Chester, Vt.
BF’s boys won their fourth straight state championship and the girls their first since 2001 as the Terriers swept Saturday’s Vermont Division III track and field championship at Green Mountain Union High School.
It’s the first-ever track sweep for the Terriers, whose boys made a runner-up of Thetford for the second straight year, 148-127, while the girls narrowly edged Oxbow, 111-108. More than half of the Terriers’ girls points came from freshmen, who contributed to eight podium finishes.
“It’s really important. It’s something we’ve really wanted since the beginning of the season,” said 22nd-year Bellows Falls coach Tim Eno, who ran for the program in the mid-1970s and whose athletes doused him with a cooler full of ice water during the celebration. “When you looked at the seedings, you knew the boys were going to have a good chance to repeat, but we knew the girls would be close between ourselves, Oxbow and Woodstock.”
The results snapped a six-year winning streak by the Wasps, who placed third and received wins in the high jump, long jump and 100-meter hurdles and a second place in the long jump from Anna Dieffenbach.
The Olympians, who placed third a year ago, entered the season returning athletes that accounted for 94 percent of their scoring from last year. The absence of senior thrower Giovanna Carlson (illness) — who scored 26 points at least year’s meet, including wins in the shot put and discus — made things more difficult Saturday, but Oxbow still nearly captured what would have been the program’s first title since a D-II crown in 1982.
Sophomore Izzy Giesing won the 800-meter run (2:25.43), 1,500 (4:58.32) and 400 (60.57) to lead Oxbow, and the O’s removed senior Franni Hoag from the 3,000 to keep her fresh for the meet-ending 4×400 relay. The strategy paid off as the Olympians beat BF by two seconds, but it wasn’t enough to avoid the three-point loss.
The most wince-inducing result for Oxbow may have come at discus, where Bellows Falls freshman Savannah Bradbury won with a throw of 86 feet, 8 inches — more than 10 feet shorter than Carlson’s winning heave a year ago.
After the O’s received their runner-up medals, Oxbow junior captain Claire Cook lingered on Green Mountain’s infield, eyes glossy.
“(My teammates) and I just had a crying session,” said Cook, who was part of the winning 4×400 team. “Not just because we lost, but because of how proud we are of each other. We’ve been really close for a couple of years now. It takes a certain amount of courage to approach a meet knowing you have a chance to lose and still going for it all the way. That’s what we did all year long.”
Woodstock’s Dieffenbach set personal bests while winning the long jump (16-7) and 100 hurdles (16.87) and won the high jump with a lunge of 4-10 before placing second in the triple jump (32-5.75) to another Terrier freshman, Michelle Marchica (32-9).
Woodstock also received a podium finish from Grace Vollers, whose runner-up javelin throw sailed 107-2.
Thetford’s fourth-place girls finish was fueled by sophomore distance runner Meaggie Balch — who won the 3,000 in 11:26.85 and was third in the 1,500 (5:09.45) — and by senior thrower Jenny Ulz, who was third in both the shot put (26-10) and discus (77-2).
Senior Chris Parenteau led the runner-up performance for Thetford’s boys, placing second in the 200 (24.18) and 100 hurdles (15.82) and running on the Panthers’ second-place 4×100 relay team. Thetford won the 4×800 in 8:54.74 and was second in the 4×400, while Julio Lopez earned podium finishes in both the 400 (second; 54.10) and 800 (2:07.77). Malcolm Silver-Van Meter was third in the both the 1,500 (4:28.92) and 3,000 (10:05.71), while Sage Whitecloud was third in the pole vault for Thetford (9-6).
“We had some nice surprises today, some kids who really stepped up for us,” Thetford coach Emily Silver said.
Oxbow’s boys were third, with Dylan Griffin winning the 400 dash (52.67), Jon Puffer capturing the pole vault (11-0) and Jared Garvin a surprise winner in the shot put (40-10.50). Griffin and Puffer were also part of Oxbow’s winning 4×400 relay team (3:44.48).
Bill Wood swept the 100 (11.40) and 200 (23.60) for the fifth-place Woodstock boys.
Splits: Montpelier’s Matt Hynes swept the 800-, 1,500- and 3,000-meter runs. … Oxbow’s Emily Carson (first in 4×400, second in high jump and 300 hurdles, third in 100) earned podium finishes in all four of her events, while Hannah Giesing was second in the 400, third in the long jump, fourth in the 800 and charged to the finish line to help the O’s win the 4×400. … Former Hanover track coach Tim Clark is now in his third year as a Bellows Falls assistant.