Thetford Academy Indoor Track and Field coach Charlie Buttrey has probably never been so happy to have been wrong.
“I did not expect it,” an elated Buttrey said by phone a day after the Panther boys captured their second straight VPA Division II championship. “There was no time in that meet I thought we were going to win. It was a terrifying experience because it was so close the whole day.”
The Panthers defended their title with a 115-109 victory over U-32 that was not guaranteed until the final event, the 4-by-400 relay.
Leading at the time 107 to 99, the Panthers had not run that relay all year, Buttrey said. So with no seed, they were in the first race, which they won in a time of 3:55. As expected, U-32 won the second race and was first overall, finishing with 109 points.
“We knew U-32 would win but we had to sit and watch other teams come across,” Buttrey said.
When Hartford finished in 3:58 (third place) and White River Valley in 3:59 (fourth place) Buttrey and the team could finally celebrate.
“Then and only then did we know we had won,” Buttrey said.
Of the 14 events in the meets, the Panthers and Raiders each won six.
Last year, Thetford seniors Uly Junker and Brady Sloop led a loaded Panther squad to a 45 point win over U-32. Several seniors on that team are now competing at the college level, Buttrey said.
“We came in as the decided underdogs and we needed a bunch of athletes to overperform,” Buttrey said. “And they did.”
Thetford junior Sebastian Perdrizet led his team Saturday with a dominating performance, winning four individual events while his teammates stepped up to meet the challenge on the track and in the throwing events a day earlier. Perdrizet matched Junker’s performance (three individual wins and one relay first) with first place in the 55 meter dash (6.60 seconds) the 300 meters (36.96), the long jump (6.7 meters) and the high jump (1.80 meters).
“Sebastian’s wins were important, but we had others who really stepped it up,” Buttrey said. ”Oliver Emery, Daniel Mann, Emmett Terry, they all outperformed their seeds and that is what we needed; people to really step up.”
Thetford’s overall depth proved a critical component to the victory. While the Raiders had the advantage in the longer distances, the Panthers came into Saturday’s track and field events at the Gardner-Collins Gage Field House on the University of Vermont with a 27-0 lead after Friday’s shot put and weight throw. Jacob Phelps won the weight throw for Thetford with teammates Connor Sloop second and Oliver Goodrich third. In the shot put, Sloop was third and Phelps sixth.
“We knew that (lead) would disappear pretty quickly,” Buttrey said, ticking off U-32’s superiority in the hurdles, 1,000 meters, one mile and two mile and their strengths in the relays.
The Raiders began closing the gap on Saturday with first and second in the 55 meter hurdles, first and fifth in the one mile, first, second and sixth in the two mile and first and fifth in the 1,000 meters. They also scored points in the 55 and 300 meters. The first six finishers are awarded points from 10 to 2. Thetford was shut out in the hurdles and mile and scored two fourth place finishes by Ollie Emery in the 1,000 meters and two mile and Emmett Terry was third in the 300 meters. The teams were closely matched in the three relays. Thetford won the 4 by 800 (Emery, Wendell Durham, Peter Horan, Daniel Mann) with U-32 second. The 4 by 200 Thetford team of Owen Goodrich, Mann, Emmett Terry and David Thaxton and the 4 by 400 team of Emery, Mann, Terry and Goodrich were second behind the Raiders. Mann was also third in the 600.
Like last year, it was an overall team effort that produced a championship
“They got it done,” Buttrey said. “I have never been so proud of a group of athletes.”
Other results
The Hartford girls had the next best finish among Upper Valley teams, taking third among 20 teams. The relay team of Scarlett Brooks, August Fallon, Maddie Carbino and Kathryn Summarsell was second in the 4 by 400. Brooks, Isabella Lombardi, Fallon and Summarsell took third in the 4 by 800 and Brooks, Samantha Fraser, Fallon and Carbino scored a fifth place in the 4 by 200. Also for the Hartford girls, Rowan Dumont was second in the weight throw and sixth in the shot put. Lombardi was third in the two mile, Summarsell sixth in the 600 meters and Barrett Ouelette, fifth in the weight throw.
Hartford boys: Elijah Ofstad, Jaidin Bennett, Colby Albrecht, Elliott Brooks (fifth, 4 by 800), Bennett, Albrecht, Lucas Sanderson, Jayden Forbes (third, 4 by 400), Layne Hill, Eagan Cadreact, Johannis Hinman, Forbes (fourth, 4 by 200). Brooks (sixth, 1,000 meters), Forbes (fifth long jump), Matthew Nubin (sixth, long jump)
Thetford Academy girls: Lizzie Brown, Lilian Miller, Aislin Peters, Leah Crossett (third, 4 by 200), Lola Squire, Madeline Piecuch, Meredith Sloop, Peters (fourth, 4 by 800), Evelyn Hayden (third, weight throw), Greyson Beaucage (fourth, weight throw)
White River Valley boys: George Roda (second, one mile, fifth, two mile), Jack Hughes, Bradley Howe, Isaac Kinsley, Matt Bangerter (third, 4 by 200), Howe, Bangerter, Hughes, Kinsely (fourth, 4 by 400), Hughes, Kinsley, Bangerter, Roda (sixth, 4 by 800), Hughes (third, high jump, second long jump), Kingsley (sixth, high jump). Girls: Imari Taylor (first, shot put), Naomi Kingsley (sixth, high jump)
Oxbow girls: Casey Wiedrick (fifth, 1,000 meters, sixth one mile.
Sharon Academy boys: Finn Proulx (second, 1,000 meters)
Results Boys: Thetford Academy 115, U-32 109, White River Valley 39, Fair Haven Union 26, Rice Memorial 20, Hartford 16, Lamoille Union 15, Vergennes Union 12, Burr and Burton Academy 11, Spaulding 10, Mt. Abraham 10, Springfield 10. Sharon Academy (13th, 8) Girls: Burr and Burton Academy 124, U-32 74, Hartford 34, People Academy 31, Green Mountain Union 25, Thetford Academy 20, Stowe 19, Lake Region 16, Rice Memorial 14, Milton 12, White River Valley 11, Oxbow (3, 18th)