Hailey Katona erased an 11-shot deficit Tuesday to climb back into contention at the 2024 Vermont State Women’s Golf Association Amateur golf championship.

Wednesday, the defending champion made sure the comeback wasn’t for naught.

Katona of Green Mountain National fired a final-round 74 at the Champlain Country Club, to slip past Lin Culver of Neshobe for a one-shot victory to secure the second of back-to-back women’s Amateur crowns.

She’s the first to claim consecutive titles since Holly Reynolds (2016, 2017).

2023 story: Hailey Katona seizes first Vermont women’s amateur golf title

Katona went 77-69-74 to finish 7-over par and a three-day total of 220. In her final 18 holes, Katona birdied three times to bring her tournament total to 11.

Culver, who opened the championship with a course-record 66 on Tuesday, finished at 8-over. Tiffany Maurycy of Copley and Lakeside’s Carson Richards tied for third, 12 shots back of the Katona.

VSWGA Amateur Championship

At Champlain Country Club

Final leaderboard (Wednesday)

Hailey Katona (Green Mountain) … 77-69-74—220

Lin Culver (Neshobe) … 66-78-77—221

Tiffany Maurycy (Copley) … 77-79-76—232

Carson Richards (Lakeside) … 79-75-78—232

Andrea Brown (Champlain) … 78-80-81—239

Teegan Duffy (Rutland) … 82-78-80—240

Jeanne Morrissey (Williston) … 80-82-78—240

Kaylie Porter (Equinox) … 79-81-83—243

Kanika Gandhi (VT National) … 81-80-85—246

Patti Haas (Killington) … 86-85-81—252

Amy Butcher (Stowe) … 86-85-83—254

Jazz Bruce (Lang Farm) … 83-87-84—254

Holly Reynolds (Copley) … 88-79-88—255

Reggie Parker (Ekwanok) … 83-89-89—261

Wendy Drolette (Williston) … 85-88-91—264

Cheri Campbell (Kwiniaska) … 89-83-96—268

Kimberley Barkyoumb (Champlain) … 89-90-89—268

Ann ODay (Williston) … 86-95-87—268

Barb Masterson (Williston) … 87-91-91—269

Kimberly Fadden (Cedar Knoll) … 88-89-93—270

Barbara Shiffler (Williston) … 88-89-94—271

Dana Cassidy (VT National) … 87-89-96—272

Vicki Goodrich (Quechee) … 92-91-90— 273

Michelle Rocheleau … 93-85-95—273

Julie Dale (Kwiniaska) … 89-89-96—274

Jen Steck (Lake Morey) … 94-95-89—278

Jillian Miles (Rutland) … 97-93-88—278

Susie Bremner (Rocky Ridge) … 93-91-95—279

Ashley Bond (Kwiniaska) … 91-94-94—279

Tracy Webster (Copley) … 96-91-94—281

Sarah Lussier (Champlain) … 88-100-93—281

Michelle Devino (Cedar Knoll) … 95-95-94—284

Jennifer Farrington (Burlington) … 94-95-95—284

Alyssa Barnes (Stowe) … 93-101-91—285

Darlene Ross (Champlain) … 87-96-102—285

Jennifer Papillo (Lang Farm) … 98-92-96—286

Dixie Mercier (Barre) … 96-96-94—286

Jane Linda Parson (Haystack) … 99-93-96—288

Kat Nelson (Kwiniaska) … 97-96-95—288

Cathy Moss (Champlain) … 96-98-99—293

Hannah Pinette (Champlain) 101-93-99—293

Gail Renaud (Kwiniaska) … 95-102-97—294

Karen Slowinski (Champlain) … 99-99-97—295

Sue Storey (Williston) … 93-102-100—295

Rhonda Colvard (Kwiniaska) … 106-91-99—296

Stella Rakochy (Kwiniaska) … 98-99-99—296

Clare Stackpole-McGrath (Kwiniaska) … 96-96-105—297

Patricia Baroudi (Barre) … 95-97-106—298

Nathalie Lascelles (Lang Farm) … 97-98-107—302

Harriet Murray (Williston) … 101-104-99—304

Dee Lamberton (Barre) … 97-106-101—304

Anne Marie Blackman (Green Mountain) … 102-100-102—304

Jill Appel (Fox Run) … 100-95-109—304

Janet Hayden (Williston) … 102-106-102—310

Mary Brouillette (Champlain) … 104-105-101—310

Sarah Lee (Equinox) … 101-106-105—312

Cathy Systo (Equinox) … 110-102-100—312

Sarah Schwartz (Cedar Knoll) … 107-103-103—313

Lois Dolan (Williston) … 102-110-102—314

Denise Barnard (Williston) … 104-103-109—316

Meredith Parker (Kwiniaska) … 104-110-107—321

Cheryl Hoar (Burlington) … 104-113-108—325

Donna Chadwick (Champlain) … 106-114-110—330

Jackie Deslauriers (Champlain) … 156-131-138—425

Contact Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter: @aabrami5.

