Most of the state’s high school athletes can be thankful practice for fall sports started Monday, just as the recent run of hot, humid weather seems to have broken.

Not so up in Aroostook County, where practice for many schools there has been going on in the extreme heat since the beginning of the month.

The early start, which allows schools to take off several weeks for the annual potato harvest in September and October, had many soccer teams and cross country athletes at practice on or around Aug. 5.

Teams from Limestone/Maine School of Science and Mathematics, Washburn, Easton, Wisdom of St. Agatha, Madawaska, Central Aroostook of Mars Hill, Houlton, Southern Aroostook of Dyer Brook, Van Buren and Hodgdon all played official games Friday or Saturday.

County schools Ashland, Katahdin of Sherman Station and Southern Aroostook did not take a midseason harvest break last year.

The rest of the state can start playing games after 3 p.m. Sept. 6. Those schools hit the fields, trails and courts for the first time Monday as football, soccer, field hockey, cross country and volleyball opened for practice.

The Madawaska and Van Buren soccer teams didn’t have to go too deep into their schedules before the two rivals ran into each other. The powerhouse boys and girls squads were to meet Monday night, with the Madawaska girls opening their season against the Crusaders.

The games against Van Buren will be the first under the new lights at Madawaska.

The new lights have proven useful already. Instead of practicing in the heat of the day, the Owls had some workouts in the evening.

“It’s been awful,” said girls coach Ed Marshall, who is in his 23rd season coaching the Madawaska girls. “There were two or three days where all they did was a little skill work. Ninety-nine percent humidity, temperatures in the 90s, it’s as bad as I’ve ever seen.”

The recent lack of rain has been devastating for Madawaska’s field.

Marshall said the school’s fields looked fine through midsummer but the intense heat and lack of rain in the past two weeks have taken their toll.

“Destroyed,” Marshall said of the soccer field’s condition. “We had so much rain all summer long but it’s turned to hay now with the lack of water. We had some rain last night but I don’t foresee it doing much good.”

Madawaska’s break begins Sept. 21. Marshall estimated that one-third of his girls work the harvest. Like most coaches, Marshall offers voluntary practice sessions at night.

The Owls return to school in the second week of October and have four games before the last countable game, which is Oct. 18. Regional preliminary games begin Oct. 22.

Winston named Hampden AD

Tom Winston is making a return to the area as he begins a new position as the Hampden Academy athletic director.

Winston, who has served for three years as the AD at Lawrence of Fairfield, has coached golf and girls basketball at Brewer High and taught elementary school in the Brewer school system.

It came down to a commute – 110 miles round trip from his home in Brewer to Fairfield vs. a 22-mile round trip to Hampden and back.

Winston is still spending his days at Lawrence because he resigned close to the start of fall sports. The Hampden school committee (SAD 22) approved Winston in its Aug. 14 meeting.

“I don’t want to leave Lawrence in a bind,” he said. “The administration has been outstanding. It’s a tough place to leave.”

Winston replaced Tim Reed, who resigned last month to become an assistant principal at Bangor High.

Winston is joining the Hampden school system as it goes through a bit of turmoil. Hampden Academy principal Katie Donovan resigned suddenly last month, and superintendent of schools Rick Lyons recently declined to renew girls basketball coach Mike Webb’s contract.

Winston said none of that concerns him.

“Obviously all that happened before I got here so I’m starting off with a clean slate,” he said. “I don’t care who’s right and who’s wrong. We just move on from this point and don’t look back.”

Winston also served as a girls basketball coach at Nokomis of Newport and Presque Isle before coming to Brewer, where he also skippered the golf team.

Jessica Bloch can be reached at 990-8193, 1-800-310-8600 or jbloch@bangordailynews.net.