BURLINGTON — Mount Abraham Union High School senior Lydia Pitts added three more gold medals to her collection at this past Friday’s Division II indoor track and field championship meet, at which also the Vergennes boys’ four-by-800-meter relay team of Spencer Hurlburt, Xander DeBlois, Gabe Praamsma and Wade Mullin cruised to a 5-second win.
Pitts tied the D-II record in winning the girls’ 55-meter hurdles in 8.82, earning her third D-II record in the process, and also won the long jump and the triple jump. Heading into the outdoor track and field season Pitts, who plans to compete for Bowdoin College’s team next year, has now earned 17 D-II track and field titles in her high school career.
Also enjoying a successful meet were Middlebury’s C.J. Bryant, who was third in the boys’ long jump and 300 and sixth in the 55; Mount Abe’s Emma Radler, who tied for the best height in the girls’ pole vault but finished second in a tiebreaker; Mount Abe’s Abby Perlee, who was third in the girls’ pole vault; and Mullin, who added a third-place finish in the boys’ 300 to his relay win.
The Eagle athletes were competing as independents and did not score as a team; the sport has club status at their school and they train with their Vergennes peers.
Milton (92 points) edged Rice (79) to win the boys’ competition. MUHS (21) took 10th, with VUHS (18) in 11th. No Tiger or Commodore girls competed. Rice (165) rolled to the girls’ title, with Hartford (84) in second.
In girls’ events, the Mount Abe competitors’ results were:
•  Pole vault: 2. Radler, 8-0; 3. Perlee, 7-0 (tie).
•  Long jump: 1. Pitts, 16-1.5.
•  Triple jump: 1. Pitts, 35-2; 9. Perlee, 29-1.
•  55 hurdles: 1. Pitts, 8.82.
•  1,000: 9. Elizabeth Siminitus, 3:40.27.
In boys’ events, the local competitors’ results were:
•  Long jump: 3. Bryant, MUHS, 18-5.75.
•  Pole vault: 6. Ian Fenster, MUHS, 7-0.
•  4×800: 1. VUHS (Hurlburt, DeBlois, Praamsma, Mullin), 9:28.84.
•  55: 3. Bryant, MUHS, 7.11
•  1,500: 6. Hurlburt, VUHS, 4:50.92; 10. Aidan May, Mt. Abe, 4:55.49.
•  600: 3. Mullin, VUHS, 1:32.39; 7. Ross Carr, Mt. Abe, 1:35.01.
•  300: 3. Bryant, MUHS, 38.50; 11. Carr, Mt. Abe, 41.55. 
   EAGLE SENIOR LYDIA Pitts competes in the triple jump at the Division II state track and field meet Friday night at UVM. Pitts won the event with a distance of 35 feet, 2 inches. Photo by Kirsten Pitts