Sunday was a great day for Slovenia at the Harris Hill Ski Jump.
Slovenians took the top three spots in the Fred Harris Memorial Tournament. Gasper Bartol won the open divison in front of a crowd of several thousand spectators, with fellow Slovenians David Krapez, 22, second and Zak Silih, 20, third.
Bartol's second jump of the afternoon was the longest of the event, traveling 99 meters. “This is the first win in this season for me,” said Bartol, who was competing in America for the first time. “The hill was a little bumpy and slow, but it's OK. The feelings are really good - I'm happy.”
Krapez had jumps of 96.5 and 92.5 meters to finish second, while Silih's jumps were 92 and 96 meters.
Local jumper Spencer Knickerbocker, 23, of Brattleboro came in seventh with jumps of 84.5 and 80 meters. Two-time Harris Hill champ Chris Lamb of Andover, N.H., again missed out on winning the event for the third time to retire the Winged Ski Trophy. Lamb was fifth with jumps of 81 and 88 meters.
A Slovenian also won the under-18 competition, as Jan Stupar won with jumps of 94.5 and 95 meters.
Bartol also won Saturday's Pepsi Challenge open event. Florian Gugg, 21, of Austria, was second and Krapez came third. Knickerbocker was sixth and Lamb was seventh.
With temperatures in the 40s and 50s over the weekend, the snowmaking crew had their hands full keeping the hill in competition condition.
Knickerbocker, who also worked with snowmakers in the days leading up to the tournament said that “I worked on it all week, so I'm telling people it's good. It's holding up through the warm weather.”
The weather was good for spectators, as several thousand came out for both days of competition. Complete results can be found at www.harrishillskijump.com.
Girls' basketball
The Vermont Girls' High School Basketball Tournament began this week with two of our four local schools garnering home games for the first round.
• Leland & Gray and Twin Valley were scheduled to open their respective Division III first-round games at home on Feb. 23.
Twin Valley (12-8) was seeded sixth, so the Wildcats will host No. 11 Oxbow (7-13) in Whitingham, while Leland & Gray (11-9), the seventh seed, hosts No. 10 Northfield (9-11) in Townshend.
The Wildcats won their final five regular season games to move up the Division III standings, while the Rebels won three of their final four games.
• Bellows Falls (7-13) got the No. 16 seed in Division II and travels to East Montpelier to face top-seeded U-32 (19-1) on Feb. 24. The Terriers ended the final week of the season with losses to Twin Valley and Green Mountain before winning the season finale with Woodstock.
• Brattleboro (8-12) was seeded No. 14 in Division I and was scheduled to travel to No. 3 Essex (14-6) on Feb. 23. The Colonels finished the regular season strong, with wins in four of their final five games. The only loss was a 74-41 blowout at Mount Anthony on Feb. 18 in the season finale.
Boys' basketball
It was an early exit for the three local teams that had road games in the first round of the Vermont Boys' Basketball Tournament.
• Ninth-seeded Brattleboro traveled to Manchester on Feb. 16 to face the eighth-seeded Burr & Burton Bulldogs in Division I, and lost 53-48.
It was the third time this season that the Colonels played the Bulldogs. Brattleboro won the previous two meetings, but Burr & Burton rallied from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to win and advance.
Carter Vickers scored a game-high 19 points to lead Burr & Burton. Griff Stalcup added 12.
Brattleboro finished the season with an 11-10 record.
• Bellows Falls also faced a familiar Division II for when the No. 12 Terriers traveled to Woodstock to face the fifth-seeded Wasps on Feb. 17. The result was a 68-33 loss for BF.
Dylan McDonough scored 22 points to lead Woodstock, while Curran MacDonald added 12 points for the 14-7 Wasps. Anthony Mueller led the Terriers 11 points, Shane Clark added eight points. BF ended a roller-coaster year with a 10-11 record.
• Seventh-seeded Randolph defeated No. 10 Leland & Gray, 52-41, in a Division III first round game on Feb. 17. Nick Morrow had 14 points to lead the Rebels (7-14), while Owynn White ended up with 13 points.
Both Morrow and White will be graduating, along with Owen Beattie, Jeremy Bovat, Evan Daigneault and Benton Winrich.
• Twin Valley, the fifth seed in Division III, was the only team that opened the playoffs at home, and took advantage in a big way with a 74-25 demolition of No. 12 Peoples in Whitingham on Feb. 17.
Justin Hicks and Brett Swanson each scored 12 points in the game as Twin Valley raced out to a 21-8 lead after one quarter, and a 37-9 lead at the half. Defensively, the Wildcats used their size advantage to dominate the Wolves.
The Wildcats' season ended in the quarterfinal round on the road last Saturday with a 41-31 loss to fourth-seeded Hazen.
Twin Valley roared out to a 12-0 lead in the first quarter, but Hazen steadied itself to tie the game at the half and clamped down on defense in the second half to secure a trip to the semifinals at the Barre Auditorium.
Russell Shopland scored 17 points and Kevin Doyon added eight for Hazen (20-2), who held the Wildcats to just 11 points in the second half. Swanson led Twin Valley with 11 points, while DJ Lazelle had eight points and 11 rebounds. The Wildcats finished their season with a 16-6 record.
Ice hockey
Both Brattleboro teams lost road games in the first round of their respective Division II playoffs last Saturday.
• The Brattleboro girls were the No. 10 seed with a 4-14-2 record and ended up with a relatively short trip to Manchester to face the No. 7 Burr & Burton Bulldogs, who came away with a 3-1 win.
Aggie Bisselle had two goals and an assist for Burr & Burton. Natalia Sowulewska added a goal for the Bulldogs (8-10-3), who advance to face No. 2 Mount Mansfield in the quarterfinals. Goalie Molly Dingley stopped 10 shots for the victory.
Hannah Carter scored Brattleboro's only goal, as goalie Keagan Jameson had 19 saves.
• The Brattleboro boys got the No. 13 seed with a 5-15 record, which meant a trip to Stowe to face the No. 4 Raiders, who scored four goals in the final period to win, 4-1.
Chad Haggerty led the 16-5 Raiders with two goals. Jace Boerger, Gabe Eliasson (who also had an assist), Sam Lively, and Andrew Bellavance also scored for Stowe.
Declan Lonergan scored the lone goal for the Colonels. Goalie Nick Perusse made 16 saves.
Nordic skiing
• The Brattleboro boys came in third at the Marble Valley League Classic Championship on Feb. 18 at Rikert Nordic Center in Ripton.
Isaac Freitas-Eagan finished fifth in 13 minutes, 15 seconds to lead the Colonels, followed by Declan King in 11th, Spencer Loggia in 13th, Jonah Koch in 14th, and Daniel Burdo in 21st.
In the girls race, the Colonels finished fourth behind Woodstock, Mount Anthony and Burr & Burton. Liz Morse and Bella Thurber finished 11th and 12th, respectively, to lead Brattleboro. Sarah Gallagher was 16th, Evy Williams came in 28th, and Catey Yost was 30th.
The final stage of the MVL Championships, a relay race, is scheduled to be held later this week.
Rink closes for the season
• The Brattleboro Recreation & Parks Department says that the Nelson Withington Skating Facility at Living Memorial Park will be closing for the season on Sunday, March 6, at 10:45 p.m.