Narraguagus grads excel for Bowdoin

Back in 1998, Narraguagus High School in Harrington sent its 80 graduates in a variety of directions, just like every school does.

Two of those grads landed at Bowdoin College in Brunswick. And four years later, those two – Casey Kelley and Nick Lyford – have emerged as team captains and school record holders in their respective track and field events.

Not bad for high school with that no track, and which held its workouts on a dirt parking lot.

“Narraguagus is my favorite school,” Bowdoin coach Peter Slovenski said in a press release recently. “Everyone on our team from Narraguagus broke a school record [recently].”

Kelley established a women’s triple jump mark that weekend – April 13-14 – of 36 feet, 10 inches. She also won the 100-meter hurdles in 16.20 seconds and the javelin at 120 feet.

Lyford, a two-time All-New England selection in the javelin, threw 189-10 in that event. He was also the shot put champ at the state collegiate meet during the most recent indoor season.

Slovenski said he was confident that Kelley would make the adjustment to college track and field, but was less confident in Lyford’s desire to do so.

“I knew Casey would be a standout in college athletics. She had been a Class C state champion in the triple jump and hurdles and had a lot of motivation for track,” Slovenski said. “Casey was the top recruit of the year. But Nick has been a great surprise.”

Kelley said she had doubts as well.

“Nick didn’t work very hard at track in high school,” she said. “He used to hide in the back of a pickup truck just to get out of running intervals.”

Slovenski said that early in their careers at Bowdoin, that trend continued.

“During their freshman year, Casey was always on time for practice and Nick was often missing,” Slovenski said. “Casey told me to look for him in the back of pickup trucks. He had a lot of excuses for not being at practice.”

Lyford said he had to change his mental approach to the sport.

“You need to work a lot harder to be successful in college track, said Lyford, who high jumped 6-0 and threw the javelin 157 feet in high school. “Every college team has some guys who were state champions in high school, so I had to start putting in the work if I wanted to be competitive at this level.”

Slovenski said that new attitude has paid off for his senior star.

“Now he is one of the most dedicated athletes on the team as well as one of the best students,” Slovenski said.

UMPI honors top student-athletes

Megan Amero of Danforth and Nick Lyons of East Millinocket have been honored as the University of Maine-Presque Isle’s Most Outstanding Athletes for 2001-2002.

Amero excelled in soccer and basketball, while Lyons was a soccer standout for the Owls.

Other Most Valuable Players at UMPI were: soccer, Mark Barthelemy, Amero; cross country, Evan Graves, Erin Schloeman; golf, Craig MacFarlane; volleyball, Rachel Underwood; basketball, Vjeko Jadric, Rachel Larlee; baseball, Josh Berry; softball, Sarah Gibb.

The winners were announced at UMPI’s recent sports banquet.

Boynton honored by Penmen

Shannon Boynton of Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester has been selected to receive the school’s student-athlete Sportsmanship Award.

Boynton, a senior from Millinocket, was a member of the Penmen basketball and cross country teams. The Stearns High School graduate played in all 26 basketball games for Southern New Hampshire last season, ranking among the team leaders in steals.

Boynton was a tenacious defender at point guard and averaged 16 minutes per game coming off the bench.

She competed in two cross country races last fall, placing second on the team at the Regis College Invitational in Weston, Mass.