Windham High indoor track team excels in first meet of year

Windham High freshman Ava Gerrity gets some serious
distance in the long jump before her first-place finish at
the University of Southern Maine in Gorham during Windham's
indoor track meet with Thornton Academy and South Portland
on Thursday, Jan. 13. PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA

By Matt Pascarella

Windham’s boys’ and girls’ indoor track team showed they are just getting started as several athletes qualified for states and many had new personal records in their meet against Thornton Academy and South Portland on Thursday, Jan. 13 at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham.

The Windham girls team finished first with a score of 75 narrowly beating South Portland who scored 75 and TA who scored 74.

The Windham boys had many athletes establish new records. Junior Connor Langstaff qualified for states in the high jump, long jump and hurdles. He also won honors as top senior athlete of the meet.

The Windham boys came in third with a score of 37; South Portland scored 161.5 and TA scored 69.5 during their meet.

Boys

Langstaff finished first in the high jump with a height of 6-01.00 feet. He also finished first in the long jump with a distance leap of 19-09.75 feet. He finished fourth in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 9.22 seconds.

Windham junior Scott Ingalls finished second overall in the shot put with a distance of 34-07.00.

Windham senior Will Stewart finished second in the 55-meter dash with a time of 7.17. Stewart also finished second in the 200 with a time of 25.26.

Stewart said overall it was a good meet. He’s been putting in a lot of work and everything is coming together. He said he’s seen a lot of times dropping and athletes improving in just the third meet of the season.

In the 400, Windham sophomore Jinqu Li finished second with a time of 1:03.95. 

“We were missing seven athletes due to sickness/quarantine, so we were lacking depth and weren't able to field all the relay teams,” said Windham boys’ coach Paula Pock. “Our goal for today's meet was to improve our performances and qualify some individuals for the championship meets. Almost all our athletes had personal bests, so we were pleased to see that.” 

Girls

Windham freshman Ava Gerrity finished first in the 200 with a time of 29.21. Gerrity also crushed it in the high jump, with a first-place finish and a height of 4-10.00. She also finished first in the long jump with a distance leap of 14-08.50. She was honored as the top junior athlete of the meet.

Gerrity said she set a personal record in the long jump and high jump which was pretty cool. She thought the team did amazing; everyone on the team is more comfortable and getting better.

Windham sophomore Khalysia Hammith finished first in the 55 with a time of 7.91. She set a personal record and qualified for the state meet.

Windham senior Monica Agneta finished first in the 200 with a time of 28.72. She set a personal record and qualified for states.

Windham senior Estella Inman finished first in the shot put with a distance of 33-07.50.

Windham girls coach Denise Curry said the girls hard work during practices contributed to so many personal records as well as their win. <

Windham varsity and junior varsity boys’ soccer give all, but Scarborough narrowly gets by

Windham varsity soccer player Ethan
Wert, a senior, takes the ball away
from a defender and heads toward
the goal in Windham's home game
against Scarborough on Nov. 6.
Windham kept Scarborough from
scoring for more than a half.
Scarborough did get one by the
goalkeeper for a 1-0 win.
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA

By Matt Pascarella

The Windham High School varsity and junior varsity boys’ soccer teams kept rival Scarborough scoreless for the first halves of each game, and then some on Friday, Nov. 6 at Windham.

After the varsity team held its own against this tough team, the Red Storm managed to score halfway through the second half and got a 1-0 win. Scarborough scored back-to-back goals late in the second half against the JV team and won 2-0.

Varsity

Windham’s varsity started strong, pressuring Scarborough. In only his second varsity start, filling in as goalie, junior Colby Connolly had several nice stops and blocks.

Windham held off Scarborough in the first half and showed they have grown as a program. Windham coach Ben Schulz said they still have some work to reach an upper echelon like Scarborough but added “I’m proud of them; we worked hard, but sometimes the ball doesn’t go your way.”

Windham’s intensity didn’t let up in the second half. There was roughly 18 minutes left in the game when Scarborough scored. As the clock wound down, Windham made one final effort to tie. Unfortunately, they came up short and Scarborough got the win.

“This is probably the best we’ve played in seasons,” said Windham captain and junior Wyatt Flibbert. “I’m pretty happy with how we played as a team ... we gave up that goal, but we worked hard and almost got one back there at the end ... definitely worked a lot harder than in the past.”

Junior Varsity

The Windham JV team also had a scoreless first half, pressuring the Red Storm, with strong defense and multiple nice stops by Windham sophomore goalie Sam Plummer.

“I think we could have played a lot better, said Windham junior Will Stewart. “Towards the second half we cleaned it up.”

Stewart said they didn’t have the energy they needed in the first half. In the second half they connected
more passes, made better runs and had more shots on goal, they just could put any in.

In the second half, the Eagles continued to pressure with shots on goal and several blocks from Plummer. With a little more than eight minutes left, Scarborough scored. Then with a little less than seven minutes left Scarborough scored again. Windham put in a strong effort, but never recovered and Scarborough won 2-0.

“I think they found the fight they needed (in the second half)” said Windham coach Mitchell Hodge. “They worked and held them off. We had moments where we were flat, but never stopped working, never stopped staying engaged. It’s not the outcome we wanted. We made the adjustments we needed to, just couldn’t hold them off the whole way.”<