VSMA tabs Russell for monthly honor

The Vermont Sports Media Association has chosen former Essex High School golfing standout Evan Russell as its July Athlete of the Month.
    The membership of the VSMA, formerly the Vermont Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association, honored the amateur golfer for his outstanding efforts in July.
    Russell had a pair of impressive performances against the region’s best amateur golfers. Russell, 20, was the first Vermonter to win the New England Amateur title in 23 years, with a three-round tournament score of a five-under 208 at Green Mountain National Golf Course in Killington.  
    Later in the month, Russell finished atop the leaderboard to secure one of the three available qualifying spots for the U.S. Amateur championships. Russell carded rounds of 70 and 67 on the Cape Cod National Golf Course in Brewster, Mass., on which he had not previously played. Russell is beginning his sophomore year at the University of Hartford this fall.
    Russell outpolled recent Champlain Valley Union graduate Shane Haley, a soccer player; Thunder Road driver Derrick O’Donnell of Haverill, N.H.; Vermont Mountaineers baseball player Chandler Brock of Huntsville, Ala.; and youth swimmers Peter Mikheyev of the St. Albans team and Kira Hancock of the Essex team.
    VSMA members are now nominating candidates for the August Athlete of the Month honor. In September, the VSMA will return to honoring male and female high school athletes as well as one Open Division monthly winner.
    VSSA members voted on the name change at the organization’s Aug. 22 annual meeting in Montpelier, at which Josh Kaufmann of the St. Albans Messenger was re-elected as the organization’s president. Also chosen were Andy Kirkaldy of the Addison Independent as vice president, Anna Grearson of the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus as secretary, and Lauren Read of the Burlington Free Press as treasurer.
    Kaufmann said the name change recognizes the fact many sports professionals now work in other media in addition to writing and broadcasting. For information about the VSMA contact Kaufmann at sports@samessenger.com.

VSAA Athletes of the Month for Dec. 2011

The Vermont Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association picked Mount Anthony Union High School senior Abby Iannotti, Missisquoi Union junior Matthieu St. Amour and Middlebury College senior Ryan Sharry as its athletes of the month for December.

The three athletes were chosen in a statewide vote of the VSSA membership after being nominated by VSSA members, said VSSA President George Commo.

Iannotti, the undisputed leader of the Mount Anthony girls basketball team, earned the VSSA’s Female High School Athlete of the Month honor. The double-double machine and former Dream Dozen pick averaged 21 points, 10.8 rebounds and 3.2 blocks in five December games. The versatile scoring threat tallied 27 points in the Patriots’ 61-58 loss to Rice on Dec. 17, and 26 points (including five three-pointers) in a 20-point win against Spaulding on Dec. 30.

Also nominated for the girls’ award were Vergennes senior wrestler Cara Strona and three hockey players: North Country freshman Whitney Bernier, Colchester sophomore Erin Turner and Burr & Burton senior Brooke Sabol.

St. Amour, the VSSA’s Male High School Athlete of the Month, became one of the youngest Vermont high school basketball players to reach the 1,000-point mark when he scored 34 points in this winter’s sixth game.

St. Amour scored 213 points in seven December contests for an average of 30.4 points, a pace that if maintained would have him join just eight other Vermonters in reaching 2,000 points. His month included a 40-point opening performance and a 22-for-23 night at the foul line against North Country.

St. Amour outpolled two other basketball players, Mount Anthony junior Aaryngton Bibens and Arlington junior Alex Hawley; two hockey goalies, Essex senior Pat Campbell and St. Johnsbury’s Chris O’Donnell; and St. Johnsbury senior track and field athlete Sullivan Kiley.

Sharry, a preseason NCAA Division III All-American pick and team captain, earned Open Division Athlete of the Month Honors. In December, Sharry returned from an injury suffered in the last practice before the Panthers’ first game to help lead undefeated Middlebury to a 4-0 month and the program's first-ever No. 1 ranking, and reached the 1,000-point scoring plateau.

In those four games, including a 17-minute stint in his first game back, Sharry averaged 17.75 points, 8.75 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.5 blocks while shooting 57.4 percent from the floor. Sharry reached the 1,000-point mark in the team’s Dec. 29 win over Curry.

Also nominated for the Open Division honor were Castleton State sophomore hockey goalie Erick Cinotti, Norwich University freshman women’s basketball player Aliah Curry, and Colchester eighth-grade football player Ryan Casey.