AREA SCHOOLS – The local stars were out in 2024, with several area athletes either putting a bow on phenomenal high school careers or bursting onto the high school scene, headlined by the first state championship for the Hazen Union girls basketball team in over thirty years.
For the first time in school history, Hazen Union’s boys and girls basketball programs entered the high school state basketball tournament as the No. 1 seed and made it to the title game. The Hardwick faithful witnessed history as they saw one of the best basketball players in the state cap off an all-time great career with a performance for the ages at the Barre Auditorium.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
Senior point guard Caitlyn Davison runs away with Player of the Year honors for Hazen after pouring in a school record 34 points last March in the Division III state title game, dethroning two-time defending state champion Windsor. Davison’s performance and high school career will forever cement her alongside the all-time Hazen Union greats that include Jennifer des Groseilliers and Penny Libercent. Davison graduated with an all-star resume that included nearly 1,200 career points, two-time Mountain League POY honors, two Vermont Dream Dozen selections, and consecutive Vermont All-State selections in soccer.
The cupboard will be far from bare for the Lady Cats in 2025 as the baton will officially be passed to Kelsie Rivard who scored 33 points in the semifinals at the Barre Auditorium and earned Mountain League Freshman of the Year honors, First Team All-Mountain League honors, as well as a Vermont Dream Dozen selection. Lady Cat head coach Randy Lumsden joined Jack Strong as the only person to win state titles as both a player and a coach for Hazen Union/Hardwick Academy. Lumsden’s start to his coaching career is unprecedented in his two years on the sidelines, winning 40 of his first 43 games and bringing home the program’s first Division III state title since 1991.
The Cat Den said goodbye to another Wildcat all-time great in point guard Xavier Hill. Hill led Hazen’s boys program to three consecutive Division III state title games, capturing the championship in 2021. The smooth lefty graduated with the all-time triple-double record at Hazen, nearly 1,000 career points, consecutive Vermont Dream Dozen selections, Capital League POY honors, and a Vermont All-State selection in soccer.
Wildcat head coach Aaron Hill joined the 400-career win club before the age of 50 last winter. With six state championships in his first twenty-five years on the sidelines at Hazen, record books will be challenged in the next decade.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
Dylan Washer earns the nod for 2024 Craftsbury Academy Player of the Year honors after becoming the boys varsity basketball program’s first 1,000 career point scorer since 2017. Washer had multiple 40 plus point efforts in the final two weeks of the season for the Chargers to reach the milestone. Washer joined the record books with his grandfather and Craftsbury Academy legend Allen Reed, who set a school record with 1,674 career points in 1982.
In Marshfield, the Twinfield-Cabot girls varsity basketball program said goodbye to a center who’s breakout senior campaign led the Lady Trojans to their first winning record in over a decade. Alice McLane earns 2024 Twinfield-Cabot Player of the Year honors after leading the Lady Trojans to 13 wins, while leading the team in both scoring and rebounding. McLane was a walking double-double, earning her First Team All-Mountain League honors.
First year head coach and Trojan alum Jack Whalen infused a new energy into the once storied Twinfield-Cabot program, guiding his young squad to its first home playoff win in over five years, coming three points away from a trip to the Final Four at the Barre Auditorium.
The Twinfield-Cabot boys program struggled with an avalanche of injuries but still managed to win a home playoff game under first year head coach Kris Bador. Despite missing the home stretch of the season, sophomore Tej Stewart earned his second straight Vermont Dream-Dozen selection, and the future looks bright for Bador’s program in 2025.
Isabelle Gouin earned Mountain League First Team honors, leading Hazen Union in scoring with 20 goals on the season.
photo by Dorothy Hill.
The Craftsbury Academy bowling program continued to grow in its second season under first year head coach Ashley Gravel. Jacob Marquis, Jason Brown, and Matt Wilcox helped capture the program’s second regular season tournament win, with all three qualifying for the individual state tournament and finishing in the top 12 bowler rankings in the state. Wilcox wrapped up a stellar career with the Chargers with a fourth-place finish at the Senior Classic this past March.
The late spring saw the Twinfield-Cabot-Danville softball team win a Division IV playoff game in back-to-back seasons for the first time in almost a decade under head coaches Christin Martin and Summer Haverick. Danville sophomore Phoebe Crocker earned First Team All-Mountain League honors for her outstanding season.
Hazen Union alum and longtime BFA-Fairfax varsity baseball head coach Mike Brown led his Bullets program to their first Division III state title in almost ten years this past June. His upstart sixth seeded squad outscored three of the top seeded teams in the tournament 19-5 on their way to the title. Brown has now brought 5 state championships back to the town of Fairfax in his 28-year career.
Craftsbury Academy seniors Alex Califano, Matthew Califano, Silas Hunt and junior Charlie Kehler each won individual state titles for the Charger track and field team in June. It marked the end of an era for the storied group, who helped bring the program’s first ever team Division IV state title back to the Common in 2022. Kehler transferred to St. Johnsbury Academy over the summer and helped the Hilltopper boys program win their fourth consecutive Division I cross-country title this past fall.
The fall brought change to high school sports in the area as Hazen-Craftsbury Academy and Twinfield-Danville-Cabot officially signed off on high school and middle school sports cooperatives that should boost competitiveness and further develop youth sports in their respective communities for years to come.
photo by Dorothy Hill
Twinfield-Cabot-Danville’s newly minted Caledonia United soccer programs were both highly successful, hosting playoff games for the first time in a new Division.
The girls program said fairwell to an elite midfielder in Sloane Morse, who finished her decorated career as a two-time First Team All-Mountain League selection with consecutive Vermont All-State honors.
Junior Eli Russell earned Vermont All-State and First Team All-Mountain League selections for the boys Cal United team after leading them to 11 wins in the cooperatives inaugural season under head coach Peter Stratman.
Stratman had 100 career coaching wins at Cabot, 46 in his five seasons in Marshfield, and shows no signs of slowing down after his first season between the hedges at Danville.
Taylor Thompson earned her second straight Mountain League First Team selection for Hazen Union.
photo by Dorothy Hill.
Under first year head coach Jay Terrien, the Hazen Union girls soccer team won nine games this past fall, earning them the No. 3 seed in the Division III tournament. Despite a disappointing postseason run, the Lady Cats should return to the pitch in 2025 as title contenders after breakout seasons by Isabelle Gouin and Taylor Thompson that earned them their first Vermomt All-State selections.
Hazen senior Brendan Moodie started the high school golf season with his first ace in practice at Barton Golf back in August. He ended it with an impressive 82 in Sectionals at Neshobe CC to qualify for States. Since transferring from Peoples Academy as a sophomore, the multi-sport standout earned medalist honors 6 times for the Wildcat golf team.
Here’s to many more things to celebrate in 2025 and may you and your families have a sports filled Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
