By ANDY KIRKALDY

MIDDLEBURY — As was the case with most local schools, the levels of success for Middlebury Union High School athletic programs in the winter of 2023-2024 varied — essentially from banner to rebuilding.

Leading the pack was the Tiger girls’ Nordic squad, which won its third straight Division II title, with the MUHS boys skiing to a respectable third when the snowflakes settled.

Not far behind was the MUHS dance team, Vermont’s second best, and the wrestling squad, which placed six wrestlers on state podiums in finishing fifth in Vermont’s all-division tournament.

The results were mixed for the four girls’ and boys’ hockey and basketball teams, with none finishing over .500, although both hockey teams pulled off rousing playoff upsets on the road. And the boys’ hoop team did win eight of 10 to finish the regular season.

Finally, gymnastics, as usual, held its own against teams with similar resources and numbers and steadily improved individual scores in the course of the season, meeting the program’s goals nicely. Its numbers bumped upward this preseason.

MUHS Activities Director Sean Farrell took the time to tell the Independent what to look for this winter from the county’s largest high school with the most athletic programs.

NORDIC SKIING

Coach William Haig and his three able assistant Nordic coaches see the return of three of the four skiers who helped the Tiger girls’ team claim its D-II title this past winter. Two of them are senior Beth McIntosh, who has been on board for all three titles and posted first- and second-place efforts last year, and junior Mary Harrington, a two-year titlist who earned first- and fifth-place finishes at the two-day state meet last winter.

Also returning as a member of the Tiger girls’ winning relay teams and as the fourth returning scorer on both days is senior Lila Cook Yoder, who helped the team to what was a huge win. The team’s departed fourth scorer was at par with McIntosh and Harrington and will be hard to replace, but there is a large gap for the Tigers’ competitors to make up, assuming good health.

“They’ve proven themselves, and certainly they’ve still got some great skiers,” Farrell said. “I think we’re still poised to do well.”

The top candidate to step up might be senior Sarah Benz, according to Farrell, but, with 10 other athletes on the girls’ side, others could emerge to challenge to be the fourth scorer at the state meet.

Meanwhile, two of the five skiers who scored for the third-place boys a year ago do not return, meaning three scorers are back, all seniors: Matthew Berg, Baker Nelson and Aaron Carr-Perlow.

Among others who could chip in among the 11 boys who had signed up as of Dec. 10 are senior Lucas Flinner and sophomore Nate Cook Yoder, Farrell said, and another respectable finish should be in the works.

“They’ll definitely be in the hunt,” Farrell said.

DANCE

In this past winter’s state championship competition, Coach Ashley Grant’s Tiger dance squad finished second in both of its disciplines, Hip Hop and Pom. Only Mount Mansfield, winner of both Hip Hop and Jazz, was more successful than MUHS despite the Tiger program’s low numbers a year ago.

This year, an influx of dancers from Mount Abraham under a cooperative agreement between the schools should fix that low-count issue.

“We were a small, but mighty team,” Farrell said. “The nice thing this year is that our numbers are up. We’re looking at 18 dancers at this point.”

There were a couple Eagles in the program already on a member-to-member agreement, including junior Madelyn Brochu, a senior captain this winter. But Farrell said the new arrangement would roughly quadruple the number of Mount Abe students dancing for MUHS.

“It’s a nice addition,” he said.

Still, in the long run, Farrell added, the goal is for interest to grow in the Bristol school and “to increase the number of dance teams in the state.”

In the meantime, the Eagles are welcome reinforcements, even with experienced MUHS dancers returning, such as seniors Gedeleine Franklin and Autumn Lowell and sophomore Jordan Rushton.

In all, Farrell expects more good things.

“Ashley Grant does a great job of preparing them. She gets the most out of them,” he said. “And we have some alums coming aboard as volunteer coaches … some experienced dancers from years past coming to help Ashley. Especially now that we have higher numbers it’s great to have extra sets of eyes in there.”

WRESTLING

A few years ago, the wrestlers in Coach Ethan Raymond’s MUHS program could be counted on the fingers of one hand.

This winter, barring injury, 18 Tiger wrestlers should cover at least a dozen weight classes. That’s after last winter’s fifth-place finish and a half-dozen podium finishes at the state tournament.

