After almost 30 years, Hampden track and field coach Dave King has announced his retirement.

How long has retirement been on his mind?

“Oh, 28 or 29 years,” King said with a smile at Saturday’s Class B state championship meet. “More seriously the last couple of years. It’s a lot of work. I don’t mind the time I’ve spent on it but I mind the time I haven’t spent on other things.”

That includes spending time with his two young children, who are 12 and 6.

All of the time King devoted to track and field has paid off. The Broncos have won numerous Eastern Maine Indoor Track League and Penobscot Valley Conference titles and Eastern Maine championships. The Hampden girls won the Class B indoor and outdoor state titles in 2000, while the boys shared the 1988 outdoor title with Kennebunk and earned indoor championships in 1987 and 1988.

“Both teams have won a lot of Eastern Maine and conference titles,” King said. “I don’t know how many, but it’s been a lot. The kids are great and they’ve been fun to coach.”

King, 58, plans to continue teaching history at Hampden Academy for the next few years.

King is the second longtime area track and field coach to step down this year. Brewer’s Dave Jeffrey retired, too.

“Every few years the old crop gets cleaned out,” King said.

MPA votes in ticket price increase

High school sports fans who attend events such as regional and state championships will see an increase in ticket prices next year.

The membership of the Maine Principals’ Association unanimously adopted the 2003-04 budget at its recent spring meeting. Included in the budget was a ticket increase that will take effect July 1, 2003, for all MPA-sponsored events that charge admission.

Adult tickets will increase from $5 to $7 and student tickets go from $3 to $4. The last such increase took place in 1998.

The MPA cited rising costs of off-school sites such as the Bangor Auditorium, which have increased personnel costs.

Only five of the 23 activities the MPA sponsors show a profit, the association said.

Javelin accident disrupts day

Gorham sophomore Sarah Shortill was scheduled to participate in Saturday’s Class B state track and field championship meet in Ellsworth, but a freak accident sent her to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor for several hours instead.

Shortill said she was lying on the ground in a grassy area next to Del Luce Stadium, where the girls javelin was being contested. One of her Gorham teammates was about to set a javelin into the ground when Shortill sat up, nicking her right eyelid.

“It wasn’t intentional at all,” she said.

Shortill kept her cool – it probably helped that she’s a certified lifeguard.

“My first impression was, you’re not supposed to pull an object out of the eye once it’s been impaled,” she recalled. “But [the javelin] was out and I thought, I’m going to be blind. It was bleeding. The trainers came over. Once the eye was cleared I could see and I was fine.”

She actually watched part of the javelin competition, cheering on teammate Stacy Reed, before getting into the ambulance.

Shortill returned to the meet about four hours later with a red bruise on her eyelid, but in fine spirits other than missing her chance in the javelin. She was also an alternate for two relays.

“It wasn’t traumatic,” Shortill said. “I was antsy because I wanted to come back and throw. But next year, I guess.”

Student-athletes garner awards

Ten Maine high school student-athletes received awards at Sunday night’s Maine Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

The award winners were Deering of Portland’s Janelle Boudry, Edward Little of Auburn’s Anna Eisenstein, Oriana Farley of Hampden, Andrea Giddings of South Portland, Calais High’s Crystal Martin, Nokomis of Newport’s David Buzanoski, Daniel Campbell of Greenville, Morse of Bath’s Blaine Trafton, Cheverus of Portland’s Andrew Ward, and Neal Waters of Hall-Dale High in Farmingdale.

Portland High football player Timothy Brown won the Chet Bulger Award, which is given to Maine’s top high school lineman.

Jessica Bloch can be reached at 990-8193, 1-800-310-8600 or jbloch@bangordailynews.net.