Stratton Mountain Ski School alum Jessie Diggins, fresh off her history-making performance as the first American, along with Kikkan Randall, to ever win a medal in cross-country at the Olympics, has climbed into second place overall in the International Ski Federation World Cup standings.
Diggins came in second in the FIS women’s 10k freestyle in Sweden, and that finish moved Diggins into the second spot in the season-long World Cup standings, just 40 points behind the winner, Heidi Weng of Norway. Diggins' second in the overall standings is the best American finish since Vermont's own Bill Koch won the Cup in 1982.
On Saturday the Norwich Cadets women's hockey team became division three NCAA champions for the first time since 2011, beating Elmira 2-1 on a goal with just over 90 seconds to go in the third period by Sophie McGovern.
The Soaring Eagles were something of a surprise opponent for Norwich after they upset the four time reigning champion Plattsburgh State Cardinals in overtime Friday night, and they showed that win was no fluke, giving Norwich all they could handle in the final, including a short-handed goal to tie the game at one before McGovern's heroics late in the third.
Also over the weekend the Rutland boy's high school basketball team made it back to back division one state titles, topping Mount Mansfield 45-39 to finish a perfect 23-0 on the season, and pushing their overall winning streak dating back to last year to forty straight games.
The division three boy's winner is Windsor after the Yellow Jackets topped Williamstown 71-59 behind a mammoth 36 point night from Seth Balch.
The division two boy's final will be decided tonight with Milton tipping off against Fair Haven after a wild 57-56 Yellow Jackets victory over U-32 in the semi-final at Barre Auditorium. U-32 trailed by a dozen points with just under three minutes left in regulation and launched a three-pointer that went through the hoop and would have been the game winner but the shot was negated on a traveling call, allowing Milton to move on to the final for the first time in 25 years.
Mount Abraham won the division two girl's title with a 33-25 win over Fair Haven Friday night.
And the team that defeated UVM by a single point on a last second buzzer beater to win the America East championship and then went on to make history by becoming the first number 16 seed to ever defeat a number one in the Big Dance is out.
The UMBC Retrievers were well known to fans of America East basketball but were thrust into the national sports conversation with their shocking upset of number one Virginia, a game they ran away with and won by double digits. But the Cinderella run by UMBC struck midnight in a 50-43 loss to Kansas State. If nothing else, though, it shows that the UMBC upset win over UVM in the America East final was no fluke and that there's no shame in UVM having lost to the team that went on to topple a number one seed for the first time ever in NCAA history. It does make you wonder, though, what the Catamounts could have done in the tournament, although if they had beaten UMBC they would not have gone into the tournament as a 16 seed.
One of the best basketball players on earth plays in New Orleans and last night Anthony Davis made life difficult in the Big Easy for the Boston Celtics, ripping off a double double of 34 points and eleven rebounds in the Pelicans' 108-89 rout.
The Pelicans are fighting for a playoff spot in the western conference and had lost four of their last five and needed this win to pull into a tie with Utah and San Antonio for fifth place. The Celtics are in a more comfortable playoff position in the east but have been struggling as well of late, losing three of their last four in part because the injury bug has bit. The Celtics best player Kyrie Iriving was out again last night, the third game in a row he's missed, and the Celts were also without defensive specialist Marcus Smart. Jayson Tatum had 23 for Boston in the losing effort and right now coach Brad Stevens would just like to get Irving back to full health as the playoffs get closer, so it could be another game or two before Irving is allowed back onto the court.
