'Built different': North Country star repeats as Free Press girls athlete of the year

North Country was in trouble. Down 15-6 in the second quarter of a Division II high school girls basketball semifinal at Barre Auditorium, the defending champions struggled to do much right against Harwood.

Sabine Brueck changed all that.

Riding Brueck's defense and long 3-pointers during a personal 13-0 run, the Falcons went into the break with the lead. In the second half they pulled away for an 18-point victory to return to the D-II title game.

"She definitely had a sense of putting her team on her back. In that spurt, it represented all the things that make her an awesome player," North Country coach Sarah Roy said. "That was an example of the kind of fierce competitor that she is. She’s just so determined."

Although North Country lost in the final in its bid for back-to-back crowns, Brueck capped another stellar winter, averaging 17.7 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 5.0 steals and 1.2 blocks per game, to earn co-VBCA player of the year honors.

Match her basketball exploits with her other sports — racked up goals in soccer; record-setting performances in track and field — and Brueck's over-stuffed resume has one more line from the 2023-24 school year: retaining the Free Press' girls athlete of the year award.

For an encore to last year's BFP top honor, the junior Brueck totaled 27 goals and 16 assists for North Country's semifinalist soccer squad, was named to the BFP All-State Girls Basketball first team for the second straight winter and won multiple individual state titles to go with a pair of state records across indoor and outdoor track.

Last month, Brueck was also selected as Vermont's best girls track and field athlete by Gatorade, an award she also won in basketball as a sophomore.

"When she was 12 years old, I told her father Jason, 'Your daughter is going to be the best female athlete in North Country,'" Falcons girls soccer coach Pete Kellaway said. "It was rather apparent that she is just different. She is built different and I don’t mean from a physical standpoint."

Said Roy: "She has the drive to accomplish so much. It’s really something I have not seen before."

In the fall, Brueck had yet to score three weeks into the season before a five-goal outburst vs. Montpelier to ignite a points splurge and a 10-game Falcons' winning streak. During the run, North Country's career goals record-holder struck twice for a 2-1 win over eventual state finalist Harwood.

"I hate to say it, but it’s almost Larry Bird-ish — we are not losing this game," Kellaway said of Brueck's single-mindedness.

On the hardwood, Brueck relied on defense to take control of games, while dealing with the pressure as the state's reigning Gatorade player of the year and an enhanced leadership role following key graduation departures.

"She focused on the things she could do and she had such an impact on our game on the defensive end," Roy said. "To have somebody who is a true two-way player and has even more impact on defensive end than offensive end, that speaks to her pure determination.

"She really had to step up and she did."

On that game-defining run in the semifinals, Brueck said she was motivated by her teammates.

"Everything started to work and I wasn't forcing anything," Brueck said. "With the seniors on the team, I just thought, 'This would be their last game.' That really changed my mindset."

After copping three individual titles at the D-I indoor track and field state meet (55 and 300 hurdles plus a tie in the 55 dash), Brueck went to another level in the spring season. At outdoor states, she captured the 100 hurdles (14.93 seconds) and broke the overall state record in the 300 hurdles during a 34-point day. A week later, she lowered the 300s time to 43.90 to take third place during rainy conditions at the New England championships.

"They had to delay our race and sweep up the track because there so much water on it," Brueck said.

But Brueck's school year wasn't finished after New Englands. Brueck opted to enter in the decathlon for the first time. And despite having not competed previously in half of the two-day competition's 10 events, Brueck stormed to a state-record point total (5,755) to seize the overall crown.

"To be honest, I didn’t really know if I could break the state record, but I was hoping to break the school record," Brueck said. "The track community is just so together, everybody is there supporting you."

Brueck closed the decathlon by going out in a 75-second lap in the 1,500, finishing with a 5:10.

"She looked like a veteran that had been doing it for three years. She could be a legitimate distance runner too," North Country track coach Tyler Alexander said. "What impresses me, how modest she is. She doesn’t draw a lot of attention to herself or make a big show about any of her successes."

Brueck just loves to compete: After the all-day Essex Invitational on Memorial Day weekend, Brueck hauled to Boston that night to play for Lone Wolf Athletics, her AAU basketball team.

"I was definitely exhausted, that was quite a lot," Brueck said. "My team was short players and I really wanted to be there for my team."

Chatting for this story on a mid-afternoon after a work shift last week, Brueck had the rest of her day lined up: She went on a four-mile run with a friend before going swimming.

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Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter: @aabrami5.

BFP Girls Athletes of the Year

2024: Sabine Brueck, North Country

2023: Sabine Brueck, North Country

2022: Ava Thurston, Harwood

2021: Ava Thurston, Harwood

2020: Catherine Gilwee, Champlain Valley

2019: Lisa McNamara, Rice

2018: Lydia Maitland, Champlain Valley

2017: Annika Nielsen, South Burlington

2016: Aggie Bisselle, Burr and Burton

2015: Kathleen Young, Essex

2014: Autumn Eastman, Champlain Valley

2013: Anne-Marie Farmer, South Burlington

2012: Mollie Gribbin, South Burlington

2011: Rachel Crews, South Burlington