Vermont
Vote now for Vermont Varsity Insider Athletes of the Week: Ballots for Oct. 14-20
Welcome to the seventh installment of the 2024 fall season for the Vermont Varsity Insider Athletes of the Week voting by high school sports fans.
This week, and every week during the sports seasons, members of the public may vote for a top girls athlete and a top boys athlete.
More: Vermont Varsity Insider Athletes of the Week: Winners for the 2024-25 school year
How do I cast my vote?
All voting is through the two ballots at burlingtonfreepress.com. We will not accept votes through email or through social media.
Voting began Oct. 21 and continues through 11:59 p.m. Thursday.
How do we learn who wins?
The two winners will be announced in a story published at burlingtonfreepress.com on Friday.
May I nominate a deserving athlete for a future ballot?
Yes. Please nominate a Vermont high school by sending an email to sports@burlingtonfreepress.com (Subject Line: Athletes of the Week nomination).
Girls Athlete of the Week nominees
More on this week’s candidates:
Violet Clough, Rice field hockey: Clough racked up three goals and an assist in a 7-0 win over Middlebury. She also had a goal and an assist in another 7-0 decision last week, over Mount Abraham, as Rice wrapped the regular season at 13-0-1.
Aly Dorman, Mount Mansfield field hockey: Dorman scored two goals and had an assist in a 4-1 home win over Mount Abraham. Her 18 goals this fall are a single-season program record for the Cougars.
Peyton Guay, West Rutland soccer: After key throw-in assists helped 14-0 West Rutland topple rival Mount St. Joseph 4-1, the basketball star totaled two goals and four assists in a 6-0 rout of Long Trail.
Ginger Long, U-32 cross-country running: The two-time reigning Division II state champion seized first-place honors at Saturday’s NVAC Mountain Division championships. Long raced to a 19:05.70 winning performance for the 5K on her home course.
Lila Martin, Milton soccer: After a seven-save shutout performance in the 4-0 win over Mount Abraham, Martin totaled eight stops in a 4-1 decision over Rice as defending Division II champion Milton ran its winning streak to 13 games in a row.
Boys Athlete of the Week nominees
More on this week’s candidates:
Harrison Frazee, Peoples soccer: After tallying once in a win over Spaulding, Frazee poured in five goals as Peoples (12-2) cruised past Lyndon 12-0.
Wyatt Fuller, Rutland football: After making a one-handed grab on a halfback pass and turning it into the go-ahead, 40-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, Fuller snagged an interception on Hartford’s next series to set up an insurance score as Rutland seized a 21-7 victory to lock up the No. 2 seed for the Division I playoffs.
Oliver Mathys-Vallario, Winooski soccer: After tallying twice in a 13-0 rout of Blue Mountain, Mathys-Vallario netted a hat trick in two-time defending Division IV champion Winooski’s 6-0 victory over BFA-Fairfax, to close out the regular season at 9-4.
Thomas Sheldon, Burr and Burton football: The speedy receiver racked up 10 catches for 229 yards, highlighted by an 85-yard TD dash as the Bulldogs closed out their season with a 17-14, upset victory over Middlebury in Week 8.
Andrew Thornton-Sherman, St. Johnsbury cross-country running: The senior star captured the NVAC Mountain Division championship on Saturday for a second straight year. His 5K time of 16:06.10 helped the Hilltoppers to the team crown.
Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter: @aabrami5.
Contact Judith Altneu at jaltneu@gannett.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter: @Judith_Altneu.
Vermont
Women’s Lacrosse Bested in Burlington by Vermont – University at Albany Great Danes
Score: UAlbany 4, Vermont 14
Location: Virtue Field | Burlington, Vt.
Records: UAlbany (10-5, 5-1 America East) | Vermont (8-6, 4-1 America East)
Short Story: UAlbany women’s lacrosse fell to the Vermont Catamounts on Saturday afternoon.
Key Stats
- Grace Cincebox recorded a total of 14 saves with 13 goals allowed for a .565 save percentage.
