December 24, 2024
HIGH SCHOOL REPORT

Ouimet nearing record Lawrence’s Teague reaches 1,000 points

One hundred career victories is noteworthy enough as far as accomplishments go in high school wrestling, but Nick Ouimet of Belfast has his sights set even higher.

With a career mark of 102 wins and 20 losses, Ouimet has a good chance to become the school’s all-time winningest wrestler.

“With five dual matches left plus the postseason, Nick should break the career win record this year,” said Neal Wood, a former state champion wrestler at Belfast who took over the head coaching job this fall from Ted Heroux.

Ouimet, a two-year captain who has been nominated to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point, is only the third wrestler in school history to reach the century mark. He is 10 wins shy of Aaron Fox’s career record of 112, set in 1992.

Things couldn’t be much better in Ouimet’s world these days. Despite starting four freshmen and three sophomores, the Lions are 11-2 and shaping up as one of the top squads in the Eastern Maine Class B ranks.

Ouimet is a big reason why.

“You wish you had 14 more just like him. He’s a leader by example in every facet: schoolwork, practice, meets, wherever,” said Wood, who won a state title in the 185-pound weight class in 1986. “He’s a pretty good technician and just a no-chance taker who’s real sound with all his moves. He’s real hard to score on with his defense.”

After two straight third-place finishes in the state championship meets the last two years, Ouimet dedicated his off-season to improving his already-solid conditioning and working on his offensive repertoire.

“He’s just really good about setting goals and knowing what he needs to work on and do. He’s really refined a lot of his offensive moves, as opposed to previous years where he’s been too conservative,” said Wood, who further explained that Ouimet notched most of his wins on points in matches that went the distance.

This year, the 152-pound wrestler is winning with more pins and major decisions.

He’s also helping out in other areas by teaching the younger wrestlers some new moves and techniques, drilling with them, and working with anyone who needs some extra help.

Ouimet also runs cross country in the fall and competes in track and field during the spring.

Teague joins exclusive club

Over the past 30 years, Lawrence of Fairfield has grown to become one of those select few programs synonymous with Maine high school basketball- both for boys and girls.

Given the Bulldogs’ hallowed history – eight Eastern Maine Class A boys titles, two boys state crowns, four girls state titles – you’d expect the list of members in the school’s 1,000-point club to be a very long one.

But after scoring the 1,000th point of his schoolboy career last week, senior forward Trafton Teague became only the sixth boys player to accomplish the feat.

“It’s tough to do in Class A basketball, but any time you play varsity for four years, you’ve got a good shot,” said Mike McGee, now in his 16th season as the Bulldogs’ head coach.

With Lawrence only halfway through its regular-season schedule and the likelihood of the Bulldogs playing one or two preliminary playoff games, Teague also has a chance to become the school’s all-time leading boys scorer as he is 269 points away from Troy Scott’s career mark of 1,302. He is averaging 25 points per game this season, despite double- and triple-teaming, according to McGee.

“If he did it, he’d certainly be worthy,” said McGee. “His work ethic in all sports is as good as I’ve seen from any athlete in my 20 years at Lawrence.

“His character, integrity, and loyalty make him special.”

Teague also plays baseball.

Staier stars again

Mt. Blue of Farmington senior Adam Staier set a meet record in the open one-mile racewalk with a time of 6 minutes, 36.24 seconds at the 33rd Dartmouth Relays in Hanover, N.H., Sunday.

Staier, who broke the mark of 6:48.98 set by Ellsworth’s Ben Shorey last year, has been invited to compete in the one-mile racewalk at the 95th Millrose Games in New York at Madison Square Garden. He’ll become the youngest racewalker and only the second overall from high school to be invited to the Millrose Games.

Jon Chasse of Maranacook High in Readfield was third in the race with a time of 7:05.45. Winthrop’s Mark Dennett and Mt. Blue’s Aaron Whitten were sixth and ninth, respectively.

In the girls racewalk, Jasmine Brooks from Dirigo of Dixfield was second with a time of 8:28.54 and Lynda Beckett of Scarborough was third (8:32.98). Winthrop’s Maddy O’Brien finished sixth.

Andrew Neff’s High school report is published each Wednesday. He can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or aneff@bangordailynews.net.


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