Ram trio finalists for award Lee Academy duo among girls picks

BANGOR – While the main motivation is recognizing the state’s top individual players as well as Ronald McDonald House Charities of Maine, this year’s Maine McDonald’s High School senior honorees reflect team ideals more than any other year’s.

For what is believed to be the first time in the awards’ history, three players from the same school – Bangor’s Ryan Weston, Lee Suvlu, and Jon McAllian – are among the 10 semifinalists for the Mr. Maine Basketball Award, presented annually to the state’s top senior player.

“It doesn’t really matter who gets it,” McAllian said. “I’d be happy for any of us because it’s no competition between us that way.”

“It’s great to be recognized individually for your talents, but [Wednesday night], we’ll forget about this and just play basketball because we want to win a state championship,” said Suvlu.

“That’s a great honor to have three of us be recognized from one team,” Weston said. “I think it says a lot about these guys.”

That theme continues with the field of semifinalists for the Miss Maine Basketball Award, which features Lee Academy teammates Amanda Gifford and Aarika Ritchie.

“I think it shows we stand for a certain thing, we work hard, and it’s a reflection of our school and our teammates,” Gifford said. “We’ve played together since second grade, and even though they’re our names individually on the list, we wouldn’t be here together without our teammates.”

The other boys semifinalists are Adam Kingsbury of Presque Isle, Derek Libbey from Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln, Ryan Martin from Maranacook of Readfield, Cony of Augusta’s Andrew Pullen, Kris Noonan of Boothbay, Winthrop’s Sam Leclerc, and Kyle Donovan from Deering of Portland.

The rest of the girls semifinalists are Fort Kent’s Marissa Albert, Rachel Foster of Houlton, Kelley Paradis from Nokomis of Newport, Brogan Liberty from Lawrence of Fairfield, Rachel Mack from Cony of Augusta, Deering of Portland’s Nicole Garland, Jill Henrikson from Morse of Bath, and Coreen Hennessy from Fryeburg Academy.

“There are so many great players in Eastern Maine, I was pretty surprised we’re both on the list, but I think it’s cool because it shows how talented a team we have,” said Ritchie, who accomplished a trifecta of sorts.

Ritchie is the only honoree to be a Miss or Mr. Maine semifinalist, a McDonald’s All-State Academic Team selection, and one of foul shooting regional champions who will compete for the state title.

In all, 82 individual players and 62 high schools are represented by the Maine McDonald’s High School Senior All-Star teams, All-Academic rosters, and foul shooting champs.

This is the 20th anniversary of the Maine McDonald’s All-Star games. Since their inception in 1989, $1.3 million has been donated to Maine Ronald McDonald House Charities.

The six (three boys and three girls) Mr. and Miss Maine finalists will be announced after all state tournaments are complete. The winners will be announced at the 7:30 p.m. all-star banquet March 14. The all-star games and foul shooting competitions will be held March 15 from 8:30 a.m. through 4 p.m. All events will be hosted by Husson College at Newman Gymnasium.