Coaching Changes at Craftsbury Academy
CRAFTSBURY – One of the first orders of business for newly appointed athletic director Connor Bean will be finding new head coaches this fall for the Craftsbury Academy (CA) girls’ and boys’ soccer teams.
Sam Jay has stepped away after one season at the helm, leading the boys’ team to three wins in their first year in the highly competitive Mountain League. Jay took over a Charger team last fall that had gone winless in 2020, scoring a single goal the entire season. Cole VanWinkle led CA with eight of the team’s 12 goals in 2021.
Tom Silva steps down as the girls’ head coach after the third season of a program rebuild that saw them finish 3-13, but nearly upset highly seeded Arlington in the first round of the 2021 Division IV playoffs. The Lady Chargers’ arrow should still be heading in the right direction if they return their core of talented underclassmen this coming fall that now have varsity experience.
Rooney and Menard set to lead Wild this Summer
DANVILLE – Hazen Union ace Lyle Rooney and super sophomore Andrew Menard are playing for the 16-18 Babe Ruth Green Mountain Wild baseball team this summer. Danville’s Joe Schlesinger is also on a squad that is rounded out by a core of Blue Mountain Union players that went 16-1 this past spring, losing a heartbreaker to White River Valley in the Division IV state title game.
The team’s home games will be played at Danville High School and is coached by newly hired Hazen athletic director Jared Cushing. Rooney will be the workhorse on the mound for the Wild after a junior campaign at Hazen Union that saw him win six games, striking out 74 batters. Menard batted .333 and drove in 12 runs as both players led the Wildcats to the Division III state championship game at Centennial Field earlier this month. The Wild hosted St. Johnsbury on Tuesday, will complete their home and home series at St. Johnsbury Academy on Thursday, and will finish their week with a home date against Mount Mansfield on Saturday.
In other baseball news, Twinfield-Cabot’s Meles Gouge played for Danville’s High School baseball team this past spring and was rewarded for his stellar season with an All-Mountain League Second Team selection. Meles is expected to back on the soccer pitch this fall for Twinfield-Cabot after a sensational sophomore season that saw him lead the team with 20 goals.