- Ravan Marsell led the Great Danes with two points on one goal and one assist.
- Four different UAlbany players scored in the contest.
- Reggie Williams was the team’s leader with three ground balls.
- Delilah Mile caused a team high three turnovers.
How It Happened
- The Catamounts came out of the gates hard and heavy, scoring all three goals between both sides in the first quarter.
- Vermont would take an 8-0 lead in the second quarter before Amanda Williamson found the back of the net on a women-down goal to put the Great Danes on the board and make it 8-1.
- The Great Danes would allow one more goal in the first half to trail 9-1 after 30-minutes of play.
- Grace Cincebox would enter the half with 10 saves.
- Riley Forthofer started the Great Danes off in the second half to make it a 9-2 game, before Vermont put up three more goals to take a 12-2 lead entering the final quarter of play.
- Mya Carroll and Ravan Marsell both scored on back-to-back free-position goals to make it a 12-4 game.
- The Catamounts finished the game with two more goals to take the win 14-4.
Up Next
The Great Danes will next have a bye week and wait to see the outcome of next week’s Vermont vs UMass Lowell game to see who will host the America East Tournament.
Social Central: Stay up to date with UAlbany women’s lacrosse by following the team on Instagram (@UAlbanyWLax), Facebook (UAlbany Women’s Lacrosse), and X (@UAlbanyWLax) for all of the latest news and highlights throughout the year.
Vermont
Vermont lands two cities in America’s top 15 happiest list
Is creativity the missing key to better health?
Research suggests creative activities like art, music and crafts may benefit mental health as much as other key health habits.
Here’s another reason Vermont is the best New England state: It’s home to one of the top 5 happiest cities in the United States.
Plus, it has another within the top 15.
Massachusetts, on the other hand, doesn’t even break the top 50. Nor, does Connecticut or Rhode Island.
The personal finance website analyzed 182 of the largest cities in the country, and ranked Boston 63rd overall. Although the city is home to some of the nation’s top universities, high-ranking hospitals, and well-regarded companies, it didn’t break the top 50.
To get the rankings, WalletHub compared the cities using 29 metrics, including life-satisfaction index, depression rate, poverty rate, job security, and acres of parkland per 1,000 residents. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, and cities were assigned an overall happiness score.
Here’s a look at how the cities ranked.
South Burlington is No. 4 happiest city, Burlington is No. 11
South Burlington came on top for Vermont in WalletHub’s list of the happiest cities in the United States, ranking at No. 4. In scored very high for emotional and physical well-being coming in at the No. 4 spot, which made up for coming in No. 48 for community and environment. It was No. 9 for income and employment ranking. That gave it a total happiness of score of 70.15
Burlington wasn’t far behind at all, taking the No. 11 spot on the list and a happiness score of 67.54. It’s highest score was for income and employment ranking where it came second. It ranked No. 13 for community and environment and No. 21 for emotional and physical well-being.
