The Hampden Academy boys basketball team has continued to dominate its Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference brethren on its home court, extending a winning streak at home that spans more than five years to 46 games with a 68-59 victory over previously undefeated Edward Little of Auburn on Monday afternoon.
But where the top-ranked Broncos (12-1) ultimately will be seeded in their quest for a fifth consecutive Eastern Maine Class A championship may well depend on how they fare as road warriors next week.
Coach Russ Bartlett’s club will travel an estimated 580 miles to play three games in five days against three rivals with a combined 30-11 record through Tuesday night’s schedule.
First comes the rematch against 12-1 Edward Little next Monday at Auburn — a 210-mile round trip.
The next night, the Broncos head to Oakland (114 miles) to face red-hot Messalonskee. Led by 6-foot-8 Eastern Kentucky commit Nick Mayo, the 10-4 Eagles have won seven straight games since losing consecutively to Edward Little, Hampden and 9-5 Cony before Christmas.
Hampden edged Messalonskee 64-62 in overtime on Dec. 16.
After two days back at home, Hampden concludes its week-long tour of central and western Maine on Jan. 30 with the longest trek of the bunch, a 256-mile round trip to South Paris to face 8-6 Oxford Hills in a rematch of last year’s Eastern A final. The Broncos won that meeting 82-54 at the Augusta Civic Center, and the teams meet just once during this regular season.
“It’s good that we’re playing three good teams in a row,” said Bartlett after his team’s home win over Edward Little. “We’ll see what we’re made of next week.”
Hampden actually has a fourth straight road game, a 170-mile round trip to play Mt. Blue of Farmington, on Feb. 3 before closing out its regular season at home against Skowhegan on Feb. 5.
Dahlbergh sets MCI wrestling record
Dylan Dahlbergh, a senior at Maine Central Institute of Pittsfield, became the school’s leader in career wrestling victories during a recent meet at Winslow.
Dahlbergh, who is wrestling in the 132-pound weight class, secured his 133rd career victory to eclipse the 132 wins earned by Brandon Wright, a 2009 MCI graduate who was the Class B state champion at 119 pounds as a senior.
Dahlbergh has been a three-time state runner-up under MCI coach Mike Libby, at 106 pounds as a freshman in 2012, at 120 pounds in 2013 and at 126 pounds last winter.
He also has been crowned an Eastern Maine Class B champion the last two years after finishing second at the 2012 regional meet.
Willingham earns cross-country honor
Class A individual state champion Aaron Willingham of Mt. Blue High School in Farmington has been named the 2014-15 Gatorade Maine Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year.
The 6-foot-1, 165-pound senior won the Class A state championship race with the best time of the day regardless of class, 16 minutes, 0.62 seconds.
Willingham controlled the field for most of his race, only to be passed by Falmouth’s Bryce Murdick with less than a half-mile to go. But Willingham, who failed to finish the 2014 state race because of a stress fracture, had enough of a kick left to retake the lead and sprint to the finish a half-second ahead of Murdick.
“He caught up to me with 600 [meters] to go and started to pull ahead, but I saw the finish line and pushed back ahead,” said Willingham after the race. “I didn’t want to look back. I was so scared about what I’d see.”
Willingham went on to place 22nd at the New England Cross Country Championships with a time of 16:16.
“Mt. Blue and Maine cross-country in general can count themselves fortunate to have had the chance to get to know Aaron Willingham and watch him compete,” said Cony of Augusta head coach Shawn Totman. “His amazing physical ability and mental toughness are impressive. As an opposing coach, you watched him run with the utmost respect.”
Willingham, who moved to the Farmington area from Texas after his sophomore year of high school, also won the 2014 Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference and Eastern Maine Class A championship races.
Earlier in the season, he posted a 15:58.30 clocking at a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference meet on Sept. 11, the state’s fastest 5K of the season.
Willingham remains undecided upon a collegiate destination.
Willingham joins Josef Holt-Andrews (2013-14, Telstar of Bethel), Dan Curts (2012-13, Ellsworth), Matt McClintock (2011-12 and 2010-11, Madison), Will Geoghegan (2009-10 and 2008-09, Brunswick), and Nick Williams (2007-08, Poland) as athletes who have won the Gatorade Maine boys cross-country award since its inception in 2007.
