VERGENNES — The Vergennes Union High School teams that played ball sports in the spring of 2024 had mixed levels of success in the regular season.

But the Vergennes-Mount Abraham girls’ lacrosse and VUHS baseball and softball teams all saw their seasons end the same way — with closely contested first-round playoff setbacks.

Arguably the team that enjoyed the most postseason success in 2024 was the Commodore boys’ track and field squad, which took seventh in the Division-III championship meet and won several races. But that team was hard-hit by graduation, although a couple standouts return. A few point-scorers also return for the girls’ team.

The Independent talked with Addison Northwest School District Athletics Director Peter Maneen about the teams’ prospects for this spring season.

VERGENNES UNION HIGH School girls’ lacrosse

GIRLS’ LACROSSE

Over the past few years the Mount Abraham-Vergennes cooperative girls’ lacrosse team has been the most consistently competitive team based at VUHS. The Commodores have had winning seasons every spring since winning the D-II title in 2019. In 2024 they won 13 games and earned the No. 3 seed, but were upset by one goal in a home quarterfinal.

This year the program gets a new coach, the second in its eight-year history: Mount Abraham middle school art teacher Emiko Cruschiel takes over from the MAV team’s first, and up to this point only, head coach, Marikate Kelley. Per Maneen, Cruschiel has been running the girls’ middle school program for the past few years and played lacrosse at CVU and St. Lawrence University.

Cruschiel inherits a team from which a half-dozen seniors graduated, including its starting goalie, two key senior midfielders, and a versatile starting defender.

“We lost some pretty good players,” Maneen said, while adding they also have “some pretty good returning players.”

Nine, in fact, are back from the 2024 team, and they cover positions all over the field. Two seniors, Esme Visco-Lyons and Ruby Heller, are attackers, and the third returning senior, Safoura Camara, is a defender. The team’s fourth senior is a varsity newcomer, Kendra Jackson, and will be the team’s goalie.

Three juniors also return, defender/midfielder Maris LaPerle, defender Scout Jacobson, and attacker/midfielder June Yates-Rusch. Three sophomores are back after seeing varsity playing time as freshmen: midfielder Meredith Dufault, attacker Davis Thompson and defender Adrienne Smits.

Maneen expects newcomers to the team to make an impact.

“The younger players have been really successful in the middle school. They participate in that Northern Vermont League, and they’ve won that,” he said. “We’re definitely a younger group overall, and we’ve got a lot of puzzle pieces to figure out where they fit. But it’s still a talented roster, and we’re expecting good things out of this group.”

VERGENNES UNION HIGH School track and field
Photo by Bill Clark

TRACK & FIELD

In 2024 Coach Brad Castillo’s Commodore boys won two events and placed in three more, two of them relays. But only two of the athletes who accomplished those feats return, seniors Grey Fearon and Brody McGuire.

A year ago, Fearon was third in the boys’ 800 and ran with three seniors on the Commodores’ winning four-by-800-meter relay team. McGuire joined Fearon and two seniors on a third-place 4×400 team, and he also placed sixth in the discus a year ago. Both also scored points indoors in the D-II championship meet in February.

There are more returners on the girls’ side, including sophomore Isabella Van Voorst, who placed fifth at 400 meters this past spring and also ran on the fourth-place 4×400 relay team with two other returners, senior Jing Williams and junior Ava Francis.

Despite the graduation of a number of standout point-scorers, there is plenty of reason for optimism, according to Maneen. One of which is sheer numbers. There were no defections among 9th- to 11-graders who were on the team in 2024, and the ranks of the returners were swelled by 16 freshmen from Coach Mary Neffinger’s strong middle school program.

“It’s the largest track and field roster I’ve seen in the 21 years I’ve been here,” Maneen said. “Juniors down, everybody’s returning, and we’ve got a good crop of younger kids coming in.”

One of the incoming freshman, Lauren Hill, joined with Van Voorst, Williams and senior Torrey Hanna to finish third in the 4×400 meter relay in this past February’s D-II indoor track meet. Maneen said that quartet then knock 20 seconds off their time at the New England championship meet and should be serious contenders in D-III this spring.

Two boys’ relay teams finished just out of the money indoors:

• The 4×400 group of junior Carter McGuire, Brody McGuire, senior Chase Koenig and Fearon was seventh.

