Castleton Athletics has had its ups and downs since the last issue of The Spartan came out.

The men’s ice hockey team suffered back-to-back one goal losses to Plattsburgh State up at Plattsburgh. Since the two losses, the team is 4-1-1 with a tough 5-4 loss to UMass-Boston last Saturday. The team should not feel too bad about their loss, considering that UMass-Boston is the only team to defeat Norwich. However, the men are second in the Eastern College Athletic Conference East and they host rival Norwich on Saturday, Feb. 11 at Spartan Arena. Look for a very rough and hard-fought game in the rematch of the “Battle for Vermont.”

Women’s hockey has matched its highest win total in school history with seven after beating Nichols in overtime this past Sunday. Jade Werger scored her team-leading 11th goal this season on a penalty shot to give the Spartans a 2-1 victory. Coming into this year Werger only had five career goals, and she has 11 already with four regular season games left. If she can keep this going next year, the Spartan’s offense should improve.

The men’s basketball team is ahead of Maine-Farmington in the North Atlantic Conference standings, barely. Both teams have a NAC record of 12-2, but Castleton holds the better overall record at 13-8 while Maine-Farmington is 12-8. The Spartans have four games left in the regular season before the NAC playoffs start, and they are all against conference opponents. Also, junior Mark Comstock is close to scoring his 1,000th career point. As of now, Comstock has 972 points and with just four games remaining, he needs just 28 points before becoming the 16th Spartan to reach the 1,000 point plateau.

Women’s basketball has continued its dominance of the NAC and lead the conference with a 13-1 record and an overall record of 16-4. The team’s only conference loss came at the hands of the Husson Eagles 73-68 in overtime back on Dec. 9. The Spartans are currently on a 10 game-winning streak and their next game is at home against Green Mountain this Saturday at 1 p.m. The women will “Play 4Kay” on Valentine’s Day against Johnson College at home at 5:30 p.m, to raise money and awareness for breast cancer research and the Kay Yow Foundation.

The men’s ski team is also enjoying success this season. The men were ranked sixth in the country to start the season and have maintained that position so far.

Be sure to check out Spartan Sports Weekly where we recap all of the Spartan athletic events and give you previews of upcoming games.