Wells High School names top 10 students in Class of 2025
WELLS, Maine — Wells High School has announced its top 10 students for the Class of 2025.
Natalie Blaisdell is described as an integral member of the Class of 2025. She has completed numerous advanced placement and dual enrollment courses and has earned Breakfast of Champions and Student of the Trimester awards for academic excellence. Natalie has been a member of the WHS marching band and participated in the girls' soccer and softball programs. She plans to attend Flagler College in the fall to major in political science. Natalie is the daughter of Amy and Mark Blaisdell of Wells.
Cooper Bourque has taken numerous advanced placement and college dual enrollment courses. He has received the Endicott College Book Award, a Student of the Trimester award, and a Breakfast of Champions award. Cooper was also the recipient of a 2025 Maine Principals Association Award. He is a talented athlete who has participated in football, baseball, and track and field during his four years at WHS. He plans to attend Pennsylvania State University in the fall and major in biomedical engineering. Cooper is the son of Jennifer and Michael Bourque of Wells.
Victoria (Tory) Chase is president of her class and is described as a leader and enthusiastic member of the Class of 2025. Tory has completed a mixture of college prep, honors, advanced placement, and college dual enrollment classes, realizing success in each. She has been a valued member of WHS's volleyball, track and field, and unified basketball teams. Outside of school, she has participated in a club rugby team and has spent time as a volunteer at the Living Wells Farm, where she helps students with disabilities learn how to ride horses in the hopes of increasing their self-confidence. Tory plans to attend Fairfield University, where she will major in nursing. Tory is the daughter of Kathleen and James Chase of Wells.
Phillip (PJ) Fortin served as vice president of his class during his freshman and sophomore years. He is a member of both the Math Team and the Mock Trial group. He is known to be always willing to challenge himself intellectually. Through his volunteer work of clearing trails at a local land trust, he has gained an appreciation of how important conservation trails are and those who maintain them. This experience resulted in a new hobby of hiking in the White Mountains. While at Wells High School, he has been an outstanding teammate and member of the WHS soccer, track and field, and baseball teams. PJ plans to attend the University of Maine and become an English teacher. He is the son of Tina and Scott Fortin of Ogunquit, Maine.
Chloe Madsen is the salutatorian of the Class of 2025. During her high school career, she was inducted into the National Honor Society and received school book awards in mathematics and allied arts. Additionally, she received Breakfast of Champions awards in 2022 and 2024. Chloe is active in her church and volunteers her time in school and in her community. She is planning to attend Brigham Young University to pursue a degree in nursing. Chloe is the daughter of Kelli and Benjamin Madsen of Wells.
Kendall Maxon is highly regarded by the WHS faculty and staff and has been very involved in the Wells High School community. Her leadership extends to her participation in the Student Council and Interact Clubs, where she serves as vice president. She has received several awards, including Athlete of the Month, Student of the Trimester, and Breakfast of Champions. She has made multi-year commitments to the WHS basketball, soccer, and lacrosse programs. Kendall plans to attend Wheaton College in September to major in business. She is the daughter of Shane and Pamela Maxon of Wells.
Maren Maxon is a member of the National Honor Society, Student Council, and Interact Club. She has received the St. Michael's Book Award and a Congressional Legislative Sentiment Award. Maren is an avid basketball player, achieving her 1000th career point in her senior year. She also participated in the soccer and volleyball programs at WHS. This fall, she will major in public health at the University of Vermont. Maren is the daughter of Shane and Pamela Maxon of Wells.
Eli Potter has been awarded academic book awards in science and social studies and has been recognized with the Breakfast of Champions award on multiple occasions. Eli is a talented student-athlete and has made significant contributions to the WHS lacrosse, football, wrestling, and outdoor track and field teams at WHS. He was a semi-finalist for the Campbell Conference Fitzpatrick Award and received a Western Maine Conference Citizenship Award. Eli has chosen to attend Bentley University in the fall to major in Finance. He is the son of Tasha and Adam Potter of Wells.
Lilian Sittig is a member of the National Honor Society and recognized nationally as a Scholar of Distinction by the College Board. She is a talented athlete who was a member of the WHS ski, track, and cross-country teams. Lilian received an Athlete of the Month award and achieved Student of the Trimester status, plus the Breakfast of Champions award. She plans to pursue a career in nursing by attending the University of South Carolina. Lilian is the daughter of Heather and Skanlon Sittig of Ogunquit.
