Catherine McAuley High School is pleased to announce that junior Alexa Coulombe has verbally committed to receive a full basketball scholarship to Boston College.

For the full article on Coulombe, published in the August 26 edition of the Portland Press Herald, please access the following link:

http://www.pressherald.com/sports/mcauley-player-decides-to-join-boston-college_2010-08-26.html

The McAuley community is proud of this tremendous accomplishment, Alexa!

Congratulations to McAuley’s Varsity Softball Coach, Robbie Ferrante, who was The Forecaster newspaper’s pick for the ‘Spring 2010 Portland Area Coach of the Year’ ( for girls’ teams).

To access the full story, written by Forecaster Sports Writer, Michael Hoffer, please click on the following link:

http://www.theforecaster.net/content/p-sportsaofycoaches-3

McAuley junior, Shelby Bryant, was recently recognized as Catherine McAuley High School’s ‘Spring 2010 Female Athlete of the Year’ by The Forecaster newspaper for her role in McAuley Softball’s best-ever record season.

For the full story from Forecaster Sports Writer, Michael Hoffer, please access the following link:

http://www.theforecaster.net/content/p-sportsaofymcauley-1

Congratulations on this impressive honor, Shelby!

Congratulations to Class of 2009 graduate, Kristen Desrosiers, who was the first female finisher in the annual ‘Peaks to Portland’ swim, a 2.4-mile course from Peaks Island to Portland’s East End Beach.  Desrosiers finished with a time of 48:03, exactly two minutes ahead of her twin sister and fellow McAuley alumna, Katelyn ‘09.

This was the first ‘Peaks to Portland’ swim for the Desrosiers, who both attend the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA and are part of the school’s Swim Team.

The McAuley community is proud of this noteworthy accomplishment!

Catherine McAuley High School is pleased to announce the recent hiring of Amy Vachon as its head Varsity Basketball Coach.

McAuley’s Athletic Administrator Joe Kilmartin believes that “Amy’s basketball background and personal characteristics made her the ideal choice for our school.  Her overall experience will ensure that McAuley basketball and its student athletes will continue to prosper and grow.”

Vachon comes to McAuley from Greely High School, where she served as an Assistant Varsity Coach for two years and helped the Rangers get to the Western Maine Finals.  Vachon has also assisted at Cony High School in Augusta and was Head Varsity Coach at Waterville High School for one year, prior to attending graduate school.

Coach Vachon’s athletic pedigree is outstanding.  Daughter of long-time Cony coach Paul Vachon, she played on two state championship teams in both basketball and field hockey.  In basketball, she was a four-year All-State Basketball Selection,  twice she was selected Gatorade Basketball Player of the Year (’95 & ’96), and she was Miss Maine Basketball and High School Athlete of the Year in 1996.

Vachon continued her career on a full basketball scholarship at the University of Maine under Coach Joanne P. McCallie, now head coach of Duke University.  While at Maine, Vachon’s teams advanced to four consecutive NCAA Tournaments and earned the first tournament win in Maine and America East History with a victory over Stanford University, where former McAuley standout Ashley Cimino will play her senior season next year.  Coach Vachon was a two time All-Conference Selection and the all-time assists leader for both Maine and America East.

Vachon continued her education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, earning her graduate degree in School Counseling.  She is employed as a Guidance Counselor at Westbrook Middle School and is the eighth grade Field Hockey Coach.

On Saturday, May 15, 194 runners and nearly 30 walkers participated in McAuley’s fourth annual Run for Hope, a yearly run/walk that honors the memory of Jim and Maxine Pouravelis, Par ‘99 & ‘02, two vibrant and devoted members of the McAuley community who passed away within months of each other in the summer of 2006.

The proceeds of the event, which impressively tallied just over $20,000, will go towards a scholarship fund that will provide financial assistance to young women seeking an education at Catherine McAuley High School, an education Jim and Maxine saw as essential to the intellectual, athletic, and spiritual development of young women.

Finishing at the top in this year’s race were males Andy Fitch of North Yarmouth (17:13), Adam Eschner of Boston (18:05), and Rob Snow of Cumberland (18:23).  The top three female finishers were Stephanie Crawford of Dover, NH, Lauren Fecteau ‘10 of Portland, and Marjorie Haney of Portland, who completed the race with respective times of 19:21, 20:01, and 20:06.

Special thanks is extended to all who planned and participated in the event, and most especially to Claudia ‘99 and Justine Pouravelis ‘02, who continue to keep their parents’ hope alive for the young women of Catherine McAuley High School.

Be sure to join us for next year’s race — scheduled for May 14, 2011.