-The annual celebration of high school basketball in Vermont, the Vermont Basketball Coaches Association (VBCA) Senior All-Star Games, were held at Windsor High School on March 21.
More than the four all-star games that were played over the course of the day, it was also a chance to celebrate the outstanding accomplishments of student-athletes, coaches, officials, and contributors from across the state.
The girls and boys who became 1,000-point scorers this season were recognized. They included Brattleboro’s Reese Croutworst, who finished her varsity career with 1,248 points.
Local players who received Outstanding Underclassman honors included Avery Maxfield and Abby Nystrom of Bellows Falls, and Kate Oyer and Brayden and Landon Brown of Twin Valley.
A VBCA scholarship was awarded to Brattleboro’s Myah Waite.
Alex Stradling, executive director of Falls Area Community Television (FACT-TV) in Bellows Falls, was named Media Person of the Year. FACT-TV has done an excellent job broadcasting home games of Bellows Falls Union High School girls’ and boys’ basketball, as well as other school sports.
• As for the games themselves, the North seniors swept all four of them. The North topped the South, 76-66, in the Division I-II girls’ game. Champlain Valley’s Zoey McNabb led the North with 15 points. Hartford’s Charlotte Jasmin, who is only the fifth girl in state history to score more than 2,000 career points and was the VBCA’s Player of the Year, led the South with 18 points. Croutworst had 11 points, 12 rebounds, and six steals. Brattleboro’s Parker Thibault also played for the South.
The North beat the South, 82-66, in the Division I-II boys’ game. There were no local players in that contest.
In the closest outcome of the day, the North edged the South, 46-44, in the Division III-IV girls’ game. Cadence James and Veronica Moore of Bellows Falls and Colie Roby of Green Mountain played for the South.
The North defeated the South, 90-83, in the Division III-IV boys’ game. Coby Levesque of Bellows Falls was the lone local senior on the South roster.
SVL All-Stars named
• The Southern Vermont League (SVL) recently announced its all-league selections for the 2025-26 winter season.
• In boys’ basketball, Hudson Smith and Logan Waite of Brattleboro received honorable mention in the A Division. Jaden Bazin of Bellows Falls received honorable mention in the B Division, and Twin Valley’s Brayden and Landon Brown and Green Mountain’s Wyatt Koch and Cooper Garvey were named to the C Division first team. Twin Valley’s Chris Brown and Woodstock’s Scott Brooks shared C Division Coach of the Year honors. Spencer Claussen, Ryder Butynski, and Logan Plimpton of Leland & Gray received honorable mention in the D Division.
• Brattleboro’s Reese Croutworst was a first-team selection for the girls’ basketball A Division team. Teammate Emerson Frehsee received honorable mention. Bellows Falls’s Abby Nystrom and Green Mountain’s Colie Roby were first-team selections in the C Division. BF’s Avery Maxfield and Veronica Moore received honorable mention, and BF’s James Pecsok was named Coach of the Year. Twin Valley’s Kate Oyer made the D Division first team, and her teammate Joslyn Codogni received honorable mention.
• In Nordic skiing, Brattleboro’s Nico Conathan-Leach was named to the boys’ all-star team, and Brattleboro’s Maayan Coleman and Xela Nestel were selected to the girls’ all-star team.
Kudos for a mentor and friend
• Lawrence “Poody” Walsh, the longtime sports editor of the Claremont (N.H.) Eagle Times, was inducted into the New England Newspaper Hall of Fame during a celebratory dinner at the 2026 New England Newspaper Convention, held March 13 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
A native of North Walpole and graduate of Bellows Falls High School, Class of 1959, Walsh is also a member of both the Vermont Principals’ Association Hall of Fame and the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association Hall of Fame.
He started his newspaper career with what was then the Claremont Daily Eagle right after graduation and stayed with the Eagle until his retirement in 2001.
With the merger of the Eagle with the Bellows Falls-Springfield Times-Reporter in the early 1970s, Poody helped build up the sports section as it now covered both sides of the river from Bellows Falls to Ludlow and Windsor on the Vermont side, and from Walpole to Claremont and Newport on the New Hampshire side.
It was a lot of ground to cover, but he did his job well. I saw that firsthand, as I worked for the Eagle Times from 1995 to 2001 on both the news and sports sides of the newsroom. It was still an afternoon paper, so Poody would be there at just before 7 in the morning to put together the sports pages, then go home after the paper went to press at noontime and take a quick nap before covering games in the afternoon and evening.
Poody gained a reputation for being tough but fair in his writing, and for mentoring dozens of sports and news reporters over the years. One of his alumni, Tom Curran of NBC Sports Boston, accepted the award for Poody at the March 13 banquet since he wasn’t able to go to Portsmouth.
I am proud to have been one of the many people he mentored in his long career, and to have helped write the nomination letter to get Poody into the New England Newspaper Hall of Fame. It is a well-deserved honor for someone who is among the best people I’ve worked with in my 46 years in the media business.
RFPL hosts ‘Signs of Spring’ hike
• On Saturday, March 28, from 11 a.m. to noon, the Rockingham Free Public Library (RFPL) will host a Signs of Spring walk on the Bald Hill Trails in Westminster. This walk will be led by Hannah Dallas, the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks & Recreation’s Southern Windsor County Forester.
“As April is nearing, it’s time to look for signs of spring,” organizers said in a news release. “This all-weather outing is perfect for walkers who will enjoy learning about the forested landscape, looking for birds, and exploring the Bald Hill Trails with good company.
Walkers should meet at 10:45 a.m. at the Cemetery Road entrance to Bald Hill Trails (off of Route 5 by Bellows Falls Union High School). The walk begins at 11 a.m., rain or shine, and there will be refreshments after the walk. Walkers are also encouraged to bring binoculars (several pairs are available to borrow from the library).
This event is free and open to the public, and no sign-up is required. It is part of the RFPL’s Rockingham Gathers program, made possible by a 2025 AARP Vermont Winter Placemaking Grant. For more information about this and other programs, call 802-463-4270, visit rockinghamlibrary.org or stop by the library at 65 Westminster St., in Bellows Falls.
Senior bowling roundup
• Week 11 of the winter/spring season of the Brattleboro Senior Bowling League at Brattleboro Bowl on March 19 saw Bad Boys (34-21) and Wayne’s World (33-22) hanging on to the top two spots despite both teams having 1-4 weeks. Lucky 7 (30-25) is third, followed by Strikers and Bowling Stones (both 28-27), Slo Movers (26-29), Three Strikes and Serious (both 25.5-29.5), Candy Men (25-30), and Spare Time (21-34).
Doris Lake had the women’s high handicap game (239) and Nancy Dalzell had the high handicap series (647). Warren Corriveau Sr. had the men’s high handicap game (256) and Robert Rigby had the high handicap series (684). Strikers had the high team handicap game (898) and series (2,581).
Kevin Napaver again had the men’s high scratch series (700) with games of 269 and 247, while Rigby had a 684 series with games of 232, 227, and 225, and Corriveau had a 622 series with games of 254 and 191. Peter Deyo had a 589 series with games of 212 and 193, John Walker had a 563 series with games of 215 and 201, Gary Montgomery had 563 series with a 223 game, and Milt Sherman had a 534 series with a 195 game.
Dalzell had the women’s high scratch series (476) with games of 162 and 161. Pam Greenblott had the high scratch game (178), and Diane Cooke rolled a 170.
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.