Cassie Hintz of Stillwater, who recently completed her junior year at Old Town High School, recently ran to a fifth-place finish in the junior women’s 5,000-meter run at the 2005 USA Junior Outdoor Track and Field Championships held in Carson, Calif.

Hintz, running unattached after parting ways with the Old Town High track program this spring, completed the 3.1-mile race in 17 minutes, 14.31 seconds to place midway through the field of 10 elite runners from throughout the country.

The 17-year-old Hintz is the current state record holder for all classes in the two-mile run both indoors (10:48.28) and outdoors (10:39.43), and she was the 2004 Class B state cross country champion.

She also is the reigning champion of the 5-kilometer run at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships.

In late April, she placed fifth in the Olympic Development 10-kilometer race at the prestigious Penn Relays.

More recently, she has been active on the local road racing scene in addition to preparing for the junior national championships.

Hintz was traveling early this week and unavailable for comment on her top-five performance.

Nicole Blood of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., who like Hintz will be entering her senior year of high school in the fall, won the race in 16:30.90.

Ironically, Blood also is competing unattached after opting to leave the Saratoga Springs High School running program before the start of the outdoor track season this spring.

Blood had led that school’s cross country team to the No. 1 ranking in the nation last fall, and over the winter finished second in the mile and was part of first-place 4×1600 and 4×800 relay teams at the Nike Indoor Nationals.

Nelson to guide Shipbuilders

Mike Nelson, who coached Skowhegan to the 1998 Class A boys basketball state championship, will return to the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference ranks next winter as head coach at Morse High School in Bath.

Nelson will replace Brett Barnes, whose contract was not renewed after the Shipbuilders finished 1-17 last season. Barnes coached at Morse for seven years.

Nelson already has accepted the coaching position as well as a job teaching social studies at Morse, according to athletic director Brian Hatch, who added that the hiring will be formalized when the Bath school board meets on July 11.

“I think it’s just great news,” said Hatch, who coached against Nelson when Hatch was leading the Shipbuilders from 1996 to 1999 and Nelson was at Skowhegan. “There aren’t that many other names in the state of coaches you would rather have run your program. I’m looking forward to working with him.”

Nelson, a former standout during his playing days at the University of Maine at Farmington, served as head coach at Skowhegan High from 1991 to 1999, compiling a 105-39 regular-season record. He coached at Thornton Academy in Saco for the next four years, then on an interim basis at Scarborough High last winter while Matt Townsend was on a leave of absence.

Lobster Bowl fast approaching

The 16th annual Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl all-star football game will be played on July 22 at historic Waterhouse Field in Biddeford.

One change this year involves the move of the pregame training from Colby College in Waterville to Hebron Academy. In addition, the pregame camp for cheerleaders chosen to participate in the game will be held at Central Maine Community College in Auburn.

Proceeds from the annual all-star football game support Shriners hospitals. Last year’s game raised more than $34,000 for the hospitals, according to the Kora Shrine Temple Web site, bringing the total raised over the first 15 years of the game to more than $260,000.

The West leads the series 13-2 after rallying from a 14-0 deficit to earn a 15-14 victory last July. The East’s last victory was a 55-8 romp in 2003.

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