By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer

The University of Southern Maine women’s lacrosse team struggled through spring in the Little East Conference, fashioning only four wins. It wasn’t due to a lack of offensive punch from Sarah Proulx, however.

Proulx, a sophomore at the attack position, recently earned second-team LEC all-star laurels.

A Hebron native and graduate of Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School, Proulx scored a team-high 29 goals and two assists in 13 games. Her 31 total points also topped USM.

This was the first year of collegiate lacrosse for Proulx, who was also a star on the ski slopes at Oxford Hills.

Beast of the East

Fryeburg Academy product Mike Lansing recently won an America East conference individual title for the University of Maine men’s track and field team.

Lansing captured the 3,000-meter steeplechase, the Olympic event recognizable for jumps and hurdles over puddles of water and similar obstacles.

The Lovell native’s time was 9:03.09, qualifying him for NCAA regional competition.

Vengeance was his

Finishing second in the NCAA Division III men’s singles tennis tournament was a doubly sweet ending for Bates standout Will Boe-Wiegaard when you consider that the junior technically wasn’t one of the top two players in the New England Small College Athletic Conference this spring.

That distinction went to McAfee Burke of Bowdoin and Brian Marsden of Trinity, who shared NESCAC Player of the Year honors after Boe-Wiegaard kept the trophy to himself the previous two years.

Boe-Wiegaard enjoyed double the revenge when he eliminated the two players who beat Burke and Marsden in the early rounds of the national tournament on his own path to the final.

After Kevin Carey of host California-Santa Cruz bounced Burke, Boe-Wiegaard clipped Carey in the quarterfinals. And in the semis, Boe-Wiegaard chased Cal Lutheran’s Quinn Calderon, who made short work of Marsden in the round of 16.

Decked out in ivy

Edward Little High School graduate Anne Martin took her cross country and track and field success to Yale University in New Haven, Conn., and enjoyed a fabulous four-year run, as evidenced by her take at the school’s recent Senior Varsity Dinner.

Yale honored Martin’s off-campus involvement with the Ford Student-Athlete Community Outreach Award.

Additionally, Martin and the women’s cross country team won the Brodhead Award, symbolic of the highest collective grade point average of any Yale athletic squad.

The banquet circuit

Saint Joseph’s College recognized three local athletes at its recent 2004-05 athletic awards banquet.

Val Dumais, a senior women’s basketball point guard from Lewiston, was named Most Improved Athlete at the school. Dumais earned a starting role after sitting out her junior season.

One Scholar Athlete Award was presented to a member of each St. Joe’s varsity team. Allyson Ferguson of Sabattus won the softball recognition, while Danielle Somma of Gray earned the women’s basketball citation.

Pride and joy

Adam Toutain of Sabattus, a Lewiston High School graduate, saw time with the Springfield College men’s lacrosse team as the Pride posted a 12-5 record and won their fifth Pilgrim League Championship in the last six seasons.

Toutain, a business management major, was a sophomore on the squad coached by 22-year veteran Keith Bugbee. Springfield reached the opening round of the NCAA Division III tournament.