Hazen Union’s Eliza Bunten competes in the shot put at Burlington High School.
NEWPORT – Craftsbury Academy (CA) and Hazen Union’s high school and middle school track and field athletes were back in action last week, competing throughout the state.
Junior Charlie Kehler captured his second individual title of the season at North Country High School last Tuesday for the Chargers, posting a time of 4:22.07 in the 1500m event to clip North Country’s Alan Esposito by less than a tenth of a second. Charger teammates Silas Hunt (4th) and Soren Stelma-Leonard (6th) also ran their best times of the season, along with freshman Theo Alexander. Kehler bested the field in the 3000m earlier this season at Lyndon Institute. Hazen freshman Manny Fliegelman returned to competition after a brief absence to post an impressive fifth place finish in the 1500m. Senior Gabe Aubuchon ran his best time of the season for the Wildcats in the 100m, won by Enosburg’s Brody Wells. CA freshman Kosmos Glestos also had a personal best in the long jump event, won by Lake Region’s Luc Oliver. On the girls’ side, Hazen sophomore Chloe Dyer posted the best finish of her young career (6th) in the 400m. She also ran a personal best time in the 100m along with freshman teammate Lucy DiMarco. North Country multi-sport star junior Sabine Brueck blew away the field in both events. DiMarco also recorded her best throw of the season in the javelin, along with CA senior Daisy Roianov, who finished ninth. Oxbow’s Tegan Bailey took home first place honors. CA freshman Emma Stout posted a top-ten finish in the long jump with her best distance of the season, with Lake Region’s Isabella Hanover besting the field.
“Unfortunately, most of the athletes did not get to compete due to the weather, but Charlie, Silas, and Soren had great runs in the 1500m. We are looking forward to one more chance to qualify this week before the state competition in Manchester,” said CA head coach Sarah Hunt.
On Saturday Kehler competed against the best in the state at the Essex Invitational, running his best time of the season in the 1500m, good enough for a top-20 finish, with CVU’s Dan Knight besting the field. Senior teammate Silas Hunt also qualified for the 1500m finals and Hazen’s Fliegelman also qualified in a stacked 3000m field. St. Johnsbury Academy junior phenom Andrew Thornton-Sherman captured his thirteenth title of the season, blitzing Hartford’s Bennett Moreno by more than two and half seconds in the 800m. Thornton-Sherman and the Hilltoppers will be gunning for their fourth straight Division I boys’ state title later this week.
On Thursday Hazen Union middle schoolers Eliza Bunten and Alden Pougnier both competed against the largest fields of the season at Burlington High School.
“We had a busy week with multiple meets and Lucy, Chloe, Gabe, and Manny were still able to throw out some personal bests at North Country despite bad weather canceling about half of the events. It was disappointing to leave early but the team still has one more meet this week to achieve the qualifications for [the state meet]. Chloe is very close to qualifying in her running events and Lewis LaPierre and Daniel Pougnier are almost there in the javelin, so fingers crossed. On Saturday, Manny competed in his first New England qualifier and although he didn’t improve upon his previous time in the 3000m, I am very proud of his accomplishments this season. I look forward to seeing what he can do this week at [the state meet], along with our other athletes. Eliza and Alden both finished strong against large fields at Burlington and they’ll have one more meet this week before competing at the VT Middle School state competition this weekend,” said Hazen head coach Kathy Fortmann.
The Wildcats and Chargers had their last regular season varsity meets at SJA and North Country on Tuesday and will travel to Manchester for the Division IV State Championships on Thursday. The middle schoolers travel to North Country on Wednesday to wrap up their regular season before competing at the state meet at UVM on Sunday.
