The hot days of summer may be winding down, but it surely felt like a true mid-August morning as high school football, soccer, field hockey, cross country and volleyball teams around the state joined their counterparts in Aroostook County in kicking off preseason practices Monday.

Games and meets can be held after 3 p.m. Sept 5.

To beat Monday’s humid conditions, a lot of teams, such as the Bangor girls soccer team, got themselves an early wake-up call to get their preseason under way.

Temperatures climbed close to 80 degrees as the Rams wrapped up the first of two practices with some six-on-six drills at roughly 10:15 a.m.

“This is one of the few nice days we’ve had and we’ve trained a lot this summer, it’s always been cool in the morning,” said coach Joe Johnson, entering his first season as the Rams’ head coach after an eight-year stint in the junior varsity ranks.

“We talk about training and [hydration] and everything else. As hot as it was, they did pretty well.”

Johnson fielded 70 prospective athletes on this first day of tryouts, and the Rams kept things fairly simple.

“It was a good day, we just kind of started things off,” said junior center midfielder Denali Graham. “We kind of started to get some small games going.”

Developing chemistry is a strong component at this point in the season.

“I think its just going to be getting to know each other, seeing who plays best with who,” said senior outside midfielder Jenny Leach.

Bangor, which will feature 12 returnees, has solid depth all the way around the field and will rely on speed, balance and chemistry.

“It’s a pretty balanced group,” Johnson said. “We’re certainly strong at all positions, quick at all positions, I couldn’t really pick one [strength].”

Junior striker Eliza Estabrook said that the Rams should be sound defensively.

“Last year we worked a lot on defense because that was kind of a weak spot for us so this year we’ll be pretty strong there,” she said.

Among Johnson’s other key returnees are goalkeeper Kortnie Hudgens, center-midfielder M.J. Boyce and Adrianna Cuapuano, who will split time at midfield and in the back.

“We have a lot of juniors returning this year so we’ll be strong the next couple years,” Leach said.

Things that Johnson will stress will be quickness, tough defense and creating scoring chances.

“It’s a fast game, it’s a running game, that’s what [they] focused on a lot this summer, getting in shape and getting ready to go to run,” Johnson said. “Having speed doesn’t hurt.”

Estabrook added, “We’re going to work on the speed up front and we even have speed in the back, too, so we’re going to try to utilize that.”

The Hampden Academy cross country teams also managed to beat the heat, going off on their first preseason run just after 8 this morning.

“It wasn’t too bad,” coach Dick Balentine said. “It was what we call conversational miles, nothing hard this early.”

Like a lot of cross country teams at this point in the season, the Broncos will keep the hard workouts at a premium.

“It’s a long season, the big meets aren’t until the end of October and November … you don’t want to do too much quality stuff early and get people hurt,” Balentine said.

Balentine, a veteran coach and runner, knows its smart to not only keep his young athletes out of the heat, but to continue to have the social aspects of summer.

“It allows them the rest of the day to do what they want to do and enjoy their summer … go to their jobs, if their families are doing something it allows them to do that also,” he said.

The Broncos always field solid numbers, and this year is no different, as Balentine has 60 prospective athletes out for the team.

“It was a good first day turnout, a good mix of veterans and some new people,” Balentine said.

For many of the teams around the state, these first couple weeks will be as much about bonding as about hard work.

rmclaughlin@bangordailynews.net

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