Leong set to defend state title Hampden gymnast loses longtime coach

Hampden gymnast Sarah Leong has been in kind of a cocoon this year, working on her own routines with her team and not worrying about how the rest of the state has been doing.

That may not matter – it’s the rest of the state that has to worry about Leong, who is the defending state all-around champion.

“Noble [of Berwick] usually has someone and I think Waterville does this year, too,” Leong said.

The senior, who practices and attends meets with the Old Town High team (Jill Sarnacki of Hampden also works out with the Indians but the scores Leong and Sarnacki earn don’t count toward Old Town’s scores), qualified earlier this winter for the state all-around competition, which will be held Feb. 16 at Skowhegan High School.

Leong’s average all-around score this winter has been about a 36.35, which is just off the 36.50 she scored to win the all-around last year. She notched the 36.35 in a recent meet at Waterville.

Leong has been scoring nines on her floor exercise routine and has added a front-front vault, which features a front handspring.

It’s been a different kind of year for Leong, who is still waiting to hear about college plans but hopes to walk on with the University of Massachusetts gymnastics team. Former Valley of Bingham standout Mellory Giberson is a member of the UMass team and was the Altantic-10 conference Rookie of the Year last season.

First, Leong’s longtime coach Shannon Gallant moved to the Portland area. Leong thinks Gallant coached her at the YMCA and high school levels for about eight years.

“It was hard to have her leave,” Leong said. “She was an awesome coach.”

Leong has also had a packed meet schedule, some days competing in both a high school and a USA Gymnastics meet.

“I’ve been doing a lot of that, actually,” she said. “It’s been a pretty good year, competing with Old Town. It’s been a lot of fun.”

Camden’s Kelly in final year

Even though the Camden Hills wrestling team has won eight straight Eastern Maine titles, the Windjammers had a lot of motivation going into Saturday’s win at Belfast High. That’s because they know this is the final year for coach John Kelly, who has skippered Camden Hills for 15 seasons.

“He’s been doing a great job for years and it’s good to give something like this back to him,” Sam Glover, a senior captain, said Saturday after the Eastern Maine championship meet.

Kelly feels the program will be in good hands, especially if his brother Patrick Kelly and longtime assistant Perry Goodspeed take over the team. John Kelly was an assistant and volunteer coach for eight years before he took over the head job.

“I’m just hanging it up,” Kelly said. “I’ve got other things I want to try to do now. … I feel the program’s in good shape and I’m just passing it along now.”

The Windjammers will defend their 2001 state Class B title starting Friday in the state meet at the Bangor Auditorium.

Big East Class B teams square off

The first Big East Conference Class B championship games will be held Wednesday at the Bangor Auditorium.

The girls matchup is set as Houlton will meet defending Class B state champion Mount Desert Island at 5:30 p.m. The matchup for the boys game, as of Monday afternoon, was Bucksport-Caribou. Ellsworth and Hermon both played point-worthy games Monday night and could overtake Caribou to face the Golden Bucks, Big East commissioner Paul Soucy said Monday.

Old Town’s Stormann returns

Old Town guard Jeremy Stormann had yet to play a game for the Indians when he went into Saturday’s contest against Caribou. Judging from his 11 points in a close 55-52 victory, he was anxious to get back on the court.

Old Town coach Marty Clark said he wasn’t expecting Stormann to be able to play yet, but the senior was given clearance by his doctors. He came off the bench Saturday and hit three 3-pointers.

Stormann broke his wrist in a pickup basketball game before preseason started in late November.

Michaud earns honor

Fort Kent High athletic director Paul Michaud has been recognized as a Certified Master Athletic Administrator, the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association announced recently.

To earn the title, Michaud went through an evaluation of his educational background, experience, NIAAA Leadership courses and professional contributions, culminating with a practical written project.