BURLINGTON — What do you even do as a senior class that’s won everything you can win?

For the Thetford Panthers boys track team it was simple enough: go out there, have some fun — oh, and win the school’s sixth consecutive Division III crown, making a little history along the way.

The Panthers rolled to another state title, powered by a dominant performance from a senior class that finished in points in 15 of the 18 events and scored 127 of Thetford’s meet-winning 164.5 points on a hot, hazy afternoon in Burlington.

“It is really inspiring,” Thetford coach Emily Silver said. “They have a great attitude about taking risks, forgiving themselves for mistakes, and cheering on their teammates.”

The Thetford seniors won seven events outright, with Uly Junker-Boyce taking the 100 meter dash and long jump, Luke Miller winning the 400 meter run and javelin, Brady Sloop winning both the 800 and 1500 meter runs and Evan Rich winning triple jump.

“It’s kind of surreal,” Junker-Boyce said. “To come and do it like we did, in this way, for the last two, three and four years has been so much fun and I’ve been so grateful to be part of this team.”

Sophomore Connor Sloop was the lone non-senior to win a solo event for Thetford, winning the discus throw just ahead of his Panther teammate David Stangner. A team of Connor Gaine, Elijah Renner, Daniel Mann and Jay Hill took the 4×800 relay and a three-senior team of Junker-Boyce, Rich, Hunter Clay and Emmett Terry won the 4×100 relay to give the Panthers an even 10 outright wins on the day.

Junker-Boyce was the star of the show, placing a capstone on what’s been a historic year for him. Already the overall state record holder in the 100 meters, 200 meters and long jump, Junker-Boyce shattered his own mark on the fifth attempt with a 7.28 meter jump that places him within the national top 100 and moves him nearly a quarter meter ahead of the next furthest in Vermont history.

“It was really fun,” Junker-Boyce said. “I come into meets with an attitude of ‘I’m gonna smile in the blocks and I’m gonna smile at the finish line’ and today I did just that. I came in with a good attitude …. first warm day, nice weather, and I jumped so good.”

“He has such a sunny disposition, and it’s really contagious,” said Silver of Junker-Boyce, who will compete for Williams College next year. “He thinks of this all as a gift. I want to hold on to some of that next year.”

White River Valley finished second on the boys side in what was a bit of a breakthrough for the young Wildcats. Jack Hughes and Hayden Mabey each finished second in long jump and pole vault, respectively, for the Wildcats best finishes of the day.

Eban Margolis won pole vault for Windsor’s lone event win of the afternoon, improving from his runner-up finish a year prior.

Oxbow’s Ruben Keefe finished second in the 110 meter hurdles for the Olympians best finish of the afternoon.

For Thetford, the win caps a strong year of running. The Panthers finished third in Division III at cross country, won the Division II indoor championship for the second time, and closed the year with a six-peat in outdoor track.

“To win indoor track, that was a goal since sophomore year… We did it together, we brought it all with us, kept the momentum and just nailed it today,” said Junker-Boyce.

Thetford will look to replace its influential senior class as it returns looking for a state-record tying seventh consecutive title in 2026.

How incredible has the Glenbard West boys volleyball run of 11 consecutive Final Four appearances been?

The Hilltoppers were defeated Saturday evening by the score of 25-20, 25-20 by Marist in the state title match at Hoffman Estates High School – and it’s only the second time during the remarkable 11-season stretch that Glenbard West has ended its season with a loss.

But there was little disappointment since the Hilltoppers weren’t expected to even be there.

“At the start of the year, no one thought we’d be here,” Glenbard West senior outside hitter Charlie Clifford said. “But we worked our butts off all year, no one worked harder. We’re an excellent program, and we got back here.”

Clifford was the only full-time starter back from the 2024 squad, which placed third. He led the team with eight kills in the title match, while junior middle hitter Otis Yahn contributed six kills.

Seniors Luke Bachman on the outside and Ryan Gritis in the middle added three kills each, while junior setter Andrew Fanella recorded 12 assists and senior setter Owen Bare added 10 assists and six digs.

“That was pretty awesome,” Yahn said of playing in a state title match. “Not many expected us to be here or get this far, but we did. I think we had a lot more community this season. We cared about each other and had a lot of fun.”

The Hilltoppers (36-6) did that. But the bottom line was that Marist (40-2) was too strong. This marked back-to-back titles for the RedHawks, who were considered the top team in the state all season, and whose only two losses were to out-of-state teams.

