HARDWICK – Divisional and league changes will take effect this coming fall for the Hazen Union girls soccer team and carry right through into the spring for the Wildcat baseball team, brought down by the Vermont Principals Association (VPA) earlier this summer.
The Lady Cat soccer program was a Division IV contender last fall, winning nine games under head coach Jay Terrien, before joining a long list of favorites knocked off by Cinderella champion Richford, who raised the trophy as an unprecedented No. 11 seed. Hazen returns an ultra-athletic and talented group this season under first year head coach Megan Mercier but will move up a weight class under the decision of VPA Assistant Executive Director Lauren Thomas and the sweeping divisional changes brought down by the VPA.
Hazen moves up to Division III this fall and will battle the likes of powerhouse programs like Windsor, BFA-Fairfax, Fair Haven, and defending champion Stowe. The Lady Cats will continue to play their Mountain League schedule on the pitch this season but will enter the rigors of the Division II-heavy Capital League this winter on the hardwood.
Hazen captured their first Division III basketball state title in over three decades under head coach Randy Lumsden two seasons ago and will remain in the same division this coming winter. Lumsden is off to a historic start to his coaching career at Hazen, logging three straight 20-win seasons, making three trips to the Barre Auditorium, and breaking the school record consecutive win streak set by the legendary Jan Howard and Penny Libercent. After dominating the Mountain League the last three seasons, Lumsden’s talented team will get plenty of push back this winter in the highly competitive Capital League.
The Hazen baseball program has been in full rebuild mode since head coach Spencer Howard stepped away from the program two years ago. The former Wildcat standout led the program to its first Division III title game in nearly two decades in 2022 and developed a star-studded roster led by Tyler Rivard, Lyle Rooney, Jadon Baker and James Montgomery, who secured the first two back-to-back top seeds in the division in program history, winning over 40 games in three seasons. Former Craftsbury Academy standout Shaun Allen has struggled to replicate that magic with Hazen in his first two seasons at the helm but is poised to return a talented roster next spring led by Grayson McNaughten and Owen Skorstad who earned Capital League honors this past spring. Allen’s Wildcat program will drop down to Division IV next season for the first time, joining a dwindling division that saw just eight other teams battle Blue Mountain, who went on to win their third straight state title in June.
