Pics from the Boys game vs. Rice (Courtesy D. Bain)

B.A. and A.C. breakdown Rice's Striker

D.S. evades a Rice defender

O.F. getting behind the Rice defense

Celebrations after the win.

Keeper A.B. with the save

"Man of the Match" D.G.

What a difference a year makes...KICK OFF

Welcome back everyone...After a fantastic summer vacation the BLOG is back...The boys and girls soccer teams and the XC team has been in full practice mode for about two and a half weeks now and last night the boys had their first game of the 2010 Fall season (the girls open up Saturday at Stowe at 11am, and XC opens up Saturday as well at the Essex Invitational at 9am).

The boys opened up against Rice at home last night and much to the large crowd's delight came away with a 3-2 victory (see picture above) in double overtime. Rice opened up the scoring in the first half, but with 37 seconds left in the first half, senior RM played a ball over the top to sophomore striker OF and he finished beautifully to knot the game at 1. Half way through the second half OF took a shot on goal that was saved by the Rice keeper, but bounced to the foot of senior striker HK and he shot it past vthe Rice keeper for the go-ahead goal. Ten minutes later Rice evened the score and the teams played to a 2-2 tie after regulation. The first overtime was riddled with chances for both teams, but neither could capitalize. The second overtime was played pretty even until about 3 minutes left when the boys really started pressuring hard. After two corner kicks failed to produce a goal, Rice had a goal kick. The Rice keeper kicked the ball low and hard but right to sophomore striker DG, who had been pestering the Rice defenders all game with his hustle, touch, and tenacity. DG controlled the ball, dribbled into the 18 and fired a shot that was deflected wide by the Rice keeper. OF jumped on the rebound and buried the game winner with 1:33 left in the second OT. The boys play at Hazen Saturday with an 11am start. The boys JV won handily yesterday 12-0.

The upper deck varsity field went through a major face lift this summer with many community members donating resources to the cause. The field has never looked or felt better thanks to an aggressive seeding, fertilizing, mowing, and watering regiment, and with the help of a grant from the Vermont Dairy Council, PA Boosters, Morrisville Youth Soccer, and many other community members we have a brand new Daktronics scoreboard to keep the time and score for the varsity teams for years to come.

The next home game is the 9/17 as the boys take on Spaulding at 4:30.

Boys Golf

The boys golf team came in 3rd place yesterday at the State Match at Middlebury. Sophomore I.J. shot the low round for Peoples with a 79.

Track State Meet Results...

The Peoples Academy girls’ team took second place overall out of more than 20 teams. With just five girls on the team, and freshman AC unable to compete due to an injury, the team performed extremely well, racking up 78 points behind first place Woodstock Academy’s 98 points. This was the first state championship for the Woodstock girls. Peoples’ girls have now taken first place (5 times) or second place (3 times) in the last eight years!

Leading the pack was senior Chelsea Hostetter with a first in the long jump (16’-9”) which set a new school record; a second in the 100m dash, edged out by only.01 of a second, which was a P.R.; a second in the 200m dash, also a P.R.; and a fifth in the javelin, also a P.R. Sophomore AS took second in the 100m hurdles, second in the high jump, and third in the triple jump. Junior KH took first in the pole vault, matching her previous P.R. height of 8’-0”; third in the 300m hurdles, a P.R., fifth in the 400m dash, a P.R.; and an eighth in the 3000m run. Junior NP took second place in the 800m run, fifth in the 3000m run, and seventh in the 1500m run. Freshman AC helped her fellow teammates and coaches all day, as she has all season.
The Peoples boys’ team, also a small group with 12 athletes, improved its performance over last year by taking eighth overall out of 22 teams, with very strong relay team finishes.
The relay team of KB, KM, NJ, and RM finished second in the 4 x100m and set a new school record of 46.30, besting their own record set earlier this season. The 4x800m relay team, made up of BW, KB, DS, and CC recorded a P.R. and finished fourth. Earning another P.R. and taking sixth place in the 4x400m relay was the relay team of KB, CW, BW, and RM.
In individual events, Junior NJ took fifth in the javelin and competed well in the long jump, achieving a P.R., and in the triple jump. Junior CC took sixth in the 1500m run and competed well in the 3,000m run, earning a P.R. Junior RM also competed in the 100m dash, and the 200m dash, earning P.R.s in both events. Junior KM earned P.R.s in the 100m dash and in the triple jump, and the long jump. Freshman DS earned a P.R. in the 3000m run and competed well in the 1500m run. Freshman CW earned P.R.s in the 200m dash and the 400m dash, and competed well in the 100m dash. Junior JD earned P.R.s in the triple jump and discus. Sophomore KN earned a P.R. in the 1500m run and competed in the triple jump. Freshman DB toughed it out, competing with a taped sprained ankle in the 100m dash, 400m dash, and javelin. Junior BW also competed in the 300m hurdles. Sophomore IS competed well in the 200m dash, pole vault, and javelin.

