With nothing left to prove in Division III, the Bellows Falls track and field team successfully petitioned the Vermont Principals' Association to move up to Division II this season.
The change of scenery had no effect on the final outcome for the Terriers, as the boys won their seventh straight state title and the girls captured their fourth straight state title in the Division II championship meet in South Burlington on June 1.
The BF boys amassed 127 points to dethrone defending champion U-32, who were second with 103 points. It was much closer for the BF girls, who edged Rice by just two points, 107-105.
Reno Tuttle cemented his status as the top discus and shot put man in Vermont with victories in those events for the second straight year. He won the shot put with a heave of 48 feet, 9.5 inches, and had a winning throw of 168 feet, 3 inches in the discus. Tuttle also finished fourth in the javelin (133 feet).
Dylan Clark won the javelin with a throw of 147 feet, 5 inches, and was sixth in the discus (102-10).
Ryan Kelly won the high jump (5-8) and also won the 100 meter hurdles (17.26 seconds); Clark was fourth in the 100 in 18.17.
Other BF boys who finished in the top six included Gabe Hakimoglu, who was second in the 100 (11.86) and 200 (23.91) meter dashes, as well as second in the high jump (5-8).
Ian Wallace was fifth in the 800 meter run in 2:04.57. Jonathan Carrington was fourth in the shot put (40-8.5), while Owen LaRoss was sixth in the discus (114-9.5).
Hunter Smith (134-3) and Julian Christiansen were third and sixth, respectively, in javelin. Smith was also fifth in the pole vault (9-6), while Hunter Elliott was fifth in the high jump (19-3.75) and John Donovan was fifth in the triple jump (38-1.5).
The 4x100 relay team of Andrew Elliott, Hakimoglu, Connor Smith, and Harrison Gleim won their event in 45.88 seconds, while the 4x400 team of Donovan, Elliott, Tylar Stanley, and Connor Smith was fifth in 3:46.92 and the 4x800 team of Elijah Ghia, Timothy Salter-Roy, Stanley, and Collin Robertson was third in 8:38.39.
In the girls' meet, BF's Jaden Luebbert won the pole vault (8 feet, 6 inches), while Abby Broadley was second in the 3,000 (10:40.22) and third in the 1,500 (4:54.27).
Bridgid Hodsden was second in the 100 hurdles (17.17) and fourth in the pole vault (7-6), while Emma Lawrence was third in shot put (32-2.5, a school record) and discus (89-10.5). Michelle Marchica was second in the triple jump (33-8.5, a school record), while teammate Jasmine Boucher was fourth (32-8.5, a personal best).
Abbe Cravinho was fourth in the 100 hurdles (17.34, a school record), and Stephanie Ager (11:06.33) and Lia Clark (11:36.88) were third and sixth, respectively, in the 3,000. Molly Kelly and Marchica tied for fifth in the high jump (4-6).
BF took four of the top six spots in the javelin with Breanna Stockman (second, 106 feet, a personal best), Halle Dickerson (fourth, 98-8, also a personal best), Macie Streeter (fifth, 95 feet), and Lawrence (sixth, 88-1) piling up the points.
The 4x100 relay team of Hodsden, Cravinho, Dickerson, and Maya Waryas finished third in 53.76, while the 4x400 team of Boucher, Dickerson, Waryas, and Abby Dearborn was fourth in 4:24.09, and the 4x800 team of Dickerson, Hodsden, Megan Banik and Dearborn was third in 10:32.14.
All told, it was an exceptional team effort for both Terrier track teams and head coach Tim Eno, with contributions by everyone to bring another pair of state championship banners to hang in Holland Gymnasium.
Colonel girls finish 7th in Division I meet
• The Division I state track & field championship meet in Burlington on June 1 was dominated by the northern schools as usual, as St. Johnsbury won the girls' title and Essex won the boys' championship.
Brattleboro was the top southern school in the girls' meet with a seventh-place finish, while the Colonels were 10th in the boys' meet.
Maggie Lonardo led the Colonel girls with a win in the 100 (12.62), a third in the 200 (26.30), and a fifth in the long jump (16-4.5). Olivia Ottlieb was second in the high jump (5 feet), Maggie Gallagher was fourth in the 800 (2:26.63), and the 4x100 relay team of Dory Abdallah, Alina Secrest, Isabella Lonardo, and Maggie Lonardo was fourth (51.81).
In the boys' meet, Brattleboro's Orion Stone was third in the pole vault (11-6), Mike Anderson was fifth in the shot put (42 feet), and Ben Brady was sixth in the 400 (53.12). The 4x800 relay team of Declyn Tourville, Reis Perotti, Bram Tabachnick, and Evan Koch was fifth (8:40.51).
