Five Join CU Hall of Fame

Staff Report
THE RUTLAND HERALD
Five members of the Castleton University community were inducted into the Castleton Athletics Hall of Fame Saturday morning in a ceremony held in the 1787 Room of the Castleton Campus Center.

Women’s soccer alumna Courtney Chadburn was the first of the group to be inducted, followed by men’s lacrosse alumni Matthew Van Der Kar and James Van Der Kar. Women’s lacrosse alumna Marie Van Der Kar was next, followed by Alumni Award for Contribution honoree Jack Healey.

Chadburn was one of less than 50 NCAA Division III women’s soccer players all-time to amass more than 40 goals and 40 assists in a career, finishing her time at Castleton with 86 goals and 41 assists for 213 total points—all of which are program records.

In total, she landed ECAC All-Region honors three times and was named the team’s most valuable player in each of her four seasons. Following her stellar playing career, Chadburn stayed on as a graduate assistant coach for the Spartans, helping lead Castleton to another NAC title on the sideline. Chadburn resides in St. Albans and works as a middle school physical education teacher and coach.

A native of Manchester, Matthew Van Der Kar was one of the most prolific scorers to step foot on the field for the Castleton men’s lacrosse program in the early 2000s. He graduated in 2007 ranked second in career goals and points, scoring 117 times and totaling 167 points.

Twice he was in the top 25 in the NCAA in points per game, solidifying himself as one of the most dangerous offensive players in the country. He was a three-time team captain, a three-time First Team All-North Atlantic Conference selection and was named the NAC Player of the Year in 2007.

He was also named the team’s Most Valuable Player in each of his three seasons. Van Der Kar is currently the Doors and Windows Sales Manager at r.k. Miles, Inc., and coaches his children in lacrosse with the Equinox Lacrosse Association. He resides in Dorset with his wife Hayley and their two sons, Finnegan and Bodhi.

James Van Der Kar was a four-year starter for the Spartan men’s lacrosse program, shutting down opposing attackers with regularity as a lockdown defender. The Manchester native racked up 313 ground balls in his career, the most by any defenseman in program history.

Van Der Kar was ranked No. 12 in the nation his senior year in ground balls per game, racking up 7.1 ground balls per game while leading Castleton to a then-program-record 13 wins.

After graduation, he and his wife Stefanie moved to Colorado where they settled and have two children. He developed a career designing custom residential homes, advancing to the role of Senior Project Manager at Pinnacle Mountain Homes. He is active in local sports in Breckinridge and plans to coach his two children once they are old enough to participate in the youth lacrosse programs.

Marie Van Der Kar Gray rewrote the Castleton women’s lacrosse record books top-to-bottom following an exemplary career from 2008 to 2011. She finished her career with numerous records that still stand at the time of her induction: 293 career points, 244 career goals, 311 career ground balls, 175 caused turnovers, 96 ground balls in a single season, 58 caused turnovers in a single season and nine goals in a single game.

She graduated as the record holder in nearly every offensive and defensive category, and remains among the all-time leaders in those categories in which she no longer holds the top spot. Van Der Kar was fourth all-time in caused turnovers and sixth all-time in NCAA history for ground balls at her time of graduation.

She was a four-time First Team All-NEWLA selection and two-time NEWLA Offensive Player of the Year.

After graduation, Van Der Kar moved to Montana where she met her husband, Peter, before returning to Vermont. Her and her husband live and work on their family-owned vegetable farm in Newbury with their two children, Sophie and Sam.

Healey has long been the voice of Spartan athletics, calling games for thousands of fans each year since 2008. He was on the call for Castleton’s first-ever football game on September 5, 2009, and has called numerous conference championships, record-setting performances and historic moments for Spartan student-athletes.

Since 2018, Healey has voiced the action for Castleton sporting events on the Little East Network, providing play-by-play coverage for nearly all live-streamed events. Prior to Healey joining Castleton for its move to the Little East Network, he called countless games for Castleton on the Northeast Sports Network over the course of nearly a decade.

Healey began his career in Rutland radio in 1971, and has been broadcasting local sports since 1974. For decades, Healey called games on WSYB and WHWB, retiring from radio work in 2020. He has been named the Vermont Sportscaster of Year 20 times in his illustrious career, and has been inducted into the Vermont Association of Broadcasters and Vermont Principals Association Halls of Fame.