Thursday, May 8
WESTMINSTER -- Battling a leg injury going into the track and field season, Brattleboro senior Noah Gillard was lucky to be able to jump and run competitively enough to place in this year's track meets.

Never mind that. Gillard, leaping with his opposite foot, broke the Colonels' record in the triple jump at Wednesday's meet at Bellows Falls. His distance of 43 feet, 2 1/2 inches bested the mark of 42 feet, 11 1/2 inches set by Neal Ravenna in 1981.

His next goal? To overtake the Brattleboro long jump record of 21 feet, 8 inches, set in 1936.

Gillard won both events at the Bellows Falls meet, spearheading the Brattleboro boys track team to a second place finish (136 points) behind Windsor (180). Bellows Falls (121.5) came in third, while Green Mountain was seventh with 14.

Other first-place finishers for Brattleboro was Landen Elliott-Knaggs' 2:12.2 800-meter time, the 1600-meter relay time of 3:58 by Kalle Jahn, Chris Conforti, Elliott-Knaggs and Zach Snell, and the 3200-meter relay grouping of Bjorn Blakeson, Jahn, Sam Lazzaro and Conforti.

Gillard's teammate, Justin Pletcher, got some bragging rights in the 100-meter dash, finishing second in 11.7

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seconds, 1/10 of a second ahead of the third-place Gillard.

Meanwhile, the Brattleboro girls track team walked away from the eight-team meet with a victory, amassing 132.5 points. Bellows Falls (128) came in second, with Green Mountain (57.5) and Twin Valley (6) coming in fifth and seventh, respectively.

Chelsy Pillsbury had a successful day for the Colonels, winning the triple jump (31 feet, 4 1/2 inches) and getting top-three finishes in two other individual events.

Avery Garfield won the shot put (27 feet, 2 inches) and discus throw (81 feet, 3 inches), and Robin Darrow got the high jump (5 feet, 2 inches). The other champion of the day was Andrea Durant, who won the pole vault with a clear of 7 feet, 6 inches.

The juniors and seniors of both the boys and girls Brattleboro track team compete Friday at Fall Mountain, N.H., while the freshmen and sophomores will travel to Keene, N.H., on Saturday.

Girls Tennis

Woodstock 7, Bellows Falls 0

WOODSTOCK -- The Bellows Falls girls tennis team knew what it was getting into Wednesday, taking on a strong Woodstock squad away. And while the Terriers fell, 7-0, they were able to take some moral victories away from the game.

"Woodstock is a tremendous team. They're incredible tennis players," Bellows Falls coach Craig Divis said. "We were just looking to see if we can stay in some points."

Rising to the challenge was Nos. 2 and 3 singles competitors BrieAnn Chase and Mindy Sault.

"BrieAnn played a very good match. She was in on every single point and took a lot of games to deuce. She rose to the challenge of playing a top competitor," Divis said.

Sault, a first-year player, had the closest match, falling to Kelly Willis, 6-1, 6-2.

The Terriers (0-6) play against Mount Saint Joseph in Bellows Falls on Friday at 4:30 p.m.

Baseball

Derryfield 11, Hinsdale 2

HINSDALE, N.H. -- Derryfield pitcher P.J. Kutz started the game by striking out seven Hinsdale hitters in a row and the Pacers never recovered, losing, 11-2, Wednesday in Hinsdale, N.H.

Kutz finished with 11 strikeouts on the day and Hinsdale was only able to touch him for seven hits and two runs. Both Pacer runs came in the fourth inning. Cody Rodgers drove in Sam Kilelee with a single and Trevor Bonnette had an RBI single of his own, knocking in Rodgers.

Hinsdale hosts Sunapee on Friday at 4 p.m.