The 2022 Waterville Yellow Minors baseball team: front row, from left to right, Alex Pellotte, Micah Wisewell, Kyle Draling, Landen Beck, Kobe Garay and Harrison Timmins. Middle row, Bryce Blackstone, Mikeeridan Sheets, Joseph Alix, Max Poulin and Dean Quirion. Back row, coaches Victor Garay, Nate Quirion, Josh Blackstone and Jen Beck. (photo by Mark Huard/ Central Maine Photography)
Nathaniel Lombardi
Nathaniel Lombardi is a long time student of Huards Martial Arts. He has achieved a third degree black belt in karate and jujitsu at the school. Lombardi is no stranger to the competition scene, as a veteran member of the Huard’s Sport Karate Team. He has travelled throughout Maine and New England competing in weapons forms, open hand forms and fighting.
On Saturday, June 18, Lombardi traveled down to Gorham to attend the Friendship Tournament. This is only the third tournament Lombardi has attended since the pandemic, which ended the tournament seasons for two years. Local tournaments depend upon volunteer black belts to judge and guide the under belts, and Lombardi did his part by sitting as a corner judge prior to his own competition.
The first event for Lombardi was the weapons division. He picked up his trusty nunchucks and worked his way to fourth out of eleven competitors ages 18-29. He went on to improve his performance in his kata division, finishing third amongst the other highly trained martial artists.
Lombardi’s third division of the day was kumite, or point fighting. The objective of this division is to score five points first by landing a kick or a punch on their opponent to specific areas (light contact to the face, side of the head, chest, stomach and sides). Lombardi says prior to the event, he visualized throwing and landing his techniques on his opponents. This is a technique that helps attain focus and grounds competitors. The division was filled with many men that focus solely on this style of fighting and are extremely fast and agile.
Lombardi knew that he needed to bring his “A” game and win this division so he would have the opportunity to compete in the Grands. He had several fights in the 18-29 division, and managed to capture first in a couple of back and forth battles. He went on to compete with older age divisions and was able to capture the overall Men’s Fighting Grand Championships. He fought many veteran fighters who have competed for years, and have many tricks of the trade that they utilized against the younger Lombardi. He displayed his stamina and athleticism throughout the rounds, and came out victorious. Lombardi works out consistently in the dojo and additionally in the gym to always stay competition ready.
Lombardi credits his instructors and training partners at Huard’s for his successes and was pleased to demonstrate his skill sets to be a role model for the next generation of Martial artists.
He is also a first responder as an emergency medical technician. He works long hours and stills finds the time to devote to his training. Those that know Lombardi credit his discipline, integrity and commitment to himself and his team.
Class C track state champions: The Winslow boys outdoor track state class C champions. Front row, from left to right, Coach Jennifer Pellerin, Talon Loftus, Levi Olin, Zackery St. Pierre, Justin Rogers and Braden Rioux. Middle row, Coach Kyle Duelley, Owen Schuchardt, Samuel Schmitt, Coach Kenneth Nadeau, Evan Watts, Ryan Martin, Ryan Yang, and Aidan Warme. Back row Dominique Daigneault, Matthew Reynolds, Antoine Akoa, Stephen Spencer, Allan Rogers, Brady Goodwin, Andre Morin and Joseph Richards. (contributed photo)
Waterville Dodgers Minors: The 2022 Waterville Dodgers Minors baseball team, front to back, from left to right. Evan Ouellette, Porter Siegers, Jayden Bradley, Chase Reynolds, Judah Young, Alex Sheehan, Tatum Vaughan, Jayce Damron, Xander Wild, Jaxon Troxell. Back, coaches: Jason Sheehan, Matt Vaughan, and Dan Siegers. Absent from the photo is Jackson Ferrand, Hudson Ferrand and coaches Dennis Troxell and Alexander Wild. (photo by Mark Huard/ Central Maine Photography)
Athletes in grades three through eight had a chance to go to an hour-long clinic to work on baseball skills with the high school team. (photo courtesy of Crystal Pomerleau)
The Winslow High School baseball team held a clinic for youth baseball on Thursday, April 7.
Club NAHA Karate-Do Team Member Matthew Christen Captured 1st place in forms and 2nd place in weapons at the Battle of Maine Martial Arts Championships. He also won the Grand Championship Title for forms. (photo by Mark Huard)
Huard’s Martial Arts Student Madalyn Taylor 7 of Fairfield captured 1st place in forms and 3rd place in fighting at the Battle of Maine Martial Arts Championships on March 26. (photo by Mark Huard)
Atop the podium with gold medal.