As usual, seniors Christian Teresi (14 kills, 15 assists) at setter/right-side and Nate Toth (11 kills) at outside led Marist. Senior setter Jacob Finley (18 assists, six digs) and senior outside hitter Devlin Biggs (five kills) were came up big for the RedHawks.

The opening set was some high-impact action as there were 13 ties and four lead changes through 14-14. Then Teresi capped off a 6-1 run with a trio of kills. The Hilltoppers crept back to 22-20, but Biggs banged a kill, and two Glenbard West errors ended it.

There were eight ties in the second set, but the Hilltoppers never led. The last tie was 16-16, and once again the RedHawks had a 6-1 burst. Glenbard West never got closer than four the rest of the way. Marist has won five state championships (2002, 2010, 2019, 2024 and 2025).

The Hilltoppers also have five titles, all of them coming between 2015-2023. They have four third-place trophies, and this is their second runner-up finish. The other was a 25-21, 25-23 loss to Marist in 2019.

“I’m super proud of these kids,” Glenbard West coach Christine Giunta-Mayer said. “They are a high-caliber group that trusted the process. We got here and have no regrets.

This was the Hilltoppers’ third loss to Marist this season.

“Jordan and I go back and forth, and we want to compete with someone who goes as hard as they do,” Giunta-Mayer said of Marist coach Jordan Vidovic. “We were thrilled we were here, and I’m super proud.”

In their semifinal on Saturday morning, the Hilltoppers defeated O’Fallon 25-17, 25-8 behind 10 kills from Clifford and four each from Bachman and freshman right-side hitter Lukas Wallin.

“I’ve been friends with a lot of those guys through club for years,” Clifford said of the RedHawks. “They have a great team, and it’s an honor to play against them.

“But what I’ll remember most is this program of ours. It’s been a source of consistency in my life to have this family here. It’s really helped me.”

• Inclement weather caused several postponements and delays in Rhode Island high school championship games on Saturday.
• Track and field events were postponed to Sunday, while some lacrosse and baseball games were completed.
• La Salle boys lacrosse won their 13th straight title, defeating Moses Brown in the state championship match.

Saturday’s weather wreaked havoc with the high school championship schedule, as several games were postponed, a few finished and some had to endure rain delays. Here’s where we stand after a soggy Saturday at Rhode Island College and Brown University.

The District 2 championship boys’ volleyball teams were eliminated from the PIAA playoffs in the quarterfinals Saturday afternoon at Exeter Township High School.

Holy Redeemer’s outstanding season ended with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-21) loss to York Suburban in the PIAA Class 2A playoffs.

Abington Heights finished its historic season with a 3-0 (25-9, 25-14, 25-18) loss to District 3 champion Cumberland Valley in the PIAA Class 3A quarterfinals in the second match of the doubleheader.

In the Class 2A opener, York Suburban, the runner-up from District 3, advanced to the semifinals and a rematch with District 3 champion Manheim Central, which defeated Dock Mennonite, 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-12) in Tuesday’s semifinal.

The Royals, who won the program’s first District 2 Class 2A championship since 2021, finished the season with a 20-1 record.

Josh Rocha led Holy Redeemer with 29 kills, six service points, and two digs. Rocha finished the season with 956 kills and 125 digs.

Setter Jack Wasiakowski contributed 37 assists to push his season total to 950 for the Royals during the run to a second straight state quarterfinal.

Max Mohutsky had six digs and four kills, Korey Tang had five kills and two blocks, and Brandon DelBalso had three kills and two blocks for Holy Redeemer.

In the Class 3A match, Cumberland Valley (20-0), the No. 1 team in the Class 3A poll by the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association, advanced to Tuesday’s semifinals against Governor Mifflin, the third-place team from District 3.

Abington Heights, which won the District 2 Class 3A championship and earned the first state playoff win in program history Wednesday against Bethlehem Freedom, ends with a 16-5 overall record.

The Comets’ frontline of Shawn Theodore and Shane Brower led the attack. Each had five kills, while Theodore added two blocks and Brower had one.

Theodore finished the season with 243 kills, and Brower had 180.

Chris Cummins led the defensive effort by the Comets with 13 digs.

Ryan Horutz, a sophomore setter, ran the offense and had 18 assists to give him 591 this season.

Originally Published: June 7, 2025 at 7:29 PM EDT

The Indiana High School Athletic Association girls track and field state meet was Saturday at North Central.