Rebel boys take second in Division IV meet
The Leland & Gray boys took second at the Division IV state championship meet in Windsor on June 1, while the Rebel girls were 10th.
Lucian Parker-Jennings won the 100 meter dash (12.09 seconds), the pole vault (7 feet, 6 inches), and the triple jump (37 feet, 3 inches) to lead the Rebel boys.
Jayden Bloom was second in the javelin, while Batikan Cinar was second in the 400 and third in the 200. The Rebels' quartet of Cam Anderberg, Justin Crosby, Jairen Sanderson, Riley Barton also won the 4x100 relay.
Bay Holmes led the Rebel girls with a fifth in the 3,000 and sixth in the discus. Kate Petty was sixth in the 300 hurdles.
Baseball
• That old high school coaching axiom, “it's tough to beat a team three times in a season,” was again proven accurate on May 29 as No. 9 Rutland, who twice beat eighth-seeded Brattleboro during the regular season, was routed by the Colonels, 9-1, in a Division I first-round playoff game.
Winning pitcher Adam Newton had one of his best games of the season. He struck out 11, walked one batter, hit one batter, and held Rutland to just one hit, a home run by Raiders freshman Jevan Valente in the fifth inning that tied the game at 1-1.
Newton then helped his own cause with being in the middle of a three-run rally in the bottom half of the inning, and a five-run outburst in the sixth to finish a 4-for-4 day with four RBIs.
Hunter Beebe had a pair of singles and drove in two runs, and Chris Frost, Tyler Millerick, and Evan Finnell also hit safely.
Things were a lot tougher for the Colonels on May 31 as they journeyed north to Hinesburg to take on top-seeded Champlain Valley in a quarterfinal game, which the Redhawks won, 11-2.
Winning pitcher Ian Parent struck out 14 batters and gave up just one hit over five innings. He also picked up three hits and four RBIs at the plate. Jacob Boliba (a double, a triple, five RBIs) and Jacob Murphy (a double and an RBI) also had three hits apiece for the 16-1 Redhawks.
Brenden Gilbeau was the losing pitcher. Newton had two hits, including a double, for the Colonels, who ended their season with an 11-7 record.
• Bellows Falls opened the Division II playoffs with a 4-2 win over Hartford in a first-round game at Hadley Field on May 29. BF pitcher Jack Brown picked up the win.
BF needed only four hits to beat the Hurricanes, as walks and errors by the Hartford defense allowed the Terriers to pick up the win.
Bellows Falls then traveled to Brandon on May 31 to face top-seeded Otter Valley in a quarterfinal, and the Otters blanked the Terriers, 10-0, in five innings. While Rutland couldn't beat Brattleboro three times, the Otters completed a season-sweep of the pesky Terriers, who came with two runs of beating Otter Valley in each of the previous two games.
Winning pitcher Josh Beayon finished with a four-hitter, with eight strikeouts and two walks. Losing pitcher Elliott Graham was victimized for six unearned runs as BF committed several infield errors. Graham gave up six hits, struck out one, walked two batters, and hit two.
The Otters got a total 11 hits, with Reilly Shannon getting three of them, including a pair of two-out singles that drove in three runs. BF finished the season at 8-10.
• Eighth-seeded Windsor needed extra innings to shut out No. 9 Leland & Gray, 1-0, in a Division III first-round game at McLeay-Royce Field. William Heim's single down the third-base line scored Jordan Place in the bottom of the ninth inning to win the game for the Yellowjackets.
Winning pitcher Robert Slocum struck out 16 batters and walked no one while scattering five hits over nine innings. Place led the Windsor offense, going 2-for-3 with a walk. Slocum and Heim had their only two other hits.
For the Rebels, Christian Thomsen and Chris Bovat each had two hits, and Kaie Quigley added a hit. Thomsen went the first eight innings for the Rebels, striking out four and walking five while holding Windsor to just two hits. Dylan Greenwood came on in the ninth, allowing a walk and two hits to take the loss.
Softball
• In their first-round Division I playoff game against No. 9 St. Johnsbury on May 29 at Sawyer Field, Brattleboro pulled off the rare feat of being held hitless, but still winning the contest.
St. Johnsbury pitcher Delaney Rankin struck out nine batters, walked no one, and held the Colonels hitless, but after four perfect innings, a pair of infield errors led to two runs in the fifth inning and gave the Colonels a 2-1 victory.
Rankin went 3-for-4 at the plate, but the Hilltoppers' only run of the game came off a wild pitch in the first inning by Colonels starter Hailey Derosia. That was the last run she would give up, as Derosia struck out nine and walked seven in a complete game four-hitter.
