thursday, Sept. 5.
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA 

Windham senior Joe Donnelly shot a 43, while senior Fiona Harmon shot a 44 and junior Nolan McPhail shot a 48. Sophomore Wyatt Richards earned 2 points for the team going 3-and-2 and shot a 51. Junior Davis Jordan shot a 50 and earned 1 point for the team, going all-square, meaning he and his opponent had an equal number of points.

“I think we did good, obviously the plug greens were a little bit of a curve ball, but I think we did alright,” said Donnelly. “I personally played OK; the team played OK, but I think the plugged greens got us, but we’ll come back and beat them next time. For me, posted off the tee pretty good ... we just had a little bit of approach shot issues, putting was fine, but we played OK. Chipping needs work.”

Plugged greens create a bumpy surface on the course which often occurs through aeration during maintenance and helped WHS golfers during the Greely match.

“The course was in great shape,” said Harmon. “I was struggling off the tee a little bit, overall, I did well. My short game was pretty good, greens were aerated so it was kind of hard. Long irons and getting off the tee (still need work).”

In total strokes, Windham was less than 20 strokes behind Greely, 220-238.

“We have notoriously struggled when we play at Val Halla,” said Windham varsity golf coach Adam Manzo. “I think the match was closer than the score reflected. Many of the matches came down to the last few holes, half of the medal scores were all within three to five shots, and while I do not think we gave them our best shot, this was an improvement for us at their course.”

Both Davis Jordan and Wyatt Richards were able to come away with points in the five and six spot. Davis tied both match and medal and had an opportunity to win both on the last hole and Wyatt won both match and medal.

Manzo said each match in the top six matters, so he was happy that both Jordan and Richards were able to come away with some points for the team.

“Team score wise, our goal would be to be below 220,” he said. “I do believe as the season goes on, we will be able to move in that direction with the ultimate goal of saving our lowest round for the Southern Maine Activities Association Qualifier in early October.” <

 

Windham Youth Lacrosse turns in solid defensive effort

Windham Youth Lacrosse Organization's Ivan Arsenault,
right, a sixth-grader, gets by  a Cape Elizabeth opponent
on Sunday, May 15 at Twin Brooks Recreation Area in
Cumberland. PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA

By Matt Pascarella

Windham Youth Lacrosse Organization’s fifth and sixth-grade team played back-to-back games with Cape Elizabeth and Marshwood at Twin Brooks Recreation Area in Cumberland on Sunday, May 15 and looked sharp defensively.

Cape came out strong and scored several goals early on in the game. In the second half, Windham came back and got close to tying the game. Unfortunately, Cape scored a flurry of goals before the final whistle and won.

In the Marshwood game, the Hawks scored a bunch early on, but Windham worked hard to close the gap. Despite a great effort by Windham, Marshwood overtook this game.

Windham fifth-grader Kaleb Fitch thought the team played pretty well but could have done better. He said they had good passing, had some nice chances and their defense did well.

During the game with Cape Elizabeth, Windham had solid defense early on and blocked several opportunities for Cape Elizabeth before the end of the first half. Sixth-grader Josh Arbour scored first for the Eagles. Windham fifth-grader Carson Richard put the ball between the posts ahead of the first whistle.

In the second half, Windham kicked it up a few notches when Fitch, fifth-grader Bryce Rogers, Richard and sixth-grader Ivan Arsenault all scored.

Cape fired several goals in goal before the last whistle.

In Windham’s game with Marshwood, Windham defense held off Marshwood early on and Windham took several shots at goal. Richard found the back of the net three times in the first half.

In the second half, Windham’s Arbour scored. He was followed by Richard, who scored back-to-back goals, then Fitch. Windham scored two more times.

Richard said he thought they did well passing-wise and spreading out was decent. As the season has progressed, he’s seen their spacing, when to cut and where to be improve.

Windham fought Marshwood up to the last seconds and never wavered in intensity.

“The passing was better this game than the last,” said Windham Youth Lacrosse Organization’s fifth and sixth-grade boys’ coach Joe Somma. “The kids need to work on spreading the ball around doing cuts toward the goal, but overall, they did a pretty good job.”

Somma said that Windham continues to show improvement. 

“It depends on where the kids are playing; I want to get the kids in as many positions as possible. Some kids are better at other positions ... but they should all play those positions. Depending on who’s where, you’ll get different effort,” Somma said. <

Tales from the Outdoors: Pheasants in Maine

By Bob Chapin

Maine is famous for its excellent Grouse hunting, or more commonly heard its ‘Pat’ridge’ hunting. Many hunters enjoy a crisp Autumn day walking the woods and fields behind a good dog searching for a ruffed grouse. The areas around Rangely and Azizcohous Lakes, and the Baxter region, and lots of points north and west are excellent habitat for the wiley birds and many an hour can be spent searching for the elusive birds. There is another game bird in Maine that has a small but loyal following of hunters closer to home and that is the ring-necked or Chinese pheasant.

While not native to the United States, the bird has been a steady import since about the 1830s and has caught on through natural propagation in several states who now feature the bird in its wildlife offerings. Many of the mid-western states such as Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Illinois have huntable populations but the state that claims to be the Capital of Pheasant hunting is South Dakota.

