Burlington girls roll to three-peat at high school Nordic skiing championships

After building a commanding lead following last week's opening day of the Vermont high school Nordic skiing state championships, Burlington did something daring: An athletics administrator had championship shirts printed.

No jinx for the Burlington Seahorses, though. Just more hardware to collect. And new attire to show off.

Behind Gillian Fairfax's second individual title and another team relay victory, the Burlington girls cruised to the Division I championship during Tuesday's classic races at Rikert Nordic Center in Ripton.

Two years after claiming the program's first title, the BHS girls now own a three-peat. Head coach Kirsten Berggren and Jeff Hayes, the athletics coordinator at BHS, surprised the six-member girls team with championship shirts — "2021-22-23 BHS Nordic State Champs" — during the post-meet celebration.

"That was a bold move on the part of Jeff Hayes and I asked, 'Do you think it would be too presumptuous to have shirts made?'" Berggren said. "But we were really the heavy favorites and we decided to go out on a limb."

[See below for full team scores and results from Day 1 and 2]

Burlington finished with 58 points, well clear of runner-up Mount Anthony (125), third-place Champlain Valley (168) and fourth-place Mount Mansfield (215).

Last Wednesday at Craftsbury, Burlington built a 47-point lead. Fairfax led the way with her freestyle win (13 minutes, 58.5 seconds), while Elsa Sanborn took third, Greta Kilburn fourth and Rosalie Brown sixth.

Then in the freestyle relay, Brown, Sanborn, Fairfax and Kilburn raced to victory by over three minutes against the D-I field but just four seconds over D-II winner Middlebury.

In Tuesday's classic event, Fairfax (17:06.7), Kilburn and Sanborn went 1-2-3 in the individual race. In the relay, Lillian Connolly, subbing for Brown, Sanborn, Fairfax and Kilburn won by 1:36.

Connolly also placed 18th in the individual race Tuesday to help Burlington secure the three-peat.

"The girls are just fantastic, gave it everything they had and managed to pull it off," Berggren said. "I was super-anxious this year, just because there are so many little things that could go wrong."

Berggren said her team's togetherness and competitiveness drive them

"They'll so close and they are so supportive of each other. That's the secret to their success," Berggren said.

Rizio, MAU claim D-I boys crowns

Last winter, Luke Rizio swept the Division I boys individual races as a student at Twin Valley, while the Mount Anthony program returned to the top after a four-year hiatus.

This year, Rizio pulled off the same feat — as the leading skier for state champion MAU.

Rizio completed the second of back-to-back sweeps with Tuesday's classic win in 14:04.8, beating out MAU teammates Peter McKenna (second) and Payne Finnegan (third).

Rizio, Payne, McKenna and Riley Thurber combined on the classic relay victory for the Patriots, who repeated as team champion with a score of 58 to runner-up Mount Mansfield's 106.

Last week, Rizio won the individual freestyle in 11:37.7, to headline a trio of MAU skiers in the top 10.

Middlebury sweeps D-II

Beth McIntosh's first-place effort paced four skiers in the top 10 of last week's freestyle races, while Ava Schneider's runner-up in Tuesday's classic event led the Tigers girls' quartet in their championship repeat. The Tigers also swept both relay races.

The Middlebury girls finished with 51 points, well ahead of second-place Montpelier's 121.

McIntosh won freestyle in 13:32.9 and also took third in classic. Schneider was fourth in freestyle and Mary Harrington (fifth in freestyle and classic) and Lia Robinson (ninth in freestyle and classic) contributed for Middlebury.

Clare Serrano of U-32 (17:10.3) was the individual girls winner in classic.

The Middlebury boys pulled away from Montpelier (76 to 115) to return to glory for the first time since they completed a three-peat in 2018. Elliot Schneider won classic (14:30.8) and placed ninth in freestyle, while Baxter Harrington seized second and third in classic and freestyle, respectively, to guide the Tigers.

James Underwood of Woodstock followed up his first-place run in freestyle with a third in classic.

