The University of Maine at Fort Kent has named Dustin Nadeau its women’s volleyball coach.

Nadeau, a St. Francis native and UMFK graduate, takes over for Kate Fecinta, who stepped down after directing the Bengals during the program’s first two seasons.

Nadeau last fall played on the UMFK men’s soccer team that won the Sunrise Conference and NAIA Region X championships and advanced to the final 16 of the national tournament.

He earned a business degree from UMFK in 2007 and has been working toward fulfilling requirements to become a certified public accountant.

Nadeau has coached volleyball at Fort Kent High School the last three seasons and also has been the Warriors’ baseball coach for two seasons and their JV boys basketball coach for four seasons.

USM coach Hutchinson honored

Scott Hutchinson, head coach of the men’s cross country and track and field teams at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham, has been named the Little East Conference men’s cross country coach of the year.

The third-year coach guided the Huskies to a strong season after which it was ranked No. 7 in the New England Division III coaches’ poll. USM won its second straight LEC title and its first New England Alliance Championship.

Artesani breaks USM 400m mark

Emily Artesani recently broke one of the University of Southern Maine’s longstanding track and field records during the NYU Fastrack Invitational in New York City.

The sophomore from Orono sprinted to a time of 59.64 seconds in the 400 meters, eclipsing the 17-year-old mark of 59.72 set by Angela Whelchel in February 1991.

Artesani won her heat race and wound up 31st among 66 runners from Divisions I, II and III. She also competed in the 200 meters, running a season-best time of 26.50, 0.02 seconds off her school-record pace in that event.

At the same meet, USM’s Gabby Cyr ran a personal best in the mile. The senior from Fort Kent was clocked in 5:16.85 at the Fastrack Invitational and finished 16th overall, first in her heat.

Gettysburg jumper Yates shines

Shannon Yates of Gettysburg (Pa.) College earned the Women’s Outstanding Performer Award recently during the Centennial Indoor Track and Field Championships.

The senior from New Vineyard, a graduate of Mt. Blue High School in Farmington, earned a trio of top-three finishes in the meet.

Yates won the triple jump with a leap of 36 feet, 7 inches, finished second in the long jump and took third in the high jump (4-11) to help the Bullets claim fourth place.

Saint Joseph’s unveils banners

Saint Joseph’s College in Standish recently unveiled banners to honor players who have scored 1,000 career points playing for the Monks.

The banners, which now hang from the rafters of the Alfond Center gymnasium, contain the names of 46 Saint Joseph’s basketball standouts.

Among the 28 men’s honorees is former Ellsworth High standout Mike McDevitt (Class of 1983), while Sharon Rines of Hermon (’94) is one of 18 SJC women who have reached the milestone.

UMF field hockey honored

The UMaine-Farmington field hockey team was honored by the National Field Hockey Coaches Association for accumulating a team grade point average of 3.0 while 10 players were named to the ZAG/NFHCA Division III National Academic Team.

The Beavers were one of 83 Division III programs around the country to receive the academic award, making this the fifth consecutive year UMF has been a recipient of the honor.

Players named to the National Academic Squad were Kristin Chambers of Gorham, Amanda Fortin of Jefferson, Nicole Lyons of Cape Elizabeth, Renee Trafton of Corinth, Samantha Kenison of Gorham, N.H., Ashley Weeks of Wilton, Ariel Cohen of Yarmouthport, Mass., Jesse Lacasse of Marston Mills, Mass., Emma Deans of Gorham and Jillian Ross of Belfast.

In order to be named to the team, a player must have achieved a GPA of 3.30 or higher through the first semester of the 2007-08 academic year.