Farrell credited Raymond and assistant Jon Ashley, a former program head, for the turnaround.

“It’s a far cry from five years ago, when we weren’t sure we were going to have a program,” Farrell said. “Kids love wrestling for Ethan. Jon Ashley, even though he’s moved to a volunteer basis, I think he works just as hard now as he did when he was the head coach.”

The returning athletes include senior co-captains Alex Sperry and Avery Carl, each of whom earned second-place finishes in Vermont this past winter. Also back after reaching state-meet podiums were (using current grade levels) three sophomores, Parker Carl, Tucker Wright and Wyatt Kennett; and junior Kameron Raymond.

There might be some juggling to cover more weight classes. Anecdotally, Farrell said a couple wrestlers were not “holding back” at the school lunch tables.

“The hardest thing is just spreading their talent across all the weight classes. We’ve got some kids who are similar sized,” Farrell said.

There’s a good team dynamic, he added.

“There’s high-energy kids on the team,” Farrell said. “They’re good kids. They’re working hard.”

Time will tell which of the many sophomores and freshmen will break through, he said, but Farrell is confident in the crew’s prospects for this winter, especially with Sperry and Carl setting the tone.

“They’re the leaders in the weight room and the gym,” he said.

Boys’ hockey

Coach Jordan Stearns’s boys’ hockey team, coming off a seven-win campaign that included a dramatic first-round D-II playoff victory, will once again play what Farrell called a challenging Metro B schedule.

That means squaring off with a number of D-I teams along the way to the D-II postseason, a tough road for a team that was hit hard by graduation.

“We felt our program was strong enough to compete at that level. It worked out OK last year,” Farrell said. “It will be OK this year.”

Despite seeing many players who skated for the Tigers graduate, Farrell said there is returning talent, including cooperative-agreement players from Mount Abraham, Vergennes, Otter Valley and Fair Haven union high schools, mainly from the first two schools on that list.

“We’ve got some quality players coming back,” he said, adding those cooperative agreements “provide an opportunity for kids from our area to play hockey.”

Returners include the captains, senior forward Quinn Collins and junior defenseman Sutton Rubright; junior goalie T.J. Baron (an OV student); junior defensemen Logan McNulty, Ethan Heffernan and Ethan Mulcahy; sophomore forward Gabe Quesnel; and junior forward Adrien Malhotra.

Farrell said Stearns is carrying five freshmen this year and odds are one or more of them will emerge, as could others on the roster.

As far an outlook, Farrell said it’s tough to predict, but that the Tigers held their own against Hartford in a scrimmage.

“When we play that heavier (D-I) group, that’s a challenge,” he said. “But once we get into the teams that we’re going to see in the postseason, I’m very confident that we’ll be at the top of the pack of that group.”

Girls’ hockey

The 10-win season of Coach P.J. Lalonde’s girls’ hockey team this past winter included earning the No. 6 seed in D-II and then a playoff win at the No. 3 seed.

Many of the players are back for a program that Farrell could foresee taking a step forward this season even though the team is still young: The only seniors are multi-year starting goalie Ruby Hubbell and backup Michaela Charbonneau, and high-scoring forward McKenna Raymond, the team’s captain.

A strong corps of juniors bolsters the roster: defenders Ireland Hanley and Quinn Doria, the assistant captains; and forwards Lia Calzini, Sawyer Witscher, Kenyon Connors and Ivy Gates.

Sophomores who have been playing with that group over the years include forwards Isla Weaber and Kate Kozak and defender Sedona Carrara. Another seven sophomores and freshmen round out a roster of 19.

“There are a lot of quality players,” Farrell said. “They really complement each other really well. It will hopefully give us three really strong lines.”

He can envision the team taking a step forward, especially with Timm Hanley and former Tiger standout Raven Payne working with Lalonde on the coaching staff.

“They’re doing a great job. And once they create that culture and climate on that team, it really brings that talent together and get focused on a common goal,” Farrell said. “I like the chemistry of this group … I’m pretty excited for them.”

