The 2019/2020 GHS Winter Sports teams have wrapped up their seasons with playoff showings and many record breaking performances by some incredible athletes.
Boys’ Basketball: Coach Mark Karter shared that the boys’ team had a successful season. The team finished with a record of 10-8 in a very difficult Southern Maine AA division. The Rams advanced to the Regional quarterfinals where they won an exciting game against Sanford High School, 48-45. Gorham moved on to the Southern Maine AA semifinal game but unfortunately their season came to an end against the undefeated #1 ranked South Portland team.
The boys had an incredible season where they played in numerous close games against some of the best teams in the state. A couple of highlight games include a come-from-behind overtime win at Sanford High School as well as a one-point home win against a very tough Thornton Academy team that was ranked #2 in the state.
“The members of the boys basketball team displayed great effort and outstanding sportsmanship throughout the season, and produced a team their community can be proud of,” Karter said.
Girls’ Basketball: “Girls basketball finished the season 12-8 and we finished fourth in the heal point standings in a very close race,” Coach Laughn Berthiaume said. The girls were four points away from the #2 seed. “Four of our losses were to the #1 seeds in AA and two more were to #2 seeds,” Berthiaume said.
The roster consisted of five sophomores, four juniors, and one senior which means the future is looking bright for the Lady Rams. Berthiaume said the team was very balanced this year with seven different players starting games. Additionally, during the season the girls had seven different players who were the leading scorers for individual games. Many games involved multiple players reaching double figures.
“Our strength this year was our team balance. We earned a spot in the AA final four for the sixth consecutive season and the girls got the chance to represent us at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland. I am very proud of the accomplishments of the team this year,” Berthiaume added.
The girls fell to the #1 seeded South Portland team in the semifinals, 45-30. Post season honors include: Adele Nadeau – SMAA 3rd Team All-Star; Anna Nelson – SMAA All Rookie Team; and Jacqui Hamilton – SMAA Senior All-Star
Boys’ Hockey: Despite recent losses, the Rams pulled of a win against Brunswick in the Class B South quarter-final at the University of Southern Maine recently. Gorham found their stride scoring two second-period goals to beat Brunswick 2-1.
Coach Jon Portwine said of the playoff game, “I’m extremely happy we played well and came away with the victory.” Jonah Bird and Nolan Gava scored the two goals for Gorham in the second period. Fourth-seeded Gorham (10-7-2) advanced to the semifinal game against top-seeded and defending state champion Greely (14-3-1) but lost 7-1.
Boys’ Track: Coach Jason Tanguay said the boys’ Indoor Track and Field team finished the regular season with a record of 22 wins and six losses. In the league championship, the Rams finished second out of 16 teams. “This was an outstanding accomplishment for our team! A shout out to conference champion, Ryan Gendron, in the boys senior high jump,” Tanguay shared.
The following were the scorers in the league championship: Landon Bickford: 5th in Junior 400; Jacob Lehmann: 6th in junior 55 hurdles, 4th in junior long jump, 4th in junior triple jump; Keagan Lindsay: 7th in junior high jump; Will Stein: 7th in junior shot put; Andrew Farr: 3rd in senior 55, 2nd in senior 400, 7th in senior 200; Josh Lehmann: 4th in senior 800, 4th in 600; Ryan Gendron: 1st in senior high jump, 5th in senior hurdles; Calvin Cummings: 2nd in one mile, 3rd in two mile; Evan Russo: 6th in pole vault.
The 4×200 junior relay made up of Christian Butler, Quentin Riiska, Landon Bickford and Jacob Lehmann placed 2nd; the 4×800 relay with Lucien Beardsley, Reed Henderson, Calvin Cummings and Josh Lehmann placed 3rd; and the 4×400 relay with Ryan Farr, Tommy Sallinen, Josh Lehmann and Andrew Farr placed 2nd.
In the state championship, the Rams finished 7th out of 23 teams. In what Tanguay said were incredibly exciting races to watch, Andrew Farr in the 400 and Gendron in the high jump were state runners-up.
The following are the scorers in the state championship: Andrew Farr: 3rd in 55, 2nd in 400; Calvin Cummings: 7th in one mile, 7th in two mile; and Ryan Gendron: 2nd in high jump.
Both Andrew Farr and Ryan Gendron competed at the New England Championship on February 29. Gendron placed sixth in the high jump.
Girls’ Track: SMAA Coach of the Year John Caterina said the girls’ Indoor Track & Field team recently completed an incredibly successful season. Led by tri-captains Iris Kitchen, Abby O’Brien and Kate Tugman, the team finished the regular season with the league-best record of 26-2. The girls went on to win the SMAA League Championship Meet (aka the “Southwesterns”) by a convincing score over the other 16 teams in the league.
