• Undergraduate
    • Ecology
    • Environmental Humanities
    • Outdoor Education
    • Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems
    • Wilderness Field Program
    • Wendell Berry Farming Program
  • Continuing Education
  • EcoGather
  • Admissions and Aid

Athletics

Sterling College » Life at Sterling » Athletics

“Endurance, community, and honesty are three very important things to me, and they all just so happen to come together beautifully in the athletic opportunities at Sterling College. It is probably one of the most inclusive programs in the country -- inviting athletes of all levels and backgrounds to participate and contribute. ” --Emma Enoch, ’17

Scroll Down

Apply Now for Spring 2023 & Fall 2023 | Read More

  • Institutional COVID Updates
  • About Sterling
    • At a Glance
    • Accreditation
    • Mission and Vision
    • Our Leadership
    • Strategic Initiative
    • Creative Style Guide & Policies
    • Sustainable Sterling
    • Sterling Timeline
    • Employment
  • Admissions & Aid
    • Transfer Applicants
    • Veterans
    • International Applicants
    • Visit Sterling!
      • Visit Campus
      • Accommodations
    • Financial Aid & Scholarships
      • Scholarships
      • Net Price Calculator
      • Work College
    • Tuition, Room & Board
  • Academics
    • Find your program
      • Ecology
      • Environmental Humanities
      • Outdoor Education
      • Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems
      • Self-Designed Major
      • Climate Justice Minor
      • Draft Animal Power Systems Minor
      • Education Studies
      • Natural History Minor
      • Natural Resources Conservation Minor
    • Faculty
    • Rian Fried Center
    • The Foundation of Sterling’s Curriculum
    • Course Catalog
    • Academic Calendar
    • Graduation Requirements
      • Senior Year Research Projects
    • Advising
    • Brown Library
  • Wilderness Field Program
  • Wendell Berry Farming Program
  • EcoGather
  • Continuing Education
  • Life at Sterling
    • Work College
    • Community
    • Safety and Security
    • The Sterling Kitchen
    • The Farm
    • Student Activities
    • Athletics
    • Health & Wellness
    • Residence Halls
  • For Alumnx & Supporters
    • Outcomes
    • Sterling Timeline
    • Job Board
    • Alumnx Resources & Stories
  • Parents & Families
  • Make A Gift
  • Online Store
  • More
    • Contact Sterling
      • Office Directory
    • Directions
    • News & Events
    • The Blog
    • Corporate Foundation and Government Relations
    • Intranet

 Athletics at Sterling College

At Sterling College, athletics are about connecting students with the world–as an individual, a team, and as part of a supportive community. Sterling’s athletic programs are a natural complement to the College’s ecologically-focused curriculum and community. These sports are a great way to celebrate the seasons in Craftsbury.

Core athletic teams including Trail Running and Nordic Skiing are foremost extra-curricular means of immersing students in the natural world, setting and striving for personal goals, and empowering Sterling community members to not only see themselves as active participants in the world on the roads, trails, and woods around Craftsbury, but also to engage in supportive competition with peers beyond Craftsbury Common.

Interest in other sports such as Orienteering, Ultimate Frisbee, Lumberjacking, Canoeing, and Spring Triathlon are a chance to enhance skills learned within the curriculum and take further advantage of Sterling’s location, area resources, and partnerships to offer a wide diversity of opportunities for all Sterling students. Talk to the Director of Athletics about your ideas and interests. The associations and leagues in which Sterling student-athletes participate are inclusive and supportive and offer students exceptional learning, networking, and social growth experiences that are difficult to replicate on campus. The College’s partnership with the Craftsbury Outdoor Center offers Sterling students high quality facilities, equipment, coaching, and terrain for both Nordic and Running team practice and competition. Details of this year’s partnership will be posted on campus.

The Sterling Skyrunners – Trail Running Team

Sterling is proud to host the first collegiate program in Mountain and Trail Running in the United States, established in October 2013. Students are supported to compete locally and regionally in events throughout the Green Mountains, White Mountains, and around the Northeastern U.S. Sterling students, staff, and faculty train in a supportive community of runners to prepare for competitions from an annual 5k trail series at the nearby internationally recognized Craftsbury Outdoor Center to to half marathons in Vermont and around New England.

runnerPopular Races Students have Competed in:

  • Sleepy Hollow 10k Mountain Race, VT
  • The Race to the Top of Vermont (4.3 miles to the top of Mount Mansfield)
  • Ascutney Mountain Run, NH (3.7 miles to the top of Mount Ascutney)
  • Jack London 10k, NH
  • Wolf Hollow Half Marathon, NH
  • Trapp Mountain Half Marathon, VT
  • Octoberfest Running Biathlon, VT
  • Capitalizing on the College’s location in the rural rolling hills nestled among Vermont’s Green Mountains, program participants are within a short drive of a wide variety of terrain and trails, including Mount Mansfield, the Long Trail, Mount Washington and the Presidential Range, and virtually endless miles of singletrack, gravel road, forest, and field.

