Sports Report - March 20, 2019 - The Charlotte News

CVU girl’s Alpine ski team. Back from left to right: Chloe Noble, Annika Socia, Alice Sperber, Binney Patton, Olivia Zubarik. Front row: Anna Casavant, Lena Sauter, Gretchen Kogut, Danielle Cumming, Claire Smith (missing Taylor Blodorn and Margaret Anderson). Photo contributed

Winter sports end with wins and losses
You can’t say that CVU’s winter sports teams didn’t give other Division I schools a good run for their money in several sports. Women’s basketball, after going undefeated in the regular season, once again faced St. Johnsbury Academy in the state finals, and for the second year in a row the Hilltoppers made them pay. The Redhawks went into the game ranked #1 but came out at the bottom end of a 42-35 score. Backcourter Josie Choiniere (13 points), Gatorade Player of the Year, Sadie Stetson (12 points), and three-point specialist Neva Bostic (10 points) led the Toppers. CVU on the other hand hit more three-pointers than it did twos in the second half to keep the game within range. Mekkena Boyd’s 10 points led the Hawks, followed by Catherine Gilwee with nine and Harper Mead with six.

Redhawk women Nordic skiers glided second behind Mount Mansfield Union after the final day’s relays. CVU’s scoring totaled 108 to MMU’s 98 and ahead of third-place Mount Anthony’s 168. The men came in fourth behind Mount Anthony, Brattleboro and BFA-St. Albans.

In the state championship game against St. Johnsbury, Charlotter Maryn Askew (5) shoots over the block of another Charlotter, Ella Woodruff (20). Photo by Al Frey.

Emma Strack’s fourth-place finish led the Redhawk women individuals with Finn Mittelstadt behind her in fifth. Jared Leonard’s fifth place and Jonathan McAuliffe’s 10th were the top individual finishes among the men.

While we’re on the subject of skiing, we’ll turn to the NCAA Championships at Stowe where Charlotter and St. Michael’s student Colby Jordan finished 21st in the men’s slalom. Colby skied against racers from across the country with the top slalom finishers from Denver University, Alaska Anchorage and the University of New Mexico.

CVU men’s hockey pulled off a quarterfinal upset over perennial power BFA-St. Albans, knocking off the second-ranked Bobwhites in overtime, 1-0 on a goal by Jake Schaefer at 38 seconds into the period. Goal tender Logan Cody stopped 43 shots for the shutout.

CVU’s semi-final loss to Rice was equally close with the tables turned and the Green Knights defeating the Hawks 1-0. This time Cody was called upon to make 25 fewer saves than he did against BFA.

With CVU women’s hockey playing in the Division II bracket, the fifth-ranked Redhawks found themselves facing fourth-ranked Harwood in the state quarterfinals. The Highlanders broke a 1-1 tie in the second period to go on to a 4-2 victory. Payton Skillen and Alicia Veranneau scored the Redhawk goals, and Kiley McClure stopped 14 shots.

At the summit of Mt Snow. Left to right: Alex Bunten, Callie Douglas, Craig Bunten, Sean Hirten, Donovan Richardson, Dave Richardson. Photo contributed.

Who gives a Jack-Jump about it?
The Bunten brothers, Craig and Alex, led the Mt. Philo Jack Jump team to victory in the Mount Snow World Championship for the third year running. Craig topped the race for the men, and his teammate, Callie Douglas, won the women’s title. Other team members included Craig’s brother (and former Charlotte News editor) Alex Bunten and Sean Hirten as well as Callie. Hirten and Alex took ninth and tenth places respectively. The son of a former Charlotter, Donovan Richardson (father David) also competed.

The race took place at Charlie’s Chase at Mt. Snow and is a tight slalom course. This year, the race’s 39th, had nearly 60 Jack Jumpers.

Jack Jumping is an old Vermont tradition stemming from lumberjacks building seats out of scrap wood and using barrel staves for skis to “jump” down the mountain. In other parts of the world it may be called “Skibock” or sit ski.