Windham High track team continues excellence

Windham senior Matthew Fix clears the high jump bar at
5 feet 10 inches during a track meet with Bonny Eagle,
Marshwood and Gorham at Bonny Eagle in Standish
on Thursday, May 12. PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA 

By Matt Pascarella

It was a hot day, but Windham’s outdoor track and field boys’ and girls’ teams were ready to compete. The girls remain undefeated, 3-0, as they finished first with a score of 99 against Gorham, Marshwood and Bonny Eagle in a dual meet at Bonny Eagle High School in Standish on Thursday, May 12.

The boys’ team had several athletes finish in the top five at the meet. Windham senior Matthew Fox finished first in the high jump with a height of 5 feet, 10 inches. He has already qualified for states.

“It feels good,” said Fox. “The main goal now is I want to win out states. It’s fun to be up here, but I think the main job is winning that.”

The boys finished with a score of 56; Gorham finished first with 79.50, Marshwood 70 and Bonny Eagle 59.

Girls

Freshman Tayla Pelletier finished first in the high jump with a distance of 4-11.00. She finished first in the triple jump with a distance of 35-04.00; she finished second in the 300 hurdles, with a time of 51.15 seconds. She qualified for states in all these events.

Pelletier said it was a good day. She felt like the heat didn’t impede her performance and she got several personal records. She said it’s nice to have teammates cheering you on.

In the pole vault, senior Isabel Dionne finished first and qualified for states with a height of 7-06.00.

Sophomore Jasmynne Heath finished first in the 1600 racewalk with a time of 11:17.23 minutes and qualified for states.

Freshman Ava Gerrity finished second in the long jump with a distance of 15-08.75 and the triple jump with a distance of 32. She qualified for states in both events.

“The Lady Eagles track and field team is showcasing excellence. These ladies ... bring the fun to the ‘game’ daily; they set goals, they are building self-confidence and belief in themselves ... as an all-in and incredibly motivated team.”   

Boys

Windham junior Max Arbour finished second in the shot put with a distance 38-03.25.

Senior Josh Guite finished second in the javelin throw with a distance of 132-00.

Junior Owen Weatherby finished third in the 400 with a time of 56.75.

Senior Wyatt Flibbert came in second in the long jump with a distance of 18-10.00.

Windham boys coach Paula Pock said the athletes had a lot of personal bests in the sprints, jumping and throwing events. The weather was a motivator; the team was looking forward to this and the nice weather helped with performances. <

WHS boys' soccer turns in solid effort against Gorham

By Matt Pascarella

The Windham varsity and junior varsity boys’ soccer teams went head-to-head at home on Saturday, Oct. 2 against rival Gorham in a game where both Windham teams played hard but ultimately came up short.

Windham varsity boys' soccer player Tyler Johnsen pushes
back against a Gorham defender as he races to the ball during
Windham's home game against Gorham on Oct. 2. Gorham
defeated Windham, 4-0. PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA

Gorham’s varsity defeated Windham 4-0 and the Eagles’ fell to Gorham 3-0 in the JV game.

Although these were two losses, the Eagles will pick themselves up, learn from this and return to the field ready to go. There is plenty of season left for both teams to show they are even stronger because of these losses.

Varsity

While Gorham found the back of the net twice almost immediately into the start of the game, Windham worked to keep their heads up and kept fighting.

After those Gorham goals early on, the Rams had an opportunity to take a couple shots at an unprotected goal and Windham junior Owen Weatherby blocked them both.

Goalie and Windham senior Colby Connolly had save after save throughout the game.

Windham did go after the ball and took shots on goal in the first half but could not put the ball in the net. At the half, Gorham was up 3-0.

“We had a couple chances, we tried to stay motivated, but I guess we couldn’t really pull it together as a team,” said Windham junior Tyler Johnsen. “We need to come out stronger, faster, better and not get down on each other.”

Johnsen added Gorham’s two goals at the start was discouraging for Windham, but they tried to stick with it.

Windham fought hard in the second half and their defense did keep Gorham’s goals to a lower number but could not get ahead at game’s end.

“We were [seven wins, zero losses] coming into the game,” said Windham varsity boys’ soccer coach Ben Schulz. “We still think we’re a good team, we just got punched in the mouth by another good team. You have games like this ... the most important thing for us is recognize we’ve got work to do and come back ready to go.”

Junior Varsity

Windham started with good passing and had strong defense that held off Gorham for most of the first half.

With about 12 minutes left in the half Gorham fired two in the net consecutively and led at halftime.

Windham kept going. They worked hard to be first to balls. They pressured. Windham goalie and junior Sam Plummer had several nice saves.

Windham freshman Levi Hayman took a shot at goal. So did Windham sophomore Jacob Gagne. The Eagles fought until the end.

“We had good passing and good communicating,” said Windham freshman Matteo Sandora. “We couldn’t really get the ball past [Gorham].”

Windham JV coach Nick Dubay said Windham came ready to play, though a little flat early on. Dubay said it took them a little bit, but the JV team was able to settle in. Gorham got the upper hand.

Dubay said the team can learn to focus on the game more seriously, so they’re ready when the pressure comes. <