-Slovenians have dominated the podium at the annual Harris Hill Ski Jump in Brattleboro over the past decade, but the 104th edition of this event saw an American jumper claim the Winged Ski Trophy.
On Feb. 15, Henry Loher, 17, of the New York Ski Education Foundation (NYSEF) team from Lake Placid, became the first U.S. jumper to win the Fred Harris Memorial Tournament since Chris Lamb did it in 2013.
Loher, who was also the U20 winner of the U.S. Cup competition on Feb. 14, elected to compete in the Open class on Sunday for the prestigious Winged Trophy. Loher narrowly edged Slovenia’s Urh Rosar — a two-time Open class champion seeking his third consecutive win to permanently retire the trophy — with a total score of 252.5 to Rosar’s 250.
Loher scored 252.5 points in his two jumps measuring both distance and style, with jumps of 92 and 99 meters. He beat out Rosar, who had jumps of 93.5 and 95.5 meters.
Also on Sunday, the first-ever Women’s Open Class trophy at the Fred Harris Memorial Tournament was awarded to Slovenia’s Nejka Repinc. Repinc secured the win with a standout 91.5-meter jump, finishing six points ahead of teammate Lara Logar. Makenzie Maines of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, was the Women’s U20 winner; her best jump was 93.5 meters.
The Men’s U16 competition on Sunday was won by Liam Demong of Park City, Utah. His best jump covered 97 meters. Spencer Jones of the Harris Hill Nordic Club was seventh; his best jump was 78 meters. Mitchell Penning of NYSEF was the U20 winner with a top jump of 97.5 meters.
David Bieniek of Norway was the Masters winner with a 95 meter jump. Marlboro Nordic Ski Club’s Spencer Knickerbocker finished fourth with a top jump of 85.5 meters.
In Saturday’s U.S. Cup, Loher had jumps of 99 and 96.5 meters to win the Men’s U20 event with 296.3 points. Penning was second with jumps of 89 and 92.5 meters for 265.3 points. Max Fey of NYSEF won the Men’s U16 event with jumps of 88.5 and 97 meters for 238 points. Jones finished fifth with jumps of 76 and 78.5 meters for 166 points. Maines was the Women’s U20 winner with jumps of 84 and 83 meters for 193 points.
Logar won the Women’s Open event with a jump of 93 feet, while Rosar took the Men’s Open event with a 99 meter jump. Espen Olsby of Norway won the Masters event, with Knickerbocker finishing fifth.
There were 55 competitors in all, the largest field since 1992. With temperatures in the 30s, about 3,000 spectators were in attendance each day.
Boys’ basketball
• Bellows Falls entered the final two weeks of the regular season with as tough a schedule as any team in Division III — eight games in 15 days, five of them against upper division teams.
The first of those games was against the Fair Haven Slaters on Feb. 13 at Holland Gymnasium. The Terriers picked that night to raise its 2025 Division III state football championship banner. However, the Slaters, BF’s bitter rivals on the gridiron, got the last laugh with a 70-43 blowout win.
The Slaters controlled the glass at both ends of the floor, and sank 14 three-pointers to break open a close game. BF led 12-11 after one quarter, but Fair Haven gradually pulled away after that and led 32-19 at the half and 54-32 after three quarters.
BF quickly recovered the next night and beat Thetford, 57-50, to improve to 6-7 on the season. Earlier in the week, the Terriers defeated Windsor, 74-55.
• Brattleboro is 5-11 after losing two of its three games last week. The Bears lost 53-39 at Woodstock on Feb. 9, defeated Mount Anthony 71-61 on Feb. 11 at the BUHS gym, and lost 77-55 at White River Valley on Feb. 13.
• Leland & Gray is now 3-13 after a pair of road losses last week — a 71-55 defeat at Arlington on Feb. 9 and a 49-45 loss to Long Trail School on Feb. 11.
• Twin Valley improved to 13-3 with a 70-49 home win over Rivendell on Feb. 12.
Girls’ basketball
• After a 10-day break, Bellows Falls hosted Windsor on Feb. 14 and lost 48-22 to fall to 13-4 on the season.
