It's official - Lewiston High School is in search of a new hockey coach. Norm Gagne's name was not put forth to the Lewiston School Committee on Monday night for renewal of his contract.

No word yet on whether or not Gagne, one of the nation's winningest high school hockey coaches, will re-apply for the job, but consider that right now there's also a coaching opening at St. Dominic, after John Pleau's resignation earlier this month.

In case you're watching the NHL playoffs on television, here's a name for you: Jim Dowd.

According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, Dowd, a center for the Philadelphia Flyers, is the nation's all-time leading scorer in high school hockey. From 1984 to 1987 at Brick Township (N.J.), Dowd finished with 375 points, including 189 assists, second-best all-time in the NFHS record books.

The Philadelphia Flyers play the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals on Sunday in Pittsburgh.

No word yet on whether Shawn Rousseau, who was named Thornton Academy's hockey coach earlier this week, and the Trojans will face Falmouth, coached by Shawn's older brother, Scott, this season.

But the Rousseaus have met before in high school hockey, and the stakes were high. In 1999, Shawn Rousseau's Cape Elizabeth team defeated Falmouth for the Western Class B championship.

For the past four years it seems as if Messalonskee's Jesse Labreck has dominated Class A track, amassing all of the Eagles points by herself at state championship meets.

But all those times you thought Labreck's feats were pretty amazing, a high schooler in Texas singlehandedly won the Class 1A title this weekend in Austin. Bonnie Richardson earned 42 points in the 100, 200, high jump, long jump and discus to win the state team title for Rochelle High School, about 140 miles northwest of Austin.

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This story's been making the rounds for the past week and just now I'm posting it on my blog. Shame on me.

John Challis of Freedom, Pa., may have only months to live because he suffers from liver and lung cancer, but is playing high school baseball. Because it's difficult to explain this story, I'll leave some insight up to Challis.

"I used to be afraid, but I'm not afraid of dying now, if that's what you want to know," he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "Because life ain't about how many breaths you take. It's what you do with those breaths."

Teen is running out of innings, but the game isn't over

Be sure to keep a box of tissues nearby when you read this.

Consider this. We've been pretty lucky to have warm weather over the past few days, but as Maine is getting into full stride in its spring sports season, the warmer-weather states are closing their seasons. Cases in point – Florida held its state track championships last weekend, while Texas holds its outdoor track championships this weekend.

Which leads me to a point.

According to Dyestat.com, Zakeya Stinson of Miami, Fla., currently has the nation's top mark of 49 feet, 7.5 inches in the girls shot put for the 2008 outdoor track season.

Greely's Becky O'Brien finished with the nation's second best indoor mark (51-5) in the shot put and won the event last week (47-11) in a four-team outdoor meet at Wells. She still has nearly a month for improvement – the state track championships are scheduled for June 7.

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The Gorham softball team handed Marshwood its first loss on Wednesday, ending the Hawks' four-game winning streak. Marshwood's loss leaves two remaining undefeated Western Class A softball teams - Biddeford (6-0) and Scarborough (7-0). But don't expect a matchup between the Tigers and the Red Storm anytime soon. The two teams aren't scheduled to meet until May 26 at Mitchell Sports Complex in Scarborough.

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Bonny Eagle baseball coach Marc Sawyer remained realistic during his team's 13-11 loss Tuesday at Biddeford. While the Scots led 3-1 in the third inning, Sawyer wasn't about to let his team get overconfident.

"I told the team, 'that Biddeford team has a bunch of hockey players, and they're used to winning,' " the first-year Scots coach said. " 'If you think they'll lie down, that's not going to happen.' "

Sure enough, the Tigers – whose roster includes All-State hockey MVP Tony Dube – scored three runs in the bottom of the third, then held off the Scots' rally attempt in the top of the ninth.

Hannah Hill struck out her 500th batter Monday in the Fryeburg Academy softball team's 2-0 win against Lake Region.

Hill has pitched in all seven games for the Raiders (who, not coincidentally, are 7-0 entering Friday's game against Poland).

Hill struck out 15 against Lake Region and has averaged 13.5 strikeouts a game. Fryeburg has given up one run and nine hits this season.

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Point and click - the first Heal points have been released for spring sports.

Gardiner has appointed Jim Palmer as its new football coach. Palmer has been with the Gardiner program since 1995 was the offensive coordinator for the past five years.

Palmer replaces Matt Brown, who resigned in March after the Tigers won the 2007 Class B championship.

... after a week of covering the Sea Dogs, Team USA hockey and a few days in Florida, where the high school baseball and softball playoffs have already begun.

A few numbers to chew on: 2, 26 and 0.

In the Fryeburg Academy softball team's 2-0 win Wednesday at Freeport, pitchers Hannah Hill and Olivia Doane combined for 26 strikeouts - despite Doane no-hitting the Raiders.