Rylander, Desilets Earn Athlete of the Week Recognition

Runs are the common denominator between this week’s iBerkshires.com/Southwestern Vermont Health Care Athletes of the Week. One prevents them, and the other makes them as quickly as anyone in the county.

 

Monument Mountain sophomore Amelia Desilets was one of just two girls to bring home three titles from Friday’s Western Massachusetts Division 2 Championships at Mohawk Trail Regional High School.

 

As an individual, she won the mile run in 5 minutes, 22.96 seconds – nearly 10 seconds ahead of the field – and the 800 meters in 2:27.11, the fastest time by a Berkshire County girl this spring.

 

And in the relays, she anchored the Spartans’ winning 4-by-800 relay quartet, crossing the finish line in 10:31.52, four seconds ahead of the field.

 

The county’s high school track and field coaches already had named Desilet’s the league’s Track MVP for her consistent scoring in the distance events all spring.

 

This week, she and the top runners, jumpers and throwers from the county head to the State Championships. For Desilets and the Spartans, that means Merrimack College fo the Division 6 meet on Thursday and Saturday.

 

Drury’s baseball team also is headed to the post-season this week – as the top seed in the Western Massachusetts Class C Tournament.

 

Carson Rylander is a big reason why.

 

The Drury sophomore does not lead the team in earned run average (4.51) or wins (two), but there is no doubt he is a leader on a pitching staff that has propelled the Blue Devils to a 14-3 record and an 11-game winning streak going to the playoffs.

 

On Tuesday, he held Class B Monument Mountain scoreless in a complete-game effort at Joe Wolfe Field. It was the second straight gem on the mound for Rylander, who came within an out of throwing a no-hitter against McCann Tech on May 9.

 

And that two-win total of Rylander’s does not include the six innings he threw without allowing an earned run in a no-decision against Mount Everett in Cooperstown, N.Y., a game Drury won in eight innings.

 

One pitching category where he does lead the Blue Devils this spring: strikeouts. He has 60 of them in 30 innings pitched.

 

And Rylander also has a couple of home runs at the plate, where he is hitting .333 this spring.

 

Drury begins its post-season run on Monday at home against Franklin Tech, a team the Blue Devils beat on the road, 12-1, on April 17.

 

The iBerkshires.com Athlete of the Week is sponsored by Southwestern Vermont Health Care.