Despite a loss in the Class D state championship game, the Woodland girls basketball team ended last season on a high note. The Dragons edged rival Lee Academy in overtime of the Eastern Maine final, and coach Arnie Clark had eight juniors on the roster.

One year later, Woodland started out with only three seniors on the team. One of the five who didn’t return was standout forward Katie Smith, who averaged 13 points and 7.6 rebounds in the regional tournament and was named to the Bangor Daily News All-Tournament team last season.

Smith was involved in a car accident last April. She did not to return to the team this winter, along with several other players, as the Dragons moved up to Class C competition.

But Woodland has soldiered on this season with senior Kaitlyn Leeman again leading the way while some younger players have taken over key roles. The Dragons beat Lee 59-56 last Wednesday night, powered by Leeman’s 33 points, and are now 9-2 after a win over Lubec Monday night.

The victory over the Pandas avenged an earlier 53-49 loss. Woodland’s other loss was a 54-53 defeat against rival Calais.

Leeman, the tourney MVP last year, has been averaging about 19 points and eight or nine assists per game this year, Clark said before Monday night’s game against Lubec.

“She just makes everyone around her better,” he said. “The rest of the girls who are scoring, they’re not really creators. They can take advantage of what she does.”

The rest of the starting lineup includes senior Erika Brown, a defensive stopper who can be offensive-minded as well, guard-forward Lacey Gillespie, center Michelle Ferry (fans might remember her as the freshman who canned a 3-pointer in the closing seconds of last year’s EM final to send the game to overtime), and guard-forward Lauren Troiani.

Troiani and Ferry do most of the rebounding, averaging about six per game each.

Athletic guard Katie Murphy and forward-center Nicole St. Pierre have seen time off the bench. St. Pierre came up big against Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln on Saturday, scoring five of her nine points in the fourth quarter.

Still, Clark isn’t impressed with his team’s record yet.

“I’ll tell you, I don’t think the competition is out there this year,” he said. “There are a lot of ball teams that aren’t the same teams they were last year. We’re not the same team we were last year, too.”

Buck sharp early

Josh Buck isn’t just a diver – that’s what he wants you to think, anyway.

“They’re trying to make me qualify in the [50-yard freestyle],” the Bangor High junior joked after a meet against Brewer last week. “I want to. I’m sick of being called a diver.”

Like it or not, Buck is known around the state as just that. He finished second in the diving competition at both the Class A state championships and the Penobscot Valley Conference championships last season, and that was without breaking the 150-point mark for six dives during the regular dual-meet season.

Things have picked up considerably for Buck. He posted a 204.75 against Brewer, and a few days earlier scored a 218.50 against John Bapst of Bangor.

“I had a very bad year,” Buck said of the 2002-03 season. “I picked it up at the end of the year. So this is a lot better.”

Last summer Buck went to diving camp at the University of Maine, where he picked up new, more difficult back 11/2 and reverse 11/2 dives. He’s also gotten some motivation from a new teammate, freshman Brian Wardwell.

“Coach [Bobbi] Stoyell and Brian have both been really pushing me to improve because Brian’s right there on my tail at every meet,” Buck said.

Swimming and diving standings haven’t been updated in a while, but as of Dec. 19 Thornton Academy of Saco’s Keith Burgie had a state-best score of 189.25. Buck was second at that point with a 184.20.

Burgie finished fourth at states last year. State champ Jason Littlefield of Brewer graduated.

Buck is serious about qualifying for states in the 50 free, and he is getting close. His time against Brewer was 26.86 seconds and the Class A qualifying time is 26.50.

“This year we’re just trying to get everyone up and into the events,” Buck said of Bangor’s overall team goals this year. “It’s exciting.”

Townsend has successful return

Jen Townsend last coached cheerleading in Maine in 1996. She’s back this year, and already has her new team at previously unreached heights.

Townsend is the first-year coach of the John Bapst of Bangor squad, which was the runner-up in Saturday’s Big East Conference championship meet. She coached the Central of Corinth team in 1996, then moved to Arizona where she coached all-star teams. When she returned to Maine cheerleading last year, it was as a judge.

“This is my first year back on the coaching scene in Maine,” a clearly elated Townsend said Saturday. “I’m very excited about being able to even compete with Class A teams today. It was very unexpected.”

And they did it in front of a record crowd. Tournament director and Big East president Paul Soucy said Saturday’s competition drew almost 1,786 fans. Last year about 1,500 watched the competition.

EMITL Web site returns

The Sub 5 Track Club is again hosting a Web site where fans can keep up with the latest results and news from the high school Eastern Maine Indoor Track League.

The site, which is coordinated by Brewer High School cross country coach Glendon Rand, has the league schedule, league meet results, records, top 25 lists for all events, newspaper articles about track meets, results from out-of-state track events in which Maine athletes compete, and information about upcoming meets.

New for EMITL meets this year is AirCyber, which can provide start lists, results, and FinishLynx images on a compatible handheld computer.

The system went into use at meets this weekend. For more information, check out the EMITL Web site.

The site address is www.sub5.com/emitl/home.htm.

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