CRAFTSBURY – The Craftsbury Academy (CA) track and field team will have to fill some key holes with freshman and sophomores this spring under first year head coach Sarah Hunt, but several returning state champion seniors should continue to keep the Chargers near the top of their division.
Hunt will pull double duty as both CA athletic director and head coach this season since Jess Barber stepped down after a year at the helm.
The Charger boys missed defending their 2022 Division IV state title by just two points under Barber, while the girls’ team finished fifth overall. The season was a huge success despite CA battling through injuries to key athletes from start to finish.
Barber will assist Hunt this spring, along with Tim Cunningham and Mitch Hunt. Mike LeVangie has also continued to assist the distance runners with their programs remotely.
Hunt and her staff lost a plethora of talent from the program in 2023 individual state champions Alan Moody, Cole VanWinkle, Roean McLellan, and Anika Leahy. Cormac Leahy, Calvin Cacciamani, Dalton Gravel, and Linden Stelma-Leanard were all key members of CA’s first ever boys’ state title in 2022 and were also lost to graduation. Rachel Bjerke and Verna Stoddard were lost to graduation on the girls’ side.
“I have coaching experience in both track and field and other sports from my days in Utah and this should be a lot of fun! We have a great group of kids and a great coaching staff that is a huge help and some talented senior athletes on this team that will be leaders for us this season,” said Hunt.
Matt Califano, Alex Califano, and Silas Hunt are an important senior trio that return for the Chargers this spring. They are three legs of a legendary 4X800m relay team in Division IV that boat raced the competition in states last year by 30 seconds. Matt Califano beat out his brother Alex to capture the state title in the 3000m event.
Junior Charlie Kehler returns with invaluable state competition experience for the Chargers. The program will round out their roster with freshmen and sophomores that include Kosmos Gletos, Raz Mille, Owen McKibbin, Soren Stelma-Leanard and Theodore Alexander.
Senior Sadie Skorstad returns for Hunt on the girls’ side and will look to build off her third-place finishes in the 100m and 400m hurdles at states last spring. She, along with Adelina Augsberger, will split time between the track and field and CA softball teams throughout the season.
CA rounds out their girls’ team with first time varsity members Natalie Hill, Arwen Alexander, and Emma Stout.
“We are still getting our routines set early in the season, but we should have a good mix with distance runners, sprinters, and field event athletes. There’s a lot of credentials and knowledge among our coaches and seniors, so our younger kids should learn and grow a lot throughout the season. We have almost 20 kids signed up and practicing for the middle school program, which is a great sign for the future of the program at CA. We’re all excited for the season and hopefully the snow melts quick enough so we can get our season opener in this week,” said Hunt.
The Chargers are scheduled to compete with Lyndon Institute, Lake Region, Spaulding, Paine Mountain, Hazen Union, Oxbow, Randolph, and travel to St. Johnsbury Academy on Thursday for their first meet. They will be back in action at Lyndon Institute next Tuesday.
