SKOWHEGAN — A.J. Barter spins his steering wheel as fast as he can, and he guns his car in reverse, but it’s no use. The right front tire on the passenger side is caught on the barrier, and all of Barter’s work just makes his car swing in big, herky-jerky arcs, like a pink fish trying to break free from a hook.
Travis Lazarczyk
Columnist
Travis Lazarczyk has covered sports for the Portland Press Herald since 2021. A Vermont native, he graduated from the University of Maine in 1995 with a BA in English. After a few years working as a sports information director and in the ski industry, he began his journalism career at the Berlin (N.H.) Reporter in 1999. Prior to joining the Press Herald, Lazarczyk spent 20 years covering sports in central Maine at the Morning Sentinel and Kennebec Journal. He's been twice honored as the Maine Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association.
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HARNESS RACING: Taking a run at No. 3
Two years ago, Rodeo du Ruisseau won the Walter H. Hight Memorial Pace. Last year, Rodeo du Ruisseau won the Hight Invitational again, shaving nearly two seconds off the Skowhegan State Fair track record in the process.
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MOUNTAIN BIKING: Freye passes on his sport
Andrew Freye doesn’t chase points on the Mountain Bike World Cup any more. When he races these days, Freye tends to keep it on the New England circuit. Now, the 27-year-old Winthrop native is more concerned with passing his sport on to the next generation.
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HIGH SCHOOL: Panthers have new AD
WATERVILLE — It was her previous experience in athletic administration that drew Heidi Bernier to the Waterville Senior High School athletic director’s job.
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HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS: Back to business
NEWPORT — The Nokomis Regional High School field hockey team ended its first practice as state champion the same way it ended its first practice as a regional runner-up. With a mile run on the track.
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TRAVIS LAZARCZYK: For Hinds, it is not only about playing time
The statistics, or in the case of Gabe Hinds, the complete lack of them, lie. If you look at the University of Maine football team’s stat sheet from any of the past three seasons, and brush off Hinds because his name doesn’t appear anywhere, you’re missing the point, and missing what a valuable member of the Black Bears Hinds has become.
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COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Shea makes a big leap at Maine
ORONO — It was late August, 2008, and Steve Shea’s football resume consisted of exhibition games at Nokomis Regional High School, one all-star game and a redshirt season at the University of Maine. And there he was, starting at right guard for the Black Bears in front of 70,585 screaming fans in the University of Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium.
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GOLF: Amateur champ wins match play
MANCHESTER — It happened on every hole. While their caddies jumped into golf carts and motored down the fairway after each tee shot, Ryan Gay and Matt Greenleaf walked together, talking about golf, life and everything in between.
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GOLF: Gay wins Match Play Invitational
MANCHESTER — Ryan Gay won holes 15 and 16 to clinch a 3 and 2 win over Matt Greenleaf in the Maine State Golf Association’s Match Play Invitational at the Augusta Country Club on Wednesday.
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MSGA MATCH PLAY INVITATIONAL: Gay tops Hamel, Plummer
MANCHESTER — Tim Gay watched his son Ryan’s golf match against Mark Plummer on Wednesday afternoon and remembered when all Ryan wanted to do was play a round with Plummer, who owns a record 13 Maine Amateur titles.