Sanders, Carlino Named Athletes of the Week

PITTSFIELD, Mass. – One of this week’s iBerkshires.com/Southwestern Vermont Health Care Athletes of the Week is a standout in South County; the other has made their mark in Southern Vermont.

 

Wahconah senior Fritz Sanders has been a force in the early part of the Nordic ski season, winning both of the Berkshire County league’s first two races at Prospect Mountain in Woodford, Vt.

 

Sanders took the opener by a margin of just 1 second on Jan. 4. One week later, he beat the field by 16 seconds.

 

The second time out, Sanders led his squad to its first team victory of the winter.

 

In 2024, Sanders led Wahconah to a fourth-place finish at the State Championships, where he placed seventh in the commonwealth.

 

Conditions permitting, Sanders, Wahconah and the rest of the league will be back in action on Saturday at Mohawk Trail Regional High School.

 

Our other Athlete of the Week just hung 13 points on Mohawk Trail in a 68-21 win for the Lee High Wildcats.

 

For eighth-grader Giana Carlino, that was a typical night on the offensive end. For the season, she is averaging a team-best 14 points per game for Lee (4-2).

 

That average was bolstered by an 18-point game to start the 2025 portion of the schedule at home on Jan. 2 and a 15-point night in last week’s win over McCann Tech.

 

That’s three wins in a row for Lee, after a slow start at 1-2.

 

Carlino, who also leads the Wildcats in 3-point shooting, is already a veteran before reaching high school. Last year as a seventh-grader, she averaged 9 ppg for a Lee team that qualified for the Division 5 State Tournament.

 

This year’s Wildcats will continue their quest to get back to the tourney on Monday when they face Southwick on the road before coming home to play Ludlow on Thursday.

 

The iBerkshires.com Athlete of the Week is sponsored by Southwestern Vermont Medical Center.