Student athletes have had to face many adversities in the past year involving both their education and their sports careers. However, with lots of help from school administration and the athletic department, Gorham High School athletes were able to experience at least some of their winter sports seasons. This past week, coaches were asked to cover the last couple of months in a final wrap-up. The following are their answers.
Boys Hockey: “The Boy’s hockey team finished the season 1-8-1. Like everyone else, we dealt with a lot just to be able to get on the ice this season. Our normal routine of skating everyday and 20+ games was cut down to 3 or 4 hours of ice per week and only 10 games total. Practice time was extremely hard to find without the availability of USM facilities. With only three seniors this was one of the youngest groups the program has seen in many years. Senior forwards Aiden Enck and Nolan Gava lead a group of mostly Freshmen and Sophomores on offense. Defensively, Nathan Eichner was the elder statesman among Sophomores and Juniors. We were fortunate to make it through our entire schedule with only a few missing time for COVID quarantines. We were not as fortunate when it came to injuries losing key players down the stretch, including not having Senior Forward Dawson Allen who missed the entire season with a lingering injury from last season. Through all the adversity this season, the team was able to fight to a 1-1 tie with the Windham/Westbrook/Bonny Eagle team who had beaten us 8-1 in one of the first games of the season.” -Coach Jon Portwine
Boys Basketball: “The Gorham Boys’ Varsity Basketball Team completed a successful season – they ended with a record of 8-2. The team enjoyed two wins each over Windham, Bonny Eagle, Portland and Scarborough, before facing off against one of the best teams in the state – Thornton Academy. After two tough games Thornton edged Gorham in each contest. All of the boys that competed in the basketball program worked extremely hard throughout the year, and showed great sportsmanship and dedication to the sport. They should be proud of themselves as they represented their school and community with honor through these extremely tough times.
Bode Meader was selected to the Maine McDonald’s All-Star team, which honors only twelve seniors in Class A/AA/B. He has committed to playing basketball at Southern Maine Community College. Grant Nadeau was also selected to the McDonald’s team, as well as being selected to the Maine All Academic team. There are only a few players in the state that are selected for this. Grant was also a runner up for the Maine State Foul Shooting Championship. Grant will attend Bates College to play basketball next year. All of the players in our basketball program are proud to represent Gorham.” -Coach Mark Karter
Girls Basketball: “The Girls Basketball Team finished with a 6-4 record. We had a well balanced team that focused on playing with defensive intensity and with pace and ball movement on the offensive end. Junior, Anna Nelson, led the team in scoring, rebounding, and assists. Senior Co-Captain, Adele Nadeau, led the team in steals, blocked shots, and three pointers made. Adele became Gorham’s all-time leader in 3 point field goals in a career with 109 and was named a McDonald’s All-Star and Miss Maine Basketball Semi-Finalist. The girls team picked up their signature win of the season when they defeated Portland on March 5th, 48-45. The Bulldogs featured two Miss Basketball Semi-Finalists who are both scholarship players. The team was fortunate to have great senior leadership with Adele Nadeau and Olivia Michaud, who were both 4-year varsity players and 2-year captains. Our other two seniors, Tatyanna Biamby and Lauren Fotter were both excellent teammates and leaders as well. The four seniors were excellent role models and competitors and will be missed as they head off to college. They all made our program proud.” -Coach Laughn Berthiaume
Alpine Ski: “Thanks to Mr. Spear, Shawnee, the transportation Dept, parents, and of course the athletes, the GHS Alpine Ski Team had it’s most successful season in years. The boy’s team finished 3rd overall at SMAA’s and had multiple individual finishes in the top-10 throughout the season. The girl’s team had many individual successes, but unfortunately didn’t have enough girls to qualify for a team score.
The girls team was led by senior captain Claire Munkacsi whose 2nd place slalom was a personal best. Jillian Dugas finished her high school career by consistently finishing in the top of the field. Freshman Abby Fecteau improved every single race and had a phenomenal season setting the tone for 3 more years as a racer. The boys team was led on and off the snow by senior captain Ryan Castonguay. The leading boy’s scorers were sophomores Owen Ballard, Sam Munkacsi and Trent Stevens. Griffin Loranger, Malachi Wilson, and Ryker Spear also contributed well to team scores. Evan and Sean Verrill had many strong finishes and expectations for them are high next season.” -Coach Sean Munkacsi
Swim: “During this season five team records were broken. Caroline Bishop, a junior, broke the 100 Breaststroke records on 2/19/21 while we swam Cape Elizabeth virtual. Caroline broke the record with a 1:14.08. She then broke the record again on 3/12/21 with a time of 1:12.83 during the Southern Maine Virtual Championships. Evan Russo, Junior also took down three records during the season. On 3/5/21, Evan took down his previous team record in the 100 Breaststroke that he set in 2019 with a time of 1:05.72. Evan bested the time with a 1:03.64. During the following week at the Southern Maine Virtual Championships on 3/12/21, Evan would break his record again with a time of 1:03.53. In addition to these two record-breaking swims with the 100 Breaststroke, he would also set the team record in the 200 Individual Medley with a time of 2:07.92 during Southern Maine Virtual Championships. Both the boys and girls team had 20 state qualifying swims. Over 80% of the team was able to drop time in at least one of their races.
During the final meet at Southern Maine, Virtual Championships girls placed 6th of 17 teams and the boy’s team placed 6th of 15 teams. Speaking to our relays during the Southern Maine Championships; the girls 200 Medley Relay was a very fast field and yet we did an amazing job finishing 10th with the A relay and 18th with the B relay just missing scoring. The Girls 200 Free Relay ended with a 10th place finish, just missing the top 8 by five seconds. The Boys 200 Free Relay ended placing 4th against very strong competition. Finally, both the Girls and Boys (A) 400 Free Relays were able to finish 4th overall, and the Boys (B) relays finished 13th. With regards to all of the individual swims, there were so many amazing swims during our final meet. Abby Rosingana finished 4th in 200 Free and 1st in the 500 Free. Kate Pelletier finished 11th in the 200 Free and 12th in the 500 Free. Caroline Bishop finished 7th in 200 IM and 3rd in the 100 Breaststroke. Caitlin Randall 16th in the 200 IM and 7th in the 100 Breaststroke. Evan Russo places 2nd in the 200 IM and 1st in the 100 Breaststroke. Tommy Pritchard placed 9th in the 200 IM and 11th in the 100 Backstroke. Taylor Jordan finished 16th in the 100 Butterfly. Sam Pritchard finished 5th in 100 Butterfly and 10th in 100 Free. Allison Bishop finished 9th in the 100 Free.
This was a challenging season due to a number of factors and yet both teams rose to the occasion and did a fantastic job. They had consistent time drops, five team records set, and amazing comradery to support one another through a challenging time.” -Coach William York
Indoor Track: “Gorham Girls and Boys Indoor T/F had 40 competitors this winter who stuck with the program in spite of having no “real” competitions. To say that we, as coaches, are proud of this group would be an understatement. They all showed incredible commitment to the program and to themselves. As the season went on and we finally got into a regular schedule of practices, the boys and girls teams were able to hold intrasquad meets at the Gorham Sports Center where competitions were held in a variety of events. The girls also held a “mini-meet” with Scarborough in late February and both Boys and Girls teams had some members go to Falmouth for another mini-meet at the end of the season. In spite of the fact that we had no real competitions during the winter, the season proved to be a great success for all involved.” -Coach John Caterina & Coach Jason Tanguay