Brandon Wallingford is valedictorian of the Class of 2025. He is a member of the National Honor Society and a recipient of numerous awards in mathematics and social studies. He was honored with Student of the Trimester distinction and was a recipient of a Breakfast of Champions award. Brandon has been lauded as a College Board AP Scholar and is a recipient of the Board's Rural and Small-Town Recognition program. He plans to attend the University of South Carolina to study finance. Brandon is the son of Jennifer and Brian Wallingford of Wells.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Wells High School names top 10 students in Class of 2025
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New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Your complete guide to the 2025 Club World Cup – the groups, the teams and the storylines to watch
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New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
The Brad Marchand and Sam Bennett show just keeps rolling, much to the Panthers' advantage
SUNRISE, Fla. — Brad Marchand waxed poetic about Sam Bennett and his monster shift in which he crushed Vasily Podkolzin, and then John Klingberg, before scoring his league-leading 14th goal and giving the Florida Panthers a huge separator Monday night. Marchand was going on and on and on and on. Bennett's former rival called him 'an animal this whole playoffs.' Advertisement 'He's built for this time of year,' Marchand said after the Panthers beat the heck out of the Edmonton Oilers in a 6-1 Game 3 victory to put themselves two wins from a Stanley Cup repeat. 'He's built for this time of year, just how competitive he is and how intense. Obviously, you see the physicality piece. That shift was a perfect example of his game. Blows two guys up and then somehow leads the rush after that and scores a beautiful goal. He can do it all.' Marchand talked about how Bennett isn't scared to go to the dirty areas you must go this time of year: 'He lives there.' Marchand talked about how Bennett is unfazed by the big moments, how he has the hands and the skill and the intensity level and strength to compete in the corners. As Marchand began to circle back and repeat, 'He's built for this time of year,' Sam Reinhart, sitting to his right, finally interrupted with a whisper of, 'Bed.' Reinhart was tired and letting Marchand know it was time to shut his yap so they could head off into the humid South Florida night for some well-earned shuteye. 'Yeah, sorry, I gotta wrap it up here,' Marchand said, laughing, before deadpanning, 'He's been great.' MAKE A HIT ✅POT A BEAUTY ✅ Sam Bennett is an absolute force to be reckoned with. #StanleyCup 🇺🇸: @NHL_On_TNT & @SportsonMax ➡️ @Sportsnet or stream on Sportsnet+ ➡️ — NHL (@NHL) June 10, 2025 Like Bennett, Marchand has also been an animal this postseason, making it awfully tough for the Conn Smythe Trophy voters who are tasked with choosing the playoff MVP, should the Panthers win a second consecutive championship in their third straight Stanley Cup Final. In a rarity, Connor McDavid won the Conn Smythe in a losing effort last postseason. That likely won't happen again if the Panthers can finish this off. Advertisement Obviously, a lot can happen still when Edmonton has two of the best players in the world. McDavid and the Oilers showed that last year by nearly completing the impossible and rallying from a 3-0 series deficit before losing Game 7. But this time, Marchand and Bennett are just playing too well for one of the deepest offensive teams we've seen in the playoffs in some time to not earn Playoff MVP honors if they win it all again. The Panthers are certainly deeper than last year's team, which averaged 3.04 goals per game in the playoffs. They are the sixth team in NHL history to score five or more goals 11 times in the playoffs, and Monday night was the eighth time in the past 11 games. They've scored 80 times in 20 playoff games for a league-best four goals per game. They have 11 double-digit point scorers and seven skaters with at least five goals. Their defensemen lead the league with 18 goals and 50 points. 'We have so much offensive depth and great players — so many good defensemen, too,' said Carter Verhaeghe, whose first-period power-play goal was his 13th career playoff game-winner and third in his Stanley Cup Final career. 'It seems like everyone's pulling the rope. Everyone's doing their job, goes out there and does their job. And one night, someone's gonna have a big night. Another night, someone else is gonna have a big night.' There's no doubt that's true, but the one thing that has become a constant is Marchand and Bennett always having big nights. They became the second set of teammates in NHL history to open a Stanley Cup Final with a goal streak of three-plus games, joining Minnesota North Stars forwards Steve Payne and Dino Ciccarelli in the 1981 Final. Marchand didn't waste time Monday. Fresh off his double-overtime winner in Game 2 in Edmonton, he became the first player in Stanley Cup Final history to follow an overtime winner with a goal in the opening minute of the following game, thanks to a sensational play by Anton Lundell. His goal 56 seconds into Game 3 was actually his third consecutive goal for the Panthers. It was his eighth goal of the playoffs and 11th of his career in the Stanley Cup Final. BRAD MARCHAND PICKS UP RIGHT WHERE HE LEFT OFF 😱 LESS THAN A MINUTE INTO GAME 3, IT'S 1-0 FOR THE CATS 😼 — Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 10, 2025 'I don't know if it set the tempo, but it also feels good when you score early in the game,' Marchand said. 