Category: Sports
ADDISON COUNTY — All four local high school girls’ basketball teams ended up with something to brag about this winter: All won Division-II playoff games after faring well enough to earn home court for the first round.
And all four benefited from outstanding performances, none better than that of Middlebury junior Katie Ritter, who repeats as the Addison Independent Player of the Year.
MIDDLEBURY — The Middlebury College men’s hockey team’s remarkable late-season run ended on Saturday, when visiting Plattsburgh scored early in overtime to earn a 3-2 win in an NCAA Division III quarterfinal.
The Panthers entered the game with a 19-4-4 record after winning 12 of their 13 previous outings, including a 5-3 decision over the 19-5-3 Cardinals.
But on Saturday Plattsburgh got to loose pucks first, won most of the battles along the boards, and outshot the Panthers, 31-23.
RIPTON — More than 60 die-hard skiers soaked up the sunshine and survived the challenging spring waxing conditions at the annual Bread Loaf Cross Country Citizens’ Race and Lollipop Race on Sunday, March 7, at the Rikert Ski Touring Center in Ripton.
Organizers said the races were the culmination of an incredible spring skiing weekend, and a great time was had by all.
MIDDLEBURY — After a pair of hard-fought wins in Maine this past weekend, the NESCAC champion Middlebury College men’s hockey team finds itself back in familiar territory against a familiar foe: The 19-4-4 Panthers will host SUNY Plattsburgh on Saturday at 7 p.m. in what will be their first NCAA appearance since 2007, when Middlebury made its 13th straight trip to the dance.
Saturday night’s NCAA Division III quarterfinal against the 18-5-3 Cardinals will be a rematch of a Feb. 2 game at Kenyon Arena won by the Panthers, 5-3.
HANCOCK — Rice Memorial senior and Ferrisburgh resident Katie Cutting made it back-to-back titles in both the slalom and giant slalom at Thursday’s high school alpine girls’ state championship meet, hosted by Middlebury Union High School at the Middlebury College Snow Bowl.
Vergennes junior Greta Krahn took second behind Cutting in the GS and was seventh in the slalom.
Rutland won the team competition with 109 points, ahead of Mount Mansfield (139) and Champlain Valley (160). Middlebury (381) was 15th.
WOODFORD — The Middlebury Union High School girls’ Nordic ski team completed its run to second place in Division II on Wednesday with a strong showing in the classic races held at Prospect Mountain Nordic Ski Center in Woodford.
The Tiger girls finished with 118 points, trailing only Fairfax (75), and finishing well ahead of U-32 (146). Those three teams were also 1-2-3 after March 1’s freestyle racing in Craftsbury.
Sophomore Dominique Powers led MUHS on Wednesday by taking second place in the individual race 18:23.7, followed by classmate Britta Clark in sixth.
MIDDLEBURY — The Middlebury College men’s basketball team’s dreams of a deep run into the NCAA basketball tournament ended with a cold-shooting first half in Pepin Gymnasium on Saturday night, when Rhode Island College upset the Panthers, 75-59.
The 25-4 Panthers scored just five points in the first 10 minutes against the swarming defense of the smaller, but quicker Anchormen. They trailed at the half, 37-22, after hitting just eight of 30 shots in the first 20 minutes.
VERGENNES — On an elevated mat with more than 1,200 fans watching in the Vergennes Union High School gym, Otter Valley’s George Mitchell and Middlebury’s Bryan Ashley-Selleck, both juniors, on Saturday night won state titles at the Vermont state high school wrestling championship meet.
They and the other top-three finishers — including Tiger senior Kaden Odell, second at 145 pounds; and Vergennes sophomore Geoffrey Grant, second at 171 — became eligible to compete at the New England championship tournament this Friday and Saturday in New Haven, Conn.
