BRISTOL — The Middlebury Union High School boys’ and Harwood girls’ track and field teams prevailed at a six-team meet hosted by Mount Abraham on a steamy Monday afternoon.
With many local athletes experimenting in different events, the Tiger boys scored 194 points to defeat Harwood (111), Enosburg (84), Mount Abe (62), Fair Haven (34) and Lamoille (14).
The Harwood girls piled up 164.5 points, ahead of Fair Haven (116), Mount Abe (108), Enosburg (76.5) and MUHS (63).
The afternoon’s only local multiple event winner was Eagle freshman Lydia Pitts, who recently set school records in both the 100- and 300-meter girls’ hurdles, breaking marks that had stood for decades. Pitts breezed to wins in both those events and added a victory in the triple jump. She is ranked in the top three in Vermont in both hurdling events.
Also for Mount Abe, with defending Division II high jump champion and MUHS school record holder Hannah Buttolph taking a pass on Monday, Eagle Amelia Bruhl won the girls’ high jump, and Sam Kuhns won the boys’ pole vault.
Co-coach Katie Ivory said they and athletes like high jumper Emma Radler, long jumper and runner Sofia Wolak, thrower and jumper Finn Clements, thrower Pia Versick, and senior mainstay Chris Carter, a hurdler and middle distance runner, have enjoyed solid springs.
“They’re going well. We have kids trying some new stuff and doing well and qualifying for Essex and states,” Ivory said. “And we have a good contingent going pretty far this year.”
The Eagles also have many younger athletes who are developing quickly that Ivory said will emerge in the future.
“To be where they are right now is really exciting, because I think in a couple of seasons they’ll really take off,” she said.
Many of the Tigers’ top athletes, like Buttolph, took breaks from their main events. The talented Tiger girls’ four-by-100-meter relay team, which had knocked off Fair Haven in recently winning at the major Fair Haven Invitational, did not pick up the batons on Monday, for example.
Coach Ed Blechner is excited about that group — sisters Katherine and Megan Townsend, Chloe Kane and Gretta Groves — which also breezed to a win at home four days before.
“I don’t ever remember beating Fair Haven in the girls’ four-by-one. The sprinting corps is doing really well,” Blechner said.
MUHS girls’ wins on Monday came from Kat Townsend in the girls’ 400, Katherine Koehler in the 1,500, and the girls’ 4×400 (K. Townsend, Buttolph, Kaitlin Huber, Julia Vorsteveld).
Boys’ wins came from Ryan Biette in the 400, Joshua Girard in the 800, David Dregallo in the 1,500, Willem Landis in the 3,000, Burke Weekes in the 300 hurdles, the 4×100 relay team (Lewis Short, Emile Mathez, Garrett Troumbley, Tom Weaver), the 4×400 team (Haven Tate, Matthew Ferguson, Henry Ganey, James Whitley); Nick Beauchamp in the shot put, and Chris Grier in the javelin.
Overall, Blechner has been happy, pointing in particular to both the girls’ and boys’ relay teams, his two male throwers, Buttolph, his female sprinters, and Dregallo.
“We’ve had some nice results, and we start the year backwards. We want to gear toward the state meet,” Blechner said. “And I think a lot of the things that we’ve done will hold up come the state meet.”
Blechner is also excited to see many of the team’s 65 members develop into athletes who should make an impact as soon as next year.
“We’ve had a lot of kids who are not up there in scoring, but have just improved so much,” he said. “And that just builds on itself.”
The Vergennes team chose to travel to Mount Mansfield on Wednesday rather than Mount Abe on Monday, but had several athletes show well at last week’s meet in Middlebury.
Commodore Coach Jeff Kauffman said last week that, as has been typical, his small team includes several athletes who should do well on the big stage of the state meet.
“It’s what we’ve been doing for forever,” he said.
His boys’ 4×100 and 4×400 relay teams looked particularly impressive.
“Our boys’ relays look really good,” Kauffman said. “We’ve got some really good sprinters.”
Senior Jake Dombek anchors those squads and is a threat at 100 and 200 meters in D-II.
“He’s in the top two or three in Division II right now,” Kauffman said.
Senior Paige Stolen, better known on the team as Moose, should be in the mix in the 800, he said.
“Moose looks really good. We’re hoping to break 2:30 with her in the 8,” Kauffman said.
Senior thrower Ally Stearns, meanwhile, has added a 540-degree spin to her repertoire and easily broke 30 feet in winning the shot put at Middlebury.
“Ally’s really coming along in the shot,” Kauffman said. “That spin, it’s pretty, isn’t it? I like it a lot, and she’s getting more and more confident in it.”
GIRLS’ RESULTS
Local girls scoring points at Mt. Abe on Monday were:
•  100: 4. Wolak, MAU, 14.29.
