The Maine high school basketball tournament gets plenty of attention this time of year, and for good reason. The excitement and accessibility of the games, with three sites spread across the state and multiple options for watching online, make for a thrilling experience.
But as Maine Principals’ Association Executive Director Mike Burnham emphasized this week, the basketball tournament is not the only one providing exciting playoff action for Maine high schoolers and their fans. Other upcoming championships include those for swimming, skiing, indoor track, ice hockey and wrestling.
“The entire week is just filled with these championships and these events for kids. Where the basketball tournament is a 10-day event, it kind of takes a lot of the publicity,” Burnham said. “There are so many other things that are going on.”
The Maine State Swimming and Diving Championships get underway on Friday with the diving competition at Husson University in Bangor. The swimming portion will take place on Monday and Tuesday and be split between Husson and Bowdoin College in Brunswick.
The girls’ hockey state championship is Saturday at the William B. Troubh Ice Arena in Portland. Boys’ hockey has its championship on March 8 at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland.
The Maine State Indoor Track and Field Championships will be held Monday. Class A will compete at the University of Southern Maine and the Class B competition will be at Bates College in Lewiston.
The Maine State Alpine Skiing Championships will be held Feb. 24-25 across three different locations: Titcomb Mountain in Farmington, Sugarloaf in Carrabassett Valley and Saddleback in Rangeley.
The state wrestling championship for boys will be on Saturday at the Colisee in Lewiston, and the girls’ state wrestling championship will be held at Mt. Blue High School in Farmington on Tuesday.
In addition to their basketball coverage, either the National Federation of State High School Associations Network or WHOU will also livestream many of these events, according to Burnham. NFHS and WHOU both require a subscription.