John Guillot

Girls golf...you go girl...

Freshman C.E. took second yesterday at the the D.II Golf Championships at Middlebury. She shot an impressive 95, which was only 4 shots off the lead.

Baseball and Softball seasons cut short by Oxbow

On Saturday, June 5, the PA softball season ended withg a loss in the Quarterfinals to Oxbow 3-1. The game was a good one with Oxbow scoring first in the first inning. The Olympians never relinquished the lead. The girls had several chances and left  many runners on base at the end of the innings. According to the  coaches, this is the first time in 11 seasons PA has not made it to at least the semifinals. The girls say goodbye to seniors Devaney Cote, Chelsea Hostetter, Heather Courchaine, and Amber McCullock.

Tuesday June 8, the PA baseball season also came to an end at the hands of Oxbow. The boys played well all season and entered the game on a 14-game winning streak. Oxbow struck first getting out to a 4-2 lead. The boys cut it to 4-3 and then the Olympians' bats caught fire. They scored 6 more runs to end the game at 10-3. This was the first time since 2006 that the baseball team made the semifinals. The boys say goodbye to seniors Lucas Fitzgerald, Ryan Cross, Kasey Small, Colby Putvain, and Geoff Jaquish.

Baseball and Softball roll on

Thanks to some scorching bats and some great pitching and defense, the baseball and softball teams played their way into the quarterfinals yesterday. Both pitchers pitched complete games. Senior L.F. had a two-run homer for the baseball team and Sophomore K.N. also had a two-run homer for the softball team. The boys won 16-1 and the girls 12-0.

The boys play Friday vs. Winooski in a 4:30 matchup of #2 and #7 seeds and the girls play Saturday at 4:30 vs. Oxbow, which  is also a matchup of #2 and #7 seeds.... 

Peep the links for BFP stories
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100602/SPORTS05/100602059/1029/sports05/Bushey-pitches-BFA-Fairfax-to-win

Boys golf wins sectionals

The foul weather yesterday couldn't keep the boys varsity golf team from dominating the Northern D.III Sectional Tournament at Stowe Country Club. Sophomore S.L. was medalist with a blistering 77. He was the only golfer to break into the 70's. PA placed two more in the top 5. Sophomores I.J. and A.B. shot 86 and 90 respectively. The top four PA golfers shot a combined 351 and were the first overall team followed by Stowe with a 389 and Hazen with 401. The State Tournament is next Tuesday at Middlebury.

Freshman T.F. with an approach (top) and on the green (bottom) at a home match in May.

Track team at Essex

The track team ran it's final meet before States on Saturday May 29. There were plenty of PRs (personal records). C.H. -100Dash; A.S.-100Hurdles; R.M. 100Dash and 200Dash; C.C 1500 and 3000 runs; D.S. 1500run.A.S. qualified for NE's in Highjump and 100Hurdles and C.H. qualified in the 100Dash

Click this link for a mini slide show from our home meet...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHyAyC6E3u0

Softball playdowns tomorrow

In their bid to defend their 2009 D.III Championship, the softball team will host #15 seed Twin Valley tomorrow at 4:30 in the first round of the playoffs. The girls secured the #2 seed with a shining 15-1 record with their only loss coming at the hands of Mountain League rival BFA Fairfax. A win tommorow and the girls will host either #7 Oxbow or #10 Lake Region on Saturday at 3pm.

Baseball playdowns today

After the long weekend, the D.III baseball pairing are out and we have a playdown game scheduled for today with Mountain League foe Richford. The boys secured the # 2 seed with  a stellar 14-2 record and a second consecutive Mountain League Championship. A win today and we host the quarterfinals on Friday against either #7 Winooski or #10 Stowe.

More news from the track...

Yesterday was the freshman/sophomore meet at U-32 and the PA team shined once again. Aside from the many podium trips from the entire team (updates later), congratulations to sophomore AS on garnering the Female Track Athlete of the Meet award. AS placed either 1st or 2nd in all the events she competed in.

The home meet on Saturday May was a fine success. The rain held of for most of the day and PA competed against Harwood and Oxbow.

Updates on podiums, PR's, and points to come. Ditto for the Harwood Invitational on Tuesday May 18.

