What a weekend for Rutland area sports!!!!
On Friday night at the Barre Auditorium MSJ won its 4th straight Division 4 girls basketball state championship as Lyndsey Elms led the way with 9 points. Bill Bruso with his first championship as head coach and MSJ winning its 5th state title overall. The Mounties won a Division 3 state championship in 2002. MSJ returns everybody off that championship team next year!
Then on Saturday Rutland High completed a perfect season at 23-0 with a 45-39 victory over Mt. Mansfield. It was St. Patrick’s Day at the Patrick Gym as the Raiders won their 2nd straight boys basketball Division 1 state championship and 8th overall. It was also the 40th straight win for Rutland and coach Mike Wood’s 200th victory as Rutland coach. Jamison Evans had 18 points, Jared Nelson 11 points and Noah Tyson with 6 points, 7 rebounds and 4 steals.
Rutland is just the 3rd undefeated Division 1 state champion in the last 35 years. Middlebury did it in 1983 and Burlington did it in 2008.
I got a good laugh when I was interviewing Jamison Evans after the game on WSYB and I said to him 23-0 it doesn’t get any better than this does it and Jamison said “I wish we were 24-0 though.”
Yes it was that darn bye!
Also on Saturday the Rutland High cheerleaders won their 3rd New England Championship in four years in Manchester, New Hampshire. Rutland is in the Division 2 category. The Raiders are the only Vermont team to win the New England championship.
The Rutland basketball championship was won on the Tom Brennan Court at the Patrick Gym and the former UVM coach was on hand to watch the “Final Four” when Rutland defeated St. Johnsbury and Mt. Mansfield defeated Rice.
Rutland native Mike Healy who now lives in the Barre/Montpelier area has been a volunteer at the Barre Auditorium for several years. Mike is the grandson of Dan Healy the former mayor of the city of Rutland. Listeners of WHWB in Rutland would hear Mayor Healy’s speech “ What It Means To Be Irish” every St. Patrick’s Day. Through the work of Greg and Chris McCormack that speech has been brought back and has been part of a program on PEGTV. Chris and Greg’s dad Frank was the manager of WHWB. The speech right now can be heard on the WSYB website at wsyb1380am.com. I told Mike about it and gave him the website address. He couldn’t wait to hear the speech.
Speaking of mayors, current Rutland Mayor Dave Allaire was at the Patrick Gym to watch the Raiders claim the championship. He didn’t get a chance to see the Mountie victory at the Barre Auditorium because of a previous commitment, but he did listen to the game on the radio. Mayor Allaire has witnessed a whole bunch of championships in a little over a year in office.
Rutland High School Athletic Director Mike Norman hustled up to the Patrick Gym after hosting his two day coaching clinic at the school on Stratton Road.
Coming up this Saturday it’s the final day of basketball with the girls and boys North-South All Star games and the various awards ceremonies at Windsor High School.
Also the final day of girls and boys hockey with the Essex Rotary All Star Hockey games at the Essex Skating facility. The girls game is at 4PM as Rutland’s Meghan Hamilton, Emma Mazzariello, Page Langlois and Amy Howard have all been selected to play. The boys game is at 6:15 PM and Rutland’s Glen Mandel has been selected to play in that game.
In women’s lacrosse last week UVM defeated Stetson 17-10, but former Rutland High standout Marina Rotella scored a pair of goals for Stetson. Marina who is a freshman at the Central Florida college scored 230 career goals and had 314 career points at Rutland. She was a three time All-State selection at Rutland High.
The Glodzik girls and boys 5th and 6th grade basketball tournament wrapped up this past Saturday at West Rutland. The West Rutland 6th won the girls championship which was the first West Rutland team to win the Glodzik since the West Rutland boys won in 1989 the first year it became the Ed Glodzik Tournament. Fair Haven won the boys championship.
Join Bob Baxter and me for the annual baseball show on WSYB Sports Talk this Saturday March 24th on WSYB AM 1380 and 100.1 FM from 9:05-10.
Catch you next week!