This article was written by Bella Foster, a journalism student at U-32
U-32 is a competitive school dedicated to tradition and academic excellence, and committed to beating Spaulding no matter what. Or maybe we want to beat Montpelier? St. Johnsbury? Everybody? U-32 has a vast range of sports and activities, all with different standards and, evidently, different rivalries varying from sport to sport, but when asked to choose just one, who would U-32 students and staff say is U-32’s biggest rival?
Many students and staff had no trouble expressing that Spaulding High School in Barre, Vermont, is hands down, without a doubt, our biggest rival. In an interview with Geoff Green, social studies teacher and varsity baseball coach, he answered, “Spaulding,” with no hesitation. This is because “Spaulding’s had a much more competitive program… We beat Spaulding in a baseball state championship a few years ago, we played a number of very close playoff games in the years following and those games always felt like they had a higher level of intensity,” Geoff marks the first tally under Spaulding.
Drew Frostick, a senior and captain of the football team, gave similar answers, “The Spaulding Crimson Tide, I think anyone here would say that’s our biggest rival. Other than soccer, they might say Montpelier because Spaulding sucks,” he stated. Along with Frostick, twenty other Raiders were in agreement.
However, twenty-four people disagreed. “I actually think Montpelier is our biggest rival because Spaulding doesn’t make me mad, they’re just bad at sports,” said senior cross country and track runner, Adeline Cannella.
Although Adeline at first had stated otherwise, “For other sports it’s probably Spaulding or Montpelier…but for track it’s probably Burr and Burton or Essex or CVU,”
When asked if she believed rivalry changed when brought onto the track Cannella answered, “For track and field Montpelier and Spaulding’s teams aren’t that competitive they don’t have that many athletes that perform like our team so they’re not really a threat.”
Another track and field runner, Oliver Miller gave similar responses. “St. Johnsbury, I think, is one of our biggest rivals. Or CVU, just for cross though… They’re the more dominant teams that we go against, and the other [Spaulding and Montpelier] teams just aren’t as good.”
Even though many of the students provided very current rivalries, staff members shared a deeper history of U-32’s relationship with surrounding schools. Steve Towne, Physical Education teacher, Girl’s Varsity Soccer coach, U-32 alumni, and U-32 parent who bleeds blue, stated: “Biggest rival? Through the years it’s been Montpelier, as far as I can go back, it’s always been a rivalry.
Towne also expressed his opinion on the rival relationship between Montpelier and U-32. “I mean, it’s funny because we surround Montpelier and you guys have all grown up together and you’re friends, but you throw you on a field and its competition.”
Another passionate U-32 parent and high school physics teacher, Randy Brown, stated: “It depends on the sport, the team, and in some ways, it depends historically, over time… One could look back into the seventies, and it would have been Montpelier, however, now since half of our teams are merged with Montpelier, it would have to be Spaulding and or Harwood.”
Towne and Brown’s statements remain true in many Raider’s hearts. However, U-32’s beloved assistant principal, JB Hilferty, is a man from the other side.
The Spaulding graduate stated, “It’s interesting because when I was in high school that wasn’t the case, U-32 actually didn’t have a decent program for sports like Spaulding did at that time… but I would agree since I’ve been working here, it’s been probably the number one rival… Spaulding typically comes with a different energy and always has a decent crowd”
Despite twenty-four U-32 students and staff disagreeing with the statement of Spaulding being U-32’s biggest rival, still a majority had expressed hostility towards the Crimson Tide. John Stafford, senior, agreed that the crowd that Spaulding creates at games plays into the feeling of rivalry between us and the Tide. “We have the largest turn out at any game that’s involved with [Spaulding],”
Though some Raiders could easily only mention one school, many went back to the idea that our rivalries vary from sport to sport. “It depends… Hartford for field hockey, but definitely Spaulding in general,” said sophomore Addison Coleman.
Maeve Daloz, a cross country and track runner, similarly stated, “For my sports, I feel like it’s different,” Although the multiple answers do not only vary across sports, some students and staff simply had a difficult time solely choosing one, “Do I have to pick one or can I say two?” asked junior Toby Brown.
As a result, twenty-one Raiders answered that Montpelier High School is our biggest rival. However, answers were heavily varied. Even so, all U-32 students and staff members could agree on one thing, it does not matter who we are playing, our goal as a school is to support our athletes no matter what sport and bring up our teams while tearing apart all the others on the field, because no one is better than Union. At least not in our opinion.