Boys’ basketball

Coach Chris Altemose’s boys’ basketball team struggled out of the gate against a tough non-league schedule, but righted the ship against Lake Division competition to finish 9-11 and earn a D-II home playoff game, finishing with nine wins.

Most of the key athletes from that campaign are back.

“We have a number of returning players,” Farrell said. “Not all of them got a ton of playing time, but they certainly have developed and are ready for another year.”

Some of them were, of course, mainstays. The full list includes junior center Cooke Riney; senior forwards Kyle Stearns, George Devlin and Tucker Odell; and senior guards Cam Whitlock, Tassilo Luksch and Keenan Chicoine.

A couple good senior athletes, Tucker Morter and Cooper Quinn, also returned to the sport and made the team. Two more juniors, guards Wyatt Gillette and Jonathan Kafumbe, and three sophomores round out the squad.

The schedule will start out challenging again, with Essex and Colchester the first two games. If the Tigers get through those contests with their confidence and faith in their system intact, Farrell believes they should do well this winter.

“If they can build on those experiences and realize they have skill and they can have success when they play together, I think that’s always the challenge in basketball,” he said. “There are a lot of good athletes on the floor.”

Girls basketball

In the fall of 2023, first-year Coach Eric Carter inherited a young MUHS girls’ basketball team with a tough schedule looming. Predictably, a five-win season followed.

But that season provided valuable experience for a team that returns many good athletes and this past spring made a run at the No. 2 seed in the first round of the D-II playoffs.

Farrell said Carter has a rosier outlook for the program heading into this winter.

“Every time we have a new coaching staff, and we’re talking a whole new coaching staff, there’s growing pains, and it takes time,” Farrell said.

Low numbers a year ago also meant that some players had to play from both varsity and JV teams, limiting what could be accomplished in practice as well Carter’s substitution options. The varsity roster has 14 players this year, with eight on the JV, four of whom are also listed on the varsity roster.

“And I think we’re looking at better numbers this year, which also forces a little competition,” Farrell said.

The returners are the co-captains, all-star junior guard/forward Solstice Binder and senior guard Kassidy Brown. Also back is a group of versatile players listed as guard/forwards: senior Lexi Whitney, juniors Skyler Choiniere and Jalynn Sunderland, and sophomores Isabel Quinn and Tenny LaRoche. The final two now listed as swing players are freshman guard Louisa Orten and freshman forward Sophie Simpson.

With so many returners in the second year of a new system, Farrell said things should run more smoothly.

“I think we’re going to see growth. I think we’re going to see new enthusiasm in our kids,” he said. “I think we’re going to surprise some people.”

gymnastics

Indicative of the goals of Coach Natalia Little for her MUHS gymnastics program was a late season win over Randolph this past winter after which she was most happy not with the victory, but rather the fact that her athletes posted their highest scores of the season, which she said was evidence of their improving skills.

Meanwhile, the program is seeing improvement in its numbers, up several to nine at the varsity level, with 22 at the middle school level, a count that Farrell called “off the chart.”

We’ll credit Simone Biles, Suni Lee and the Pommel Horse Guy in an Olympic year, as well as Little and the middle school for running nice programs.

Also nice? None of the nine varsity gymnasts are seniors. Juniors Alixis Williams and Mady Richard are the co-captains, and they return along with junior Emily Johnson and sophomores Nataly Johnson and Lila Hescock from this past winter’s team.

Joining them are four freshmen: Anni Broderson, Maya Jacobs, Mckenzie Richard and Leah Warner.

“It’s good to have that young team that’s going to grow,” Farrell said.

Williams was probably the most accomplished of the Tigers a year ago, competing in all the disciplines and the all-around. Nataly Johnson saw success on the vault and beam; Emily Johnson on the vault and floor; and Richard and Hescock on the beam and floor.

Farrell expects the team to be competitive against other schools outside of major population centers (read Essex and CVU, for example, as losses, and Milton and Montpelier as possible victories).

More importantly, he appreciates the focus on individual growth.

“We have kids who saw personal success as well, and personal bests in events,” Farrell said. “If you see personal growth, that obviously motivates you. And if the kids are seeing that, it’s going to bring the whole team up with them. So we’re pretty excited for those kids who were really starting to grow last year. It really sets the tone within the team.”