Hampden Academy senior Mikki Libbey has found a hero of sorts in Bangor High senior Jennie Lucy.

While Libbey is recovering from surgery on the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee, she has been watching with interest as Lucy, who tore the ACL in her left knee during a Sept. 6 soccer game, has made a comeback on the Bangor indoor track and field team.

Libbey is hoping she can make a similar return during the softball season. Lucy made her first indoor track appearance on Saturday, winning the 800-meter run in a time of 2 minutes, 34.73 seconds.

Libbey said Lucy was told she would need four months of recovery before she could run again, but the Ram star was able to run earlier than that.

“It’s so nice to hear other people are going through this and I’m hoping I can recover that quick,” Libbey said recently. “Softball’s a little different [than track] with batting and sliding, things like that. I’m hoping I can do something, but I’m not sure.”

Libbey, who is the Broncos’ starting shortstop, injured her knee during a preseason basketball scrimmage at Greely High of Cumberland Center when she tried to change direction during a fast break.

The 5-foot-3 guard kept playing over the next few weeks with some days off to rest her knee but tweaked it again.

A magnetic resonance imaging test revealed a tear, and Libbey had surgery almost three weeks ago. She has a new ACL made from tissue from her hamstring and has already started physical therapy.

Libbey, who has been one of the top defensive players over the years for coach Ben Greenlaw’s Broncos, would have started for Hampden, which is now 1-11.

“It’s really hard to sit and watch,” Libbey said. “When we won our first game against Brewer, everyone else was able to go in and help the team. The most I can do is sit and cheer. It’s really hard, but the team’s been good about it.”

Libbey, who was named to the Maine Soccer Coaches Eastern A all-star team in 2006 and 2007, has been accepted to the University of Maine-Farmington and would like to play soccer for the Beavers next fall.

Wood, Wright take charge

As the Central of Corinth sports teams made their move from Class C to Class B this year, the Red Devils’ cheering squad probably couldn’t have had a better coaching staff in place for the change.

Kristen Wood and Courtney Wright, who were senior captains on a Brewer High team that won the 2007 Class A state championship, took over the Central program this winter.

“We missed cheering so much that we wanted to be involved in it somehow,” Wood said. “It’s definitely been worth it. They’ve worked so hard from Day 1.”

The two coaches are sharing duties as each has a full load of college classes. Wright, who is 19, is studying nursing at the University of Maine, while Wood, 18, is in a business administration program at Husson College in Bangor.

“That’s why we decided to do it together,” Wright said. “With school and practice every day, it was going to be a little bit stressful. You’re pretty much doing homework every spare minute you have.”

Central, which had always been a strong Class C team, has had a strong showing since making the move to Class B.

The Red Devils, who were fifth at the Class C state championships last year, placed third in the Jan. 12 Penobscot Valley Conference Large School Cheering Championships and were sixth in the Jan. 19 Big East Conference Cheering Championships.

“They were worried they would embarrass themselves,” Wright said. “We were like, no, you guys look good. And when they finally found out at PVCs that they could do this, they’ve become more confident.”

Wood and Wright found out about the job opening from Kristie Reed, the longtime Brewer coach.

The two former Witches said the lessons they learned from Reed have been valuable as they’re essentially teenagers coaching teenagers.

“We had a great role model with Kristie,” Wright said. “She demands your respect in a way that you admire her, so we knew that it wouldn’t be difficult for us to get respect if we did what she does. You have to get through to the team in a way that they would want to be there and have fun but also work really hard.”

The Red Devils will compete Saturday in the Eastern Maine championships at the Bangor Auditorium. The Class B competition begins at 9 a.m. followed by Class D at 12:25 p.m. and Class C at 3:45.

Mack decides on Colby

Cony of Augusta senior basketball standout Rachael Mack has settled on Colby College.

The 6-foot-1 center will be a freshman at the Waterville school in 2008-09 and plans to play basketball for coach Lori McBride.

“I knew I wanted to go to a small school that would offer me a really good education,” Mack said recently. “Coach McBride is really great and I wanted to play for her.”

Mack said McBride has been recruiting her since she was a sophomore. Mack also looked at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham, Bowdoin College in Brunswick and St. Joseph’s in Standish.

Mack, who was named to the All-Maine second team and has been a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference South first-teamer and Eastern Maine Class A all-tourney player, will join Lee Academy guard Aarika Ritchie at Colby next year. The two play on the same Maine Northstars club team.

Mack’s Cony senior teammate Shelby Pelkey is looking at basketball programs at several Division III schools in New England, including Wheaton in Norton, Mass., Rivier in Nashua, N.H., and Mount Holyoke in South Hadley, Mass.

jbloch@bangordailynews.net

990-8193