Outman does it all for Williams track team
Her focus is on track. Her commitment level is 100 percent, nothing less. And the results have been astonishing for Maddy Outman, a former Newton South High standout who has taken a giant leap in her junior year at Williams College.
Last month, Outman earned All-America recognition in four events -- a first in the history of the Williams women's track program -- to power the Williamstown school to its first NCAA Division 3 indoor track title in Terre Haute, Ind. She landed a second-place finish in the long jump, placed fifth in the 55-meter hurdles and the 400-meter dash, and ran a leg on the Ephs' 4 x 400 relay team that placed eighth.
"There's been a mental change, about being really committed," said Outman, who now calls Boulder, Colo., home. "Doing the smart things, and the healthy things. It's not the kind of thing that you can do 90 percent of the time, or 95 percent of the time.
"It means going to bed at 11 o'clock every night, not just a few nights, eating right, bringing your 'A' game every day in practice, going at every single lift as hard as you can."
Williams coach Ralph White, who has mentored 300 All-Americans in a career that includes stops at George Mason University and Southern Methodist University, said Outman "has made a lot of progress. She is an extremely hard worker and she has the ability to adjust. She listens like a sponge."
This spring, Outman is competing in the 400-meter hurdles for the first time and is ranked No. 1 in the nation. Between the indoor and outdoor seasons this year, the versatile Outman has placed her name in the top 10 in an astounding 12 events in the Williams record book.
"The next closest athlete has five," said White. "There aren't too many kids in New England that have had the type of season that she has had."
In the recent Williams Invitational, Outman won the 100- and 200-meter sprints, and the 100-meter hurdles, and took second in the long jump. She is scheduled to compete in the heptathlon, combining seven track and field events, at the Penn Relays this week in Philadelphia.
"Over the summer, she really hit the weight room, and she came back a different athlete, with a different mindset," said White. "You get stronger and faster, you get more confidence. Yet she is very humble."
Two Hopkinton residents, Kristen Baldiga (javelin) and Lauren Philbrook (distance runner) and Wellesley's Jane Jacoby (distance runner) are also contributing to a Williams women's squad that has its eyes on its seventh straight New England Small College Athletic Conference title on Saturday.
Another Newton South grad, senior David Devaughn of Chestnut Hill, is enjoying a breakout spring as a thrower for the Williams men's track team, according to White.
"David has been a pleasant surprise, he has put it all together. Every weekend, he has thrown well," said White. "He is one of the most improved athletes that we have." Devaughn, the top-rated discus thrower in the NESCAC and New England Division 3, has already qualified for the NCAA championships.
Two Newton residents, sophomore Eric Jonash and freshman Sy Schotz, have impressed as decathletes, White said.
Desaulniers dons new hat for Weston
Bob Desaulniers thought he had retired two years ago, after a long career as an educator and high school sports coach. But then in September 2005 he returned as interim principal at Weston High. Last fall, after turning over his front-office duties, he coached the Wildcat football team, a challenge that, he jokes, kept him "sustained through the holidays."
Then, last month, he took up temporary residence in the Weston athletic director's chair, pinch-hitting for good friend Pete Foley while he recuperated from prostate surgery.
Now, with Foley's June retirement date coming up fast and Weston unable to find the right match for his successor, Desaulniers has jumped in to fill the gap again, having agreed to serve as interim athletic director for the school year starting in the fall.
"I guess I am failing at retirement," the Framingham resident said.
Even with more than 30 years of experience in education, and his name on the Massachusetts High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame roster, Desaulniers said he is excited about the opportunity to again interact daily with students, teachers, coaches, and parents. "I am looking forward to it," said Desaulniers, 59, who will also be coaching the football team again this fall. "I love to be part of a school and the energy that goes along with it."
Desaulniers had immersed himself in the AD position for the past month, and while he had not anticipated the interim offer, the experience "helped me in a number of ways" to prepare for the job, he said. "I was able to learn the lay of the land, the personnel, the business people, the fields people," he said. "It was on-the-job training."
Foley has been and will continue to be the ultimate sounding board, he said.
"It's a pleasure to follow in his footsteps; he has so many things in place," said Desaulniers, who has worked at a number of high schools as a teacher and coach, including a previous stint as football coach in Weston, and who retired as principal of Littleton High School.
He said he has also touched base with two other athletic directors who also serve as head football coaches, Tom Lamb at Natick High and Dan Buron at Bridgewater-Raynham Regional, about the rigors of handling both roles.
The condensed version of their advice? "Once you hit school in the morning, you really have to have your practice plans for the day in order and be organized."
Around and about
Bentley College senior shortstop Steve Gath became the fourth player in program history to amass 200 career hits with a two-hit performance in last week's 7-0 shutout of Northeast-10 Conference foe Bryant, joining Don Peters (1997), Roger Hill (2000), and Jeff Hudson (2001). Gath has started every game of his four-year career, a school-record 158, and carries a.318 lifetime batting average, with 42 doubles, three triples, and three home runs . . . Hopkinton's Keegan Bradley is off to a sizzling start for the St. John's University golf team this spring. The junior co captain has already collected four individual titles, leads the Red Storm with a 70.5 scoring average, and has been the low scorer in four of the five matches. Bradley's former Hiller teammate, Jon Curran, continues to put up low numbers at Vanderbilt. The sophomore placed seventh in a 75-player field in a recent tournament at North Carolina State . . . Cameron Habib of Norfolk, a senior at Wheaton College, has been selected to play in the New England Intercollegiate Soccer League Senior All-Star game Saturday at Clark University. A four-year starter in the midfield at Wheaton, Habib finished with a career-high 10 points last fall, starting all 21 games. In his four-year career, the Lyons were 61-17-10 overall.
Samantha Robbins of Franklin and Rebecca Ciccarelli of Natick continue to post impressive finishes for the Bentley women's track and field team. Competing in the 1,500 meters, Robbins, a junior, placed second among 41 runners in the George Davis Invitational at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, completing the race in 4 minutes 53.39 seconds. A sophomore, Ciccarelli was the runner-up in the 400 meters, with a clocking of 1:01.59 . . . . Max Foster of Dover, a freshman pitcher on Hamilton College's baseball team, earned his first collegiate save recently, retiring all six batters he faced in a 6-5 win over SUNY Institute of Technology. Foster prepped at the Groton School.
The Bay State Blues hockey team finished 0-2-2 in USA Hockey's first women's over-50 national tournament, held April 13-15 in Brandon, Fla. The Blues, with Christy Millet of Needham, Kathy O'Brien of Waltham, and Arlene Petri of Wayland playing key roles, accrued the best goal differential of any team against the eventual champion, the Minnesota Lady Slippers, in a 5-0 loss.
Craig Larson can be reached at 508-820-4234 or clarson@globe.com. 
