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VERGENNES — The most successful teams at Vergennes Union High School in 2023 were arguably cross country and girls’ soccer, with the former taking fifth in Division II and the latter winning a playoff game for the first time in four years.
Meanwhile, boys’ soccer had its moments; bass fishing team members enjoyed their time on the water, and the activity continues to establish itself as a fall fixture at the school; while golf also continues to grow, and this fall has a new coach.
Here are backgrounds on each of the programs, as well as Athletic Director Peter Maneen’s thoughts on outlooks for each.
VUHS GIRLS’ SOCCER
GIRLS’ SOCCER
The big news for the Commodore girls’ soccer program is a new head coach: Morgan Kathan takes the reins. Kathan is a 2014 Black River High School graduate who scored 97 goals for her school’s girls’ soccer team. She went on to play the sport at Keene State College in New Hampshire.
Kathan is better known locally as the PE teacher at Ferrisburgh Central School; she is entering her second year in that post. She takes over the VUHS team from longtime co-coaches Dwight Irish and Maneen.
Kathan inherits a program that reached the D-III finals three times between 2018 and 2020. But the Commodores didn’t win a playoff game after that until prevailing in a first-round home contest a year ago.
Many of that squad’s players, most of them still undergraduates, return this year, and Maneen said the group is ready to build on last season.
“Everybody got a lot of playing time last year, only having 15 kids on the team, so a lot of kids gained a lot of experience,” he said. “This year it will be seeing how quickly those kids go from learning to leading.”
The team returns All-State D-III striker Ava Francis, and Maneen said there are also freshman forwards who should help provide scoring punch. Speed on the outside midfield should be a positive, he added, and there are solid outside backs.
Maneen said the core of the team will probably be Francis at striker, Ashtin Stearns and Eva Borah at central midfield, and Adrienne Smits at central defense. “(The team’s) strength is going to be right up the middle,” Maneen said.
The Commodores play a Lake Division schedule that includes several D-II title contenders, and expectations should be tempered. But that challenge should help come the postseason.
“We’re the smallest school in a pretty tough league,” Maneen said. “I would say .500, and then work into the top eight again for the playoffs is realistic.”
VUHS BOYS’ SOCCER 2024
BOYS’ SOCCER
Coach Kevin Hayes’s Commodore boys had reached the D-III semifinals for three straight seasons and four of the past five before taking a few lumps in 2023, including a first-round road playoff loss as a No. 11 seed. Many players who sparked the earlier run received diplomas before last season. Maneen said teams can experience ups and downs, and the pendulum might be swinging back.
“Over the last couple years they’d graduated a number of all-state players,” he said. “Those younger kids last year had to take on larger roles, and that can take some time, but all those kids are returning. So this year they should take a step forward.”
Effort won’t be an issue, Maneen said, including from key players like senior center back Spencer Gebo and junior center midfielder Ryker Mosehauer, and some quick newcomers up front who show promise.
“They work hard, like you would expect from any of Kevin’s teams. They won’t get outworked,” he said. “It’s just a matter of finishing the opportunities when they’re there, because you don’t always get a ton of them.”
The expectations for the boys’ soccer team are probably similar to those of the girls’ team.
“For them, the goal is to finish in the top half of D-III and get back to having at least one home playoff game,” Maneen said.
VUHS CROSS COUNTRY 2024
CROSS COUNTRY
Coach Brad Castillo’s cross-country team in 2023 enjoyed one of its best seasons on the boys’ side, posting a fifth-place finish at the D-II state meet despite being one of the division’s smallest schools. Three of five scoring runners at that meet return, headlined by the team’s top finisher, senior Grey Fearon, who went on to more success in the indoor and outdoor track seasons.
Maneen and Castillo are looking for more big things from Fearon this fall after finishing 17th overall a year ago.
“Obviously, Grey is going to be our top runner. He could be in the top 10,” Maneen said. “And the team is looking to improve on their finish last year.”
There are 10 boys total on the team, including returning state scorers Carter McGuire and Chance Koenig. Castillo will look for others to step up to fill the scoring vacancies.
Four girls also signed up, three of whom return, all of whom ran at the state meet: top finisher Eleanor Wilkinson-Sachs, Torrey Hanna and Madeleine Stroup. The team needs at least one more runner to field a scoring squad at the D-II meet, and Maneen said the program is working on that.
“We’re trying to recruit one more runner so they can score as a team,” Maneen said.
Despite that, VUHS will host a cross country meet this fall — the first in decades. The middle school hosted a meet in 2023.
“We’re going to look at having Mount Abe and Middlebury come up for a small meet for first time since the ’60s, I think,” Maneen said.
VUHS BASS FISHING 2024
BASS FISHING
Coach Jack Mcguire returns to lead the bass fishing program, with about a dozen students signed up to wield rods, an uptick from the nine of 2023. The program is coming off a pair of mid-pack finishes in season-ending tournaments, but the team of anglers continue to learn the ins and outs of what is a lifetime sport and enjoy their time out on the water.
“As much as it is a state tournament and you’re looking to finish high, their goal every year is just to increase the participation into bass fishing, which is a lifelong sport, and introduce the kids to different styles, different lures, that type of thing, and just get them out,” Maneen said.
The AD is pleased with the program’s progress.
“Jack does a great job with things, giving the kids an opportunity,” Maneen said. “They keep it fun for the kids. It’s been a great addition to our program, to have kids be part of our athletic program that otherwise probably wouldn’t be.”
VUHS GOLF 2024
GOLF
The VUHS golf program’s new coach is school alum Will Benton, a former Basin Harbor Club professional now working as a real estate appraiser in Vergennes.
For the first time since the program was revived a couple years back, the Commodores should also be able to field a scoring team, with six boys signing on. Maneen said Quinn LeBeau appears to be the top golfer of those participants, with the ability to shoot in the 80s. “He’ll take the lead,” he said.
There are good signs for the future as well, Maneen said, with another six boys and a couple girls participating in middle school golf.
Maneen said Benton’s returning as “an accomplished golfer and a former pro” and having the kids have some official scoring opportunities” should combine to give the program a lift.
“We’re really encouraged where we’re headed here after bringing the program back to life just a couple years ago,” he said. “Just like bass fishing, it’s been a great addition.”
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