Happiest cities in the US, per WalletHub
Here are the 25 happiest cities in the U.S., and their happiness scores, according to WalletHub’s 2026 list:
- Fremont, California – 74.09
- Bismarck, North Dakota – 73.11
- Scottsdale, Arizona – 71.36
- South Burlington, Vermont – 70.15
- Fargo, North Dakota – 69.36
- Overland Park, Kansas – 68.45
- Charleston, South Carolina – 68.44
- Irvine, California – 67.99
- Gilbert, Arizona – 67.96
- San Jose, California – 67.79
- Burlington, Vermont – 67.54
- Madison, Wisconsin – 66.35
- Columbia, Maryland – 66.28
- Chandler, Arizona – 65.69
- Seattle, Washington – 65.62
- Plano, Texas – 65.34
- San Francisco, California – 64.99
- Lincoln, Nebraska – 64.90
- Portland, Maine – 64.59
- Tempe, Arizona – 64.30
- San Diego, California – 64.30
- Raleigh, North Carolina – 63.47
- Peoria, Arizona – 63.38
- Durham, North Carolina – 62.84
- Huntington Beach, California – 62.80
Least happy cities in the US, per WalletHub
Here are the 25 least happy cities in the U.S., and their happiness scores, according to WalletHub’s 2026 list:
- Detroit, Michigan (#182 overall) – 29.55
- Memphis, Tennessee (#181 overall) – 34.39
- Shreveport, Louisiana (#180 overall) – 34.93
- Cleveland, Ohio (#179 overall) – 36.50
- Huntington, West Virginia (#178 overall) – 37.20
- Toledo, Ohio (#177 overall) – 37.21
- Augusta, Georgia (#176 overall) – 38.24
- Fort Smith, Arkansas (#175 overall) – 38.66
- Dover, Delaware (#174 overall) – 39.08
- Akron, Ohio (#173 overall) – 40.11
- Baltimore, Maryland (#172 overall) – 40.28
- Birmingham, Alabama (#171 overall) – 40.37
- Baton Rouge, Louisiana (#170 overall) – 40.47
- Columbus, Georgia (#169 overall) – 40.61
- Montgomery, Alabama (#168 overall) – 41.35
- Gulfport, Mississippi (#167 overall) – 41.65
- Charleston, West Virginia (#166 overall) – 42.18
- Jackson, Mississippi (#165 overall) – 42.60
- St. Louis, Missouri (#164 overall) – 43.53
- Knoxville, Tennessee (#163 overall) – 44.04
- Wilmington, Delaware (#162 overall) – 44.34
- Little Rock, Arkansas (#161 overall) – 44.48
- Mobile, Alabama (#160 overall) – 44.85
- New Orleans, Louisiana (#159 overall) – 45.19
- Tulsa, Oklahoma (#158 overall) – 45.33
Where New England cities ranked
Here are the 12 happiest cities in New England, and their happiness scores, according to WalletHub’s 2026 list:
- South Burlington, Vermont (#6 overall) – 70.15
- Burlington, Vermont (#11 overall) – 67.54
- Portland, Maine (#19 overall) – 64.59
- Nashua, New Hampshire (#27 overall) – 62.49
- Manchester, New Hampshire (#51 overall) – 59.10
- Boston, Massachusetts (#63 overall) – 56.88
- Warwick, Rhode Island (#66 overall) – 56.59
- New Haven, Connecticut (#95 overall) – 54.14
- Bridgeport, Connecticut (#96 overall) – 54.01
- Providence, Rhode Island (#98 overall) – 53.52
- Worcester, Massachusetts (#116 overall) – 50.12
- Lewiston, Maine (#145 overall) – 47.28
Vermont
Tornado with winds up to 90mph touches down in Vermont amid storms
A tornado touched down in Vermont Thursday, when a strong storm system moved through the area, the National Weather Service said.
Winds are believed to have hit 90 mph when the tornado churned through Williamstown at about 9:15 p.m., the agency said Friday. That makes it an EF1 tornado on the Fujita Scale, which goes from 0 at the weakest to 5 at the strongest.
Lasting three minutes, the twister traveled for more than four-tenths of a mile, with a maximum width of 100 yards, according to the National Weather Service’s preliminary assessment. It damaged a pair of buildings and numerous trees, shearing tree tops. Golf ball-sized hail was also reported in the area.
Severe thunderstorms popped up across the North Country Thursday night, including in central Vermont — Williamstown is south of Montpelier.
The town thanked its road crew, firefighters and locals who spent hours in the wake of the storm cleaning up.
“We appreciate all that you do to keep the town functioning though an emergency situation,” the town said.
People in the area told NBC affiliate WPTZ that the storm was shockingly powerful, and National Weather Service staffer Marlon Verasamy said that while tornadoes in Vermont are rare, they’re even rarer in this part of the state.
“Generally, when we do see tornadoes around the area that they’ve been in Addison County and not here, so it make it really, really unique to get a tornado in this kind of terrain in this part of the state,” Verasamy said.
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