And then there is Burr and Burton Academy's Kristen Palmer. In her four years at BBA, Palmer participated in 11 varsity athletic campaigns - and in nine of 11, she found herself competing for a state championship on the last day of the season. She graduated this spring with seven Vermont crowns to her credit: Three in cross-country running and two each in ice hockey and lacrosse.
"I feel really lucky to have played on so many great teams," said Palmer, fresh off her selection as one of only two girls lacrosse All-Americans from Vermont in 2009. "Burr and Burton is a great school with a really strong athletic program, and I got to be a part of some [seasons] that I will never forget."
Palmer's athletic career as a Bulldog began with a single season on junior varsity girls soccer, which proved to be a vital building block in the foundation for her future success. The Junior Bulldogs went undefeated over the course of that campaign, giving Palmer a taste of what can result from total commitment to a sport - even one that she would never play again at BBA.
The winter brought ice hockey season, and Palmer stepped right onto the varsity squad thanks to her natural ability and athleticism as well as her prior development at the club
"She was one of those kids who picked up the ball and ran with it in terms of being a leader," Edson said.
The BBA girls compiled a 16-3-1 record that season, but were eliminated in the state semifinals by eventual champion Colchester. Palmer said that the Bulldogs took a long look in the mirror afterward and realized that a key missing ingredient was to blame for the sudden end to their season. "We really thought we had a good chance of winning it all that year," Palmer said. "When we didn't, I think it made us realize how important is was for us to draw together as a team, and really bond."
The spring season of her freshman year only reinforced that idea, as the BBA girls varsity lacrosse team knocked off higher-seeded Lamoille in the state quarterfinals but was eliminated by another eventual champ, U-32, in the semis. Palmer was once again deflated, but little did she know that every single season she played for BBA thereafter would end on the state championship stage.
The following fall she joined the Bulldogs' cross-country team, and experienced the thrill of her first Vermont Division-III title after finishing second in the girls race, 10 seconds behind teammate Kelsey Kelleher. Despite the often solitary nature of the sport, Palmer said that her experiences as a Bulldog harrier hold a special place in her memories of high school sports camaraderie.
"The bond we had in cross-country was even stronger than in other sports," Palmer said. "It may be an individual sport, but everything you do is to help make the team better. When you're out there running, it's not really for yourself - it's for your teammates, for your team."
The Bulldog girls ice hockey hit the sheet the following winter with renewed cohesion after its tough defeat the season previous, and the payoff was an 18-1-1 regular season and blitzkrieg through the postseason bracket. Top-seeded BBA then faced off with No. 2 Missisquoi for the Lake crown, and Palmer's stone-wall job between the pipes (13 saves) helped deliver a 2-0 shutout victory for the Bulldogs.
The sophomore's state championship sweep was then completed in lacrosse, as Palmer and company went 12-3 to earn the No. 2 seed in Division II and demolished No. 5 Chelsea, 16-4, in the final at UVM's Moulton Winder Field. Palmer found the back of the Red Devil net twice in that game, once in each half, to help fuel what would prove to be the most lopsided of three straight championship showdowns between the two teams.
Fall brought about another cross-country season, and another D-III state crown for the Bulldogs thanks in part to Palmer's strong Top-10 finish (21:49). With four straight Vermont championships in her rearview mirror, the then-junior retook the ice for hockey season with her sights set on a repeat Lake Division title.
But it was not to be, as the No. 7 Bulldogs (11-8-1) pulled off successive upsets in the quarterfinals and semis but fell to the top-seeded Thunderbirds, 5-2, in the finals.
Redemption came in the spring, however, when the BBA girls lax squad earned the No. 2 seed and took care of business en route to a championship rematch with Chelsea for all the marbles. The Red Devils held the upper hand for much of the contest, but a hat trick by Palmer helped fuel a decisive comeback that ended with an 11-10 victory and title upset for the Bulldogs.
The changing seasons brought Palmer back around to cross-country, in which BBA would compete in D-II for the first time during her career. The change couldn't have come at a worse time for Palmer, who suffered a hip injury early in the season and missed a month of action.
But with the rest of her team taking up the slack - her sister Charlotte burst onto the scene and did a nice job filling in as the team's substitute dominant blond - the stage was set for Palmer to return and help deliver a third straight Vermont title for head coach Dave Curtis. Palmer's senior season in hockey proved equally trying, as she battled a recurring shoulder injury that left her at considerably less than full strength in the net.
"Kristen played hurt a number of times in some really key games for us," Edson said. "She could only raise her arm to about shoulder height, or it would pop out (of socket). She couldn't make any glove saves up high at all - but luckily, our opposition never picked up on it."
The state championship saw yet another clash between BBA and Missisquoi, and this time the top-seeded Thunderbirds took a commanding 2-0 lead in the early goings. After Bulldog Danielle Marmer scored on a breakaway to halve MVU's lead, Palmer proved that her leadership could help light up the scoreboard without her having to even leave the net.
"Hannah Corkum was skating back kind of slowly into the zone, and you could hear Kristen yelling at her from the net to pick it up, to quit dogging it," Edson said. "Hannah ended up making it back in time to pick up a loose puck, which she took all the way down the ice to score the tying goal. "We talked about it after the game, and she credited Kristen with stopping her from slacking at what ended up being a really important moment in the game."
BBA went on to win, 3-2, for what would amount to the seventh and final state championship of Palmer's high school career.
"That was a game where we really did leave everything on the ice," Palmer said. "Sometimes when you don't win, you think about times during the game where you could have played just a little bit harder, and it might have made the difference. But in that [game], there wasn't anything we could have done better."
Expectations were just as high heading into this spring's Division-II girls lacrosse state title game, in which BBA and Chelsea met for the third straight time and fifth time since 2002. But the pipes of the Red Devils' goal seemed to swell several feet thick in the blazing sun off the turf at Moulton Winder, resulting in too many resounding clangs and not enough scoring swishes in BBA's 9-7 defeat.
Palmer and company were devastated afterward, until parents and fans helped remind the senior star of her considerable athletic fortune up to that point.
"I was really upset, but people kept telling me how lucky I was," Palmer said. "They said how a lot of people never get to play in even one state championship game, and I got to play in nine.
"Maybe I did take it for granted, at least a little bit. I think it's something that, as I get older, I'll be able to appreciate more."
The next changing of the seasons will put Palmer into the trademark blue uniform of Wheaton College, where she plans to play lacrosse for the Lyons next spring. This year's squad posted a so-so 6-10 overall record, meaning that a return to her familiar championship stage will be a bit tougher than usual for Kristen Palmer.
But if her remarkable high school career is any indication, Wheaton may want to start making NCAA Tournament plans for 2011 - and beyond.
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