Normally in high school sports, athletes don’t switch teams very often.

In this rare case, the Bangor girls’ track and field team got a huge benefit: senior Danielle Lainez, who transferred from rival Brewer over the summer.

Lainez was the Witches’ top scorer last season with 198 points and scored 28 in the Class A state championship. She also boasts the state’s Class A pole vault record at 10 feet, 6 inches.

She’s also one of the state’s top hurdlers and triple jumpers, winning both events in last year’s Eastern Maine Indoor Track League championship.

Lainez has fit in nicely with the Rams, according to coach Maynard Walton.

“She’s a good athlete, and brings lots of experience,” he said. “She’s been a good person in working with the younger kids.”

Jolene Belanger is one of the league’s top mid-distance runners and jumpers, and newcomer Casey Dunn should be helpful in long-distance events such as the 2-mile for the Rams.

Bangor’s sprinting and jumping corps are loaded with Lainez, triple-threat Kelly Krapf (200, 60, 4×200), Jessie Dunham (high jump), along with Jessie Warren and Katrina Schweikert.

Walton has good expectations for his team in a wide-open EMITL, which opens its season Friday in Orono.

Walton’s Rams should be among the top competitors for the league title. Hampden, last year’s runner-up, has always been tough. The Broncos are led by top runner Molly Balentine. Old Town and Brewer could be close behind.

Coach Dick Balentine’s Hampden squad lost a couple of top scorers to graduation in middle-distance star Oriana Farley and sprinter/jumper MacKenzie Rawcliffe, who are excelling at Brown University and Tufts University, respectively.

Hampden has always been tough, though. This year the Broncos are led by senior Balentine, the coach’s daughter.

Balentine, one of those runners who had an extended cross country season by virtue of running in the Foot Locker Regionals, should come in in decent shape.

“We gave her some time off [after Foot Locker],” said Dick Balentine. “She’s got a good solid base behind her.”

Balentine, who is taking over the head coaching reigns from Dave King, who retired, is fielding a young squad.

“We lost a lot of big point-scorers,” he said. “It’s kind of too early to tell. We’ll see how the new kids fit in.”

Hampden’s 4×880 relay team has always been competitive, finishing a close second to Old Town in Easterns last year. The Broncos only graduated one runner from that group in Shelly Estes. Balentine, sophomore Amanda Gervasi and senior Amelia Potvin are all back.

The Witches are also a young team this year, led by a new coach in Matt Collins.

Along with the loss of Lainez to Bangor, Brewer lost other top scorers in distance ace Heather Clark and jumpers Rebecca Breau, Erica Commeau and Joslyn Pelletier, along with pole vaulter Andrea Economy, all to graduation.

Those six accounted for 112 of Brewer’s 122 points in last year’s EMITL title meet.

Despite Brewer’s small numbers (only 19 girls are out), and graduation losses, Collins is optimistic.

“We have lots of underclassmen with skill,” he said. “Scoring is not most important for team unity. There’s nothing you can do about losing seniors [to graduation].”

Collins feels he does have some experience, though.

“Our distance crew has experience in [junior] Rachel Clark and [sophomore] Sarah Breau, who both had lots of experience doing indoor and outdoor last year,” he said.

The crew will also welcome senior Candice Wilcox, formerly a shot putter.

Junior Sarah Hodgins, who was last year’s PVC outdoor shot put champion, should be one of the league’s best throwers. Kelly Clark, a sophomore, threw more than 30 feet during spring track as a freshman, and should score some points.

Sophomore hurdler Angela Commeau, who was sixth in Easterns last year, should improve as well.

John Bapst of Bangor had a solid cross country and spring track season, and could be the surprise team. Ellsworth has had some good distance runners in the past, and has a corps of strong young runners this year.