Royals Win DIII Track
Reprinted with permission From Tom Haley

Illustration 1: The South Royalton High School girls track team, in spite of having only marginal equipment at the school, won the Division III state championship this year. (Herald / Tim Calabro)

Not even Peoples Academy's Lydia Bickford could keep South Royalton from its Division III girls state track and field championship.

But she certainly tried. Bickford won the 100 meters, long jump, 200 meters and the 100-meter high hurdles at Saturday's (June 2) Vermont Division III state meet at Green Mountain Union High School.

But this day belonged to South Royalton as the Royals amassed 123 points to 92 for second-place Peoples and 67.5 for Springfield. Green Mountain was fourth among the 15 schools to score with 49 points and Danville was fifth with 46.

Thetford was the boys champion, scoring 159 points to 116 for South Royalton. Rounding out the top five boys team were Burr and Burton Academy with 80, Springfield with 40 and Lake Region with 29.5. D-III State Records

There were three D-III state meet records set. South Royalton's Chelsea Wilmot set a new standard in the girls pole vault by scaling 8-02.25, eclipsing the mark of 8-00.25 established by Windsor's Alison Crary in 2000.

Illustration 2: The South Royalton High School boys track team-Runners up in Vermont Division III! (Herald / Tim Carman)

The Burr and Burton Academy boys 4x100 relay relay unit of Eamonn Campbell, Stefan Didrichsen, Kyle Gray and Mike Thulander erased the mark of 46.40 set by South Royalton in 2000 by clocking 46.32.

That was just a slice of Gray's day. He also won the 1500 in 4:23.31 and the 800 in a time of 2:09.45.

Gray is headed to Drew University in New Jersey to play soccer.

And Thetford's Matt Longwell uncorked a javelin throw of 159-11 to obliterate a record 154-06 set in 2004 by Burr and Burton's Nick Wevurski. The Girls

The South Royalton girls have six runner-up finishes and two state titles in the last eight years, but this was their first state girls crown in any sport since they took home the title in track in 2002.

The Royals got a number of first places, but also showed extraordinary depth in some events. Wilmot, bound for the Keene State track and field program, was a mainstay for the Royals with a first in the 300-meter high hurdles, a first in the pole vault with her state meet record and a second in the 100-meter high hurdles. She also had a second in the javelin with her heave of 101-11.

The javelin was one of those events where the Royals demonstrated their depth. Wilmot's teammate Jane Manby won it with a throw of 107-01 and Charlotte McCleery's mark of 83-08 meant the Royals went 1-2-4 in that event.

A Royal has won the girls javelin every year since 1999.

"We take a lot of pride in that event," South Royalton coach Jeff Moreno said. "We train very hard in it.

"The pole vault and javelin are technical events so I try to put the best athletes in them."

South Royalton's story is one of overcoming a dearth of apparatus and no track and field facility.

"We have a lack of equipment but we take a lot of pride in our school," said South Royalton sophomore Julia Collins, runner-up to Wilmot in the pole vault. "We were pretty determined today."

The highlight for the Royals was Wilmot's record vault.

"She has been chasing that for three years now," said Moreno, a pole vaulter himself at Hartford High and the University of Vermont.

"You've got to have confidence and focus and she had both."

"We have an amazing coach. He was a pole vaulter himself," Wilmot said. "We just made our pits and pole vault area and we don't have a track.

"But everyone on our team supports everyone else. We have so many talented athletes in our school and we have really good chemistry in our school for athletics."

Heather Burbine, Shanna Duffy, Julia Collins and Alex Honkala got the day off to a flying start for the Royals by winning the first event, clocking 11:05.61 in the 4x800 relay. Honkala got South Royalton another first with her 1:03.84 in the 400 meters, edging Peoples' Sarah Guillot with her 1:05.79.

Cailey Clark was a bright light for Woodstock, winning the 1500 with a time of 5:12.39 and the 3000 in 11:31.83.

The hometown fans had moments to cheer and one came when Green Mountain's Jennifer Suursoo won the shot put with her mark of 31-09.

Springfield, making its debut in the D-III meet after dropping down from Division II, had some memorable performances. One came from Paige Van Alystyne when she got the Cosmos a first place by high jumping 4-10.

The Cosmos got another blue ribbon in the 4x100 relay as Lyndsie Hammond, Grace Esden, Juliana Solano and Jalessah Jackson combined their efforts for a time of 51.79. Edsen also earned a first place in the triple jump at 31-08.

The other first was turned in by Thetford's Anne Schaafsma with her time of 2:31.61 in the 800.

But the outstanding individual was Bickford and her body of work was: first in the 100 meters in 12.81 seconds, first in the 100-meter hurdles in 16.24, first in the 200 with a time of 26.90 and first in the long jump with a mark of 15- 07.50. "The hundred is my favorite," Bickford said.

She is looking forward to continuing this success at Roanoke College in Virginia.

"Peoples got a lot more points than I thought they would," Moreno said. "I thought 70 points would win this, but they really showed up and gave us a great run." The Boys

The moment that caused the most buzz during the boys competition came when the hometown kid was making an assault on the Division III pole vault record. Green Mountain's Tom Martin already won the event with a height of 12- 04.50, but he had the bar set in an attempt to break the record of 13-02.50 held by another Green Mountain athlete, Matt Ernst in 2000.

Martin has progressed steadily as a vaulter. He scaled 9-0 at this meet as a freshman and 11-6 as a sophomore. Now, he is a junior determined to carve out his own record.

He barely missed on his first attempt and never got over the bar for the record on this day.

But he will have a chance to overtake Ernst for the school record in two weeks at the Vermont Decathlon Championships, also held at Green Mountain Union.

When Martin missed on his final attempt the crowd gave him heartfelt applause for winning the event and for his effort to eclipse the D-III standard.

Longwell was a prominent part of the Panthers' state title. In addition to his record heave in the javelin, he had a first in the long jump and a first in the triple jump.

Other firsts for the Panthers came from Ian McDaniels in the 110-meter high hurdles and Jesse Chapman, who won both the shot put and the discus.

BBA had some outstanding performances from people other than Gray. Thulander, who ran the anchor in the state-record effort on the relay, also won the 200 meters and teammate Stefan Didrichsen won the 100. Johannas got the Bulldogs yet another first place with a 9:44.36 in the 3000.

The Arlington Eagles got a first place by way of Matt Walsh's high jump of 5-10.

Cody Taylor got Woodstock a first in the 400 and Ki Walker scored a first for South Royalton in the 300-meter hurdles.

South Royalton won the 4x800 relay with Vince Brown, Cal Wilmot, Andy Staudinger and Jake Timian doing the honors in 8:59.36.

The longest standing boys Division III record in the program was the 50.51 clocked in the 400 meters by Burr and Burton's Tarique Johnson in 1992.