Mya McAuliffe and Julie Hendricks each reached base on errors in the fifth, and a sacrifice fly by Alexa Kinley drove in what would be the winning run.
Brattleboro's reward for gutting out this tense game was a bus trip north to face the top-seeded and defending champion Essex Hornets in a May 31 quarterfinal. The Colonels gave it all they had, but fell short to Essex, 5-4.
Ainsley Thorne drew her third walk of the game to bring in the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning to complete a big comeback for Essex.
Brattleboro had a 4-1 lead on the Hornets after four innings, thanks to McAuliffe's three-run homer. But Essex scored four runs in their final three innings to erase the deficit.
Jamie Morin (2-for-4) hit a solo home run in the fifth, while Emily Augustino earned the win in relief with two scoreless innings. Derosia took the loss as the Colonels finished their season at 12-6.
• Leland & Gray routed Rivendell, 20-1, in five innings in their Division III first-round game in Townshend on May 29.
Abbie Lowe scattered four hits to pick up the win for the Rebels. Erin Cutts hit a grand slam in the fourth and had five RBIs, while Allison Stockwell added three hits, including a triple.
The Rebels then traveled to Bradford on May 31 to face second-seeded Oxbow in the quarterfinals and lost, 10-2.
• Bellows Falls, the 16th seed in Division II with a 2-14 regular season record, forfeited their first round game to top-seeded Mount Abraham (12-4) on May 29.
• No. 8 Twin Valley got pounded by top-seeded Danville, 30-0, in a Division IV quarterfinal on May 31 that was stopped after five innings due to the mercy rule.
Lacrosse
• Fifth-seeded Brattleboro clobbered No. 12 Burlington, 22-2, in a Division I girls' first round game on May 29 at Natowich Field.
Liz Day led the scoring barrage with seven goals and four assists to lead the Colonel girls. Tobin Lonergan added six goals and two assists. Olivia Romo chipped in with three goals, Mollie Patenaude had two goals and an assist, Bri Paul scored twice, and Juni DiMatteo-LePape and Avalon Johnston each had a goal.
The Colonels then traveled to Rutland on May 31 to face the No. 4 Raiders in a quarterfinal match and lost, 17-11. The Raiders' defense did a good job bottling up Day and Romo, who scored three and four goals, respectively, in the loss.
Brianna Beauchamp had five goals for Rutland. The Brattleboro girls finished the season at 12-6.
Tennis
• The 12th-seeded Brattleboro girls traveled north on May 28 and lost to the fifth-seeded BFA-St. Albans Bobwhites.
All the singles matches were straight set losses for the Colonels. Helen Barrow beat Brattleboro's Alissa Walkowiak 6-1, 6-1; BFA's Lily Hebert defeated Camden Haskins 6-0, 6-1; Chloe Dussault downed Brattleboro's Paige Starkweather 6-4, 6-1; BFA's Lizzie Hill beat Maia McNeill 6-3, 6-1; and Lydia Hodgeman stopped Brattleboro's Lauren Stockwell 6-1, 6-0.
The Bobwhites were just as dominant in doubles play as BFA's Maise Talbot and Brianna Bean beat Amelia Harrison and Lydia Hazzard-Leal 6-0, 6-2, while Taylor Martell/Isabel Zemianek beat Brattleboro's Xia Achills and Cearra O'Hern (Bratt) 6-0, 6-1.
Senior bowling roundup
• Team 5 (19-6) took over first place after Week 5 of the spring/summer season of the Brattleboro Senior Bowling League at Brattleboro Bowl. The Great Lakes (17-8) are two games back and there is a three-way tie for third between Staying Alive, Team MNR, and Team DDL (all 15-10).
Team JKL and Team BDR are tied for fourth (14-11), followed by 3 Stooges and The Dentists (both 10-15), Tres Amigos (9-16), Stars & Strikes (8-17) and Tornadoes (5-20).
Doris Lake had the women's high handicap game (243), while Dolly Stone had the high handicap series (661). Mark Rivers had the men's high handicap game (277), while Fred Bump had the high handicap series (703). Tres Amigos had the high team handicap game (692), and 3 Stooges had the high handicap series (1,937).
In scratch scoring, Warren Corriveau Jr. rolled games of 209 and 202 to complete his 588 series. Bump had a 179 and a 224 game as part of his 544 series, while Fred Ashworth had a 181 game as part of his 524 series. Rivers had a 219 game and Les Wigdor rolled a 188.
Sonya Shippee (489) had the women's high series, with games of 188 and 174. Lake had a 175 game, and Shirley Aiken rolled a 174.