Partner Organizations include: Craftsbury Outdoor Center, Eastern Collegiate Ski Conference – Nordic, Green Mountain Adventure Racing Association, and Green Mountain Orienteering Club


 

Nordic Skiing

skier

Since its launch in December 2013, the Sterling Nordic Team has been developed in close collaboration with the Craftsbury Outdoor Center, whose world-class facilities, Olympic training center, and 100 km of groomed trails offer an unmatched opportunity for students and athletes interested in Nordic skiing. The team will work with Outdoor Center coaching staff as well as Sterling College faculty to build fitness and skiing skills throughout the season.  In recent years, students have competed in Division 3 USCSA competitions around Vermont and New York as well as local and regional citizens’ races.

The combination of a long natural snow season, the Outdoor Center’s snowmaking, capabilities, trails that cross the Sterling campus, and an impressive concentration of skiing and coaching talent make Sterling College in Craftsbury Common, Vermont an ideal location for student athletes.

We also have 4 renowned ski areas within 45 minutes of campus, including Kingdom Trails, Sugarbush, and Jay Peak.


 

Athletic Program Staff and Coaches

  • Adrian Owens, Director of Athletics and Trail Mountain Ultra Running Team Coach

 

Related Links

  • Craftsbury Outdoor Center
  • U.S. Track and Field
  • U.S. Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association
  • American Trail Running Association 
  • National Sports Shooting Federation
$500

Visit Sterling College and we will reimburse you up to $500 for travel expenses if you decide to enroll full time. So save your receipts!

Trustees Emeriti

David Behrend ’60
Susan C. Bryant
Marvin Brown, Alumni Parent ’85
Lewis Cohen
George J. Hill, M.D., D.Litt., Alumni Parent ’85
Jackson Kytle, Ph.D.
Peter Albert McKay, J.D. ’63
Virginia de Ganahl Russell
Mark Schroeder, Ph.D.

Students playing basketball

Play One, Play All! Inclusive Athletics at Sterling!

The late summer mornings are dark and cool; the constellation of Orion looms large overhead when we rise before the sun, and the dew seems to have its thoughts turned…

hand drawn bird

Climate Run

Pavel Cenkl, faculty in Environmental Humanities at Sterling College, is going the extra mile for climate resilience—171 extra miles! Cenkl is planning on completing a 275 km (170.8 mile), 3-day…

Health & Wellness

Health & Wellness Emotional, Physical, Mental Health We look at the health of our community ecosystem from the ground up. From campus safety to promoting respect and inclusion on campus,…

Open
Regardless of your flock - at Sterling College we look out for each other! That's what being part of the community is all about! #WhereSmallisBetter
63 0
Open
The Ecology Essentials for Everyone course is essential for anyone looking to understand how the world really works – with or without us humans. You'll develop a strong understanding of ecological principles, scientific thinking, and how to live more lightly on the Earth. Register today! Link on bio.
18 1
Open
These days, it seems that everyone has a better, purportedly more sustainable way to farm: organic agriculture, carbon-farming, regenerative agriculture, climate-smart agriculture, permaculture, and sustainable intensification. As alternatives to synthetic and extractive forms of industrial agriculture abound, it can be tough to tell which have real promise and which are green-washed nonsense (or worse). 

Agroecology – an approach that blends natural and traditional science with a set of farming practices and a social movement –  stands out among the alternatives. It fundamentally trusts farmers to work with nature to develop their own approaches that produce food while maintaining ecosystem integrity and avoiding depletion. 

Our self-paced online course in agroecology is designed to empower farmers, gardeners and agriculture professionals alike - providing an invaluable understanding of agricultural sustainability and food movements for those who strive for social justice.

