Varsity Insider

The teams at CVU enjoyed quite an afternoon at the Hinesburg campus during Saturday’s homecoming.

Here’s the rundown:

- The boys soccer team raced past defending champion BHS, 4-0, keeping its unbeaten record intact.
- The girls soccer team, a week after tying Colchester 0-0, blasted to a 4-0 win.
- The field hockey squad, the defending champions, blanked BHS 5-0, running its record to 7-0.
- The football topped Middlebury, 7-0, and moved to 4-0 in Division II.

So if you are keeping track at home: CVU teams 19, Homecoming opponents 0.

The phrase, “Not in our house” may be cliche and overused, but the Redhawks used that mantra on Saturday.

Could these CVU teams sweep to state championships later this season? And when you throw the girls XC team in the mix, CVU could own five fall crowns come November.

Scary thought for the rest of the state.

They’re three undefeated teams in Division II football. Two of them will meet in Colchester as the Lakers play host to the U-32 Raiders tonight at 7.

At 3-0, the Lakers possess a dominant running game led by Devon Grammo and complemented by Alex Kozlowski. U-32 (3-0) counters with its own ground assault headlined by Elias LaCount.

CVU also has a unbeaten record in Div.II. The Redhawks face new divisional rival Middlebury (2-1) at home Saturday.

The Essex Hornets take their ‘Air Raid’ offense to Bennington for a potentially high-flying affair with Mount Anthony, which also employs a similar spread formation. The rest of tonight’s schedule.

For high school cross country, there’s only day that matters: the state meet.

While this year’s state championships are more than a month away — Oct. 31 at Thetford Academy — several teams and runners have shined brightly at a pair of early-season invitationals.

Let’s start with the girls:

Essex and CVU are the premier programs. Essex ended CVU’s 5-year reign atop D-I at last year’s state meet. So far in 2009, the programs each have victories at major meets (Essex and BHS invites).

At Burlington, Essex’s impressive pack running out-did CVU’s dependable strategy. The Hornets, led by freshman Rayna Dally, took places 7, 8, 9 and 12, 13. Summer Spillane and Adrienne Devita have been the Redhawks top runners.

Let’s rank them:
Teams:
1. Essex
2. CVU
3. South Burlington
Runners:
1. Hannah Rowe, St. Johnsbury
2. Emily Anderson, Middlebury
3. Jenna Griffith, Colchester

On the boys side, I don’t see much of a challenge for Essex in the D-I race.

Let’s rank them:
Teams:
1. Essex
2. South Burlington
3. Harwood
Runners:
1. Ben Lustgarten, BHS
2. Charlie Klilne, Essex
3. Nick Marshall, MMU

These rankings are subject to change. Give me your thoughts on some up-and-coming teams and runners, particularly in the smaller divisions.

Look ahead: The Manchester, N.H. invitational is Saturday, with Thetford’s Woods Trail Run the following weekend. Those meets bring a heap of talent from across the northeast. Of Vermont’s best, Rowe is the likely candidate to post a victory in one of the elite divisions over the next two weekends.