With the post season for Castleton sports falling in line with the Oscars, I thought it would be appropriate to give credit where it is due and hand out some awards.The Best Villain category was a tough field to choose from. The more I thought about Babson, the Beavers looked to be the favorite. Coming into our backyard and taking down the Spartans, how could they not take the cake for this one? But with more careful consideration, the title of this year’s best villain goes to the USCSA for excluding the women’s ski team from nationals. For your formula, or selection, or whatever the reason was, thanks and here’s your award.

Both ski teams are led by the same coaches, Chris Eder and Dale Solotruck. In my eyes, both teams belong in nationals, making this an easy decision for my Best Director award. Eder and Solotruck have built a powerhouse program at Castleton, and it only looks to get stronger. The men’s ski team is in nationals for the second consecutive year, and the women’s got robbed of a national bid.

My Best Supporting Actor award goes to Steve Culbertson of the men’s hockey team. Culbertson scored five goals and assisted on seven goals in the Spartans’ last nine games of the season. He anchored the Spartans’ offense down the stretch and provided the team the momentum needed to persevere and win some clutch games. How could I mention Culbertson without handing out kudos to his teammate Brandon Heck?
Heck gets my Best Actor in a Leading Role award, proving he is the dirtiest scorer to skate for Castleton hockey thus far. Heck is leaving Castleton with 121 points in his career, scoring 29 of those points this season. There was no doubt about it; Heck and Culbertson almost gave me a seizure from the number of times that goal light went off, that’s 57 times this season for those counting.

The red light flashing behind the net still haunts me.

Best Musical Score goes to Castleton’s pep band. The cover of Outkast’s “Hey Ya” was the most creative rendition I’ve ever heard. I’ve never heard an ensemble of instruments jam out to a hip-hop song that well, and a quick paced jam at that.

Best Actress in a Leading Role is definitely shared between Jessica Banks and Mary Nienow. Each of the women’s basketball players reached an elite milestone, scoring 1,000 points. More impressively, though, they assisted on each other’s 1,000 points. And wait even better…each hit the milestone with a three-point shot. Thanks for the excitement, you can share the award because you have both proven to be the wheels that move the Spartans in the winning lane.

My Best Picture award wasn’t even a contest. After watching Banks and Nienow continue to dominate in postseason, I give the award to the women’s basketball team. The Spartans won the NAC championship, following the tone the women’s field hockey team set for other women’s athletics last fall. Not only is the hardware pretty, but now the team is on a national level. Good luck to the Spartans in the NCAA basketball tournament. Keep on winning!

Prediction: Castleton will have three titles at the end of spring – (baseball, men’s lacrosse and women’s lacrosse)