Link on bio.
60 1
Open
The present climate and ecological emergencies are a global problem that requires immediate action. We must work together to find solutions that will help to mitigate these crises. Enroll into Climate + Change self-paced and online.  Starting at $49!  Link on bio.
26 0
Open
Ivy Manner's Senior Year Research Project was entitled 'Ecological Building & Design' where she designed and built an outhouse from scratch, including felling, extraction, sawing, and building.
286 9
Open
New issue of our annual publication, Terrain, has dropped.  Take a read, link on bio.
41 0
Open
Sterling offers more than just undergraduate degrees.  We are quickly building a host of online curriculum for learners of all ages and levels.  Co-created by communities, consulting scholars, and Sterling College educators, EcoGather intersects community, practitioner, and academic insights without privileging any one over the others.  The resulting courses are accessible to and enriching for varied learners at all stages of adult life.  Check it out at : http://ce.sterlingcollege.edu . EcoGather - education that makes sense in a world that does not.
51 0
Open
Countdown is on until our Southwest Field Semester starts!  February 6th!
55 0
Open
Scenes from this year's Winter Expedition ❄️

 photo credit: Ryan Conners
96 0
Open
These days, it seems that everyone has a better, purportedly more sustainable way to farm: organic agriculture, carbon-farming, regenerative agriculture, climate-smart agriculture, permaculture, sustainable intensification. As alternatives to synthetic and extractive forms of industrial agriculture abound, it can be tough to tell which have real promise and which are green-washed nonsense (or worse). 

Agroecology – an approach that blends natural and traditional science with a set of farming practices and a social movement –  stands out among the alternatives.  It fundamentally trusts farmers to work with nature to develop their own approaches that produce food while maintaining ecosystem integrity and avoiding depletion. 

Developed by conservation leader and applied researcher Britt Basel, this Agroecology course provides learners with a nuanced understanding of agroecology’s many facets. The course materials, which include carefully selected readings, resources, and recorded lectures, are enriched with practitioner interviews and exercises that encourage immediate application. 

This course is designed for learners of all ages and backgrounds and is priced at $249.  Link on bio.
96 0
Open
Anonymous online review: "Sterling is an experience. It is not like your normal college where you get a bunch of textbook work. Being a work college, you have the opportunity to learn work ethics and skills through the work program and through some classes. It is for those who want to put the work in. The college is off the beaten track and thus relies on its student body to be there for each other be it for keeping paths open or picking potatoes. Also being such a small school, you can step into classes that help broaden your overall knowledge and help you become a better steward of the environment you live in.

From my time there I learned how to work and that from hard work comes celebration. I found my passion for outdoor education and made life long friends. I learned skills that are older than me, that help me in my daily life.

All in all, Sterling gave me a challenge that led to me becoming a well rounded person both in work and education."
50 1
Open
The kitchen is the keystone of Sterling College. All students are part of Sterling’s sustainable food systems, through farming, cooking, and eating. The curricular system and the kitchen are inextricably linked. So when we say that at Sterling everyone has a seat at the table, we mean it literally.

There is nothing institutional about cooking or eating at Sterling College. The College prides itself on local, healthy food made with love. Everyone at Sterling is part of that equation. The kitchen is cooperative and collaborative, students have a say, and dialog is welcome.
164 11
  • Apply
  • Give
  • Inquire

Additional
Resources For:

Info For

  • Students
  • Admitted Students
  • Parents & Families
  • Alumnx
  • Faculty & Staff
  • Board of Trustees
  • Veterans
  • Contact Sterling
  • Employment
  • Directions
  • Site Map
  • Policies
  • Calendar
  • The Blog

Sterling College
PO Box 72
Craftsbury Common, VT 05827
(802) 586-7711

Sterling College uses education as a force to address critical ecological problems caused by unlimited growth and consumption that is destroying the planet as we have known it. Our mission is to advance ecological thinking and action through affordable experiential learning that prepares people to be knowledgeable, skilled, and responsible leaders in the communities in which they live.

Sterling acknowledges that the land on which we gather—places now known as Vermont and Kentucky—are the traditional and unceded territories of several indigenous peoples: the Abenaki in the North and the Shawnee, Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Osage people to the South. We also learn in-and-from a range of landscapes that belong to other indigenous peoples.

As we seek deep reciprocal relationships with nature, we respect and honor the place-based and cultural wisdom of indigenous ancestors and contemporaries. Words of acknowledgement and intention are just a first step. We must match them with acts of respect and repair.

Copyright 2023 Sterling College

Memberships & Affiliations