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(03/05/15 12:58am)
The track teams continued their postseasons on Feb. 27 and 28, competing in the Open New England Championships. “Opens,” as the meet is nicknamed, takes the top athletes across all NCAA divisions and brings them together to compete at Boston University’s Track and Tennis Center, home of one of the fastest banked 200m indoor tracks in the country. With fleet feet on their minds, the Panthers attacked the meet with vigor.
The meet began the afternoon of Feb. 27 with a selection of women’s events. Alex Morris ’16 set a season best in the 400m dash by running 58.56 seconds as the lone individual competitor for the women Friday afternoon. The distance medley relay team of Summer Spillane ’15, Morris, Paige Fernandez ’17, and Erzsie Nagy ’17 ran 11:48.44 for a third-place finish, but their time was marginally slower than the best Middlebury mark of the year set earlier in the month.
After the conclusion of the women’s events, the men took to the track Friday evening. Kevin Serrao ’18 set a new personal best in the 800m, running 1:54.13 to place 14th and was the top placing true freshman in the meet. Kevin Wood ’15 gathered All-New England honors in the 5000m run, finishing 25 laps of the track in 14:37.03, an all-time personal best for fifth place.
Like the women, the men also raced a distance medley relay team. Sam Cartwright ’16, Alex Nichols ’17, Luke Carpinello ’16 and Wilder Schaaf ’14.5 teamed up to run 9:57.95 to finish eigth. Their mark currently ranks them 13th in Division-III, a tough place to be in, as the top-12 declared marks qualify for NCAA Championships. In a later heat of the DMR, Amherst College set the all-time Division-III mark by running 9:48.61, breaking their 2011 team’s record of 9:49.11.
The teams returned to the track Saturday morning ready to impress with more fast times. As has been the theme for much of the season, the Middlebury milers again lit up the track. In the women’s race, Nagy, Spillane and Sarah Guth ’15 finished third, fourth and fifth by running 4:56.53, 4:57.11 and 4:57.48, respectively. Alison Maxwell ’15, who ran 4:53.63 the previous week, had an off day but still took ninth place by running 5:06.13. In the men’s mile, Cartwright shook off the previous night’s DMR to run 4:14.36 and Sam Klockenkemper ’17 set a new personal best by running 4:15.56.
In the 3000m run, Adrian Walsh ’16 ran 10:10.69 for 17th place. Walsh’s time was one-hundredth of a second off of tying Maxwell’s school record mark in the event. Brian Rich ’17 set a new personal best by running 8:37.98, also finishing 17th.
The Panthers will get one last chance at qualifying for NCAA Championships this weekend, competing either at the Tufts Final Qualifying Meet on March 6 or the ECAC Championships on March 6 and 7 at the Armory in New York City. The top-15 men and top-17 women in individual events qualify for NCAAs and the top-12 relays for each gender qualify. At the time of publication, the men currently would send Schaaf in the mile (ranked 12th) while the DMR is on the outside looking in at 13th. The women would send Maxwell, Nagy and Spillane in the mile (ranked second, 11th and 14th), Walsh in the 5000m (ranked 13th) and a DMR team (ranked fourth). Some of the milers, though, may opt to run the DMR fresh rather than doubling up events. The last weekend of the season always proves to be crazy with a wide swath of last chance meets contested across the country.
(03/05/15 12:49am)
Despite leading by two goals at the start of the second half, the Middlebury men’s Lacrosse team fell to first-ranked Tufts by a score of 17-10 after the defending national champions staged a 13-4 run to earn a victory in the season opener. The result on Saturday, Feb. 28 stands as an improvement on last year’s opening matchup with the Jumbos in which the Panthers lost by a greater margin of 24-6.
For the second consecutive year, Middlebury opened season play against Tufts, who now defend a NCAA title after posting a 21-2 record on their way to a national championship in the 2014 season. The Jumbos found success in the previous season as a result of their high-powered offense, which was led by John Uppgren ’16 and Cole Bailey ’15, who combined for ten points (7G, 3A) against Middlebury on Saturday. However, the Panthers relied on strong defense in the first half and were able to limit the powerful Tufts offense to only four goals in the first 30 minutes of play.
