The 2018 edition of the boys Wolverine track team has a solid core of upperclassmen, three seniors and five juniors, but can they compete for a Mountain Valley Conference title?

The team won’t have long to wait. Its first meet is just a couple of weeks away on April 23. Wiscasset Middle High School will host Monmouth Academy, Spruce Mountain and Dirigo. WMHS will host three of the four MVC qualifying meets.

“We’ve got a good deal of experience, we’ll be competing at home and we’ll be competitive,” said Coach Josiah Wichenbach who’s returning for his third season.

The three seniors are Sam Strozier, Max Sampson and Trinin Jeffery.

Strozier, who’s coming off an impressive wrestling season in which he qualified for the New England championship meet, is back to compete in the triple jump. He’ll also be part of the 4x800, 4x400 and 4x100-meter relay teams.

“Sam won the triple jump in last year’s Mountain Valley Conference meet,” the coach noted. “Like all of us, he’s pretty excited about getting back outdoors and on the track.”

Sampson placed eighth in the long jump and 11th in the triple jump at the 2017 State Class C meet hosted by Dover Foxcroft. He’ll compete again in both events in the upcoming season along with the 100-meter dash and 4x100 relay.

Jeffrey’s been working hard at practice and will be on the infield throwing the shot put, javelin and discus.

The juniors are led by Matt Chapman. “He’s coming in ranked first in the MVC in the 110 and 300-meter hurdles and is among the top five hurdlers in class C. He’s a tenth of a second from breaking the school record in both events,” continued Coach Winchenbach. “Matt has a tremendous work ethic and has shown a lot of leadership.” He’ll also return to the 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams.

Other juniors include Chris “CJ” Loyola, Caleb and Josh Gabriel and Haiden Dunning. Both Loyola and Caleb Gabriele qualified for the states last year as part of the 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams.

The coach thinks the Gabriele brothers will likely figure in the Wolverines' scoring this season. Josh  will compete in the high, long and triple jump as well as the javelin. Caleb returns to the relay teams, will run the 800, and throw the javelin.

The sophomores include three members from the 2017 team, high jumper Cedrick Loyola, sprinter Josh Jones and distance runner Gage Varian. Dustin Manson joins the team as well as throwing the shot put, discus and javelin. Loyola qualified for the state C meet last year in the high jump by clearing 5-2.

“Gage is coming off a solid cross country season coached by Warren Cossette and has the potential to do very well in the two-mile for us. Based on his times from last season he’s ranked about fifth in the conference,” added Winchenbach.

New to the team are freshmen Nate Gilliam and Aiden Foley. They were part of the Middle School track team a year ago.