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NORDIC STATE MEET RESULTS

At Rikert Nordic Center

Day 2 (classic)

Division I girls team scores (final): 1. Burlington 58; 2. Mount Anthony 125; 3. Champlain Valley 168; 4. Mount Mansfield 215; 5. St. Johnsbury 285; 6. Brattleboro 288; 7. South Burlington 451; 8. BFA-St. Albans 477; 9. Essex 564.

Division II girls team scores (final): 1. Middlebury 51; 2. Montpelier 121; 3. U-32 138; 4. Woodstock 228; 5. Harwood 301; 6. Lamoille 366; 7. BFA-Fairfax 425; 8. Lyndon 560.

Division I boys team scores (final): 1. Mount Anthony 58; 2. Mount Mansfield 106; 3. Champlain Valley 152; 4. St. Johnsbury 244; 5. Brattleboro 336; 6. Burlington 394; 7. Rutland 466; 8. Essex 520; 9. South Burlington 540; 10. BFA-St. Albans 556.

Division II boys team scores (final): 1. Middlebury 76; 2. Montpelier 115; 3. Woodstock 146; 4. U-32 240; 5. Stowe 380; 6. Lamoille 402; 7. BFA-Fairfax 436; 8. Burr and Burton 452; 9. Peoples 512.

Division I girls top 10: 1. Gillian Fairfax, BHS 17:06.7; 2. Greta Kilburn, BHS 17:17.5; 3. Elsa Sanborn, BHS 17:42.1; 4. Tanis White, MAU 18:17.4; 5. Stella Laird, CVU 18:48.1; 6. Paige Poirier, SB 18:50.0; 7. Ruth Krebs, SJ 18:54.8; 8. Eden White, MAU 19:09.0; 9. Finley Barker, MMU 19:12.4; 10. Ava Whitney, Bratt 19:15.1.

Division I girls relay: 1. Burlington (Sanborn, Connolly, Fairfax, Kilburn) 33:49.8; 2. Mount Anthony; 3. Champlain Valley; 4. Mount Mansfield; 5. Brattleboro; 6. St. Johnsbury; 7. BFA-St. Albans; 8. South Burlington; 9. Essex.

Division II girls top 10: 1. Clare Serrano, U-32 17:10.3; 2. Ava Schneider, Midd 17:19.7; 3. Beth McIntosh, Midd 17:32.6; 4. Amelia Circosta, Hazen 17:33.5; 5. Mary Harrington, Midd 17:34.8; 6. Julia Thurston, Harw 17:38.6; 7. Anika Leahy, Craftsbury 18:05.3; 8. Margaret Voisin, Mont 18:06.2; 9. Lia Robinson, Midd 19:06.0; 10. Jane Miller-Arsenault, U-32 19:08.8.

Division II girls relay: 1. Middlebury (McIntosh, Robinson, Harrington, Schneider) 33:00.9; 2. Montpelier; 3. U-32; 4. Harwood; 5. Woodstock; 6. Lamoille; 7. BFA-Fairfax; 8. Lyndon.

Division I boys top 10: 1. Luke Rizio, MAU 14:04.8; 2. Peter McKenna, MAU 15:02.7; 3. Payne Finnegan, MAU 15:04.3; 4. Brady Morigeau, MMU 15:06.6; 5. Kai Donnelly, BHS 15:14.0; 6. Riley Thurber, MAU 15:22.2; 7. Matthew Servin, CVU 15:29.5; 8. Taylor Carlson, MMU 15:39.4; 9. Jonah Gorman, MMU 15:39.9; 10. Silas Rella-Neill, MAU 15:40.9.

Division I boys relay: 1. Mount Anthony (Payne, Thurber, Rizio, McKenna) 27:29.0; 2. Mount Mansfield; 3. Champlain Valley; 4. St. Johnsbury; 5. Brattleboro; 6. Burlington; 7. Rutland; 8. Essex; 9. BFA-St. Albans; 10. South Burlington.

Division II boys top 10: 1. Elliot Schneider, Midd 14:30.8; 2. Baxter Harrington, Midd 14:39.2; 3. James Underwood, Wood 14:47.4; 4. Sage Grossi, Mont 14:58.0; 5. Leo Circosta, Hazen 15:28.2; 6. Lorenzo Atocha, MTA 15:28.2; 7. Cormac Leahy, Craftsbury 15:33.2; 8. Quinn Uva, Wood 15:37.1; 9. Indy Metcalf, Harw 15:48.1; 10. Steven Supan, Mont 16:01.5.

