The Mount Desert Island boys tennis team is the two-time defending Eastern Maine Class B champion, and has high hopes of competing for that honor again this spring.

But the Trojans will do so with a new leader guiding them, as Ben Rowell has replaced Bob Christie as the school’s boys and girls head coach.

Christie guided the MDI boys to regional championships in 2000, 2006 and 2007. In addition, the boys were two-time EM runners-up and the Trojan girls were four-time regional runners-up under his watch.

Rowell has served for the last three years as an assistant coach under Christie at MDI, and before that coached at Winthrop and at his alma mater, Hall-Dale High School in Farmingdale.

“I think you look at the last two years and this [boys] team accomplished everything it could,” said Rowell. “They won Eastern Maine both years, then came up against Falmouth, which had two of the top four singles players in the state.”

MDI graduated just twins Paul and James Fineman from last year’s team, which finished 13-3 after edging top-ranked Caribou in the Eastern Maine final before falling to Falmouth in the state championship mach for the second straight year. Paul Fineman played second singles for the Trojans, while James Fineman played doubles.

Everyone else returns, including singles players Noah Bracken, Jamie Thormann and Joe Richardson, who’s up from doubles a year ago, as well as the doubles tandem of seniors Ian Campbell and George Loftus, who scored MDI’s lone win in the team’s 4-1 loss to Falmouth in the state final.

Senior Nathaniel Lee and junior Jeremy Hyde are the Trojans’ other doubles pairing.

“We had a great year last year, especially with the big win over [previously undefeated] Caribou in the Eastern Maine final,” Rowell said. “They have everyone back this year plus an exchange student who’s moved into the No. 1 spot so they will be very strong. Teams like Waterville and Camden Hills are always strong, too, but I’d think Caribou will be the strongest team we face.”

The MDI girls team also has a solid nucleus back, led by juniors Addie Maxwell and Rebecca Thomann at first and second singles. Another junior, Taylor LaCasse, has moved up from doubles to third singles, while seniors Jessica Swanson and Nevora Lemoine are among the returning doubles players.

Simmons resigns Mt. View post

Ron Simmons, who nurtured football in the SAD 3 region from its infancy to varsity football status for the first time at Mount View High School in Thorndike last fall, has resigned from that position.

“I had a five-year goal to begin with to get the program into the school system, and that’s happened,” said Simmons, a teacher in that school district. “I just decided that this was the right time to move on, that I had completed most of my goals.”

Simmons, who wants to pursue other interests such as publishing a book of inspirational quotes, also mentioned some struggles within the program.

“There were problems and things that didn’t go well last year pertaining to the administration,” he said. “I just didn’t feel like I had their support.”

The Mount View varsity team evolved from a team Simmons had coached in the developmental Moosehead Trail Football League several years ago.

The Mustangs joined the LTC Class C varsity ranks last fall, playing its home games at Belfast Area High School while construction continues on a new Mount View High School.

Mount View went winless in its first varsity season, but graduates just seven players off last fall’s 38-player high school roster, Simmons said.

The Mustangs also will have an influx of younger players joining the high school team from the middle-school ranks, and a youth program that begins in the third grade also is in place.

“It’s ready to go,” said Simmons. “It’s going to be a great opportunity for someone who wants to come in and has the drive to want to take this program to a state championship in the coming years.”

Weiss nets scholar-athlete honor

Andrew Weiss, a senior at Rockland District High School, has been selected as the recipient of a Scholar-Athlete Award from the State of Maine Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame.

Weiss will be recognized during the chapter’s annual awards dinner to be held May 21 at Thorne Hall on the campus of Bowdoin College in Brunswick. Weiss was a four-time All-LTC honoree in football for Rockland, primarily as a quarterback while leading the Tigers to winning regular seasons in each of his years under center.

He played quarterback, tailback and wide receiver for Rockland last fall after suffering a shoulder injury during the first game of the season and amassed 1,413 all-purpose yards while leading the Tigers to their first postseason appearance since 1988.

On defense, Weiss compiled 60 tackles, two pass interceptions and a fumble recovery.

He subsequently was named 2007 LTC co-Player of the Year, as well as a member of the conference’s all-academic team.

Weiss also has been a member of his school’s cheering and track and field teams. Last winter he earned first-team All-Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B honors in cheering, and also was named to the cheering all-academic team.

Weiss plans to attend Holy Cross College of Indiana in Notre Dame, Ind., this fall.

eclark@bangordailynews.net

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