'It gives you confidence. You can't expect that to happen each night. Especially with the way the series has gone so far, one goal doesn't mean a whole lot — especially with that group, how talented they are. You don't expect to keep them off the board, right? So it's just a play in a game, and you have to build off it and move forward.' Advertisement Perhaps, but then there's Bennett. Like Marchand, the fellow pending free agent forward continued his scoring ways by extending his goal streak to four games to establish a new franchise record in the postseason. His league-best 14 goals in 20 games is only 11 fewer than he had in 76 regular-season games. 'Marshy had an unreal goal to start the game,' said Matthew Tkachuk. 'Got us momentum right on our side. And Benny gained that separation for us and it was a helluva move that I had the best seat in the house for. So they're both playing well, both been great leaders for us.' Bennett's shift was simply superb. After two mammoth hits by Bennett, one that had Podkolzin still reverberating, Eetu Luostarinen stole the puck from him just inside the offensive blue line and then sent the puck into open space for Bennett before he beat a besieged Stuart Skinner with his latest beauty. 'He's been incredible,' captain Aleksander Barkov said of Bennett. 'He's scoring goals, but he's doing so much more other stuff. He's carrying the puck in the neutral zone. He's making plays. He's defending well. He's just unreal right now.' It was a frustrating sequence for the Oilers, who were outchanced dramatically in the first period at five-on-five and surrendered the first two goals. But after Corey Perry made it a game again with a power-play goal 1:40 into the second, the Panthers answered almost instantly with Barkov pressuring Klingberg into a turnover en route to Reinhart's goal, then Bennett following up a few minutes later to make it 4-1. The Oilers were unhinged from there with Trent Frederic cross-checking Bennett twice in the lower back to point he sawed off his own stick, an incident that triggered a 10-skater melee highlighted by what felt like an endless fight between Jonah Gadjovich and Darnell Nurse. Advertisement 'Gadgey did an incredible job sticking up for the guys there and taking on Nurse, who's obviously a tough guy as well,' Marchand said. The Panthers took their licks and usually skated away, which made the Oilers really lose their cool. The number of cross-checks and two-handed slashes the Panthers absorbed was simply unbelievable as they drew 11 power plays. Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said his players were making 'investments' for the next game. 'We talked about it in the third,' Tkachuk said. 'If you have to take a punch, take a punch. If you have to take a cross-check, take a cross-check. Spear, slash in the face, whatever the case is, you've got to take it. We just played a really smart game.' Brad Marchand told the Oilers to "use their heads" after the Panthers PPG on Edmonton's 4th penalty of the first period 😳 — B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) June 10, 2025 It'll be interesting how the Oilers respond. They were supposed to have the day off Tuesday. Instead, Knoblauch called for a practice. As poorly as Edmonton played, there has to be further concern about the Panthers dominating every second period in the series, the even-strength play Monday and continuously getting to the net and having their way there. 'Obviously we're a very deep team,' Marchand said. 'And not just deep offensively, but a lot of guys play a 200-foot game, and a lot of great leaders on this group as well. I think that's one of our strengths is the depth of the group, from the front end to the back end to the goaltending, and it's the way that they have orchestrated this group and the lineup to play a certain way.' Florida is coming at the Oilers in waves, with Barkov centering a top line that has one of the NHL's most clutch playoff performers in Verhaeghe and a 50-goal scorer in Reinhart, a second line that boasts the NHL's leading goal scorer in Bennett pivoting Evan Rodrigues and Tkachuk, and a third line that has Marchand with two stellar kids in Lundell and Luostarinen. Advertisement Heck, the Panthers' second power-play unit has Verhaghe, Marchand and Bennett. That's a luxury of riches right there and a unit that finally caused coach Paul Maurice to begin power plays with them over the so-called top unit. 'They've been the ones generating,' Maurice said. 'They want a name change. They don't want to be called '2' anymore. It's important for those guys to go out. They're going, they're faster right now and we have good players on there. We have the playoff leading goal scorer on that unit. Why wouldn't they start?' (Photo of Brad Marchand: Carmen Mandato / Getty Images)
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Mandel: House settlement clearinghouse won't create CFB's goal for more level playing field
With the House vs. NCAA settlement approved, college athletics is about to begin the latest chapter in its long history of attempting to interfere with the market for athletes' services. Let's see if this version holds up better in court than all the ones before it. As you know by now, the House settlement has given birth to a new system by which schools for the first time can directly pay their athletes up to $20.5 million this coming school year. The schools will insist these are purely NIL deals and do not constitute 'pay-for-play,' but of course, they are entirely contingent on the athlete playing for that university. And that's fine. Nothing wrong with paying someone for their services. Advertisement But where the settlement veers into outright market manipulation is the establishment of a new NIL Go clearinghouse, operated by Deloitte, by which athletes must submit all deals they receive from outside sources that exceed $600. Which, in