Catching up with the Track team...man are they fast...

The Peoples Academy track team competed in the Burlington Invitational Friday and Saturday, May 7th and 8th. With over 800 athletes representing mostly division I and II schools competing, PA placed 15th overall, and was the top division III school at the meet. PA athletes took the podium 4 times, others achieved personal best performances, and everyone gained valuable experience competing in a big meet.

Sophomore AS took 3rd in the girls long jump, tied for 4th in the high jump, and placed 6th in the 100m hurdles. The boys 4 X 100 team of KB, KM, DB, and RM took 5th place in a school record time of 48.01.

Personal best performances were turned in by KH in the girls pole vault, NJ in the boys javelin throw and triple jump, and AS in both the girls long and triple jumps. On the track NJ, DB, RM, and KM all set personal bests in the boys 100 dash, while RM did so in the boys 200 dash, and NP in both the girls 800 and 1500 meter runs.

It was a team effort that also produced seasonal best times in both the boys 4 X 400 relay (RM, NJ, DS, CC) and the boys 4 X 800 relay (CC, BW, CW, KB).

Thanks to Coach Paige for the update.

Catching up with the Baseball/Softball teams

Well it has been a long long time without a post, so I will do my best to get you all updated as we head into the last week and a half of the spring regular season. The spring weather has been fickle and we have had to deal with two crazy snowstorms and a bit of wet weather. Two batting cages were heavily damaged by heavy wet snow, but thanks to long-time PA Athletics supporter Dale Allen the baseball cage is back in action and the softball cage is on it's way to being fully functional.

As far as results and highlights, I'll lead off with baseball...

Kasey at the bat

The boys are playing extremely well under new/old coach Bob Jones and assistants Chris Davis and Barry Small. The boys are 9-2 right now and sit in 5th place in the D.III standings. They are on top of the Mountain Division and with key league victories over BFA Fairfax and Lake Region, they are undefeated in League play.  4 of their last five games will be league games with Enosburg (home), Hazen, Stowe, and Danville (home/senior day). After going 2-2 to start the season the boys are on a 7 game winning streak. Losses came at the hands of Mountain League rival BFA Fairfax in a non-league game 3-5 and D.II Harwood, who hammered the boys for 18 runs in a six inning contest that ended 18-3 (15 run rule).

KS warms up the curve ball.

Since the drubbing by Harwood, it has been 7 straight for the boys including a bottom-of-the-seventh comeback at Winooski, 2 huge wins (16-5, 13-0) against Lake Region, a 15-4 demolition of Hazen, and a 5-0 shutout at Danville. While the pitching and defense have been strong for the Wolves (2 shutouts and a total of 20 runs allowed in the last 7 games), the bats have been on fire. In their last 7 wins the boys have driven in 67 runs. All the bats have contributed, and the pitching has been mostly by committee. Only junior TG and senior LF have pitched complete games:  a 6-5 win at Fairfax and a 13-0 shutout at Lake Region for TG and a 5-0 shutout at Danville for LF. With contributions from seniors KS, LF and CP, junior TG, sophomores EC, JH, RD and DQ, the Wolves aces have been getting it done. 

Top: LF ready to pounce on a fast ball.

Bottom: "Hits on three"

I'll bat clean up with some softball updates...

                                     

JS windup

The defending D.III champs are back at it again or should I say "Uh Oh here they go..." With everyone back from the 2009 team one year older and one year wiser and some key senior additions and some young Wolf pups, the girls are perfectly poised to make another run to the finals. Through 11 games they are 10-1 with their only loss coming in a Mountain League game at league rival and 2009 D.III runner-up Fairfax 1-2.

Sophomore ace JS has picked up where she left off last year and is throwing harder than ever, and Junior ace JS (same initials, different pitchers) has been throwing hard and having fun. Between the two pitchers and the veteran defense, the girls have given up just 31 runs in 11 games while driving in 95 of their own.

They are 1-1 in Mountain League play and look to make it 2-1 when they face Enosburg at home tomorrow. Their last league win was yesterday over Lake Region 10-3. The girls are currently 2nd in the D.III standings.

                                     

Top: The other JS waiting on the pitch.

Bottom: Defending champs; "Uh Oh here we go"

The remainder of the varsity SB/BB schedule looks like this: Thursday 5/20 home vs. Enosburg (League); Sat. 5/22 @ Hazen (10am) (League); Monday 5/24 @ Lamoille (NL); Tuesday 5/25 @ Stowe (League); Thursday 5/27 home vs. Danville (League/senior day).