•  200: 4. Adeline Crosthwait, MAU, 30.46.
•  400: 2. K. Townsend, MUHS, 1:07.54; 2. Buttolph, MUHS, 1:08.95; 4. M. Townsend, MUHS, 1:10:12.
•  800: 5. Danielle Morris, MUHS, 2:56.44; 6. Margaret Moody, MAU, 2:58.83.
•  1,500: 6. Delaynah Leavitt, MAU, 6:10.83.
•  3,000: 1. Koehler, MUHS, 12:48.79; 2. Leavitt, MAU, 13:12.95; 3. Sarah Sodaro, MAU, 15:18.16. 
•  100 hurdles: 1. Pitts, MAU, 17.41; 3. Emma Snyder-White, MUHS, 21.37.
•  300 hurdles: 1. Pitts, MAU, 51.07; 3. Kiana Plouffe, MUHS, 58.48; 6. Snyder-White, MUHS, 1:00.67.
•  4X100 relay: 4, MAU, 1:01.48 (Crosthwait, Moody, Versick, Wolak).
•  4X400: 1. MUHS, 4:52.46.
•  4X800: 2. MAU, 13:23.59 (Moody, Isabel Lucarelli, Amaya Cota, Fiona O’Neal).
•  High jump: 1. Bruhl, MAU, 4-8.  
•  Pole vault: 4. Radler, MAU, 6-6; 6. Abby Perlee, MAU, 5-0.
•  Long jump: 2. Pitts, MAU, 14-10; 4. Wolak, MAU, 14-0; 6. Radler, MAU, 13-2.
•  Triple jump: 1. Pitts, MAU, 31-0.5; 3. Perlee, MAU, 26-2. 
•  Discus: 3. Tasha Hescock, MUHS, 60-8.  
•  Javelin: 3. Versick, MAU, 68-0.
BOYS’ RESULTS
Local boys scoring points at Mt. Abe on Monday were:
•  100: 5. Robin Kuhns, MAU, 13.11; 6. Carter, MAU, 13.11.    
•  200: 2. Elias Wyncoop, MUHS, 26.73; 3. Mathez, MUHS, 27.52; 4. Short, MUHS, 27.78.
•  400: 1. Biette, MUHS, 56.02; 2. Damien Morris, MUHS, 58.33; 4. Simon-Jimmy Broucke, MUHS, 58.53; 5. Tate, MUHS, 59.24; 6. Ganey, MUHS, 59.52.
•  800: 1. Girard, MUHS, 2:26.89; 4. Timothy Ferguson, MUHS, 2:43.34; 6. Brian Cousineau, MAU, 3:12.17.
•  1,500: 1. Dregallo, MUHS, 4:30.68; 2. Christopher Garner, MUHS, 4:34.40; 3. Biette, MUHS, 4:34.40; 6. Ganey, MUHS, 4:44.57. 
•  3,000: 1. Landis, MUHS, 10:33.69; 2. Tobias Broucke, MUHS, 10:55.31; 6. Nick Turner, MAU, 13:02.39.
•  100 hurdles: 3. Troumbley, MUHS, 21.20; 4. Ian McKay, MUHS, 22.15; 5. Short, MUHS, 22.66.  
•  300 hurdles: 1. Weekes, MUHS, 48.50; 2. Carter, MAU, 49.04; 6. Julian Bunch, MAU, 51.46.
•  4X100 relay: 1. MUHS, 50.10.  
•  4X400: 1. MUHS, 4:01.12.  
•  High jump: 3. Clements, MAU, 4-10.  
•  Pole vault: 1. S. Kuhns, MAU, 8-6. 
•  Long jump: 3. Girard, MUHS, 17-8; 4. Turner, MAU, 17-6.5; 6. S-J Broucke, MUHS, 16-9.  
•  Triple jump: 2. Turner, MAU, 34-8.5; 3. Girard, MUHS, 33-3.5; 4. S. Kuhns, MAU, 33-0.5; 5. Evans Kile, MAU, 31-0.7.5
•  Shot put: 1. Beauchamp, MUHS, 40-1; 3. Grier, MUHS, 33-10. 
•  Discus: 2. Beauchamp, MUHS, 113-11; 6. Grier, MUHS, 89-6.
•  Javelin: 1. Grier, MUHS, 139-11; 2. Carter, MAU, 129-6; 4. Clements, MAU, 117-11; 6. Wyatt Norris, MUHS, 105-08. 
 
TIGERS DAVID DREGALLO, Christopher Garner and Ryan Biette run the last lap of the 1,500-meter race in Bristol Monday afternoon. The trio finished in first, second and third place, respectively.
Independent photo/Trent Campbell