Wynn in action. Photos taken at the Class B state championships on Saturday, February 19, which were held at Morse High School, in Bath.
Wynn Pooler, a freshman at Erskine Academy, in South China, won a state title in wrestling over last weekend.
According to head coach Tyler Bradbury, he’s the first freshman in Erskine Academy history to do so. Apparently he’s only the second wrestler in Erskine Academy history to win conference, regional, and state titles all in the same season (the first was Jake Peavey, who is now a nationally-ranked NCAA wrestler at the University of Southern Maine).
Erskine Academy competes in Class B, and Wynn wrestles in the 106-pound division. He is the son of Wes and Abby Pooler, of China.
Wynn has been wrestling since he was in kindergarten, and started competing at national tournaments when he was in the fifth grade, when he traveled to New Jersey with Team Maine. Since then, he has wrestled for national club teams based in states such as New Jersey, Georgia, and Maryland, at various national-level tournaments.
In Maine, the largest tournaments typically only have 3 – 4 mats and last a single day. The largest national tournament Wynn has competed at had 58 mats, and lasted three days. While Maine has some great wrestlers, it is rare for two equally-strong wrestlers to meet outside of the state tournament. In order to have great competition consistently, it requires a lot of out-of-state travel.
The top four place-winners from Class A and the top four place-winners from Class B for each weight-class will now compete at the New England Qualifier, otherwise known as “All-States”, at the end of this week. The top three place-winners for each weight from that tournament will then compete at the “New England Interscholastic Wrestling Championship”, being held in Providence, Rhode Island, on March 5. Then the weekend of March 25-27, Wynn will be competing at the National High School Coaches Association (NHSCA) High School Nationals, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where many of the best high school wrestlers in the country will be competing.
Wynn “enjoys the fact that while wrestling is a team sport, the actual competition is individual, and you don’t have to rely on others to be successful. The sport requires grit, toughness, and discipline. If you fail, you can’t blame others; you just need to learn from your mistakes, stay positive, and work on improving.”
Wynn does want to wrestle in college, but hasn’t yet begun to consider where that might be. If he maintains his straight-A average in school, he should have some options.
Front row, from left to right, Trinity Brickett, Amy Boyce, Maddy Niles, McKenzie MacAvoy, Emily Hagerty, MaKenzie Nadeau, Taylor Pellerin, Kaylee Elkins and Lizie Dumont. Back, Head Coach Greg Chesley, Assistant Coach Rusty Mercier, Maylie Knox, Ali Higgins, Lily Gray, Brianna Poulin, Nadia Morrison, Elizabeth Crommett, Hope Bouchard, Assistant Coach Joe Higgins. Absent from the photo is Saydee Wentworth. (photo by Missy Brown, Central Maine Photography)
Nixon Souviney, of Winslow, directs this kick towards the opposing goal in soccer action. (photo by Central Maine Photography)
The Palermo Consolidated School’s middle school soccer team beat St. Michael’s School in a 2-0 win for the championship. They had a 9-0-1 record for the season. They end the season with a great appreciation for their coach, Dick Reitchel. Dick Reitchel has been the soccer coach for Palermo School for eight years and also coaches and helps run the Palermo Youth Athletics (PYA) program. (photo courtesy of Stephanie Oliphant)
The Clinton Lions were crowned champions of the PAL senior league. Front row, from left to right, Colt Robinson, Brady Dearborn, Casey Gagnon, Nolan Owens, Caleb Collins, and Gage Mckenney. Second row, LoganWise, Trent Wishart, Keegan Littlefield, Cody Gagnon, Kayleb Gerow, Tucker St. Jarre, Trevor Denis, Kahl Bolster, Carter Sanborn and Maddok Lepage. Back, Coaches Jevon Owens, Toby Gagnon and Ryan Robinson. (contributed photo)
Messalonskee Grade 5/6 finished the season unbeaten (7-0) by outscoring the competition 284-46. Team members include, front, from left to right, Dawson Wellman, Sean Smith, Ayden Estes, Hunter Poulin, Hayden Cook, Malachi Cusano, Cavan Gooding, Parker Doucette, Brandon Frowery, Dawson Baker, Dominick Berry and Wyatt Bucknam, Middle row, Cameron Burrows, Trenton Bell, Owen Emmons, Connor Caron, Brayden Stewart, Eben Potter, Gabriel Steinberger, Caleb Corrow and Chase Lawler. Back, coaches Andy Steinberger, Justin Lawler, Tyler Jandreau, Darren Doucette and David Cusano. Absent from photo, Shawn Higgins, Graham Fitzsimmons, Quinn Charles. (photo by Sarah Lawler, Central Maine Photography)