Laferriere, Miller Earn Weekly Honors
One of this week’s iBerkshires.com/Southwestern Vermont Health Care Athletes of the Week put a bow on a successful winter season while the other has their team trending in the right direction as it heads into the post-season.
At Wednesday’s Nordic ski State Championships, one of the big stories was the strong contribution the state titleist Mount Greylock girls got from their youngest skiers, some who just started in the sport this winter.
But do not forget about “grizzled veteran” Lauren Miller.
Miller placed fifth out of 135 finishers at Vermont’s Prospect Mountain, improving four places from her state meet finish in 2023 – as an eighth grader.
As much as the Mounties needed to rely on depth to win the school’s 13th state championship – and first since 2019 – having finishers at the front of the pack was just as important.
“We need the front-runners,” Mounties coach Hilary Greene said after the win. “We need those top 10s that are really going to give us low numbers to complement the up-and-comers.”
Now in ninth grade, Lauren Miller spent the season battling her big sister, senior Annie Miller, for the top spot in the Berkshire County League’s weekly races.
On Wednesday, the pair finished fifth and seventh, respectively, to help key Mount Greylock’s five-point win over runner-up Amherst.
“It’s really nice that they have each other to train with and push each other and make each other better, and it could go either way any given day,” Greene said of the sisters.
The Taconic hockey team has been playing a lot of games lately that could have gone either way.
Most have been going the Thunder’s way, in large part due to the play of netminder Cam LaFerriere.
On Wednesday, he made 31 saves to backstop the Thunder to a 5-4 win over Easthampton. Two nights later, he stopped 40 shots in a 6-5 road win over Easthampton to help Taconic improve to 6-8-3 going into this week’s Western Massachusetts Class B tournament.
Taconic is 3-1 in its last four games – all one-goal decisions, including a 2-1 win over Division 3 Longmeadow.
Taconic went into Friday’s game as the 31st ranked team in Division 4. Its Western Mass semi-final opponent, Greenfield, is No. 25 in D4 in the latest MIAA in-season power rankings.
Taconic is making a strong late season push for the 32-team state tournament and playing its best hockey of the season at the right time. Wednesday’s win in front of a Senior Night crowd at the Boys and Girls Club provided a little extra momentum.
“I’ve been playing for 12 years, it’s huge,” LaFerriere said afterward. “It’s huge to win on Senior Night. Besides it being Senior Night, it’s a huge game, and to win that is amazing.”
The iBerkshires.com Athlete of the Week is sponsored by Southwestern Vermont Health Care.