Team Iron Will, a powerlifting group from Dexter, recently traveled to the World Association of Benchers and Deadlifters (WABDL) World Cup in Madison, Wisconsin. The team is comprised of five lifters that train together at Millside Fitness in Dexter. The group grabbed national attention with 11 first-place trophies, four Best Lifter awards and two second-place medals.

Trailing 3-0 after the top of the first during a May 8 contest against neighboring Dexter Regional High School, Foxcroft Academy would score 11 times in the home half of the inning. The Ponies would need most of the early offensive output in a 14-9 victory.

Off to the East, behind Pagoda Peak, dawn was creeping upward. In the crimson half light, my horse picked its way along the rocky, mud-frozen pack trail. The boss, an elk outfitter I worked for, had given me the morning off and a loaned horse to get to the elk country above the Beaver Creek basin in Colorado.

Come help push a new Moosehead Lake region trail towards finalization. The Prong Pond Trail will be a relatively short trail to a pond overlook and shoreline peninsula. Right now, it needs blazing, clearing of winter damage, additional tread work and clearing of a modest section leading to the future trailhead.

On May 4 Foxcroft Academy, Greenville High School and Piscataquis Community High School took part in a Penobscot Valley Conference meet at Ellsworth High School. The Foxcroft boys scored 34 points to place sixth among a dozen schools.

While most all-terrain vehicle riders are safe and respectful while operating their ATVs, some others aren’t. On May 1, Maine Gov. Janet Mills announced that she has formed an ATV Initiatives Task Force to address the riders who operate on the wrong side of the law, trespassing, damaging private land and making landowners reassess their access policies.

Greenville High School put up a pair of high-scoring innings -- picking up four runs in the top of the second and then adding five in the fourth -- but the Lakers needed only one of these during a 14-3 interclass victory at Penquis Valley High School on May 2. Laker senior Caleb Snell tossed a complete game, 3-hitter as he and the defense kept the home team off the scoreboard until the fifth inning, at which point Greenville led 11-0.

Although my wife will mock me and guffaw when she reads this, when it comes to hunting and fishing equipment I am not a “gear hound.” Just ignore her scoffing. I really don’t buy a lot of new stuff, honest. Whether it is a fly rod, a shotgun or a pair of chest waders, I customarily make do.

On April 26 the Dexter girls finished fifth among six schools during a Penobscot Valley Conference meet at Bucksport. The Tigers scored 32 points.

Downtown Monson looks much different compared to several years ago through the efforts of the Libra Foundation, and a portion of West Main Street in Dover-Foxcroft is also undergoing a transformation thanks to the Portland-based organization.

Nominees are being sought for the second class of the Piscataquis Community High School Athletic Hall of Fame, established to honor those have starred on the playing fields, coached on the sidelines and/or contributed to athletics programs at PCHS, previous secondary institutions and the towns making up SAD 4.

Penquis Valley High School senior Cymeria Robshaw is one six members of the Class of 2019 from across the state being honored by the Maine Sports Hall of Fame with a $5,000 Scholar-Athlete Award. Robshaw and the other five will be recognized during the 44th Maine Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Saturday, May 19 at Merrill Auditorium in Portland.

Ritchie, of Greenville, was a slugging outfielder for the Guilford Advertisers, one of Maine’s storied semi-pro teams during the heyday of town team baseball.

Maine has not had a spring bear hunt for many years. Although a re-institution of a spring bear hunt in the Pine Tree State has been talked about on and off as a way of dealing with our ever-increasing population of bears, many stakeholders – including bear guides and outfitters – have opposed the spring hunt for a host of reasons.

Again in 2019 runners and walkers will be able to honor the service and sacrifice of veterans with Dover-Foxcroft American Legion Post 29’s second annual five kilometer (3.1 miles) Warrior Race & Fun Run at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 25.

Want to frustrate anyone involved in reclassifying Maine’s high school sports teams every two years? Mention “enrollment differential.”

The 47th annual Piscataquis River Race, sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Dover-Foxcroft, is scheduled for Saturday, April 27. Canoeists and kayakers will start from King Cummings Park in Guilford and paddle approximately 10 miles down river to the shore across West Main Street from Foxcroft Academy campus.

The Foxcroft Academy and Dexter Regional High School outdoor track and field teams opened the 2019 season at an April 18 Penobscot Valley Conference meet at the Brewer Community School. The Ponies scored 46 points to place fourth among seven schools and Dexter picked up 14 points to place seventh.