ROCKPORT — Camden Hills Regional High School announced in a press release that the cross-country trail being built on school property will be named Crockett Trail in honor of Charlie and Penny Crockett. 

The Crocketts taught at the high school for a combined 69 years, according to the release. Charlie coached boys cross country for 36 years and Penny established the girls cross country program and coached the team for 23 years, together bringing home numerous league and regional championships. Penny, named KVAC Coach of the Year in 1998, produced the individual girls state cross country champion in 1991, the first individual girls state cross country champion in Windjammer history.

“We are thrilled to honor the Crocketts by naming this new trial after them,” CHRHS athletic director Steve Alex stated in the release. “There are no two people more deserving than Charlie and Penny to have their name attached permanently to the school’s new cross-country trail.”

Charlie also coached softball for 25 years as well as girls and boys basketball and served as the ski meet director. Penny established the girls Alpine ski team and coached it for more than a decade. Penny’s three girls ski team state championships in the 1970s were groundbreaking as they were the first girls team State Championships in Camden-Rockport history.

Beyond coaching, Charlie has served as the broadcasting Voice of the Windjammers for 50 years, while Penny has served as Windjammer sports videographer for nearly two decades. The Crocketts also led the CHRHS Washington trip for more than 30 years as coordinators and chaperones.

Together they have coached, mentored and showcased generations of CHRHS athletes. In fact, many of the volunteers building the trail are either former students and athletes of the Crocketts or parents of current CHRHS students who continue to be inspired by their leadership, according to Alex.

The construction of the trail began last fall when a volunteer group called the Windjammer Trailblazers started marking and clearing the trail. That activity has moved into high gear this spring as Dan Eaton of Landscape Services in Rockport brought his excavator onsite to remove stumps and create the trail bed.

The goal is to have most of the trail bed ready for the base material by late June, when the high school plans to resurface the track. The ground-up asphalt from the track can be used as a base on the trail. Once the base is complete, the finished surface will be applied over the summer so that the new trail will be ready for the start of the 2017 cross country season in late August.

Fundraising for the trail started more than two years ago as the cross-country team held car washes, bake sales and their Race for the Trail 5K held on Homecoming weekends. Since then the project has received grants from First National Bank and the Bisbee fund, and has benefited from in-kind services from local businesses, including Gartley & Dorsky Engineering & Surveying, Bragg’s Tree Care, Viking Lumber, Dorr Wood Carving & Sign Company, and landscapers David Wellman and Dan Eaton.

Local horticulturist Kerry Hardy also contributed his expertise to identify notable tree species along the trail that will eventually be marked as a nature trail for use by the high school, the neighboring elementary school and the general public.

The Trailblazers are still seeking donations for lumber for the five trail bridges as well as crushed rock and stone dust for the trail. Donations can be dropped off at the high school or checks made payable to “Trailblazers” and sent to the Trailblazers, c/o Five Towns CSD, 7 Lions Lane, Camden, 04843. To volunteer or to discuss in-kind donations of materials, equipment or services, contact Shawn Stockman at sstockman01@hotmail.com.

The group has set up a Facebook page to post updates and to coordinate volunteers: www.facebook.com/windjammertrailblazers. 

Reach the sports department at: sports@penbaypilot.com.