During the Class A State Championship on February 17 at USM, Gorham entered the meet seeded 15 points behind northern Maine champion Bangor. Caterina said the meet came down to the final relay which was won convincingly by Gorham, in school record time. Bangor finished the relay in third place to just barely hold onto first place by one point. The Lady Rams were State Runner-up as well as being the recipient of the Sportsmanship Award by the MPA.
Some season highlights for Gorham included a 4th place finish out of over 50 teams from the Northeast and Canada at the Dartmouth Relays in January, several school records, some individual awards and three state championship performances in the Class A State meet.
Caterina said school records were set by sophomores Emma Green (HJ and 55), Sydney Connolly (200), Alyvia Caruso (55H and 400) and Kate Tugman (600, 800, 1000, and 1 mile). Relay records were also set in the Southern Maine Regionals (S. Connolly, N. Moore, A. Caruso, K. Tugman), 4×200 (A. Caruso, N. Moore, E. Green, S. Connolly) and 4×400 (A. Caruso, E. Loranger, S. Fox, K. Tugman). Tugman was awarded the Outstanding Distance Runner for the SMAA regular season and the Outstanding Performer in the SMAA championship meet.
State championships were won by Tugman in the 1 mile and 2 mile; Green in the HJ; and the 4×200 relay team of Alyvia Caruso, Nevaeh Moore, Emma Green and Sydney Connolly.
The following athletes competed in the New England Championship: Caruso in the LJ, Green in the HJ, Kitchen in the 1000, Connolly in the 300, Tugman in both the 1 mile and 2 mile, the 4×800 relay team of Sydney Fox, Iris Kitchen, Elisabeth Loranger and Rachel Cummings, and the 4×200 Relay team of Alyvia Caruso, Nevaeh Moore, Emma Green and Sydney Connolly. Kate Tugman placed fifth in the 1 mile and was the runner up in the 2 mile, beating her own school record with a time of 10:51.
Caterina confirmed that Tugman and the relay team of Connolly, Green, Caruso and Tugman will also be competing in the New Balance National Indoor Championship at New York’s famous Armory in mid-March.
Wrestling: Henri Kuntz (170 lb) got his 100th varsity win and took first place at Regionals. He went on to place third at States and the team is heading to Noble soon for New England qualifiers. If Kuntz places in the top three, he will go on to New Englands which is held for two days in Massachusetts.
Mathew Reno had a good year as well taking third at Regionals as a sophomore. Coach Peter Grant said Reno shows great potential. Asa Wareham and Beck Carrier are also two young wrestlers who are proving themselves on the team.
Grant said the biggest surprise was when Romain Salvi, a 195 lb foreign exchange student from Italy, joined the team with no wrestling experience, and nearly placed at Regionals. Grant said he is a strong, hardworking young man with a good attitude.
Cheering: The Gorham cheerleaders ended their season competing at Class A States at the Augusta Civic Center. The girls left it all on the floor and came away in 11th place. It was the last competition for seniors co-captains Rebecca Brunner and Caralin Mills.
Swimming: “Swim season ended spectacularly,” stated Coach Adam Cyr. At SMAA South Championships (Southwesterns), the girls’ team succeeded in achieving goals they set at the start of the season.
“Defending our second place finish last season with another second place finish this year,” Cyr said, the girls finished in the top four in every single event including a Southwesterns championship by Laura Bolduc in the 100 yard Freestyle.
The boys’ team had a surprising third place finish at Southwesterns, the first time ever in the top three at the Southwesterns South Championship. Cyr shared, “It is the best finish by the Gorham boys in team history, with top five finishes in 10 out of 12 events. All 10 boys who swam earned points for GHS.” Contributions included a Southwesterns Championship in the 200 Medley Relay by Cody Smith, Luke Adams, Sam Pritchard, and Patrick Bishop.
At the State Class A Championships at the University of Maine Orono on February 15, the boys placed 12th overall of 28 competing teams, the best finish for the team at the state level. The 200 Medley Relay had its best finish coming in 7th.
Their best individual finish was Nevin Libby in 8th place in 1m Diving. “We scored in every event we swam nearly doubling the number of points we earned at last year’s state meet,” Cyr said.
Two days later, the girls finished in 5th place at the State Championship, also the best finish in team history. The team had top eight finishes (medaled) in seven of the 12 events, highlighted by Laura Bolduc finishing 3rd in the 200 Freestyle.
“We are graduating a class of 10 between girls and boys. This year’s graduating class is the winningest swim class in school history,” Cyr added.