Bethany Karter-O’Brien, a senior at Waterville High School, fell in love with the University of Vermont during her official visit to the school in January.

We are planning some improvements to the way we cover Maine high school sports on the newspapers' web sites.

Between the two central Maine papers — the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel — we track about 30 high schools' athletic programs. Add our sister paper to the south — the Portland Press Herald — and that number more than doubles.

Four Carrabassett Valley Academy students skied well at their first U.S. Alpine Championships, which concluded at Sugarloaf on Wednesday.

Ben Morse placed 17th in the slalom, 48th in the giant slalom, 62nd in the downhill, and 72nd in the Super G.

Kristin Waddle finsihed 22nd in both the slalom and downhill, and took 27th place in the Super G and 30th in the giant slalom.

Emma Coffin took 27th in Wednesday's giant slalom, to go with her 30th in the slalom, 34th in the downhill, and 43rd in the Super G.

Katie Houser earned 25th place in the slalom, 34th in the downhill, 36th in the giant slalom, and 43rd in the Super G.

Last spring, Lawrence's Heather Gilman and Messalonskee's Stacey Stuart were both high school shortstops, and also two of the top players in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A.

This season, they're continuing to hit as teammates on the University of Southern Maine softball team.

This year, for the first time, two players were named Kennebec Journal Boys Basketball Co-Players of the Year. It was not a decision made lightly.

LANDOVER, Md. — Messalonskee High School senior Jess Labreck finished third in the girls indoor pentathlon at the Nike Indoor Nationals, held this weekend at the Prince Georges Sports and Learning Complex.

I spoke with University of Maine women's basketball coach Cindy Blodgett this morning for a story I'm writing about Christina Mosher, a freshman on the team from Farmington.

I also asked Blodgett her thoughts on the season as the Black Bears prepare for an America East first-round playoff game against Stony Brook on Thursday.

Invitations have been made to seniors all over the state to play in the Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl football game in late July, and a number of central Maine players have been selected.

The Lobster Bowl is in its 19th year, and all proceeds from the game, which pits the top graduating seniors from Eastern Maine against their counterparts from the West, go to Shriner's Hospitals.

At least one player from every team in the state is invited to play in the game, and each school can have no more than three players selected.

Waterville Senior high School has a new head varsity baseball coach for the first time in more than 20 years. Don Sawyer was approved as the Panthers' new skipper at Monday's school board meeting.

Sawyer served as a volunteer assistant the past two seasons. He's been involved in Waterville youth baseball at a number of levels.

Sawyer replaces Dick Whitten, who coached the Panthers for 24 years.

Messalonskee senior forward Matt DelGiudice is one of four finalists for the Travis Roy Award.

What a wild Class B state championship game here at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston. The Black Raiders squandered a three-goal lead in the final 6:20 only to storm back and win it in overtime on senior Nick Thorne's goal. The Raiders now have 11 Class B state titles.

It's hard to believe when you look out your window that they're playing baseball anywhere, but the St. Joseph's College team has been in Florida all week.

The Monks were 4-3 heading into Friday's doubleheader against Olivet College.

It was a strong season for central Maine boys high school basketball. Were it not for a buzzer beater, teams in the Kennebec Journal circulation area would have taken three of four state championships.

Jon Roy scores a hat trick and Jordan Bourgoin adds a goal and an assist as Lewiston advances to its fourth consecutive Class A state title game. The Blue Devils dominated the last two periods and the Panthers were hurt by a 10-minute game misconduct penalty to senior leader John Massey.

Jesse Cullivan scores 26 seconds into overtime to lift Winslow to the Eastern B title, its first since 2005.

Height is an advantage in the game of basketball but no more important than quickness. This is true at every level, especially in high school, where big men are usually in the developmental stage.

FINAL: Forrest Chadwick scored with 4:11 left as the Tigers earned a berth in the Eastern B regional final with rival Winslow by beat John Bapst 4-3.
The Crusaders scored two goals in the first two minutes to tie the game at 3.

