Young sprinters anticipating some fast-paced fun in Spain

Two teammates on Bangor High School’s outdoor track and field team will continue to run on the same team for a little longer – even though one recently graduated from Bangor and the other still has his senior year in front of him.

Confused? Mike Baude and Josh Mishou will be teammates as well as roommates when they participate in an international sports exchange program in early July. Baude is the graduate. Mishou is the senior.

They will fly to Barcelona in Spain and compete agar athletes in the same age group from Spain, France and the United States.

“I’m looking forward to it a lot,” said Baude. “Josh and I will be roommates. It’ll be easier having at least one person there I already know and know I can talk to.”

Talking may be the most challenging thing they do over there as neither Baude nor Mishou speak Spanish. Both learned French in school.

“It kind of scares me a bit that I’ll run into people who I won’t know what they’re saying,” Mishou said.

The program is called the World Sports Exchange. The WSE each year invites some of the top athletes in each state to compete in various sports. Participants in the exchange program must pay their own way. The estimated cost of the trip is $2,400 per person.

Both athletes will arrive in Barcelona on July 1 for eight days of practice, competition, meeting European athletes, and sightseeing.

Both athletes will practice during the first two days and then take part in the Catelonian Junior Olympics on July 3-4.

Baude will compete in the 100 and 200-meter dashes. Mishou will take part in the the 100, 200, high jump, and possibly a relay race.

From Barcelona, they will travel north to Perpignan, France, for more sightseeing and a farewell dinner on July 9.

Both boys are anxious to begin the trip.

“It’s a lot of things. A lot of things excite me about this trip,” said Mishou. “I’m looking forward to seeing what it’s like abroad.”

“I’d like to know how good other kids around the world are compared to what I’m used to competing against,” Baude explained.

Mishou agreed. “I want to see where I stand internationally among athletes of the same level,” he said.

Baude’s parents paid for the trip as a graduation gift.

Baude is looking at the trip as a vacation before he gets back into the academic grind as a freshman at Husson College in Bangor this fall.

“Florida and Canada are the farthest places I’ve ever been,” Baude said.

Mishou began a fund-raising drive more than a month ago to help defray the cost of his trip.

“When I first got the letter, I didn’t think about it very seriously because of the cost,” Mishou said. “But I talked to my father about it, and he said if I could raise most of the money, I could go.”

It is a rare opportunity that neither of these Bangor teen-agers feel they can afford to pass up.

“It’ll be a whole new cultural experience,” said Baude. “Foreign food, a foreign country, a different language. I can’t wait to go.”

People interested in making a donation to Josh Mishou’s sports exchange travel fund can call Mishou at 945-5737.