Burgundy Biletski, who served as an assistant field hockey coach at NCAA Division III Sewanee University (Tenn.) last year and helped the team go from four wins the previous season to 10 in 2007, will be an assistant coach at the University of Maine this fall.

Biletski has previously served as a goaltender coach at her alma mater, the University of Calgary, where she was a five-year standout.

In 2005, Biletski’s senior season, she was named to the Canada West first team and the Canadian Interuniversity Sport All-Canadian first team. She was also the Canada West nominee for the Gail Wilson Award given to the best all-around athlete in CIS field hockey.

She played for the gold-medal-winning Canadian team at the 2006 Pan Am Indoor Championships and was chosen for the 2007 World Indoor Championships. Last month, she helped her Alberta South club team finish fourth at the Senior Canadian Field Hockey championships.

“We are very fortunate to have Burgundy with us. She brings a lot of high-level playing experience to our program, specifically that she was a top-level goalie,” Maine second-year head coach Josette Babineau said in a press release.

“She will help our young goalies tremendously in their first year, and her experience will also help us with penalty corners and defensive strategies within our circle.”

Thompson new Bates coach

Jay native Edwin Thompson has been named the head baseball coach at Bates College in Lewiston.

Thompson, 28, heads to Bates after serving as the associate head baseball coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Maine-Farmington.

Thompson replaces Craig Vandersea, who stepped down in June after nine seasons to become the athletic director, head football coach and baseball coach at St. Paul’s School in Concord, N.H.

Thompson played baseball at Division I Howard and Maryland universities before completing his career at Webber University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He went on to play two seasons of professional ball with the former Bangor Lumberjacks of the independent Northeast League.

Last winter, Thompson served as the head boys basketball coach at Jay High School.

“I’m thankful for the chance to coach at Bates and in my hometown area of Maine, and I’m very excited about the trajectory of this program,” Thompson said in a press release. “We’ll be a team that you’ll want to come out and see play. We’re going to do all the little things to win baseball games, and we’re going to play with passion.”

Wagner named to UMF posts

Ryan Wagner, a former track and field and cross country runner at Syracuse University, is the new women’s cross country coach and Coordinator of Collegiate Physical Fitness Programs at UM-Farmington.

“We had an excellent pool of candidates for this position. Ryan has great expertise in both areas and a proven track record, if you will, with both team and curriculum development. We think he will be a great fit for the department and university as a whole,” said UMF athletic administrator Julie Davis in a press release.

Wagner succeeds Katie Herbine, who left UMF to take an Associate Athletic Director-Senior Women Administrator position at the University of Maine.

Wagner comes to Farmington from Marshfield (Mass.) High School, where he coached boys cross country and indoor and outdoor track since 2005 while also serving as a physical education teacher.

Before that, he served as a volunteer cross country and track assistant coach at East Stroudsburg (Pa.) University from 2000-02 while earning his Masters in Health and Physical Education.

Wagner graduated from Syracuse in 2000 with a degree in health and exercise science and a minor in physical education.

The Beavers have won three of the last four North Atlantic Conference women’s cross country championships while producing the last four individual champs in the conference.

UMFK teams earn NAIA honors

The women’s soccer and men’s basketball teams at UMaine-Fort Kent have been honored by the NAIA for their efforts in the classroom.

Both squads have been named NAIA Scholar Teams for achieving a cumulative grade point average above 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.

Coach Lucas Levesque’s Lady Bengals soccer team posted a 3.25 GPA during the fall semester in 2007. The UMFK men’s basketball team, coached by Eric Werntgen, posted a 3.13 cumulative GPA.

During 2007-08, more than 750 college teams – including NCAA members and others – from across the country earned at least a 3.0 GPA.

USM earns track and field honors

The University of Southern Maine took home some hardware when the Little East Conference outdoor track and field postseason awards were announced Monday.

Curtis Wheeler was named the league outdoor track athlete of the year, Mason Shepard of Portland was selected as the rookie of the year, George Towle was recognized as the women’s outdoor coach of the year and Scott Hutchinson was named the men’s outdoor coach of the year.

Wheeler, a senior from Derby, Vt., broke the school record in the 5,000 meters three times last spring, including a 14-minute, 31.92-second clocking at the New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association Championships. He also won the title at the New England Division III Championships in the 5,000 and took the LEC title in the 1,500.

Wheeler, who was also named the LEC Men’s Cross Country Runner of the Year last fall, was 14th in the 5,000 and 15th in the 10,000 at the NCAA Division III Championships.

Shepard was an All-New England Division III choice in the 400 hurdles, clocking a 56.06 to place fifth. He won the 110 hurdles crown at the NEA/LEC meet in 16.16 and was second in the 400 hurdles.

Towle directed USM to its ninth consecutive NEA and LEC women’s titles. The Huskies were 12th in the New England Division III Championships.

Hutchinson guided the Huskies men to their first LEC outdoor title since 2001. He also was the LEC’s coach of the year in women’s cross country and during the indoor season.

USM finished eighth at the New Englands outdoors and sent two athletes to the NCAA championships.

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