the major sports, is pretty much all of them. If Deloitte deems, say, a running back's $1 million deal from a school's collective to be above 'fair market value,' he cannot accept it. In every other industry in this country, 'fair market value' is whatever someone is willing to pay you. Just ask the many mediocre football coaches who make $6-8 million a year. Or the athletic directors who make $1.2 million a year to hire those mediocre coaches. No clearinghouse for those folks. Every legal expert I've spoken with about this subject thinks there's little chance this clearinghouse would survive a legal challenge. It sure sounds like yet another instance of competitors (in this case, the Power conferences) conspiring to limit athletes' compensation. Go back and read the Supreme Court decision in Alston v. NCAA to see how the highest court in the land feels about restrictions on athletes' compensation. It's somewhat poetic the House settlement got approved during Game 3 of the WCWS, where $1M pitcher NiJaree Canady nearly led Texas Tech to an improbable national title. Because the purpose of the new Deloitte NIL clearinghouse is to stamp out collectives like Texas Tech's. — Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) June 7, 2025 Nevertheless, the Power conferences — it's them, not the NCAA driving this — are pressing ahead. On Monday, they proudly unveiled their newly created enforcement entity, the College Sports Commission, led by former Major League Baseball executive Bryan Seeley, who is likely being paid seven figures to make sure college athletes stop getting paid seven figures. Presumably, they've consulted with their lawyers, who have told them the thing is ironclad. The next Judge Wilken will be totally fine with it. By now, you may be asking yourself, 'Why are they doing this? Who exactly is being harmed by a transfer quarterback getting $3 million from a school's collective?' Athletes going into the portal at any moment is an understandable source of frustration, but the House settlement does nothing to address that issue. It just wants to curb how much one gets for going into the portal. Advertisement The stated reason, as Nick Saban, for one, has said 1,000 times, is the need for a 'level playing field.' It's not 'fair' that Texas Tech has an oil billionaire willing to spend $10 million-plus on the transfer portal if Alabama doesn't have one. How many times have we heard: This is not what NIL is intended for. It doesn't particularly matter at this point what NIL was intended for. This is what it's become. Collectives became a thing specifically because schools didn't want anything to do with paying athletes. Now that they're forced to, they want to unwind time and reverse things. But what's really rich is the whole 'level playing field' thing. There has never, ever been a level playing field in college recruiting. The schools with the most money have always held an advantage over everyone else. They have the most history, the biggest stadiums, the best-paid coaches and the most lavish facilities. Ohio State was dominating Purdue in recruiting long before there were ever NIL collectives, and the Buckeyes will keep dominating in the revenue-sharing era. You could set the cap at $60.5 million, not $20.5 million, and there's still no scenario where the Boilermakers would be able to outspend the Buckeyes. Meanwhile, people have been so busy the past few years shouting that the sky is falling that they've failed to notice that NIL may be the first development in history that's actually given a larger pool of teams a chance at landing top talent. The top quarterback in the portal this offseason, Tulane's Darian Mensah, did not go to Georgia or Ohio State. He chose Duke, where he's getting a reported $4 million NIL deal. The nation's No. 1 men's basketball recruit, A.J. Dybantsa, is not going to North Carolina or Kansas; he's going to BYU, for a reported $5 million deal. And last year, softball phenom NiJaree Canady turned down that sport's biggest juggernaut, Oklahoma, in favor of Texas Tech, which gave her that sport's first-ever seven-figure deal. Earlier this month, she and her team ended the Sooners' reign — and she signed another deal. Advertisement All of those deals got done before the House settlement was approved. Had they not, theoretically, Deloitte could flag them for being too far above 'market value.' Clearly, booster-driven collectives aren't going away. If Oracle founder Larry Ellison wants to give the next Michigan quarterback recruit $4 million, it seems highly unlikely someone could tell him no. Either the collectives will get more creative in how they structure their deals, or someone is going to sue and succeed in getting an injunction. Neither the schools nor the athletes would be the ones filing that suit because they're bound by the settlement. But boosters aren't bound by it. Companies aren't bound by it. And, most concerning to the conferences, state attorneys general aren't bound by it. They're the folks who succeeded in getting both the NCAA's booster restrictions and transfer restrictions shot down. We know this much: Most schools that plan to offer the maximum $20.5 million in House payments are following a formula by which they'll allocate around $13 million for football and $3 million for men's basketball. Ohio State last year spent $20 million on football alone, and many schools are spending way more than that this year. Kentucky is one of several programs planning to spend more than $10 million on men's basketball. Coaches' and administrators' salaries have only gone up and up and up over time, but the powers that be seem to think they can make athletes' unofficial salaries go down with their magic clearinghouse. That's not generally how markets work.
