GM Girls’ and Boys’ track and field teams each place 2nd at D4 state meet

By Dan Tyrrell
© 2022 Telegraph Publishing

MANCHESTER

On a beautiful day for a track and field meet, Green Mountain’s girls’ and boys’ track teams each delivered performances worth second place at the Division 4 Vermont State competition in Manchester on Friday.

With only six girls representing GM, it was hard to overcome the winning team, White River Valley, with 20 girls on its roster. Still, that made the second place finish even sweeter. The top three final team scores were White River Valley with 123 points, GM with 84 points and Northfield with 65 points. For the GM girls, it was a dominating performance in their respective events.

Grace Tyrrell led the charge, placing first in each event that she entered and breaking the D4 state record in each event as well. She won the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 17.03 seconds, the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 49.09 seconds, and the 200-meter run with a time of 26.59 seconds. She was also a part of the 4 x 100-meter relay, along with teammates Kyra Burbela, Berkley Hutchins and Eva Svec. Their combined time was 53.84 seconds, a D4 state record.

Svec had to quickly transition to the 100-meter finals after the relay and still managed to get second place with a time of 13.96 seconds. Burbela, the lone freshman on the team, added to the team score by winning the girls’ high jump at 4-feet 9.9-inches. She also placed fourth in the long jump with a distance of 14-feet 5-inches. Burbela placed eighth in the triple jump, followed closely by her teammate Jordan Harper, who placed ninth. Hutchins put herself on the board, taking second in the discus with a throw of 85-feet 1-inch; she also went on to place fourth in the shot put with a distance of 29-feet 2.5-inches. GM junior Luna Burkland placed second in the shot put with a distance of 30-feet 4.75-inches.

GM’s boys were in a much closer race to the top, finishing second to Craftsbury by just 6 points. The top three teams were Craftsbury with 111 points, GM with 105 points and Richford with 103 points.

Leading the charge for the boys were the Mosher brothers. Everett Mosher broke the D4 record in the 400-meter run with a time of 51.13 seconds; he also placed first in the 800-meter run (1:59.96) and the 1500-meter race (4:12.73). Mosher also took points in the 200-meter run, placing fourth with a time of 24.66 seconds.

Not to be outdone by his brother, Eben Mosher took first place in three events as well, winning the long jump, triple jump, and javelin events with distances of 19-feet 9.5-inches, 39-feet 3.25-inches and 139-feet 11-inches, respectively. He also took second place in the high jump with a height of 5-feet 9.75-inches.

The winner of the high jump was GM’s Benjamin Munukka, who snagged a personal record with a height of 6-feet 2-inches. Munukka also added to the board in the 200-meter run, placing sixth at 24.76 seconds. Aiden Farrar, who started track and field this year, placed second in the shot put with a distance of 38 feet. The GM boys’ relay team, Evan Hayes, Miles Garvin, Mitchell Rounds and Noah Cherubini, gained some points as well in the 4 x 400-meter race, placing fifth with a time of 4:11.01.

Rounds added to the team score by placing third in the long jump with a distance of 18-feet 10.5-inches and third in the 300-meter hurdles at 45.93 seconds. GM’s 4 x 100-meter relay team of Rounds, Liam Benoit, Forest Garvin and Munukka finished at 51.18 seconds, only 0.57 seconds away from a point.

Coaching these impressive teams is Angela Hutchins. 

2022 Varsity Boys’ team: Liam Benoit 12, Josh Buckley 11, Noah Cherubini 10, Aiden Farrar 12, Forest Garvin 10, Miles Garvin 12, Joachim Gibson 9, Evan Hayes 12, Jaden Holden 12, Eben Mosher 11, Everett Mosher 12, Benjamin Munukka 11, Mitchell Rounds 12, Jackson Ruhlin 12, and Elias Stowell-Aleman 12

2022 Varsity Girls’ team: Greta Bernier 11, Kyra Burbela 9, Luna Burkland 11, Jordan Harper 12, Berkley Hutchins 11, Marlayna King 11, Eva Svec 12, and Grace Tyrrell 12.

Writer Dan Tyrrell is father to athlete Grace Tyrrell.