Sports

MUHS girls post best results in D-II track

HANNAH TURNER RUNS away from the field in the 400 meter final to capture the title in Saturday’s Division-II state meet in South Burlington. The Middlebury Union High School junior also helped the Tiger girls place in a pair of relay races. The Tiger girls finished fifth out of 16 teams. Photo courtesy of Mary Heather Noble

This year has been really challenging for many of our teenagers, and a lot of that is due to the lack of normalcy and the unpredictability that we have been living with. It was nice to have something for them to come do where they could be outside, stay active, and have a clear focus for their seasons.
— Tiger Coach Ben Weir

SOUTH BURLINGTON — A state title by Middlebury junior Hannah Turner at 400 meters and a second- and two third-place finishes by Tiger senior distance runner Sofia Stefani provided the highlights in Saturday’s Division II championship meet at South Burlington High School.

Also posting second-place finishes were Mount Abraham junior Eliza Bent and the MUHS girls four-by-800-meter relay team of senior Harper Sinclair, junior Ella Landis, sophomore Maddie Crowne and Turner.

MUHS coach Ben Weir was particularly impressed by Turner’s strong finish in both events.

“She did it after anchoring our 4×800 meter relay squad and passing the U-32 team at the line to secure second place by under two-tenths of a second,” he said.

MUHS juniors Viviana Hammond and Zoe Noble joined Turner and Stefani in finishing third in the girls’ 4×400. For the Eagles, sophomore Louisa Funk finished in a fifth-place tie for the pole vault and junior Maddie Donaldson was sixth in the 400 to round out the girls’ scorers.

Coach Weir noted that Turner became his program’s first individual champion in five years, and that he believes Stefani scored more points (26) for a Tiger team at a state meet than any individual since in at least 21 years.

“The team, especially the girls’ team, had some strong results,” Weir said.

Weir in an email praised Turner’s enhanced strategy in her 400 racing and Stefani’s dedication to conditioning that allowed her to consistently break 5:00 at 1,500 meters this season, and then at the state meet score points in four events.

The Tiger girls posted the best team result by finishing fifth among 16 teams with 44 points. U-32 won with 107 points, followed by Rice (67), Burr & Burton (67) and Fair Haven (47). The Eagles were 13th.

On the boys’ side in a 15-team field the Tigers were 13th (13) and the Eagles were 14th (7). U-32 (123), Bellows Falls (83) and Spaulding (52) ran 1-2-3.

Two Tiger boys and one Mount Abe boy posted fourth-place finishes: MUHS junior Greg Wilhelm at 400 meters, MUHS senior Nicholas Suchomel in the 110 hurdles, and Eagle senior Branden Reynolds at 200 meters. Suchomel set a school record with a time of 18.04.

Eagle sophomore Gavin Bannister took fifth in the 300 hurdles, and the Tiger 4×400 relay team of Wilhelm, senior Owen Connelly, and sophomores Ben Seaton and Eliot Schneider took fourth.

The Tiger boys 4×800 team of seniors Tom Nevins and Lucas Nelson and sophomores Toby Wells-Spackman and Ronen Silberman finished sixth.

More than anything, Weir spoke in an email on behalf of all the local track coaches about the true success of all their seasons.

“On the whole, it was just great to have an opportunity for the athletes to have a season to focus on. This year has been really challenging for many of our teenagers, and a lot of that is due to the lack of normalcy and the unpredictability that we have been living with,” he said.

“It was nice to have something for them to come do where they could be outside, stay active, and have a clear focus for their seasons.”

GIRLS’ RESULTS

The results for Tiger and Eagle girls were:

•  100: 17. Hammond, MUHS, 14.07; 22. Mary Johnson, MUHS, 14.28; 34. Eliana Ginsberg, MT. ABE, 14.74.

•  200: 10. Hammond, MUHS, 29.00.

•  400: 1. Turner, MUHS, 62.27; 6 Donaldson, MT. ABE, 65.03.

•  800: 2. Stefani, MUHS, 2:23.7; 12. Abigail Johnson, MT. ABE, 2:48.16; 13. Landis, MUHS, 2:53.37.

•  1,500: 3. Stefani, MUHS, 4:58.37; 12. Landis, MUHS, 5:46.32.

•  3,000: 3. Stefani, MUHS, 11:09.43; 16. Maddy Stowe, MUHS, 13:08.4.

•  100 hurdles: 9. Noble, MUHS, 18.82; 16. Funk, MT. ABE, 20.32; 17. Maisy Hill, MT. ABE, 20.55; 19. Nell Brayton, MUHS, 20.7.

•  300 hurdles: 7. Noble, MUHS, 55.67; 12. Ruby Jean Hall, MT. ABE, 60.04.

•  4×400: 3. MUHS, 4:34.28 (Hammond, Noble, Turner, Stefani).

•  4×800: 2. MUHS, 10:44.78 (Landis, Crowne, Sinclair, Turner).

•  Shot put: 7. Bent, MT. ABE, 8.61 meters.

•  Discus: 2. Bent, MT. ABE, 25.66 meters.

•  Pole vault: 5. (tie) Funk, MT. ABE, 1.83 meters; 8. Olivia Devino, MT. ABE, 1.83 meters.

BOYS’ RESULTS

The results for Tiger and Eagle boys were:

•  100: 10. Reynolds, MT. ABE, 12.22; 19. Alex Yaggy, MT. ABE, 12.52; 22. Joseph Darling, MT. ABE, 12.57; 27. Ethan Foster, MUHS, 12.85; 30. Hunter Lloyd, MUHS, 12.97; 32. Connolly, MUHS, 13.31.

•  200: 4. Reynolds, MT. ABE, 24.37; 12. Yaggy, MT. ABE, 25.71.

•  400: 4. Wilhelm, MUHS, 54.3; 9. Schneider, MUHS, 56.3.

•  800: 15. Noah Engvall, MT. ABE, 2:24.42.

•  1,500: 11. Silberman, MUHS, 4:42.37; 16. Nelson, MUHS, 4:50.95; 17. Nevins, MUHS, 4:59.09.

•  3,000: 12. Baxter Harrington, MUHS, 10:18.79.

•  100 hurdles: 4. Suchomel, MUHS, 18.04.

•  300 hurdles: 5. Bannister, MT. ABE, 44.66.

•  4×400: 4. MUHS, 3:47.2 (Connolly, Schneider, Seaton, Wilhelm).

•  4×800: 6. MUHS, 9:20.01 (Nevins, Nelson, Silberman, Wells-Spackman).

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