ST. MICHAEL — An army of Warriors will represent Brainerd in the Class 3A State Track and Field meet Tuesday, June 10, at St. Michael-Albertville High School.

Twenty-one athletes qualified for state, including four relay teams.

Senior Ty Nelson looks to defend his state title in the triple jump. He posted a new Section 8-3A record of 48-foot-11.5, which is also held at STMA.

Nelson won with a 47-7.5 at state last year.

“He’s got a mindset of shooting for 50 feet,” Brainerd head coach Casey Miller said. “If he jumps anywhere near that, there’s not anyone else that has the potential to do that.”

Joe Smith returns to state in the pole vault. Smith cleared 13-6 to place 15th at state last year. He won the section by clearing 13-8.

“He’s cleared over 15 feet in practice; he just hasn’t done it in a meet,” Miller said. “I fully expect him to put it together at the state meet.”

Kyle Peterson is back in the 110-meter hurdles. He did not make it out of the prelims last year at state with a 15.32. He won sections with a personal-best 14.77.

Peterson joined Jordan Davis, Austin Asher and Travis Albrecht to qualify the 4×100 relay team with a first-place 42.69.

Asher will compete in the 100 dash as he qualified with a time of 10.97. Preston Miller qualified in the 300 hurdles with a second-place 40.03.

“We didn’t have Austin and Jordan on the 4×100 team earlier and we were one second off the state standard,” Miller said. “Coach (Mikkey) White put them through some serious exchange work and they missed the school record by five hundredths of a second. Asher is starting to break 11 seconds in the 100 consistently now and his starts are coming around. Kyle continues to look awesome. His main race is the 110 and he could make the finals. I think Preston is going to break 40 seconds at state.”

Ava Loney highlights the Warrior girls by qualifying for three events. She ran a state-qualifying time of 12.33 in the 100 dash at sections.

Along with Macy Castle, Avery Duerr and Kenadie Paulson, Loney helped the 4×100 and 4×200 relays qualify, too.

“There’s still a ton of improvement for the relays,” Miller said. “It’s a fast team and they look great. They look better every time they run. They just missed the school record in the 4×100 again, but I’m hoping for a finals berth in both relays. Ava is just getting faster and faster and hopefully she can figure out a way to get in the finals.”

Natalie Smith is back at state, but in a different hurdles event. Last year, she finished 14th in the 300 hurdles. This year, she qualified for the 100 hurdles with a 15.72.

Kelly Humphrey

“We were hoping to get her in the 300 hurdles, but she didn’t quite get there,” Miller said. “The 100 hurdles has been her best event all year. She is going to have to work for it, but it’s not impossible to make it to the next round.”

Isabelle Ploof placed second to qualify in the discus with a toss of 118-6.

“She missed the state standard by one foot, but she’s been out to 127 back in April,” Miller said. “She’s been working through some things and hopefully it all can come together and she can get back to the 125-130 mark.”

Brainerd’s 4×800 relay teams of Brooke Wenz, Sophia Blanck, Madi Miller and Annelise Baird and John Cowell, Ben Stadum, Mullen Bratney and Carter Mielke qualified.

The boys’ team raced a second-place time of 8:07.94 while the girls ran a state-qualifying time of 9:30.49.

“I think this is the fourth year in a row that we’ve taken the girls’ team,” Miller said. “We will be the fastest team in the slowest heat and we are hoping to come out of that heat and sneak into a podium spot. On the boys’ side, I’m not sure if you told me at the beginning of the season that we had a team that could do it. We have great senior leaders in Ben and Carter who pulled the team together. We are trying to find a way to drop four or five seconds.”

It’s believed that 21 state entrants is a school record for the Warriors.

“Everything we had put in to hopefully make it was hitting,” Miller said. “We almost added another three kids with some other relays. (Assistant coaches) Dave (Herath) and Robb Kolodziej and some of those guys who have been around a long time have mentioned that this is a record number of athletes.”

CONRAD ENGSTROM may be reached at 218-855-5861 or conrad.engstrom@brainerddispatch.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/the_rad34.

When: June 10-12
Where: St. Michael-Albertville High School
Times: 9 a.m. June 10 Class 3A prelims, 3:30 p.m. June 10 Class 1A prelims; 9 a.m. June 11 Class 2A prelims, 3:30 p.m. June 11 Class 1A Finals; 9 a.m. June 12 Class 2A Finals, 3:30 p.m. June 12 Class 3A Finals