Klinton Peckham scored two short-handed goals 23 seconds apart to give the Tigers a 3-1 lead after the second period.
John Bapst tied the game with a 5-on-3 goal by Andrew Casey 4:24 into the period. With Gardiner still down a man, Peckham chased down a long clearing passing that was orginally played by John Bapst goalie Derek Duff. Peckham gathered the puck before Duff could get back into position and gave Gardiner a 2-1 lead by slipping the puck through Duff's legs with 10:20 left in the period.
Peckham then made a great individual effort to make it 3-1. After chasing down a puck at the John Bapst blue line, Peckham tipped it by a defender, then jumped around that defender into the attacking zone. Peckham got the puck between the circles and slipped a wrister through Duff's legs with 9:57 left.

Kevin May ripped in a shot between the circles on a pass from Forrest Chadwick to give Gardiner 1-0 lead after the first period in the second Eastern B semifinal at Sukee Arena.

Casey Poussard and Jordan Bourgoin each score two goals to lead No. 1 Lewiston past No. 4 Lawrence late Monday. Lewiston and Waterville will play for the Eastern A title on Wednesday at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

Top-seeded and undefeated Biddeford will play No. 2 Kennebunk for the Western A title Wednesday night at 8 at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland.

The No. 3 Panthers will play for the Eastern A title Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland.

John Massey has three assists and Nolan MacDonnell was terrific in net as No. 3 Waterville advanced to the Eastern A final with a victory over No. 2 Brewer at the Colisee on Monday.

Sean Bourgeois and Jesse Cullivan scored in the first four minutes of the third period as Winslow High School earned a 4-2 win in the Eastern Maine Class B regional semifinals over Houlton/Hodgdon at Sukee Arena.
Bourgeois scored his second goal of the game 1:03 into the period and Cullivan scored at 3:08 to give Winslow the lead for good.
The Black Raiders did not allow a shot in the third period. They'll play the winner of tonight's second game between Gardiner and John Bapst at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the University of Maine in Orono.

AFTER 2: Winslow 2, H/H 2: Houlton/Hodgdon took advantage of seven Winslow penalties and scored two goals in the final seven minutes of the period to tie the game at 2.
Winslow went up 2-0 when Jeff LaFrance's shot from the blue line snuck through Malik Abouleish's legs with 7:28 left. Winslow then played at least a man down for the major of the final seven minutes at least a man down, and most of it two-men down.
Houlton/Hodgdon got within one on a power-play goal by Taylor Martin, then tied it with a power-play goal by Zach Chase with 3:04 left in the period.

AFTER 1: Winslow 1, Houlton/Hodgdon 0: Sean Bourgeois scored 1:28 into the first period to give Winslow a 1-0 lead in its Eastern B semifinal against Houlton/Hodgdon at Sukee Arena.
Bourgeois skated in from behind the Houlton/Hodgdon red line to the front of the net, where he backhanded a shot past Blackhawks goalie Malik Abouleish.
Winslow dominated the period, taking 18 shot, compared to just four by Winslow.

While high school hockey fans gear up for the regional semifinals, the Colby College men's ice hockey team has quietly moved into the national Division III rankings.

The Mules, 15-8-1, are ranked No. 14 in the latest USCHO.com national poll. The only other school from the New England Small College Athletic Conference ranked in the poll is No. 8 Middlebury (17-6-2).

Colby is the top seed in the NESCAC tournament, and will host the semifinals for the first time next weekend. Colby will take on Trinity at 1 p.m. Saturday, followed by Middlebury vs. Amherst. The winners will play at 1 p.m. Sunday for the title, with a trip to the NCAA tournament at stake.

I'll miss watching Maranacook's Ryan Martin, Mike Poulin and Will Bardaglio. They played their last game together Friday night when they beat Cape Elizabeth for their second Class B state championship in three years.