Basketball and hockey teams may be a few weeks into their regular season schedules, but indoor track is just gearing up.

More than a dozen schools were represented Friday at USM’s Field House for the annual New Year’s Relays, a pre-season meet that gave the athletes a chance to prepare for the coming season, while providing a look at the competition as well.

At this point, it’s difficult to find anyone who isn’t filled with optimism for their squad.

“We have most of the events filled pretty well,” said John Turrell, Bonny Eagle’s girls coach, “and we’re excited about the season.”

Sprinter Kristen Adams, miler Katherine Pagano and shot putter Courtney Wallace, the defending state champ, make up the core of the Lady Scots team.

“We’ve got a lot of freshman and a lot of upper classmen that are back,” said Amber Cronin, a runner and high jumper. “We’re looking pretty good.”

Bonny Eagle’s boys team is looking good as well, with a big increase in numbers from a year ago.

“We’ve got 41 boys that we’re working with and we had 25 last year,” said coach Greg Wilkinson, adding that the team’s nucleus includes John Wiechman, Ben Roy, Eric Favreau, Evan Embry and Greg Gadbois.

Fresh off another championship football season, Wiechman won the shot put Friday by more than five feet with a throw of 54 feet, 10 inches.

Roy and Gadbois took the top two spots in the hurdles, while Allen Cox won the race walk.

“We have a lot of seniors and a couple of juniors on the team,” Roy said. “There is a lot of dedication.”

The Windham girls squad is also fielding more athletes than last season.

“We’re a lot bigger than last year, which is a good thing,” said Krissy Varney, a high jumper and triple jumper. “We’re looking pretty good. We’ve got distance runners, which we needed, and we’ve got Stephanie Sheppard, who’s is so fast.”

Sheppard was fourth in the 60, while Cerise Caiazzo was fifth in the high jump and sixth in the long jump.

“Today is a good day to try out some different things,” said first-year coach Angie Lally. “We have a lot of young girls. More than half the team is freshmen.”

The Eagles boys squad, meanwhile, consists of only about a dozen athletes.

“We’re small, but we have some kids who will score on a regular basis,” said coach Paula Pock.

She noted that sprinter Travis Cook and middle distance runners Brad Sheppard and Josh Leeman should have good seasons.

“Our guys team has great individuals,” said Sheppard, “but we just don’t have the numbers.”

Usual suspects Miles Bartlett and Kevin Floster anchor the Lake Region boys squad. Each is a defending Class B state champ, Bartlett in the two-mile and Floster – who won the mile Friday – in the 800.

Now as seniors they will be called on to provide leadership as well as score points. The same goes for classmate Sarah Hale, who won the 60.

“We’ve still got some work to do,” said Scott Donahue, who coaches the Lakers’ boys and girls teams. “However, there is a lot of promise, particularly freshmen … a lot of freshmen coming up, a lot of talent.”

“It’s nice to be a senior,” Hale said, “because you become a real leader and you can show others how to do things and help them to become a real athlete. It’s fun to teach them everything I learned as a freshman.”

Lake Region opens its regular season today (Jan. 6) at USM, while Bonny Eagle and Windham open up Saturday at the Portland Expo.