A new cross country trail being built at Camden Hills Regional High School will be named after two longtime teachers and coaches.
Charlie Crockett and Penny Crockett, who taught at the Rockport high school for a combined 69 years, will have the trail named in their honor, according to athletic administrator Steve Alex.
Charlie coached the boys cross country team at the school for 36 years while his wife Penny established the girls program, which she mentored for 23 seasons.
Penny was named Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference coach of the year in 1998. In 1991, the Windjammers produced the first individual girls state champion the school has ever had.
“We are thrilled to honor the Crocketts by naming this new trail after them,” Alex said in a statement. “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 Crockett also coached softball for 25 years, along with stints coaching girls basketball and boys basketball while serving as meet director at home ski meets.
Penny established the girls Alpine ski team at Camden Hills, coaching it for more than 10 years and leading her teams to three state championships.
Charlie also served as the voice of Windjammer broadcasting for 50 years while Penny has videographed games at the school for nearly two decades.
Construction on the trail started last fall when a volunteer group, the Windjammer Trailblazers, began marking and clearing the trail.
Over the course of the spring, Dan Eaton of Landscape Services of Camden has removed stumps and created the trail bed with an excavator.
Officials hope to have the trail bed ready for base material by the end of this month, when a resurfacing of the school’s track will occur.
The old track’s ground-up asphalt can be used as a base on the trail.
The trail is expected to be ready for the fall cross country season.
The Trailblazers are still seeking donations of lumber for five trail bridges, along with crushed rock and stone dust for the trail.
Donations can be dropped off at the high school or mailed to 7 Lions Lane, Camden, ME 04843, with checks made out to Trailblazers.
