The Hermon High wrestling program is still in its formative years, but the success of two current Hawks could serve as pillars for continued development.

Seniors Pat Reardon and Chris Archer each won individual titles at last weekend’s Eastern Maine Class C championship meet, making Hermon one of just four schools – along with Foxcroft Academy, Bucksport, and Dexter – to claim individual crowns in the 14 weight classes.

Archer edged two-time state champion Randy Briggs of Foxcroft 10-8 to win the Eastern C title in the latest renewal of their rivalry at 171 pounds. Briggs had defeated Archer 4-3 a week earlier in the Penobscot Valley Conference finals and also scored a 15-5 win over Archer in the 2004 Class C state championship match.

“Chris Archer started wrestling as a sophomore and wrestled half a year,” said Hermon coach Richard Stark. “He came back last year and has battled [Briggs] all last year and this year. They split on the season, and now Chris is going to the states seeded No. 1 and I’m really happy about that.”

Reardon remained undefeated this winter by outpointing Doug Dyer of Penobscot Valley of Howland 2-0 in the Eastern C final at 275 pounds, a week after he defeated Old Town’s Dan Hatch in the PVC finals.

Like Archer, Reardon also had success as a junior, placing third in the state at 215 pounds.

“Pat Reardon comes to practice and works hard every day,” said Stark. “He started as a sophomore, and that first year he took a lot of lumps. Last year he stepped up and finished third at the states, and this year he’s going back to the states No. 1. He’s done a great job.”

Hermon also got a third from Tristan Taggart at 130 pounds during last Saturday’s regional and placed sixth in the team competition. The Hermon coaching staff and wrestlers are working to increase participation at the lower levels, as they see that as a key to the Hawks’ growth.

“We’re still working on our feeder program,” Stark said. “This year the recreation department in Hermon has picked up our feeder program for the first time, and we’re looking for more numbers.”

What won’t hurt that cause is having a couple of champions providing inspiration for the younger wrestlers.

“These guys work with the little kids, they go out on the mats with those guys,” said Stark. “And when the little kids come watch [Archer and Reardon] wrestle, they’re real impressed and they want to be champions some day, too.”

Eastman eclipses own mark

Another month, another Eastern Maine Indoor Track League record for Tyler Eastman. The Old Town High senior broke the league standard in the shot put for the fourth time this season Saturday with a throw of 55 feet, 21/2 inches during a meet at the University of Maine field house.

That topped Eastman’s previous best of 54-10 set during the Black Bear Relays on Jan. 7, which was nearly a foot better than his earlier mark of 53-101/2 set on Dec. 29 and his original record of 52-11 set during the first meet of the season on Dec. 20.

Until Eastman emerged this winter, the EMITL boys shot put record had stood for two decades – since Joe Trefethen’s 52-10 for Orono High in 1984. Eastman’s latest record came on his final attempt of the meet, enabling him to win the event by more than 7 feet over second-place Ryan Birkel ofBrewer, who threw a more-than-respectable 47-71/2.

Eastman this week is preparing for the EMITL championship meet, scheduled for Saturday at the University of Maine. The 6-foot-5, 300-pound Eastman then will compete at the Class B state championships on Feb. 21 at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham. The Class B state record in the shot put is 55-11, a mark that has stood since 1979.

Nokomis football update

The effort to bring football to Nokomis High of Newport was boosted by its first major fund-raiser Sunday, a Super Bowl party at the school that generated nearly $1,000, according to Don Mendell of Friends of Nokomis Football.

“This was a good first step to show ourselves and to show the community that we can actually support football at Nokomis,” said Mendell, an SAD 48 staff member at the forefront of the movement to bring football to the school. The friends group of some two dozen Nokomis football supporters hopes to raise at least $35,000 privately to support the startup of a Nokomis team that could begin play as soon as this fall.

“We’d like to field a team in 2005,” Mendell said, “and if it’s at the club level or we play a junior varsity schedule, that’s fine with us.”

The group plans to pay most costs of the program privately, Mendell said, but will ask the SAD 48 board of directors to fund bus transportation and a playing field for the team.

Mendell said he and other members of the friends group have spoken with people involved in bringing or reinstating football at other Maine schools in recent years, such as Greely High in Cumberland Center and Mount Ararat School in Topsham, and learned a lot about developing a program from the grass roots.

Ernie Clark can be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600 or eclark@bangordailynews.net