Winter Sports Report: MUHS girls’ basketball

MIDDLEBURY — A young Middlebury Union girls’ basketball team took its lumps this past winter, but Coach Jen Heath is hoping for at least a modest step forward this season as the Tigers begin to mature. Certainly, Heath was able to list some positives about this year’s edition. “Their work, enthusiasm and speed, those are things that come to mind right away. We do have a lot of speed, so we’re hoping to use that speed to help us out,” Heath said. “We’ll try to press full-court, and we’ll try to do a couple d … (read more)

MIDDLEBURY — This past season the Middlebury Union boys’ hockey team battled to a 9-8-3 regular season, good for the No. 4 seed in Division I, and then won a quarterfinal matchup before falling to eventual champion Essex in a semifinal. With nine seniors … (read more)

MIDDLEBURY — With a varsity team roughly tripled in size from a year ago and another 16 wrestlers in the middle school program, Middlebury Union wrestling Coach Ethan Raymond felt optimistic about his program during the preseason. “I’m excited, obviously. … (read more)

VERGENNES — This past winter the boys on the Vergennes Union indoor track and field team won four races at the Division II championship meet, at 600 and 1,000 meters and the four-by-400 and four-by-800 relay races. The 600-meter champion and two of the ru … (read more)

VERGENNES — A year ago Coach Billy Waller’s Vergennes Union girls’ basketball team won nine times and then took a 15-win team into overtime in the first round of the Division II tournament. A half-dozen of those Commodores graduated, but Waller was not si … (read more)

VERGENNES — To say the least, last winter challenged the Vergennes Union boys’ basketball team. The Commodores lost their beloved coach Peter Quinn to a heart attack in the preseason and then saw junior mainstay Ben Curtis miss almost the entire season wi … (read more)

VERGENNES — Vergennes Union Wrestling Coach Eugene Stearns was smiling during a preseason interview. His team grew to 13 wrestlers covering most of the weight classes, five freshmen signed up (his roster includes no seniors), and he has three assistants t … (read more)

BRISTOL — Four accomplished senior wrestlers graduated from the Mount Abraham Union program this past spring, three of whom won more than 100 matches and finished high on the state-meet podium and one of whom — Roman Mayer — won multiple Vermont champions … (read more)

BRISTOL — The Mount Abraham Union boys’ basketball team is coming off a respectable eight-win season. Coach Martin Clark is aiming a little higher this year, however, with what he called a deep, athletic team and a style he hopes will take advantage of th … (read more)

BRISTOL — Almost all the players have graduated from the Mount Abraham Union girls’ basketball teams that won the 2018 Division II title and then earned the top seed in 2019 before being upset in a close semifinal. But Coach Connie LaRose is not complaini … (read more)

BRANDON — The move from Division II to Division III may be more of a lateral move for the Otter Valley Union High School girls’ basketball team this year. While they will no longer have to travel to Brattleboro and Mount Anthony, they will have to deal wi … (read more)

BRANDON — A new coach is at the helm of the Otter Valley boys’ basketball team, and with that, a new team. Literally. When it comes to varsity experience, head coach Mike Stark may start five juniors who have never played a varsity game. The team graduate … (read more)

BRANDON — The recruitment and retention plan the Otter Valley wrestling team has implemented to bolster the varsity squad is paying off, and this year the team features 12 grapplers. Fifth-year coach Cole Mason said his team is solid through the underclas … (read more)

BRANDON — The Nordic ski team at Otter Valley is building momentum going into this season. Fourth-year head coach Devon Fuller was seeing improvement and focus in preseason as his team prepared for the season with 15 student-athletes, seven of whom are in … (read more)