Northeast Kingdom – Hazen Union and Twinfield-Cabot will graduate a group of high school seniors later this spring that has given their communities a rate of winning and championships that we have never seen before.
Isabelle Gouin and Julia des Groseilliers helped lead their Hazen Union girls basketball team to their second Division III state championship in three years last month. They ended their varsity high school basketball careers with four consecutive 20-win seasons and four straight trips to the Barre Auditorium. Their senior teammates Ella Renaud, Sadie Gann and Ari Nichols join them in having never lost a home game for Hazen in their entire careers. Gouin also led the winning for the Hazen girls soccer team, joining des Groseilliers, Renaud, Brianna Holbrook and Craftsbury Academy’s Adelina Augsberger in posting 27 victories over the past three seasons. Gouin will graduate as the all-time leading scorer for the Lady Cats program (56 goals), the reigning Mountain League Player of the Year and two Vermont All-State selections.
Sully Laflam, Morgan Michaud and Ethan Gann will graduate with every one of their high school basketball seasons at Hazen Union having ended in the state championship game at the Aud. The senior trio helped lead Hazen to 57 wins in the last three years and capped off their impressive careers with a Division III State Championship last month. Laflam graduates from Hazen as a former Vermont Principals’ Association (VPA) Outstanding Underclassmen selection and now holds the school record for most games played (8) at the Barre Auditorium in his career.
Twinfield-Cabot will say goodbye to a family of seniors in the spring that elevated the athletic program to new heights in both soccer and basketball. Eli Russell, Tej Stewart, Sam McLane, Zepherin Hebert, Thomas Gouge, Sam Churchill, Ben Monaco and Wyatt Bickford led the Trojan basketball program to over 50 wins the past three seasons, back-to-back trip to the Aud and a Division IV State Runner-Up last month. Stewart ends his stellar career at Twinfield-Cabot as a 1,000-point scorer and three VPA Outstanding Underclassmen selections. Russel will also graduate as a 1,000-point scorer, an Outstanding Underclassmen selection and as the reigning Mountain League Player of the Year.
Russell, McLane, and Monaco were joined by fellow seniors Josh Petersen, Jola Otten and Sean Lehoe in the fall that carried the Caledonia United (Twinfield-Cabot-Danville) boys soccer team all the way to the Division IV State Championship match. This outstanding group of seniors will graduate in the spring having had the only undefeated regular season in program history, with their only loss coming to No. 1 Twin Valley in the state title match in Rutland. They end their careers having won 45 matches in the last four years, a pair of Division IV Final Fours and a Division IV State Runner-Up. Russell (30 goals), McLane (26 goals), Petersen (11 shutouts) and Otten were all Vermont All-State selections last fall. Otten will represent Vermont this summer in the Twin-State Lions Cup match against New Hampshire. Russell cemented his legacy as one of the best multi-sport athletes in school history and will leave in the spring with multiple Vermont All State selections on the pitch and another Mountain League Player of the Year award in soccer.
Senior classes like these only come around every so often. They pave the way and set the standard for the underclassmen who follow them and plant the seed of dreams for middle school fans who look up to them. We say goodbye, we say thank you and we look forward to watching the next senior stars they helped mold.
