Edd’s Sports Report

Edd Merritt, Contributing Editor
Spencer Pumpelly, left and Dillon Machavern, right celebrate their victory. Photo by Michael L. Levitt, LAT Images.

Dillon Machavern starts the year on a winning note
Charlotte racecar driver Dillon Machavern began where he left off last season, which is in the winner’s circle of the BMW Endurance Challenge at Daytona International Speedway. Dillon and co-driver Spencer Pumpelly led for 45 laps and crossed the finish line 7.1 seconds ahead of the second-place duo. This was significant because a pit stop and driver change on the 83rd  lap dropped them from second place to eighteenth. The remainder of the field hit the pits as well, and having taken over at the wheel, Dillon brought his car back to the point and won the race on the final lap.

Dillon said afterward that they need to get the points now, early in the season, because  “come Sebring, come Mid-Ohio, it’s going to be much, much more of a fight” when the competition gets “some miles and some turning under them.”

CVU’s Nordic skiers hit several slopes
CVU and Colchester high schools sponsored this winter’s Tour de Chittenden Stage Race by running five Nordic events over three different race courses. They skate sprinted at Colchester, ran classic distance races at Ethan Allen Training Center in Jericho and did an uphill climb at Cochran’s Hill in Richmond. Both Redhawk men and women finished among the top ten schools as a team, and a number of individual skiers were near the front in their races. Charlotters who skied well were Gus Lunde, Jack Boynton, Matthew and Andrew Silverman, Skyler Heininger and Aaron McNally for the men.

Emma Strack won top honors for CVU women, and Charlotte’s Sadie Holmes ran among the top 30 finishers.

Nordic coach, Sarah Strack, said that her teams are young—only three seniors and nine juniors among the 46 members—with over half of the racers new to the sport. The coaches, however, are pleased with the team’s progress.

CVU gymnasts compete in the floor exercise. Photo by Al Frey.

Redhawk gymnasts tumble and vault over Galloping Ghosts, Wolves and Highlanders
In a dual match against Randolph and a three-team match against South Burlington and Harwood Union, CVU gymnasts dominated each event in both matches, winning the top three places in vault, bars and floor exercises and Jam Guibardo was the All-Around winner against Randolph. South Burlington and Harwood saw a similar pattern in the scores in their match. This time, however, the Guibardos, Jam and Tali, were second and third All-Around with a Wolf in first place.