• The 4×800 relay unit of both McGuires and freshmen Rowan Neffinger and Caleb Hatch was eighth.

There is no question there are some big shoes to fill on the boys’ side with the loss of several talented runners to graduation. Just the fact there are so many newcomers increases the odds some athletes will do so, Maneen said.

“The younger kids coming in, they’re pretty well prepared to jump right into meets,” he said. “We’re looking not just to individual faces, but looking to see what we can do as a team competing in Division III with the larger numbers we have.”

“We think we have the athletes that can place and score,” Maneen added.

VERGENNES UNION HIGH School baseball
Photo by Bill Clark

BASEBALL

In the challenging Lake Division in 2024, Coach Andy O’Brien’s Commodore baseball team won just four games. They then claimed a first-round D-III playoff game and lost to top-seeded Thetford, 5-2, in a quarterfinal — leaving the bases loaded three times.

Only three players graduated from that team, but they included an ace pitcher and a starting infielder who was the team’s No. 2 hurler, Maneen noted.

“We lost a lot of innings through graduation. We’ve got quite a number of players who are capable of taking the mound this year, so Andy’s got some options,” he said.

Listed as potential pitchers on the roster are seniors Gabe Scribner and Reese Paquette, juniors Ryan Wright and Aiden. Fuller, sophomores Izaak Wolniewicz and Liam McGuire, and freshmen Kaiden LeCompte and Liam Paquette. Fuller, Reese Paquette, and sophomore Colton Reed and freshman Izaiha Dyette are all possibilities at catcher.

O’Brien has plenty of decisions to make in the infield and outfield as well.

Fuller, Reed, Wright, both Paquettes (Reese is an incumbent starter), Liam McGuire, LeCompte, returning starter Scribner and Wolniewicz are all infield candidates. Seeking time in the outfield will be possibly Scribner and Fuller; junior Carter McGuire; sophomores Ryan Johnson, Aaron Kandzior and Liam McGuire; and freshmen Cyrus Clair and Dyette.

“They are more versatile than they have been in the past in term of kids being able to play multiple positions,” Maneen said.

Scribner and Reese Paquette are the only seniors on a roster of 15.

“They’ve been involved for quite a few years, so leadership-wise we’ll be in good shape,” Maneen said.

The Commodores remain the only D-III team in the Lake Division, and in recent years have found tough sledding on the way to the playoffs, in which they are typically competitive.

“Sometimes we take our lumps in the regular season, but it’s been very beneficial for us when we move into facing teams (from schools) our size in the playoffs,” Maneen said. “So we’re looking forward to hopefully seeing that continue.”

VERGENNES UNION HIGH School softball
Photo by Bill Clark

SOFTBALL

Like the VUHS baseball team, the Commodore softball outfit struggled in the competitive Lake Division (10 of their games were against top-seven D-II tournament seeds) and finished the season with one win. In the D-III tournament VUHS almost knocked out No. 6 Fair Haven, which had to rally for five runs in the bottom of the seventh to win by a run.

Like the VUHS baseball squad, this spring the softball team is young, with only four seniors on a roster of 15: outfielder Rory Hendee, pitcher/infielders Katie LaBerge and Rizz Mullin, and catcher/infielder Rory Couture.

A three-year starting pitcher is not with the program this season, and Coach Peter Monty’s first task is to determine how to fill the shoes. Also listed as potential hurlers on the roster are two more pitcher/infielders, sophomore Acaisa Visser and 8th-grader Jordan Hutchins.

“Katie, Rizz and Acaisa are expected to be the main pitchers, and we’re maybe looking to work in some younger kids,” Maneen said.

Working in the younger kids will be a larger theme for the program this spring, he said.

“It’s a young group, and there definitely will be some growing pains as they get to the varsity level of play,” Maneen said. “Some of these younger players, it’s their first year, or it’s their first year taking a larger role on the team. We’re looking for them to progress.”

Maneen added it will be important for the Commodores “to stay positive and see the big picture” as they face the Lake Division iron this spring.

“That’s going to be the key to the season,” Maneen said. “While we’re going to go out and look to compete every game, this season is going to be based on getting some experience and really building our program.”