LEBANON — Having helped run the Lebanon High boys lacrosse program while coach Rob Fett was ill, Cole Flannery will take it over now that Fett is no longer overseeing the Raiders.
Lebanon confirmed Flannery as Fett’s successor late last week. As Fett sat out the 2019 season during cancer treatments, Flannery joined with Nick Wood to guide the Raiders through a 2-12 campaign. Lebanon lost last spring’s schedule to the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Well, there’s room to grow, that’s for sure,” Flannery said in a phone interview on Tuesday. “The last thing we needed was a year off after having their head coach miss most of a season because of illness. It’s going to be a big rebuilding couple of years, I would guess.”
Not fully knowing what he has coming back will leave the 35-year-old Flannery to focus on the basics this spring. The returning juniors and seniors were freshmen and sophomores the last time the Raiders competed, he noted.
Although he grew up on the New York side of the Berkshires, Flannery played high-level lacrosse after his family moved to Alexandria, Va., just outside of Washington, when he was 14. His high school, Episcopal, competed in what Flannery considers one of the top prep leagues in the nation. While a number of teammates went on to Division I college lacrosse, Flannery opted to play D-III defense at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn.
He got his first high school coaching chance about 10 years ago when part-time Sharon Academy athletic director Sara Ecker hired him to coach the Phoenix boys. They’ll reunite at Lebanon, where Ecker is the longtime varsity girls lax coach.
“I really find coaching fun,” said Flannery, who moved to Norwich from Texas with his wife, Emily, about two years ago. The couple has two young daughters.
“With Lebanon, it’s going to be an interesting challenge and an opportunity to grow a program there. They have some good athletes and stuff, and hopefully we’ll get some interest in lacrosse built.”
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Helping with hunger: Mascoma High’s Student Athletic Leadership Training team, or SALT, has been taking an active role in the Friends of Mascoma’s efforts to relieve food security pressure during the pandemic.
Through FOM’s Friends Feeding Friends initiative, the SALT team has been assembling boxes of food for a pantry shared by the high school and Indian River School. Mascoma volleyball coach Eric Ramage, who is also a school counselor and the SALT team’s faculty adviser, said the goal is to have at least one student from every Mascoma team in every grade working on the project for the purposes of leadership development and promoting core values.
“We hope to reach about 60 families; it’s a big team effort,” Ramage said Wednesday morning. “Our custodial staff is integral to getting this organized for the students. The social workers in the two (school) buildings connect to what families the food goes to and they do the distribution.”
Ramage said that a couple of members of the girls basketball team were due to help out on Wednesday. The 10 SALT members, all athletes, have also invited friends from other school communities, such as drama, to assist.
FOM executive director Eula Kozma said having students help out educates them on the district’s food security issues and teaches them the importance of helping others.
“There are a lot of micro-regions up here, and socio-economic status is really wide-ranging,” Kozma said Wednesday. “Food access is not an issue in other communities, but it is in this community. This helps them come full-circle and teaches kids that connection of being embedded in a community, helping lift a community up.”
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Swimming to states: Hanover High swimming and diving will send a healthy contingent of athletes to the NHIAA Division II championship this month despite not having competed against another school this winter.
The Marauders instead held intrasquad races at Lebanon’s Carter Community Building Association pool, the last coming Sunday, using their times to meet state qualification standards. Emma Dunbar, Rosie Keith and Jocelyn Hazen all made states for Hanover, with Dunbar qualifying in seven events, Keith six and Hazen five. The Hanover boys will be represented by Kieran Artman (two events), Benton Cesanek (six), Aidan Lackstrom (two), Andres Savallano (six) and Brian Tso (one).
The Marauders also will send seven athletes — Nika Renshaw, Sophia May, Emma Sablan, Janina Li, Sam Calderwood, Michael Hertog-Raz and Brynne Spaeth — to the NHIAA state diving meet at the CCBA on Feb. 19. The D-II swim meet is Feb. 21 at Salem Workout in Salem, N.H.; the Marauder girls are three-time defending D-II champs.
Greg Fennell can be reached at gfennell@vnews.com or 603-727-3226.