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BY BILL STEWART
Staff writer 04/11/2008

Staff writer

Talent is essential to achieve team success, whether it be in conference or state meets. Depth is equally important.

Waterville has both, which makes it an instant contender to win its third consecutive Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B and Class B state championships.

The Purple Panthers have 40 boys on their roster, including standouts Dominik Alexis, Zach Jordan, JD Gurski, Joe Sirois and Josh Sirois.

"The boys have won the state title two years in a row, and we have enough ability to make it three," Waterville coach Ian Wilson said. "The biggest star to emerge is Dominik Alexis; he seems to be good at everything he tries."

Alexis is coming off a solid indoor season in which he won the 55 hurdles in the Class B state meet. He also performed well in the triple jump and high jump, finishing second in both events.

"He'll definitely do the hurdles," Wilson said, "and after that it will be whatever he feels like doing -- the high jump, hurdles, whatever. We just have to make sure we balance the events so nothing falls too close to each other."

Jordan also should provide plenty of scoring in the conference and state meets. He helped the Panthers win the 4x400 relay in the state meet last season. He also finished second in the 400 and seventh in the 200. Joe Sirois finished second in the discus at the state meet while Josh got the relay teams going.

"Josh Sirois and Jordan are phenomenal sprinters," Wilson said. "We also have a lot of talented athletes with no experience who will fill some roles for us."

Mt. Blue senior Eric Marceau joins Maranacook senior Max HoddWells as the other top track and field athletes in central Maine. HoddWells, who won the 110 hurdles in the 2006 Class B state meet, missed last year's event with a hamstring injury.

Coach Ronn Gifford says his leader is healthy this season.

"He could score 30 points in the state meet if he can stay healthy all year," he said.

Marceau, who is going to Brown University next year, finished fourth in the 1,600 and sixth in the 3,200 at last season's Class A state meet, in which the Cougars finished 15th.

"He'll be in the thick of things this year," Mt. Blue coach Kelley Cullenberg said. "He'll do the 800, 1,600 and 3,200. He's talked about how he wants to try hurdles, maybe the 300 hurdles."

Also in Class A, Lawrence, Messalonskee, Skowhegan and Cony seek improvement. Lawrence returns senior sprinter Nick Sterling, who was fifth in the 200 at the state meet last year. Eric Anderson and David Currier will anchor Messalonskee, while Cony will look for big things from sophomore distance runner Luke Fontaine and senior Shawn Irish.

In Class B, Winslow should field a strong team with a strong returning group. Maine Central Institute, Nokomis and Maranacook are also poised to make some noise. Don Clark, who won a state title in the shot put last season, leads Winslow. Cody Souviney finished eighth in the 110 hurdles as a freshman last season.

"We've got quite a team out this year," Winslow coach Shawn Carey said. "Don (Clark) should take states this year. We reloaded."

The Black Bears feature one of the top throwers in the region in Conrad Gilman, as well as senior hurdler Cameron Madore. MCI lost Troy Murray to graduation, but still returns Owen Campbell, who finished fifth in the 100 and fourth in the 200 at last year's state meet.

"We don't necessarily have a nucleus to build around, but we have talented kids," MCI coach Jason Allen said. "We'll be a work in progress."

Nokomis coach John White said JC White and Josh Vega will pace the Warriors. JC White was third in the discus in the state meet last year. Vega will run some middle distance events.

Winthrop and Hall-Dale could reach the upper echelon in Class C.

Junior distance runner Wade Davis, junior jumper Brad Longfellow and junior sprinter Ethan Solloway will lead the Bulldogs.

"Those three kids stand out," Hall-Dale first-year coach Ralph Peterson said. "We have a strong cross country contingent."

Winthrop returns several key members from last year's team, which finished fifth in the Class C state meet. Danny Soltan will be the team's top distance runner; he finished fourth in the 3,200 and third in the 1,600 at the state meet. Larry Foster, who finished second in the high jump at the Class C meet, is also back.

"We're pretty deep," Winthrop coach Ed Van Tassel said.

Bill Stewart -- 623-3811, ext. 515

bstewart@centralmaine.com

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