I have been fortunate to experience several trips to South Dakota hunting both private farms and commercial hunting lodges and I can attest to its claim as the Capital. Our private landowner hunts were classics over standing corn. The farmer had a contract with the local refinery to process his corn into ethanol. As a courtesy to us, he combined huge fields leaving 15 rows standing and cut the adjoining 15 rows so it looked like a striped field. We would line up standers at the end of the standing rows and drivers would push through the corn. The thinking was that the pheasants, who would prefer to run from danger than to fly, would collect towards the end of the rows and flush wildly giving the standers many opportunities at a lot of flying birds. Somebody forgot to brief the pheasants.

As soon as the drivers started down the rows, birds began squirting out the sides both running and flying and escaped to adjoining corn patches. After we figured that out we posted some of our shooters on the sides and success rates went up. Not being a farm boy, I am fascinated with farm machinery and talked the farmer into letting me ride along with him in the combine when he got to cut the corn we already hunted after dark. Modern day combines are a marvel of engineering. The dashboard was all lit up and looked like it belonged in the space shuttle. There were more lighted dials and gauges than I had ever seen despite my time in jet fighters. These rigs do not take time to unload when the corn hopper is filled. A gauge tells the operator not only the moisture content of the corn but also the load level.  In a carefully choreographed dance, a support truck pulls along side and a boom, controlled by the combine driver, swings over and deposits the kernels into the delivery truck which was soon filled and off to the refinery…very efficient. The hunting was phenomenal and we all went home with a limit of birds.

The State of Maine Pheasant Program is focused in two southern counties, Cumberland and York. Through the purchase of a Pheasant Permit ($19) hunters can harvest two birds a day throughout the season that runs from the beginning of October through the end of December. Nobody, of course, hunts that much. Funds generated through the sale of permits pays for the birds purchased from a breeder the following year. It is the hunters from various rod and gun clubs that make the program possible. The breeder brings a truckload of pheasants to Cabela’s parking lot one day a week for three weeks beginning in October. There they are transloaded to privately owned pickups, sedans and utility trailers where hunters and their family members disperse to anywhere from 21 to 26 private properties located throughout the two counties. These sites can be found on IF&W’s website. They are released, usually on a Sunday, when there is no hunting permitted. The birds disperse and get acquainted with their new surroundings.

Many of the birds survive the hunting season but face a grueling task to get through a Maine winter between the weather and our collection of predators. It seems everyone likes to eat pheasants. The official IF&W position is that the birds do not self-propagate because of the adverse conditions and something in our soil that makes their eggshells particularly fragile. That said, those of us who have been involved with stocking the same sites year after year often arrive at those sites for the first stocking to discover there actually have been several holdover and recently born birds already there!

Pheasants are a wonderful bird for such put and take operations. They are a great bird to start new hunters, children love releasing them, and they are delicious on the table. <

Another great season for Windham cross country

Hannah Langstaff

By Matt Pascarella

Windham cross country competed at the state competition at Twin Brook Recreation in Cumberland on Saturday, November 2nd. Windham had seven runners competing.

Windham finished ninth out of 15 teams. Windham was also the 13th fastest team in Maine overall; against all Classes, A, B, and C; with a total of 36 teams at States. Nicely done!

Freshman Elise Schultz placed 66th and dropped 17 seconds off her Regional Championship time, in a State Championship Meet to finish with a time of 22:32.39!

“Throughout my season, I prepared my body for regionals and states by increasing my mileage, but I always lacked confidence and doubted my ability to run at a faster speed,” Schultz explained. “At the state meet, I discovered my true potential and my ability to overcome my largest obstacle...my mind.” 

Of the 111 Class A runners, sophomore Estella Inman was 23rd, with a finish time of 20:51.00 and was 35th of 299 runners overall in Maine. All in her first year ever running cross country!

“It was kind of hard racing the same course,” observed Inman. “It was also helpful because you knew what was going to be next, so it went by very fast. I’m really excited for next year and I want to do even better than this year.”

Senior Hannah Langstaff placed 42nd and finished with a time of 21:48.70.

Senior Hailey Applebee placed 55th and finished with a time of 22:13.00.

Right behind her, was sophomore Camille Culpovich who placed 59th with a time of 22:15.19.

Sophomore Eve Schultz finished 86th with a time of 23:34.66.

Diane Ingalls wasn’t far behind Schultz, as Ingalls finished 89th with a time of 23:46.09.

Senior Hailey Applebee reflected on the race and the future of cross country for her. “The whole time I’m thinking I got to do it for my team...perform the best that I can and that I’m mentally prepared for this...make the most of it.” She plans to run in college.

“The Lady Eagles team pursuit began in early July,” remarked coach Jeff Riddle. “Their progression taught them to run united, with a mental edge, and with grit and determination. Saturday at the State Championship meet was a very successful day for Windham High School Cross Country.”

“We had a growing year on the boys’ side with diverse levels of experience on the team, and our season was a great one for our seniors, an investment season in learning for our underclassmen to set new goals for 2020.”