GORHAM, N.H. — Noah and Simon Phipps paced the Hanover High boys Nordic ski team to a NHIAA Division II state championship on Wednesday at Great Glen Trails. The Marauders boys edged Lebanon, which settled for second place in both the boys and girls events.
Noah Phipps won both the freestyle and classic races for the Hanover boys. He clocked in with a time of 11 minutes, 40.3 seconds in the freestyle, over 40 seconds in front of teammate Adam Gilbert-Diamond in second at 12:22.9.
Noah Phipps added a win in the classic in 12:28.2. Simon Phipps was fourth in both races with times of 12:26.1 in freestyle and 13:23.7 in classic.
Diego Aspinwall was sixth in classic (13:40.2) and 10th in freestyle (13:07.5) for the Marauders.
Gilbert-Diamond added an eight place finish in classic (13:59.9) and Taj Bagnato was 13th in freestyle. John Meehan took fifth in the classic (13:34.9) for Hanover.
Although he didn’t factor into team scoring because he was competing for NHIAA skimeister, Hanover’s Eric Goodney claimed eighth in the freestyle (12:55.6).
The Lebanon teams each finished in second place and were led in the girls event by a pair of high finishes by Zoe Chinn.
Chinn was third in classic (15:51.7) and fifth in freestyle (14:56.4). Celia Barnett took seventh in freestyle (15:03.9) and 11th in classic (16:57.0), two spots in front of teammate Anna Illsley (17:12.5). Brianna DeBanico was fifth in classic for the Raiders in 16:00.4. Ana Goodwin was ninth in classic (16:54.9). Ayla Weale added a 13th in freestyle in 15:45.2.
Sawyer Weale led the Lebanon boys, finishing second in classic in 12:55.0 and sixth in freestyle (12:40.5). Nate Magari was 11th in freestyle and 12th in classic.
Daniel Mladek added an 11th-place showing in classic and was 17th in freestyle. Cooper Bourne was 10th in classic and 19th in freestyle.
Meg Frost was third in freestyle (14:23.4) and sixth in classic (16:00.5) to lead the Hanover girls to a third place finish.
Sage Gilbert-Diamond was fourth in both the freestyle (14:34.8) and classic (15:56.9). Britta Arvold was 10th in freestyle (15:28.8). Ela May took 16th in classic and 19th in freestyle. June Clark had the other Hanover scoring run, finishing 17th in classic.
Boys team scores: Hanover 776, Lebanon 729, Kennett 726, Bow 681, Plymouth 658, Kingswood 640, ConVal 623, Souhegan 437.
Girls team scores: Kennett 768, Lebanon 745.5, Hanover 736, Kingswood 677, Bow 647, ConVal 636.5, Plymouth 634, Souhegan 564.
THETFORD — The third-seeded defending state champion Panthers opened the VPA Division III playoffs with a comfortable win over the Blue Devils.
Thetford (18-3) opened the game on a 10-3 run and led, 26-9, at halftime. Grace Davis had three 3-pointers on her way to 13 points to lead a balanced Panthers offensive attack. Casey MacVeagh and Becca Wells each added six points. Emi Vaughan and Brittney Clifford had five points each.
“It was a very workmanlike game tonight. We did not bring our ‘A’ game,” Thetford coach Eric Ward said. “We’ll have a good practice tomorrow. We have many players who have played in big games and I have no doubt that we will rise to the occasion.”
The Panthers will now host Bellows Falls in the quarterfinals on Friday night at 7 p.m. to play for a return spot in the final four. Thetford did not face the Terriers during the regular season.
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — The Hurricanes came up just short in a back-and-forth battle with the Cosmos in the VPA Division II first round.
Hartford battled back from a 6-point deficit at halftime to outscore Springfield, 12-6, in the third quarter and tie things up heading into the fourth. Jasmine Jenkins had nine points for the Canes. Kennedy Mullen added seven points and Beth Dobrich had six.
