Past, Future Honored at Monument Mountain

GREAT BARRINGTON. Mass. – The Monument Mountain Regional High School athletic program this week is looking back on past glory and ahead to the future of the program.

 

On Tuesday night, the school inducted the three newest members into the Spartan Hall of Fame in a ceremony held prior to the varsity girls basketball game against Lenox.

 

Also before that game – and at half-time – girls youth basketball teams from the town of Lenox and the Housatonic Youth Basketball program played games on the high school court.

 

On Friday evening, the school will host a celebration of the 75th anniversary of Housy Hoops, where the volunteers who made the youth program possible will be recognized prior to the boys varsity game against Springfield International Charter School and games featuring the youth squads will be played at half-time.

 

Monument Mountain’s proud athletic tradition was recognized on Tuesday as Peter Drucker, Jason Ross, Jess Platt and Riley Baldwin had their names added to the Hall of Fame banners that adorn the wall in the school’s gym.

 

Chris Sanzone introduced his friend Drucker of the Class of 1989.

 

Drucker was a standout in three different sports – football, wrestling and track – and, on the gridiron, at four different positions, tailback, cornerback, kick returner and punt returner, Sanzone said.

 

“One game that was particularly memorable was against Taconic our senior year,” Sanzone said. “We had been upset the year previous, in a game we should not have lost, but we did. The next year, we played Taconic again, and Peter made sure we got revenge.

 

“He rushed for 174 yards on just seven carries. … He had two runs of 49 yards and a run for 54 yards. He had two interceptions on the defensive side of the ball. And he did this, by the way, weighing about 140 pounds.”

 

Drucker also won a Western Massachusetts champion in wrestling and led the Spartans to back-to-back runner-up finishes in the state tournament. In track and field, Drucker won meets in the 100 meters and 200 meters, Sanzone said.

 

Longtime high school coach Len Miller introduced Ross, a member of Monument Mountain’s Class of 1992.

 

“During a sensational junior year, scoring an average of 20 points per game, you were selected to both all-Berkshire and all-Western Mass first teams,” Miller said of Ross. “Your last season of high school ball, playing against every gimmick defense in the book, always keeping your poise, never forcing shots, you averaged an amazing 24 points per game. Again, you were named to the league all-star teams.

 

“Not only were you a great scorer with that trademark jump shot of yours, that I believe you learned from your dad Steve, you also were a really good all-around basketball player – a strong defender and, remarkably, averaged 17 rebounds per game during your last season.”

 

Former coach Sean Flynn introduced two members of the 2024 Hall of Fame class: Jess Platt of the Class of 2006 and Riley Baldwin, Class of 2008.

 

In more recent years, Platt was a standout coach herself at the high school, leading the Monument Mountain girls soccer team to a Western Massachusetts Division 3 final in 2017.

 

As a student-athlete, Platt was a three-year starter in softball, starting at shortstop on the school’s Western Mass Championship team as a senior; a three-year all-Berkshire goalkeeper in soccer; and a four-year Alpine skier, going to states in three different winters.

 

“Before senior year, Jess injured her knee and required multiple surgeries,” Flynn recalled. “She did not play her senior year in soccer, but instead became a player coach and a spiritual leader, using her unique positive energy in helping guide a young team to the Western Mass tournament.

 

“She put off surgery and chose the option of trying to ski and play softball in restrictive knee braces.”

 

At the state ski meet that winter, with the Spartans standing in seventh place, Platt posted a fourth-place finish in her final run to lift Monument Mountain into second place, the best finish in school history, Flynn said.

 

“As a softball player, as the season began, she came and asked Coach [Scott] Annand what a good date would be to schedule her knee surgery,” Flynn said. “At that time, the softball team was 3-8 and performing poorly. He gave her a realistic season-ending date, and her surgery was scheduled.

 

“Then team began playing better and was the last team to qualify for the regional tournament. After winning its first game, it headed to Southwick, a team that had only lost once. Jess was scheduled to have her surgery a couple of days from then, and this would be her last game. Unexpectedly, Monument won, 1-0. They were the 10th seed.

 

“They celebrated, although we were going to UMass without Jess. Jess came to Scott Annand and said, ‘I cannot let the team down. I’m going to reschedule my surgery.’ … Jess put the team before self, and they won the Western Mass Championship with her as the starting shortstop.”

 

Baldwin, the most recent graduate honored on Tuesday, was a standout in both soccer and basketball, Flynn said.

 

The 2008 graduate led the Spartans to two Western Mass semi-finals in soccer and the sectional finals in basketball her senior season.

 

“Riley ended her basketball team as a county MVP and two-time all-Berkshire selection,” Flynn said. “Riley graduated from Monument Mountain as the valedictorian of the Class of 2008. She was a fierce competitor and incredibly intelligent athlete who had great court and field awareness. In both sports, she wanted the ball in big moments. She was often the focal point for opponents trying to shut her down.

 

“Riley fed on this. The harder they played her, the tougher she became.”