Girls alpine skiing team takes fourth place in NVAC district slalom championships
At 5:45 a.m. on Thursday, March 4, the Harwood alpine ski team left for Burke Mountain to compete in the Northern Vermont Athletic Counsel (NVAC) district slalom championships against 10 different Vermont high schools. Harwood’s female skiers took home top spots with Gretchen Kogut coming in fifth place, Alanya Morelli taking 15th place and Tela Haskell taking 16th place overall. With her fifth-place score, Kogut will move on to compete for the first team NVAC Conference. The girls’ alpine team came in fourth place overall, behind first place CVU, second place MMU, and third place Rice. The best Harwood skiers on the boys’ team were Eric Dessureau, who came in 23rd, and Teddy Archer in 31st place.
“At the races on Thursday and Friday we battled bitter cold conditions, the coldest this season,” said coach Katie Westhelle. “The girls were really challenged with the courses and hill but the girls are very strong and we have had excellent training! They will shine at states.”
“To see Gretchen Kogut win at districts her senior year was an amazing individual effort to lead the team's success,” said Westhelle.
The girls will move on the States this Friday to compete in the giant slalom race at Smugglers Notch and then head to Cochran’s on Monday for a slalom race.
Harwood boys’ basketball team faces double loss
Last week on March 4, the boys’ Harwood varsity basketball team lost 74-51 to U-32. “Our young guys stepped up and worked us back a little, but we were too far down to catch up against their consistent pressing,” said coach Jay Bellows. Harwood’s high scorers were freshman Tobey Bellows with 11 points, junior Chris James with 10 and sophomore Lewis Clapp with eight.
On Monday, March 8, the boys played Lamoille again since Lake Region was on COVID quarantine. The Harwood boys lost by seven points with a final score of 48-41.
“It was an evenly played game. We were up by as many as nine in the second half. But turnovers and shots not falling, coupled with going only 2-9 from the foul line ultimately killed us,” said Bellows.
Girls’ hockey team impresses with 10-1 win over Brattleboro
On Saturday, March 6, the Harwood girls’ varsity hockey team defeated Brattleboro in an astounding 10-1 victory. “It was a big win,” said coach Mike Vasseur. “The kids are doing great and really coming together as a team.”
By the end of the first quarter, the Highlanders had a 2-0 lead, with a goal from Louisa Thomsen, assisted by Clara Griffin and Rachel Fernandez, and another goal from Griffin, assisted by Thomsen and Fernandez.
Harwood scored four more goals in the second period. Goals in this period came from Griffin, assisted by line mates Thomsen and Fernandez; Hailey Brickey, assisted by Thomsen; and Griffin again, assisted by Thomsen. The final goal in the second period came from Brickey, unassisted, bringing the score to 6-0.
Coach Vasseur switched out goaltenders in the third period, replacing freshman Jordan Hunter with senior Kaylee Cameron. The Harwood team erupted with cheers when first-year player Maggie Aiken scored her first varsity goal, assisted by senior captain Moly Yacavoni. After that, Thomsen scored unassisted again, before another Harwood freshman, Kate Wilkesmen, scored her first varsity goal, assisted by Brickey.
Harwood scored its final goal, an unassisted shot from Griffin, capping the goal count to 10 before Brattleboro scored a loan goal with just over two minutes left on the clock.
Harwood boys’ hockey defeats Burr & Burton
On Saturday, March 6, the Harwood varsity boys’ hockey team defeated Burr & Burton Academy, 3-2.
Scoring Harwood's first goal off a feed from Skylar Platt was Jonathan O’Brien. After that, Finn O'Hara, set up Platt for Harwood’s second goal. The winning goal was scored by Harwood’s Tanner Woodard.
For Burr & Burton, Jakob Mulac scored both goals. Burr & Burton committed four infractions, while Harwood played a penalty-free game.
“It was a fast paced, physical game,” said Harwood coach Shawn Thompson. “Liam made a lot of big saves to seal the victory. The boys did a great job staying disciplined and keeping themselves out of the penalty box.”
The boy’s last regular season game was played Wednesday, March 10, as The Valley Reporter was going to press, against Middlebury at 6:30 p.m. “It will be our senior night,” said Thompson. The boys hold a 5-0 record for the season.
Harwood girls’ basketball team bests Northfield
On Saturday, March 6, the Harwood varsity girls’ basketball team beat Northfield 51-21. Harwood’s Ashley Proteau scored 11 points and had seven steals. Cierra McKay scored 10 points and had four rebounds. Teammates Emma Ravlin and Sarah Bartolomei scored eight points apiece. Quinn Nelson added six points and five rebounds in the victory, and Jaye Fuller helped with five rebounds and two points. Also scoring for Harwood were players Ayden Parrish and Abby Young.
Harwood led 28-8 at the half. Both teams scored nine points in the third quarter. Piper Mattsson paced the Marauders with 20 points.
"We came into the season knowing it's a short season and our goal is to get ready for playoffs," said Harwood coach Tom Young. "We've had some hurdles thrown at us, but a lot of teams have this year. We're going to have a very hard game against Peoples on Wednesday and we'll just do our best.”
"We were happy to come out and dictate the pace,” said Young. “It was good to have a plan coming in and to see everybody execute it as a team. We've thrown some young kids into some new situations with Tanum (Nelson) being gone and I've been really impressed."