John Broome ’16 struck first for Middlebury, scoring unassisted twice in the first quarter while Tim Giarrusso ’16 added a single tally off a Joel Blockowicz ’15 feed. Tufts managed to find the back of the net for the first time with 1:13 remaining in the first, and converted again with 0:02 on the clock to end play with the scoreboard reading 3-2 in favor of the Panthers.
The second quarter saw Middlebury hold onto their lead, with Blockowicz, Broome and John Simms ’17 adding to the scoring effort. Penalties were held to a minimum for both sides during the first half, keeping both teams at even strength throughout much of the opening 30 minutes of play. The Jumbos added two more tallies in the second quarter, leaving the score at 6-4 as both teams left the field for halftime. As they headed to the locker room, the Middlebury squad looked like they might be poised for an upset victory to open their season.
The feeling would not last long after the break. The second half brought a significant change of momentum, with the Jumbos outscoring the visiting Panthers by a wide margin of 13-4. The home team opened the third quarter with three consecutive goals, including one by Connor Bilby while Tufts had a man advantage. Broome was able to add back-to-back goals for the Panthers in the third quarter, rounding out his scoring performance at five on the day. In similar fashion to the start of the quarter, Tufts added another three consecutive goals before the whistle sounded to end play and send the game into the fourth quarter.
For the first time in the game, Middlebury opened the final quarter with a one-goal deficit. Tufts then proceeded to score seven straight, with Middlebury adding its lone goal of the quarter off a Jack Rautiola ’16 shot with 3:10 remaining. The Tufts attack duo of Uppgren and Bailey added two apiece in the fourth, and Uppgren also recorded an assist. In addition, midfielder Garrett Clarke contributed three goals for the Jumbos in the victory, while Austin Carbone racked up three points on two goals and an assist.
Tufts asserted dominance at the faceoff-X, taking a 20-30 advantage throughout the course of the game. Tufts also exceeded Middlebury’s ground ball effort, scooping up 37 to the Panthers’ 22. Consistent with Tufts’ reputation as an offensively talented squad, the Jumbos released 64 shots on the day, almost doubling Middlebury’s shot total of 36.
Both teams displayed competent goaltending at the hands of Will Ernst ’17 for the Panthers and Alex Salazar for the Jumbos. The two goalies recorded almost identical save percentages, 43.3 percent and 44.4 percent, respectively. However, tasked with offsetting Tufts’ notoriously effective offense, Ernst faced 30 shots while Salazar saw only 18. Also on the defensive end of the field, Middlebury players Cal Williams ’15 and Jack DeFrino ’17 each caused three turnovers, while DeFrino recorded six of the ten faceoff wins for the Panthers.
The final score is deceiving, however, because Middlebury stuck with the Tufts team for the majority of the contest.
“Even though we didn’t win, we proved that we can compete with anyone,” said Broome. “We had great possessions and played solid defense in the first half, which is definitely something we can build on.”
The Jumbo’s prolific scoring ability in the fourth quarter allowed them to differentiate themselves and capture the win, yet they trailed Middlebury for much of the game.
“Tufts outworked us on ground balls in the second half and capitalized on our mistakes, like any good team would do,” Broome said. “[If we can] string together a full game of good lacrosse, we have the potential to be a top team in the NESCAC and in D3.”
Middlebury returns to action on the road on Saturday, March 7 against NESCAC rival Connecticut College. Tufts looks to improve upon its undefeated record as they face out-of-conference opponent Stevens Tech over the weekend.
(02/25/15 3:05pm)
The Middlebury women’s basketball team’s season ended this weekend with a 80-52 loss to the 16th-ranked Bowdoin College Polar Bears (22-3, 9-1) in the quarterfinals of the NESCAC tournament.
After having lost to the Polar Bears just two weeks prior to this matchup at Pepin Gymnasium on Sunday, Feb. 8 (53-43), this loss came as a repeat for the Panthers. Overall, the team finished placed seventh in the NESCAC, with an 11-14 record that includes a 3-7 slate in-conference. This marks a vast improvement upon the 2013-14 season, where Middlebury finished last in the NESCAC with a 7-17 overall, and 1-9 conference record.
