Vermont colleges celebrate 50 years of NCAA Division III sports

CASTLETON, Vt. (WCAX) – 50 years of organized sports at the Division III level may not seem that long, but each minute means the world to those who play the games. While Middlebury and Norwich have racked up the hardware in recent decades, neither school was part of the original D-III back in 1973.

Three state colleges were: Castleton, Lyndon, and Johnson, three key cogs of the newly formed Vermont State University. Middlebury has grown into one of the benchmark athletic departments in Division III since their entry into championship competition in the mid-90′s.

Current women’s lacrosse head coach Kate Livesay played on both the field hockey and lacrosse team at the turn of the Millenium.

“It’s really changed,” Livesay said. “In fact, when I was a player was when we first got boundaries. And then after I graduated, googles came into the mix. So it’s really adapted and evolved over the last 20-25 years.”

And they’re not alone. The eleven schools of the NESCAC have made the league a powerhouse across the scale of D-III sports

“When I started here, it was kind of the first NESCAC tournament,” LIvesay said. “When we talk about preparation for the NCAA tournament, I think you know you’ve been tested like that every week of your season. You were really prepared in a different way going into NCAA’s.”

But success isn’t just defined on the turf, ice, or hardwood for college athletes in Vermont. Many devote their time to improving the student athlete experience for everyone. The Student Athlete Advisory Committee was created in 1989, and Castelton sprinter Zackary Durr is the national representative for the Little East Conference.

“It’s realy nice to be able to meet different athletes from different schools,” Durr said. “And it’s just really good, especially for this university, just to be able to have us showcased at the national level.”

Durr says the goal of the committee is to encourage student athletes to give back to their communities and help build friendly relationships between on-field rivals.

“Get more student ahtletes involved and wanting to do more community service,” Durr explained of the organization’s goals. “Do more social events to have student athletes from different teams get to know each other better. I think its really important to have all of our student athletes backing each other.”

“After whistle blows, you’ll se the teams intermix, you’ll see best friends catching up, who went to high school together or played club,” Livesay added. “You’ll see coaches shaking hands and catching up about their families. So for me, what this experince is about, demanding so much of ourselves and our players, and going out and just playing hard and being really proud of what we put on the field but being collegial and respectful of our opponents all along the way.”

Castleton just had an athlete earn All-American honors at the D-III Track and Field Championships, with Harrison Leombruno-Nicholson finishing 11th nationally in javelin, while Middlebury’s women’s lacrosse team will look to claim a 4th straight national championship on Sunday afternoon.

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