Vanessa Williamson concluded her swimming career in the New England Small College Athletic Conference the same way she’s performed since Day One, as the league’s best.
Williamson won the NESCAC championship in the 100-yard butterfly at the conference meet in Middlebury, Vt., last weekend.
The Edward Little High School graduate’s time of 57.51 seconds qualified her for the A’ bracket of next month’s NCAA Championships in Holland, Mich.
Additionally, Williamson swam to second place in the 200-yard butterfly.
She won All-America honors with top-three finishes in both events at last year’s nationals.
Kara Seaton, a senior from Wayne, Pa., captured the 1-meter diving title for Bates at the NESCAC competition.
Winter wonderland
Numerous area skiers are tackling the slopes and trails for the Bates skiing team this winter. The team enjoyed a sixth-place finish at the Williams Winter Carnival last weekend.
Three Carrabassett Valley skiers led the charge in the alpine division. Whitney Fahy anchored the women, finishing 24th in slalom and 36th in giant slalom. On the men’s side, James Pelletier ran 20th in slalom, while Sawyer Fahy skied 32nd in GS.
The men’s Nordic team delivered a decidedly local flavor. Seth Hubbard of Farmington crossed the wire 11th in the men’s 5-kilometer free sprint. Bethel’s John Reuter came home 26th. Those two teamed with Daniel Johnson to claim eighth in the classic sprint relay.
Those same cross-country competitors placed fifth at the recent Dartmouth Carnival. Hubbard, Reuter and Steve Monsulick of Kents Hill, a Maranacook product, each finished in the top 30 in the solo event.
Season’s over
While the Bates and Bowdoin women prepare for a possible showdown in this weekend’s NESCAC basketball tournament, several area basketball teams and players from around the region are wrapping up their college campaigns.
The University of Southern Maine men concluded their season at 9-17 with a loss to Rhode Island College in the opening round of the Little East tournament.
Three local standouts suited up for the Huskies.
Foster Oakley, a 6-foot-1 sophomore guard from Farmington, played in 23 of 26 games. He hit 33 percent of his 3-point attempts on the season and scored a team-high 17 points in a 78-55 victory over the University of New England in January.
Two Gray-New Gloucester grads stood tall for USM. Caleb Sayward, a 6-6 junior forward, started five games and averaged four points and four rebounds per contest. Sayward was second on the team with 13 blocked shots. Ian Hebert, also 6-6 and a sophomore, started one game.
USM was coached by Karl Henrikson, whose coaching resume includes a stop as the Edward Little boys’ varsity coach in the 1980s.
To the north, the University of Maine at Farmington men’s squad concluded at 15-10 with a loss to Husson College in the North Atlantic Conference quarterfinals.
Matt St. John of Wayne, a freshman guard who played his high school ball at Maranacook, made an immediate impact for the Beavers. He scored 6.4 points per game, sank 85.7 percent of his free throws and hit 37 3-pointers, tying for the team lead in that category.
Another freshman, Sean Fry of Jay, led the team with 15 points in its final regular-season game against Johnson State. Fry played in all 26 games, putting up nearly four points per night and knocking down 84 percent of his free throws.
Auburn’s Travis Carrier led UMF in scoring twice and in rebounding four times during the winter. The 6-6 junior forward was a spot starter and brought consistent production (6.4 points, 5.7 rebounds per game, 22 blocks) off the bench.
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