PREPS PLUS: Mavericks get their man as Willard comes aboard

The Miller School has found its man.

Scott Willard has been chosen as the school’s athletic director and boys basketball coach. He replaces Fred Wawner, who left Miller for a position at Hawaii Preparatory Academy. Willard will officially start his new job Aug. 1.

With administrative as well as coaching experience, Rick France, the director of academics, knew Willard was the perfect fit.

“[The] choice was relatively easy for us, due to his terrific experience and strong desire to join an independent boarding school community,” France said. “Our strongest desire was to hire an excellent athletic director primarily. With the many candidates we screened for the basketball position, we were fairly confident that we might fill that position with an excellent, experienced coach. Scott’s desire to become our athletic director was clear from our first conversation. It was only during his interview that we realized that he also had a strong interest in the basketball coaching slot.

“Having served as a head coach and assistant in both high school and college programs, having coached more than just basketball, having administered the organization of a program, and having lived and worked in an independent school all contributed to Scott’s qualification for this position.”

Willard comes to Crozet from the University of Wyoming, where he has served as the director of men’s basketball operations.

Willard heard about the position at Miller from a friend, Ben Douglas, who works at the Blue Ridge School.

“[Douglas] told me about the opportunity and said it’d be a great fit. And after meeting with the headmaster, Winn Price, and Rick France, both had [similar] goals and the timing was great. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime,” Willard said. “I’d spent some time at a boarding school before, and I thought once I start a family it would be a great place to raise a family. My family and I are very excited.”

Before coming to Wyoming, Willard was the head men’s basketball coach at Lesley University, a Division III school in Massachusetts, where he led the Lynx to their best North Atlantic Conference finish.

Prior to that he worked as an instructor and facility manager at the Tarkanian Basketball Academy in Las Vegas. Willard, a graduate of Kenyon (Ohio) College, began his coaching career as the head basketball coach at Tilton Prep School in New Hampshire. He led Tilton to the best record in school history (25-2).

The Mavericks captured their first VIS Division II state title this year, and Willard looks to uphold the program’s winning tradition.

“As an athletic director, the goal is to increase competitiveness in all sports — boys and girls. Miller’s got an unbelievable opportunity to grow,” Willard said. “On the basketball side, [Fred] Wawner’s done a heck of a job with the program. So it’s not going to be about rebuilding, but more about coming in and picking up where he left off, and continuing to bring in quality student-athletes to the school.”

Willard and his family — wife Rachel and two-year-old daughter Samantha — will move to the area later this summer.

Stutzman named Gatorade track athlete of the year

Tyler Stutzman, a recent graduate of Western Albemarle, was selected as the Gatorade Virginia boys track & field athlete of the year.

Stutzman won the 800 meters and 3,200 meters as he led the Warriors to the Group AA title in the spring. Stutzman won the 800 by 0.01 seconds with a time of 1:53.93. He also placed third in the 1,600 meters at the state meet.

At the Gus Lacy Track Classic in April, Stutzman’s 1,600 time of 4:09.12 ranked No. 6 in the nation at the time. In the Dogwood Classic, Stutzman, who is headed to Stanford University in the fall, ran 9:03.84 in the 3,200. At the Nike Outdoor Nationals, Stutzman finished 13th in the 3,200 with a time of 9:14.71, which ranked 15th in the nation.

Stutzman also maintained a 3.72 GPA and is a member of the National Honor Society.

Stutzman is now a finalist for the Gatorade national boys track & field athlete of the year award.

Warriors, Patriots finish high in Wachovia rankings

The Western Albemarle athletic program fell short of capturing its fourth Group AA Wachovia Cup this decade, finishing 22.5 points behind Blacksburg in the competition that honors the school that achieved the best overall record in VHSL-level competition.

Blacksburg finished with 385 points in the 2008-09 school year, 7.5 points ahead of second-place Jamestown. Western Albemarle was third with 362.5 points. Louisa County and Orange County finished 21st and 22nd, respectively.

Albemarle finished fourth in the Group AAA competition, 75 points behind champion Cox, which won for the 11th time since the Cup was first awarded in 1990. Deep Run was second and Robinson was third.

Madison County was the top area finisher in Group A competition, tying for 16th with Galax. George Mason, the Mountaineers’ Bull Run District rival, finished first.

Local athletes nab All-America recognition

A trio of area girls lacrosse players earned All-American honors this season. Players honored were Albemarle’s MacKenzie Sloan and Western Albemarle’s Jordan Haws and Bridgett Lynn. Sloan will continue her lacrosse career at Mary Washington next year while Lynn is headed to George Washington University.

In addition, a host of other local players were named Academic All-Americans.

They include Albemarle seniors Alexis Carey, Becca Maine, Katie Mastropaolo and Mason Wood, Monticello’s Amelie Rives, St. Anne’s-Belfield’s Claire Scrivani, Holly Reeder, Rachel Ahn and Caroline Megargel and Western Albemarle’s Sierra Wangensteen, Effie Nicholau and Kellen Haley.

Pair of Maine swimmers earn honors

Caitlin Shelley, a 2007 graduate of Western Albemarle, has been named an America East Conference scholar-athlete for the second straight year.

Swimming for the University of Maine, Shelley, a sophomore, maintained a 3.0 or better GPA and swam in several events in dual meets and at the America East Championships held at Boston University.

Mackenzie Grobmyer, a graduate of Albemarle, was named to the America East Conference Commissioner’s honor roll. Grobmyer, a recent graduate of Maine, maintained a GPA of 3.5 or higher in the spring semester.

Ripley wins national goalie award

Logan Ripley, a women’s lacrosse player at the University of North Carolina, earned national player of the year honors as announced by the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coach’s Association. Ripley, an Albemarle graduate, was named the C. Markland Kelly goalkeeper of the year.

Ripley, a junior, was named an All-America in her first season as a starter and was a first-team All-ACC selection. She recorded 164 saves this spring, leading one of the nation’s top defenses to the NCAA championship game. Ripley led the conference in goals allowed per game and logged nearly every minute of every game in the cage for UNC.