Division II boys relay: 1. Middlebury (Bosworth, Harrington, Olsen, Schneider) 29:10.6; 2. Montpelier; 3. Woodstock; 4. U-32; 5. Stowe; 6. Lamoille; 7. Burr and Burton; 8. BFA-Fairfax; 9. Peoples.

****

At Craftsbury

Day 1 (freestyle)

Division I girls top 10: 1. Gillian Fairfax, BHS 13:58.5; 2. Ruth Krebs, SJA 14:12.8; 3. Elsa Sanborn, BHS 14:19.4; 4. Greta Kilburn, BHS 14:20.0; 5. Tanis White, MAU 14:22.7; 6. Rosalie Brown, BHS 14:43.3; 7. Paige Poirier, SB 15:07.3; 8. Ava Whitney, Bratt 15:26.8; 9. Eden White, MAU 15:28.6; 10. Stella Laird, CVU 15:33.2.

Division I girls relay: 1. Burlington (Brown, Sanborn, Fairfax, Kilburn); 2. Mount Anthony; 3. Champlain Valley; 4. Mount Mansfield; 5. St. Johnsbury; 6. Brattleboro; 7. South Burlington; 8. BFA-St. Albans; 9. Essex.

Division I boys top 10: 1. Luke Rizio, MAU 11:37.7; 2. Brady Morigeau, MMU 12:15.3; 3. Taylor Carlson, MMU 12:19.5; 4. Riley Thurber, MAU 12:19.8; 5. Owen Deaie, CVU 12:28.4; 6. Matthew Servin, CVU 12:32.0; 7. Kai Donnelly, BHS 12:37.3; 8. Peter McKenna, MAU 12;41.1; 9. Jonah Gorman, MMU 12:46.4; 10. Charles Krebs, SJ 12:48.1.

Division I boys relay: 1. Mount Anthony (Payne, McKenna, Thurber, Rizio); 2. Mount Mansfield; 3. Champlain Valley; 4. St. Johnsbury; 5. Brattleboro; 6. Burlington; 7. South Burlington; 8. Rutland; 9. Essex; 10. BFA-St. Albans.

Division II girls top 10: 1. Beth McIntosh, Midd 13:32.9; 2. Clare Serrano, U-32 13:52.8; 3. Amelia Circosta, Hazen 13:54.4; 4. Ava Schneider, Midd 14:01.8; 5. Mary Harrington, Midd 14:06.7; 6. Julia Thurston, Harw 14:09.0; 7. Anika Leahy, Craftsbury 14:21.6; 8. Margaret Voisin, Mont 14:26.8; 9. Lia Robinson, Midd 15:20.5; 10. Sara McGill, Mont 15:33.6.

Division II girls relay: 1. Middlebury (Robinson, Schneider, Harrington, McIntosh); 2. Montpelier; 3. U-32; 4. Woodstock; 5. Harwood; 6. Peoples; 7. Lamoille; 8. BFA-Fairfax; 9. Lyndon.

Division II boys top 10: 1. James Underwood, Wood 11:56.8; 2. Sage Grossi, Mont 12:02.4; 3. Baxter Harrington, Midd 12:07.7; 4. Charlie Kehler, Craftsbury 12:13.5; 5. Leo Circosta, Hazen 12:20.8; 6. Cormac Leahy, Craftsbury 12:25.4; 7. Quinn Uva, Wood 12:38.0; 8. Steven Supan, Mont 12:50.9; 9. Eliot Schneider, Midd 12:51.3; 10. Matias Citarella, Midd 13:14.0.

Division II boys relay: 1. Middlebury (Schneider, Bosworth, Citarella, Harrington); 2. Woodstock; 3. Montpelier; 4. Craftsbury; 5. U-32; 6. Stowe; 7. Lamoille; BFA-Fairfax; 9. Burr and Burton; 10. Peoples.

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: VT high school Nordic skiing championships: Burlington three-peats