Records are made to be broken. Eventually.

Edward Little boys’ basketball coach Mike Adams is on the doorstep of one that enjoyed unusual staying power.

Adams, now in his 10th season at the Red Eddies’ helm, picked up career victory No. 141 Monday when EL (10-1) completed a home-and-home sweep of Cony.

That puts him one win shy of the school’s all-time record, owned by Bill Skinner and set in the bygone era of 1912 to 1924.

Bim Gibson, the team’s public address announcer and recent author of a book detailing the history of Edward Little and Lewiston basketball, verified the numbers with the help of microfilm.

“On my Christmas vacation I went over everything with a fine-toothed comb,” Gibson said. “I went over every schedule. I had good evidence with quotes from the newspaper on both ends (of Skinner’s tenure).” Gibson counted only interscholastic, regular-season high school games, weeding out alumni contests and a game against a Westbrook seminary in which the paper indicated that the Red Eddies were playing “against grown men.”

Advertisement

“After all that, I feel very confident that Bill Skinner won 142 games,” Gibson said.

Adams could tie the mark Friday night when EL hosts Brunswick. The Eddies picked up a one-point win on the Dragons’ home court last week.

Edward Little continues a four-game homestand with Brewer on Tuesday, Jan. 25 and Messalonskee on Friday, Jan. 28.

EL has developed a winning culture under Adams’ direction. The Eddies are the two-time defending Eastern Class A champions. Those were the school’s first titles since a regional championship in 1957. The last state crown came in 1946.

On the fast track

With only a month remaining to qualify for state meets, the indoor track season cranked up the intensity level last weekend.

Advertisement

Edward Little made a loud statement in last Saturday’s 10-team KVAC meet at Colby College.

The Eddies defeated Waterville 133-111 in the boys’ meet, while the EL girls were second only to the host Purple Panthers by a 118-75 margin.

Jaclyn Masters starred for the girls, winning the 400-meter dash and the pole vault.

One of the best individual duels of the day unfolded in the boys’ distance events. Faisal Noor of EL edged Jaron Jones of Mt. Blue in the mile. Jones returned the favor by eclipsing the 10-minute mark to win the two-mile, with Noor second.

Darnell Hairston (55 hurdles, long jump) and Connor Harris (long jump, triple jump) were double event winners for EL.

Lewiston looked sharp one night earlier in the corresponding conference meet at Bowdoin College, winning five events.

Advertisement

Kyle Palmer (55 hurdles), Ali Hersi (800), Hussein Ibrahim (two-mile) and Rudy Pandora (shot put) prevailed for the boys. Jess Lalonde (high jump) took top honors for the girls.

Local competitors set high standards in a WMC meet at the University of Southern Maine.

Cam Woodford of Poland won the senior shot put with a distance of 46-5 1/4, defeating runner-up and teammate Frank Benedict by more than eight feet.

The Knights’ Eli Murphy won the boys’ 55 hurdles. Sophie Spiller (triple jump), Emma Turton (400) and Kendra Lobley (800) celebrated wins for the Poland girls.

Gray-New Gloucester girls Breanna Harlow (high jump) and Amanda Peterson (200) also turned in first-place performances.

How sweep it is

Advertisement

All that new snow produced the same old results for Alex Rose and Lindsey Jacques of the Livermore Falls/Jay co-operative ski team. Rose and Jacques each picked up two victories in a four-day span over the holiday weekend.

Each won the Mt. Blue slalom at Farmington’s Titcomb Mountain on Friday.

Monday’s Leavitt Invitational at Black Mountain in Rumford played out in similar fashion. Rose raced to victory over James Jackson of EL in the boys’ giant slalom. Jacques topped Heather Farrington of Mt. Blue.

The Mt. Blue girls and Jay/Livermore boys won the team sweepstakes.

Other local skiing highlights from the last seven days:

• Nate Nicols and Courtney Carlson of Mountain Valley swept a slalom race at Black Mountain.

Advertisement

• Noah Lobozzo of Gray-New Gloucester finished third in a WMC giant slalom event at Shawnee Peak in Bridgton.

A View From The Top

The Livermore Falls girls’ basketball team has had to adjust its perspective a bit this season. The Andies, now 10-1, have been the top-seeded team in Western C for most of the season and are in excellent shape to earn a spot in the MVC title game.

“We have enjoyed it,” said coach Mark Simpson. “I’ve taken moments in practice to tell the girls ‘Look we’re No. 1. People are looking up at you right now.”

The Andies went 13-6 last year and lost in the Western C quarterfinals. Livermore Falls returned seven players from that squad, including all-conference players Kathryn Ventrella and Marissa Welch. Boasting the best defense in the MVC last year, the Andies had reason to believe they’d be a playoff team this year but toying with to top seed has been a bonus. It has also upped the challenge for the team, which now has the rest of the MVC chasing them.

Livermore has potential playoff teams like Georges Valley, Dirigo, Mountain Valley and Madison still on the schedule. Unbeaten, and second-seeded, Hall-Dale isn’t on the Andies schedule for the regular season.

Advertisement

“I do a lot better when people aren’t looking at us,” said Simpson, in just his second year with the program. “We can sneak in and do some things with our defense, but now they’re looking at us. I’ve got to calm the girls down and we’ve got to play because they’re coming after us every night.”

Playoff Push

At 9-3, Oak Hill is ranked third in Western B. That’s pretty good for a team that has just missed the playoffs by a few Heal Points the last couple seasons. After going 9-9 last year, the Raiders are in the middle of the playoff hunt and sitting pretty with six games left.

Oak Hill had hopes of earning that berth this season with eight players back from last year. Maggie Sabine, an all-conference pick and 1,000 point scorer, joined starters Abby Goulet, Darby Beaulieu, Jess Roberts and Becka Lehotay.

The Raiders finish the regular season with just two games with likely playoff teams, Medomak Valley and Leavitt, both teams the Raiders lost to. Oak Hill also has teams like MCI, Maranacook, Gardiner and Lincoln that should be winnable games.

“There are some games that we really need to focus on and take care of,” said Oak Hill coach Tom Morong.

Copy the Story Link

Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.