It was an unusually cruel winter in northern Maine – so much so that it may affect the boys and girls of summer.

Record snowfall in Aroostook County – 186.3 inches at the Caribou office of the National Weather Service as of Monday – and recent record-setting below-zero overnight temperatures have left many involved in high school spring sports in the region wondering just when the seasons truly will change.

“The odds of us having a ski meet in June are excellent,” joked Caribou High School athletic administrator Dave Wakana on Tuesday.

Wakana was looking out his office window as he spoke, a window that usually provides a view of Caribou High’s baseball field. But because of this winter’s heavy snow – including an additional foot or more dumped on northern Maine during a blizzard last week – that view has been reduced to seeing part of a backstop on a buried field that should re-surface sometime later this spring.

But probably later than April 24, when the Vikings are scheduled to host junior varsity baseball and softball games against Old Town, so steps are being taken to reschedule those contests.

“We’ve got a call into Old Town already,” said Wakana, “because that’s not looking good right now.

“It’s like a beautiful day in the middle of the winter here today.”

Presque Isle’s fields typically are available for use around April school vacation week, said school athletic administrator Dave Heald, but this year he’s not so certain about that timetable.

“As far as the baseball and softball fields, there’s a lot of snow out there, so who knows?” he said. “This is one of those years where we’ve set all kinds of records, so we’ll have to wait and see.”

Presque Isle does have the potential advantage of its new artificial turf field becoming available for track and field as well as baseball and softball practices sooner than its grass fields. But Heald said rather than force the issue and risk any damage, it’s likely there won’t be any major early snow removal done on the turf.

A little farther south, the snow banks are sufficiently high to virtually hide Southern Aroostook Community School from the view of motorists along Route 2 in Dyer Brook.

But as longtime Warriors baseball coach and athletic administrator Murray Putnam conducted his first preseason practice for pitchers and catchers Monday, he still could look somewhat optimistically toward the week of April 20-26 for getting his team out on the field named in his honor.

“This particular year right here could make it sound like I’m totally way out beyond the left field fence,” said Putnam, “but in the first 39 years I’ve done this at the old diamond at Oakfield and the present one we built here in the ’70s, it has not varied more than three or four days, no matter what kind of winter we had.

“This year could be the exception.”

While this winter’s snowfall has been record-breaking, other weather-related issues similarly have worked to prevent an early return to the diamond in the past.

“Years that we’ve had a heavy snow accumulation like this year, the frost hasn’t run as deep, and conversely in years that one might see the stubble in hayfields or grain fields all winter long, probably the frost level was that much deeper, and one kind of negates the other,” Putnam said.

But while the wait may be longer this year, school officials remain optimistic that the seasons eventually will change, and baseball and softball will return to the County.

“Spring has never failed us yet,” said Heald.

Dacus, Brown resign posts

Two central Maine coaches who led their teams to state championships during the current school year have resigned.

Matt Brown, whose Gardiner football team won the Class B state championship last fall, and Winthrop boys basketball coach Dennis Dacus both will not resume their head coaching duties next season.

Dacus coached Winthrop to a 66-18 record in four seasons, including 38-4 during the last two seasons. That run was highlighted by a 21-1 finish this winter, when the Ramblers defeated Calais in the Class C state championship game to secure the school’s first state title since 1993.

Brown, who had served as Gardiner’s head football coach for the last nine seasons, cited family reasons for his decision, though he did leave open the possibility that he might return as the Tigers’ defensive coordinator this fall.

Brown guided Gardiner to playoff appearances each of the last six years, capped off by an 11-1 season last fall in which the Tigers defeated Mountain Valley of Rumford 21-14 to win the state championship.

Mount View project input sought

The SAD 3 Athletic Enhancement Advisory Committee will hold six community meetings seeking input on athletic and recreation enhancements at the new Mount View school complex in Thorndike. The meetings will take place from 6:30 to 8 p.m. April 1-10 at the district’s elementary schools and at Mount View High School.

The meetings are scheduled as follows: April 1, Monroe Elementary School; April 2, Walker Elementary School, Liberty; April 3, Morse Memorial Elementary School, Brooks; April 7, Mount View High School, Thorndike; April 9, Unity Elementary School; April 10, Troy Central Elementary School.

The committee invites the public to attend community sessions to share ideas on enhancing the new athletic complex at Mount View, improving existing facilities and creating recreational opportunities for students who are not athletes. Information gathered from public input at these meetings will assist the AEAC in taking an assessment of community needs.

“We have an extraordinary opportunity to engage district residents and Mount View alumni in this project,” said committee co-chair Vicki Kupferman. “Now is the time, and these six community meetings are the perfect opportunity for everyone to give input and share their ideas about possible athletic enhancements for our new school facility.”

FUTURE MSAD 3, the nonprofit organization that conducted the capital campaign for the Mount View Performing Arts Center, is now actively planning for the next project – a capital campaign for Mount View athletics. The second capital campaign for SAD 3 will privately fund enhancements and improvements to Mount View’s new and existing athletic fields.

FUTURE MSAD 3 and the SAD 3 board of directors created the Athletic Enhancement Advisory Committee to seek public input on athletic facility enhancements, conduct research, develop a comprehensive master plan with the architects, secure cost estimates and present a final list of enhancements to the boards of both FUTURE and SAD 3.

eclark@bangordailynews.net

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