The Panthers relied heavily on a five-woman starting core this season, and three among that group, Sarah Kaufman ’18, Sabrina Weeks ’18 and Elizabeth Knox ’17, will return next season along with the two most experienced bench players, Siobhan O’Sullivan ’17 and Krystina Reynolds ’17. All of this bodes well for the continued improvement of the program.
Head Coach KJ Krasco praised the two departing seniors who frequented the starting lineup, Rachel Crew ’15 and Alexis Coolidge ’15, along with Holly Lanchantin ’15 and Nora Kelly ’15 who also made substantial contributions to the team.
“Our seniors did a great job this season of leading a young group,” Krasco said. “We have some very talented and hard-working underclassmen who are determined to help lead our program to
future postseason games.”
On Saturday, Feb. 21, the Polar Bears outplayed the Panthers for most of the contest and dominated the game inside the paint, where Bowdoin outscored Middlebury 34-24 and outrebounded the visitors 50-29.
“In the first half this past weekend,” Crews reflected, “we gave up way too many offensive boards and allowed them easy looks with second, third and fourth chance opportunities.”
Middlebury held leads of 2-0, 4-2 and 6-4 earlier in the game, but a subsequent 8-0 run for Bowdoin resulted in a lead that the Polar Bears refused to relinquish. The Panthers kept the deficit to single digits for the majority of the first half, but over the last 5:02 of the first half, Bowdoin outscored Middlebury 13-3, including a buzzer-beating half court heave from Bowdoin’s Sydney Hancock. Going into the break the lead was 44-27 in favor of the Polar Bears.
Knox had a strong first half for Middlebury, netting 10 points on 4-9 shooting and snagging six rebounds. Coolidge tallied six points of her own on 3-4 shooting.
Crews opened the Panthers’ scoring in the second half by responding to a Bowdoin two-point jumper with a trey ball to shrink the deficit to 16, but throughout the second half Bowdoin slowly and steadily extended that 16-point lead to as many as 30 with 2:54 left to play. A couple of free throws late from Reynolds made the score 80-52 in favor of the Polar Bears,and ended the scoring.
Kaufman led the Panthers in the second half, dropping seven points on 3-6 shooting, while Knox grabbed four more boards.
On the game, Knox recorded a double-double with 14 points and 10 boards, while Kaufman was the only other Panther to score in double digits, with 11 of her own. Weeks tallied nine points and added four boards to the effort.
Departing Captain Crews feels positive about the program’s direction going forward.
“With a new coach coming in and a very young team,” Crews said, “[this season] was basically a fresh start for the program...One thing that really stood out this season was our improvement in communication both on and off the court. … With a new foundation for the program in place, Middlebury will be a major competitor in the NESCAC in the upcoming years.”
Coach Krasco is already looking ahead to work on fulfilling Crews’ prophecy.
“This year was brand new for everyone involved,” Krasco said. “Overall I am pleased with the progress we have made as a team and look forward to taking on new challenges and taking time to reflect on how we can become a better team over the next few months.”
(02/25/15 3:03pm)
The Middlebury men’s hockey team finished the regular season by going .500 in back-to-back away NESCAC games. The Panthers were shut out by 10th-ranked Amherst 4-0 on Friday, Feb 20 and then turned around to beat Hamilton 3-1. Middlebury’s final regular season record sits at 10-11-3 and 7-8-3 in the NESCAC, putting them in the seventh seed for the NESCAC playoffs.
The Panthers drew a tough matchup for the first game of the crucial final regular-season weekend as they were tasked with playing the Lord Jeffs on the road.
Amherst scored the first goal of the game 9:32 in and did not look back. Amherst’s goalie made several incredible saves to keep the Panthers off of the scoreboard. It was 2-0 Amherst at the end of the second as the Jeffs got another puck past Middlebury goaltender Stephen Klein ’18. One minute into the third Amherst struck again, prompting Middlebury Head Coach Bill Beaney to pull Klein in favor of Mike Peters ’15.
