The USM Men’s Cross Country team is no stranger to talent. Over the past two seasons, the cross country program here at Southern Maine has sent 3 runners to the DIII Nationals and has created a reputation as a top notch running school. Curtis Wheeler, who was the LEC Runner of the Year in 2007, qualified for Nationals in 2006 and 2007, and last year, junior Tyler Jasud (Rumford, Maine/Mountain Valley) and freshman Alex Gomes (Peabody, MA) both raced at the National Championships.
Author: USM
Yo!Yo!
Free Press: So I’m told you yo-yo and you do it competitively. When did that start?
Brandon Baines: I started yo-yoing in 1997 when I was nine years old. It was a big craze at my school so naturally I picked it up like every other kid on the playground, and I just took it from there, and after everyone else quit I just kept going.
Women’s Soccer drops season opener to Husson
The University of Southern Maine Women’s soccer team lost their first game of the season 6-1 against the Eagles of Husson University on Tuesday.
The Eagles got off to a quick start after scoring two first half goals from a penalty kick goal by junior defensive player Caitlyn Butterfield (Gorham) and also in the 24th minute by junior forward Megan Lajoie (Van Buren, ME) off an assist from senior Kylan Smith (Presque Isle, ME).
GTV gets new manager
Ian Jones is building a TV station from the ground up.
The new General Manager of Gorham TV, USM’s student-run television station is trying to get the station running again. But he’s dealing with broken or antiquated equipment and is currently the only employee.
Husky Hero
JN: Why did you choose to go to school at USM? Was your decision based mostly on academics or did you come for the running program?
RP: I chose USM for the academics and location. I like the Portland area and wanted to stay in-state, and USM also had a Political Science program of some renown that I was very interested in.
Early season expectations
Men’s Cross country
With a cast of 18 experienced returners from last year and 11 freshman with great potential, the Huskies Men’s Cross Country team look to have one of the best teams in school history. The team comes into 2009 ranked 4th in the Pre-season U.
Letter from the Editor: the Botman era begins
This past Saturday, USM held the formal inauguration of its tenth President, Selma Botman.
For me personally, Botman’s inauguration capped a process of installing a new president that has been in the works for over a year.
When I first came to The Free Press last winter, the search for USM’s new administrator-in-chief was just starting in earnest.
Newly #1 Huskies drop game to UMass Boston
Riding a 17-game winning streak, the USM baseball team nabbed the #1 ranking in the country, according to the latest D3Baseball.com poll, only to lose against conference foe UMass-Boston three days later, 5-0 in Gorham. The Huskies then took two games from Rhode Island College to claim the Little East Conference regular season title, and the chance to host this year’s tournament.
A “lite” comedy about man’s best friend
A.R. Gurney’s 1995 play, “Sylvia,” playing from April 24-May 3 at the Russell Hall Main Stage in Gorham, though it treads the fine line between “light” and “lite” comedy, is only partially a play about a dog. In the hands of a more experienced director, it has the potential to be a passable, though somewhat protracted and obvious, comedy about love, jealousy and the ramifications of impending old age.
Botman begins
Nearly one year after becoming USM’s president, Selma Botman is finally sworn in at a formal ceremony attended by roughly 300
Online TV: Hot new item or cause for alarm?
I currently watch all my TV online as many young people do today. Lets face it there’s no or hardly any commercials and you have complete control over what you watch. I mainly used the most popular site that was surf the channel.
Surf the channel started getting threats and legal notices.
Taking on Tuckerman’s
Once the snow begins to melt and the ski resorts begin to close each spring, skiers flock to Tuckerman’s Ravine, a bowl on the east facing side of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire’s White mountains.
Tuckerman’s has long been a spring skiing Mecca for its notoriously challenging terrain and its reputation for annually holding skiable snow into June (recording an average of 55 feet of snow pack on any given year).
Summer movie madness
June
“The Proposal” promises audiences a Sandra Bullock (“Crash,” “Miss Congeniality”) romantic-comedy that we can all be proud of her in. I’m not knocking her talent, just her choice of movies over the last few years. Bullock plays an obtrusive boss that forces her young assistant, Ryan Reynolds (“Van Wilder,” “Waiting”), to marry her.
Jenkins rides again
Muskie school student tries once more to break into public service, this time as part of an effort to change the face of Portland politics.
Cheering takes second place in Div II Nationals
The beats of hip-hop music often reverberate throughout the Costello Sports Complex before the sun has even fully hit the horizon. And if you ever took the time to explore the rhythmic cadences, you might just find one of USM’s hidden athletic treasures: the cheerleading team.
Bountiful Bromst
Bountiful’ is the best word I can come up with to describe the music of Dan Deacon. It is bountiful in its sounds, styles, influences and directions. His latest album, Bromst, has the magnitude of a large piece of classical music with all of the benefits of a pop album.
Search for Board of Trustees rep delayed
It all began with an art exhibit.
In 2006, Marie Follayttar participated in a controversial art show called “Can’t Jail the Spirit,” that was shut down by the university. She went to a Student Senate meeting to get approval to be a student voice on a subsequent panel called “Controversy in the public university: who decides?”
“I saw a senate poster, walked in.
Breaking away
Chris Esposito has put college on the back burner. The senior at Gorham High School, instead of attending university in the fall, will be pursuing his first love: cycling. But, instead of dreaming of the lush life of professional athletes, Esposito finds himself longing for a much different element of the lifestyle – an element that many people in the area find captivating.
Gay marriage bill debated in Augusta
On Wednesday April 22, over 3,000 people packed in to the Augusta Civic Center for a public hearing on two new bills on gay marriage in Maine. The event, which originally was to be held at Cony High School, was moved to the larger venue to accommodate the expected crowd.
Bargain bin pick
Victor Wooten has done it again! Straight from the man who brought us “Soul Circus,” and “Show of Hands” comes an album that will completely blow your mind. “Palmystery” shows the full extent of this bass playing virtuoso. Combining his classic ‘slap and pop’ technique to create a masterful display of musicianship, Wooten does the name of the album justice, for it is indeed a mystery.
USM e-mail to switch to Google
This summer, all students within the UMaine System will have their Horde e-mail accounts transferred to Google Apps, in an effort to make the university’s e-mail system more user friendly. Those who already use this service know that the step from Horde to Gmail is like trading in Zach Morris’ cell phone from Saved By The Bell for a new Blackberry.
Online courses: friend or foe?
With spring semester coming to an end, Alicia Pyle, a junior social work major, began registering for her fall semester classes when she noticed an increase in online courses. “I went to sign up for my fall semester classes, and every class I wanted to take was an online course.”
High and mighty
Looking through women’s track results, it’s easy to get the impression that Bethany Dumas is a seasoned veteran.
She’s almost always an event winner and her prowess extends beyond a single event.
But if you think she’s a familiar face, you’re wrong. In fact, Dumas is new on the track scene, but she’s making her presence known.
Maine legislature fails to pass gun law
Some anniversaries can’t be celebrated. Monday, April 20 is one of these days. It marks the tenth anniversary of the Columbine shootings. Last week, April 16, was the two year anniversary of the Virginia Tech massacre. These highly publicized tragedies have spurred change around the country, but how has Maine been affected?
Because of these harrowing events, the city of Portland has taken initiative and declared April, “Gun Violence Prevention Month.