Hartford enjoyed a big improvement from last season’s 5-16 record, finishing at 11-10 while earning the No. 8 seed and a home playoff game. The Canes will graduate Mullen, Carol North, Makenna Druge, Emma Farnsworth and Megan Libuda.
WILBRAHAM, Mass. — The No. 5 seed Wildcats saw their season come to an end in the quarterfinals of the NEPSAC Class AA New England tournament.
KUA (20-8) rallied from what had been a 12-point deficit to make things tight in the final minutes. Rob Brown led the Wildcats with 26 points.
Quinn Guth added 12 points, Andrew Hartel had 11 and Rob McRae had 10 points.
SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. — The No. 6 seed Wasps lost a heartbreaker at Cairns Arena in the VPA Division II quarterfinals.
CVU played in front for much of the game, but Woodstock rallied twice to tie the score. The hosts scored the eventual game-winner in the second minute of the third period to hand the Wasps (7-13-1) the loss.
Skylar Haley scored for Woodstock in the first period to answer an early CVU goal. Kendyl Boisvert had the assist. The Redhawks retook the lead in the second only to have Faye Stevens, with an assist to Haley, knot things up for Woodstock later in the second.
Wasps goalie Ava Dodson made 15 saves. Woodstock will lose Boisvert, Mackenzie Yates, Sami Yates, Bitty Alexander, Rory Livingston and Lizzy Peck to graduation.
SALISBURY, Conn. — The Wildcats’ quest for a fourth straight NEPSAC title came to an end with a quarterfinal loss to the Knights.
Sullivan Mack scored twice in the first period to help KUA lead, 2-0, after one. The Wildcats then took a 3-0 lead on Tomas Mazura’s power-play goal. It was all Salisbury from there on, though. Teddy Griffin staunched the bleeding for KUA with a power-play goal of his own to help KUA take a 4-3 lead late in the second period. Salisbury scored the next four goals to pull away.
KUA finishes with 26-8-2 record.
LEBANON — Nine Upper Valley high school standouts have been placed on the preliminary rosters for August’s Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl.
The New Hampshire team, coached by Alvirne’s Tarek Rothe, includes Lebanon’s Mason Adams and Caleb Smith, Stevens’ Keaghan McAllister and Quentin Bicknell, and Hanover’s Caleb Morse. Vermont, guided by St. Johnsbury’s Rich Alercio, placed Hartford’s Dakota Chapman, Kyle Hamilton and Andrew Lucke as well as Windsor’s Caleb Meagher on its initial list.
Both teams are schedule to hold their first meetings together on Sunday at Lebanon’s Dartmouth-Hitchcok Medical Center. The 67th Shrine Maple Sugar bowl is scheduled for Aug. 1 at Castleton University’s Dave Wolk Stadium.
HANOVER — Dartmouth sophomore forward Drew O’Connor has been named the Ivy League co-player of the year with Cornell goaltender Matthew Galajda.
O’Connor, the first Big Green skater to earn the award since NHL draft pick David Jones in 2008, had an ECAC-best 21 goals during the regular season, seven of those in Ivy competition. O’Connor also made the all-Ivy first team, with goaltender Adrian Clark, forward Quin Foreman and defenseman Tanner Palocsik making the second team.
Dartmouth opens its best-of-three first-round ECAC tournament series at home aginast Princeton on Friday night.
HANOVER — Dartmouth’s Ivy League home game with Yale on Friday night has been designated Black Sock Night in an effort to raise awareness of May Thurner Syndrome.
Black socks, better known as compression socks, promote blow flow in the legs for people with May Thurner. The Black Sock Foundation was started by Jeremiah Swett, the brother of Big Green junior Ben Swett. Jeremiah Sweet suffers from May Thurner, having undergone four operations in an eight-day span to remove a blood clot, which has since led to regular wearing of compression socks.
Game time on Friday is 7 p.m.
Correction
Lebanon High School’s Ayla Weale finished in 13th place in the freestyle race at the NHIAA Division II Nordic Skiing C hampionship on Wednesday with a time of 15 minutes, 45.2 seconds. An earlier version of this story misidentified the discipline in which she was competing with that finish.