Castleton Spartan athletes will be working hard in the coming weeks as the winter sports proceed through the semester break. The 5-4 men’s basketball team has just barely begun conference play with a loss at Rhode Island College on December 4th and will embark on an all-conference remaining schedule for the final 15 contests after December 8th’s trip to Fitchburg State to play the struggling 1-8 Falcons. 

Castleton’s 4-3 women’s hoops team was also dealt a loss by the Rhode Island College Anchormen and they’ll seek to even up their conference record at 1-1 at home against the Southern Maine Huskies on December 11th, just before the break. 

Both hoop squads are led by explosive rookie guards Darrell Hardge and Ryleigh Coloutti. Coloutti and Hardge are both two-time recipients of LEC Rookie of the Week honors this season. Hardge is tied for the 3rd in scoring on the men’s team while Colouttie leads all women by nearly 20 points. The freshman who donned slate blue for Fair Haven Union scored 1,459 points during her high school career, good enough for best all-time among female slaters. She was awarded the Vermont Basketball Coaches Association girls’ player of the year in 2020 and was a part of two division II titles for the Slaters. 

Hardge, a transplanted Floridian Sophomore from Fort Lauderdale High School has racked up 95 points this season, with a single-game high of 18 coming at home against Northern Vermont University back on November 11th.

Conference honors aren’t just for ballers this winter. Another Florida native, Katherine Campoli is tied for third in scoring among the women and earned herself a New England Hockey Conference Player of the Week award in November. Men’s Canadian goalie from Quebec Dominic Rodrigue was crowned conference Goalie of the Week on November 22nd. On the ice, the 3-8-1 men and 5-4-1 women have a full slate of NEHC games before their season ends in February. The men are winless in conference with five losses and a tie, while the women are enjoying a 3-2-1 conference mark after an overtime tie on December 4th at William Smith College. 

The winter athletes will have some rest time with a break beginning this week, or last for some. They’ll be back early to mid-January to continue their seasons grinds and push for conference tournament berths.