School vacation means playoff action this week for the Vineyarders. The postseason tournaments begin for the basketball and hockey teams this week while the swim and indoor track teams have already shown out at the state championships. 

Last week, Camille Brand won the state division title in the high jump for the second year in a row with a jump that equaled her season best at 5 feet 4 inches. This season, she competed at an even higher division going up from division five as a sophomore to division four as a junior. With a gold medal already in tow, Brand is now bound for the New Balance Nationals in Boston beginning on March 7. 

Additionally, at the division four championship last week, junior Madison Mello placed 11th in shot put with a 32 feet 2.75 inches toss and her classmate Rodeo Purves-Langer finished 16th in the 1,000 meter race with a finishing time of 2:50.64. 

Both the boys and girls hockey teams qualified for the postseason tournament with the boys ranked eighth in division four finishing the regular season at 9-9-2 and the girls ranked 21st in division two with a record of 11-9. Tournament seeding is determined by the quality of wins in the regular season and not overall record.

The boys basketball team plays Lynnfield on Saturday. — Ray Ewing

On Thursday, the boys begin the dance on home ice against Greenfield at 4:30 p.m. The Green Wave and the Vineyarders have played one team in common this year, Westfield. The Vineyard was victorious 4-2 and their opponents were defeated 4-3. 

On senior night last week, the Vineyarders defeated Bourne 6-3 in the final regular season contest. Liam Conley led the way with a hat trick, his brother Aiden, Chase Grant and Nate Averill also all found the back of the net in the win.

For the girls, their tournament play begins on the road Thursday against Dedham at Bajko Memorial Rink in Hyde Park at 3:00 p.m. The game will be live-streamed on the MV Women’s Hockey Facebook page. Like the boys, the girls have one common opponent this season with their first-round matchup, Norwood. The Vineyarders defeated the Mustangs 2-1 in both their meetings while Dedham lost 2-1 and tied 1-1. 

The Vineyarders second meeting with Norwood came as their final regular season home game before they finished up on the road against Sandwich. The battle with the Blue Knights was a classic as the Vineyarders found themselves in, then pulled themselves out of, one-point deficits to eventually bring about overtime in a 3-3 tie. Ultimately, it was Sandwich who came away with a 4-3 win but the Vineyarders left with a chip on their shoulder and something to prove in the playoffs. 

The boys basketball team closes out the first week of the playoffs with a home game Saturday against Lynnfield at 3:00 p.m. The Vineyarders are ranked 11th in the division three field with a record of 14-6 on the season. 

The swim team wrapped up its season at the state championships last week. — Ray Ewing

The boys finished the regular season with a statement 81-45 win over Bishop Stang on the road last week. Senior Josh Lake broke the school record for most points scored in a game with 46. The Spartans threw everything they had at Lake but the forward simply could not stop draining buckets. 

Wrapping things for the swim team this season, the division two state championships at MIT were last week and seven Vineyarders made the cut to compete. For the girls, Paula Geschke swam the 200 yard individual medley and 100 yard backstroke. For the boys, Kaua DeAssis swam the 50 and 100 yard free, Ronan Mullin the 100 yard fly and the relay teams of DeAssis, Claus Smith, Emmett Silva and Andy Carr in the 200 yard free and Mullin, Smith, Silva and DeAssis in the 400 yard free. 

Geschke finished the 200 yard individual medley in 2:19.37 and the 100 yard backstroke in 1:02.37 to finish in 8th place. Both times are new school records. 

DeAssis finished his races in 23.75 and 51.87 seconds, good for 28th and 33rd place. Mullin finished his race in 58.9, good for 26th place. And the relay teams finished the 200 yard in 1:38.59 for 21st and the 400 yard in 3:39.6 also for 21st.