Vermont is likely to feel the impacts of Tropical Storm Debby on Friday, which could include more flooding in the region now that the storm has shifted west.

Though, forecasters caution there is still uncertainty about exactly what to expect.

Tropical Storm Debby is making its way over the Atlantic Wednesday, with concerns of flooding and rainfall in North and South Carolina, according to the National Weather Service’s latest forecast.

After making landfall in Florida on Monday, Debby has killed at least five people so far and continues its track north.

The storm is expected to continue through the East Coast over the weekend. Vermont will feel the effects of Debby this weekend, the NOAA’s latest forecast projects.

Here’s what to know about Debby’s projected impact in Vermont.

Debby expected to bring rainfall to New Hampshire later this week

Although the NOAA had earlier projected several inches of rainfall in Southern New England, overnight the storm shifted west moving that rain to Upstate New York and Vermont. About two to four inches of rain is expected, NOAA said.

“The remnants of Debby will move through the region Friday and Friday night and bring heavy rainfall. Scattered flash flooding is possible,” the National Weather Service Burlington predicted. “There is still uncertainty about where the area of heaviest rain will fall.”

With the storm trending westward, there is a chance that it will continue to move that way, the National Weather Service Burlington wrote in their Area Forecast Discussion, which “means the area of concern may be shifting.”

“The latest forecast has Debby`s remnants crossing near or directly over our forecast area late Friday into early Saturday, with the center potentially being well to our east by Saturday evening. This means a faster end to rainfall on Saturday, with some guidance even indicating that much of the day will be dry, especially from the Champlain Valley westward,” the Area Forecast Discussion reads.

Vermont, they added, remains particularly sensitive to flooding.

Where is Tropical Storm Debby now?

Debby is expected to cause flooding in portions of North and South Carolina Wednesday through Friday, the NOAA projects.

“Tropical Storm Debby is forecast to restrengthen a bit and re-curve toward the Southeast today before making landfall along the central South Carolina coast tonight,” the NOAA said.

Tropical Storm Debby tracker

This forecast track shows the most likely path of the center of the storm. It does not illustrate the full width of the storm or its impacts, and the center of the storm is likely to travel outside the cone up to 33% of the time.

Tropical Storm Debby spaghetti models

Illustrations include an array of forecast tools and models, and not all are created equal. The hurricane center uses only the top four or five highest-performing models to help make its forecasts.

How long does hurricane season last?

Hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30 in New England.

RANDOLPH CENTER, Vt. (WCAX) – It’s been one year since the Vermont State Colleges campuses merged to form Vermont State University to address millions in debt and declining enrollment. Faculty and university leaders say while it has been a bumpy year, they feel like they’ve turned the page and are looking forward to year two.

Engineering department head John Kidder and his peers have been on the front lines of the merger of Castleton University, Northern Vermont University, and Vermont Technical College.

“It’s been somewhat tumultuous going through that,” Kidder acknowledged. “The faculty, while we had a common catalog and a lot of common ground and common practices, they were still very different institutions, and so there’s been some work to pull that all together. I would say the faculty has done a great job at pulling it all together.”

Kidder says some of that tumultuousness is connected to leadership changes, including two new interim presidents after previous former president Parwinder Grewal stepped down suddenly in April 2023 after less than a year in office. “I think that at times it’s felt like we haven’t had the leadership we need, and the vision we need,” Kidder said.

Interim president David Bergh joined VTSU at a time when leaders faced backlash for ongoing cuts to programming. The state invested $200 million into the merger with the promise that the university would cut spending by $5 million a year.

Bergh says they met that goal. “Financially, as we’re working to reduce our expenses and our budget, we’re on track and we’ve made progress there,” he said. The cuts came from letting go of many faculty members as part of the university’s plan to reach financial stability. “It takes time to work through that as an institution, and you know, those are some of the hard choices and decisions we had to make to be on track to reach our fiscal goals and to meet our responsibility to the state.”

The system also struggled with declining enrollment over the past decade, but vice president of enrollment Maurice Ouimet says numbers are trending upwards again. “We’re excited to report that we’re seeing positive growth trends in our new student enrollment at this point. We’ve been trending from three to as much as six percent ahead and we’re currently hovering around five percent increase for new students for the fall,” he said. Ouimet says he thinks many students needed a year to see how the merger would work out and now he’s hopeful the numbers keep trending up.

Kidder says now that the first year is over, he’s excited about what’s ahead. “I think it was wise for us to go into that direction, because higher education is really in flux right now. So, it’s an exciting place to be and I think we stepped out and were proactive about it,” he said.

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