• Brattleboro had a pair of losses last week — a 58-43 defeat against Rutland on Feb. 12 at the BUHS gym and a 56-51 road loss to Fair Haven on Feb. 14, to fall to 7-11.
• Twin Valley is now 9-8 after winning two of their three games last week. After a 45-32 loss at Arlington on Feb. 11, the Wildcats beat Sharon Academy 37-35 on Feb. 13 and rolled to a 53-22 win over Leland & Gray in Townshend on Feb. 14.
• In addition to the loss to Twin Valley, Leland & Gray also suffered an 81-13 loss to Mount St. Joseph on Feb. 12 to fall to 1-17.
Nordic skiing
• The Brattleboro boys finished second overall behind Mount Anthony in the Southern Vermont League championships, which wrapped up on Feb. 11 at the Marlboro Nordic Ski Club with a freestyle relay race.
Brattleboro’s A relay team of Liam and Nico Conathan-Leach, Dylan Bouchard, and Walker Korb finished third in 34 minutes, 20 seconds.
The Bears put together a relay team in the girls’ meet with a quartet of varsity skiers Maayan Coleman and Xela Nestel and junior varsity skiers Amanda Montavala and Rosalie Schneski. They finished fifth in 43:49. Brattleboro did not have enough skiers to compile an overall team score in the girls’ championship meet.
The Bears now will finish the season with the state championship meet. The freestyle portion takes place on Feb. 19 at Rikert Nordic Center in Ripton and the classic race is on Feb. 24 at Craftsbury.
Ice hockey
• The Brattleboro boys suffered a pair of losses last week. In their home finale on Feb. 11, the 1-13-1 Bears were beaten by Burlington, 7-4. On Feb. 13, Stowe beat visiting Brattleboro, 6-1.
• The Brattleboro girls fell to 0-12-1 after an 8-1 loss at Harwood on Feb. 14.
Gymnastics
• Brattleboro topped host Montpelier, 126.95-113.95 in a dual meet on Feb. 14. Lauren Chute had another solid day for the Bears with a top all-around score of 36.4 points with 9.3 in floor exercises, 9.2 on the balance beam, 9.0 on the bars, and 8.9 on the vault. Sadie Cheslawski was second in the all-around with 32.5 points, Hailey Richards was fourth with 30.35 points, and Bethany Traut was seventh with 24.05 points.
Fort Dummer, Townshend state parks have job openings
• Fort Dummer State Park in Brattleboro and Townshend State Park are both hiring for the upcoming camping season.
Fort Dummer says it is hiring for all positions, including park manager and assistant park manager. Full-time and part-time park attendant positions are open from late April until mid-September at both Fort Dummer and Townshend. For more information about park positions, go to vtstateparks.com/employment.html.
Senior bowling roundup
• Week 6 of the winter/spring season of the Brattleboro Senior Bowling League at Brattleboro Bowl Feb. 12 saw Wayne’s World (21.5-8.5) take sole possession of first place, just a half-game ahead of Bad Boys (21-9). Slo Movers (18-12) are in third, followed by Strikers (16-14), Spare Time, Lucky 7, and Bowling Stones (all 14-16), Candy Men and Three Strikes (both 11-19), and Serious (9.5-20.5).
Debbie Kolpa had the women’s high handicap game (258) and series (671). John Walker had the men’s high handicap game (243) and series (600). Spare Time had the high team handicap game (917) and series (2,526).
Kevin Napaver had the men’s high scratch series (692) with games of 254, 222, and 216, while John Walker had a 600 series with games of 241 and 190. Peter Deyo had a 596 series with games of 202, 198, and 196, Robert Rigby also had a 596 series with a 245 game, Warren Corriveau Sr. had a 573 series with games of 213 and 194, Milt Sherman had a 544 series with a 202 game, and Gary Montgomery had a 510 series.
Kolpa had the women’s high scratch series (522) and game (206). Diane Cooke had a 195 game and Carol Gloski rolled a 180.
Randolph T. Holhut, deputy editor of this newspaper, has written this column since 2010 and has covered sports in Windham County since the 1980s. Readers can send him sports information at news@commonsnews.org.
This Sports column by Randolph T. Holhut was written for The Commons.