Edd’s Sports Report, Sept. 6

Cross-country runners start the fall sport season
August 26 saw the CVU Relays, run on the Redhawk course, open the fall sport season with strong showings by both men and women – particularly the women who won both JV and Varsity team prizes in a seven-school race. Each individual team consisted of two runners. CVU had two teams at the junior varsity level and four varsity teams. Willow Devoe-Talluto and Lila Carelton won the JV title with Fiona Love and Julia Hiller placing fourth.

Alice Larson and Ella Whitman took first place among varsity runners, with Chloe Andre and Jennifer Ireland close behind in second; Cate Noel and Emily Kingston finished sixth, followed by Sadie Holmes and Emma Strack in seventh.

Coach Scott Bliss said it was a good start among relay runners. The course was challenging, and they responded well to it, considering the varsity teams have a number of new, inexperienced runners.

The JV men finished second behind Essex running against four other schools. Jamie Williamson and Parker Soares placed third with Caleb Nye and Alec Mogielnicki across the finish line in fourth place.

The varsity men lost out to South Burlington for third place on a tie-breaker. Baxter Bishop and Jared Leonard were the fifth-place two-man team with Gavin Schaaf and Dylan Gooley finishing eleventh.

After graduating five seniors from last year’s very successful team, Coach Bliss commented that this was, in fact, an encouraging first race. CVU had three freshmen running with the varsity.

Three days later saw CVU travel to Red Rocks Park for the South Burlington Class Races. The girls maintained their top ranking over Burlington, Essex and South Burlington. Both freshmen/sophomore girls and junior/senior girls placed five runners among the top ten individual finishers.

The CVU men placed second behind South Burlington with Redhawk individuals finishing third, fifth and eighth.

The Essex Invitational brought out runners from fifteen schools on September 2. Again, the CVU women placed first with Alice Larson, Ella Whitman and Jennie Ireland among the top ten individual finishers. Jared Leonard was among the top ten men, and the male Redhawks finished fifth as a team.

Soccer and field hockey begin their seasons victorious
Traveling south to Burr and Burton, the CVU men’s soccer team came away with a dominant 6-0 shutout of their rivals. Nate Coffin scored two of CVU’s four first-half goals. Brigham Francis, Oliver Bijur and Nick Durieux followed Nate with single netters. The Redhawks only saw two balls on net compared to 14 saves for BBA.

The field-hockey women allowed Burlington High School only a single goal as the Redhawks dominated the game, winning 6-1.

Football is not as fortunate
Apparently north is not the direction to head if you are looking forward to winning football games. The Redhawks went up against BFA St. Albans, and while they led briefly early in the game with a single touchdown, they failed to get the ball again over the Bobwhite goal line, even though they ended drives within BFA’s five-yard line twice in the first half. Leading by one point at halftime, BFA piled up two more in the second half while using a strong defense to hold CVU scoreless for the remainder of the game, beating the Redhawks 34-7. However, CVU quarterback Graham Walker passed for 96 yards, hitting his receivers eight times on eighteen throws. He also ran for 81 yards on sixteen carries.

In a side note, congratulations go out to CVU assistant coach Dick Hebert who is celebrating his fiftieth year working with high school athletes. Last night’s game against BFA was particularly poignant to him because he attended high school there.

Dillon and Dylan drive to victory in Virginia
Charlotte’s Dillon Machavern and his driving partner, Dylan Murcott, won the Biscuitville Grand Prix at the Virginia International Speedway on August 26. It was their first career win in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge. Driving a Porsche, their victory demonstrates the dominance that brand has maintained over the years, giving Porsche its fiftieth win in the CTSC series. Dillon and Dylan have two more races in the summer series, the next at Mazda Raceway in Laguna Seca, California before ending the season back east at Road Atlanta. They are point leaders after finishing second in their three prior races, followed by this win at Biscuitville.

Golf tees up for win
Cedar Knoll Course was the site of the CVU golf team’s first win of the season over South Burlington by eight strokes and Mount Mansfield by nine. Redhawk Ben Grambling shot a medalist 43 for nine holes, followed closely by Evan Forrest, Andrew Wilkinson and Hank Caswell.