Despite some good pressure in the third, Middlebury was unable to get on the scoreboard while Amherst notched one more goal to make it a 4-0 final score. Middlebury was unable to convert on five power play opportunities in the game and were outshot 28 to 25.
After the difficult loss to Amherst the Panthers traveled to Clinton, NY for a 3:00 p.m. faceoff against Hamilton on Saturday. The game against Hamilton started off much better for Middlebury. The Panthers were able to put on sustained pressure in the Hamilton zone and finally broke through on the power play 13:20 into the first period. After the Hamilton goaltender stopped a long shot from Terrance Goguen ’16, Brendan McGovern ’16 managed to scoop up the rebound and slip it inside the near post. The goal was the first Middlebury goal of the weekend and the start of a very good night for McGovern.
Hamilton equalized 6:10 into the second period as they got a shot past Middlebury goaltender Liam Moorfield-Yee ’16. Middlebury continued to press after the Hamilton equalizer and were rewarded with two McGovern goals in a two-minute span. McGovern hounded the slot area and was rewarded when he picked up rebounds off of Evan Neugold ’16 and Jake Charles ’16 shots and put both away, one at the 11:23 mark of the second and the next at the 13:13 mark to complete the hat trick and double his season goal total.
16:13 into the second a bit of a tussle occurred as both Cameron Romoff ’17 and a Hamilton player were sent off with game misconducts for facemasking. The Middlebury penalty kill was strong all game as they killed off all six Hamilton power plays. The Panthers were able to hold on for the 3-1 win as Moorfield-Yee picked up his second win of the season despite having to be replaced by Peters a little more than halfway through the second period.
With their final regular season record of 10-11-3, the Panthers have secured the seventh seed in the NESCAC playoffs. Middlebury now faces the tough task of playing the same Amherst team that just beat them 4-0, this time in an away quarterfinal matchup on Saturday, Feb. 28.
McGovern commented on the team’s prospects in the Amherst game.
“We need to go over the video from [this past weekend’s] game,” McGovern said. “This will definitely bring to light some of the issues we had. I’m sure we’ll see a lot of uncharacteristically bad plays. We need to play a smarter game with more energy. Fortunately, we have a week to correct those issues.”
(02/19/15 12:44am)
At the annual winter carnival, the ski teams put together a strong showing to finish third (783) behind carnival winners UVM (931) and runners up Dartmouth (788). Middlebury missed out on second place by only 5 points and beat fourth place UNH by 10 points in a crowded field.
The weekend races included Heather Mooney ’15 leading the women’s nordic team to team and individual wins in the 10K classic and the alpine women winning their first event of the season in the giant slalom on Saturday, February 14th.
In the alpine races at the Snow Bowl, the women placed fifth in slalom on Friday, February 13th. Mary Sackbauer ’15 led the team with a sixth place time of 1:42.99, followed by Katy Greene ’17 (1:46.43) in 16th and Elle Gilbert ’16 (1:46.51) in 19th.
The women fared much better on Saturday. Katelyn Barclay ’15 led a group of three Middlebury skiers in the top five with a third place time of 2:13.14. Her teammates Sackbauer (2:13.88) and Gilbert (2:14.00) came in directly behind her, leading to the Panther win. Barclay finished over two seconds behind the event winner. The three women were in second, third and fourth place after the first run, but a strong second run by Dartmouth’s Foreste Peterson pushed her into second ahead of the consistent Panther women.
In the men’s races on Friday, the team skied to a third place finish behind UVM and UNH. They also turned in their highest point total in a slalom event this season. Rob Cone ’17 (1:31.37), Colin Hayes ’17 (1:33.00) and Christopher McKenna ’17 (1:33.08) all scored for the Panthers, who finished with 109 points in the event. Cone sat in second place after the first run and turned in a third-best time on the second run. UNH’s Coley Oliver managed to jump Cone for the win by half a second after a blistering second run. Hayes, who sat in 26th after the first run challenged Oliver’s winning second run, coming in second only two tenths of a second back, launching him into the top ten. Middlebury’s McKenna placed 12th.
In the giant slalom on Saturday, Cone led after the first run then slipped back into third overall with a time of 2:09.60, a second behind the winner. Teammates McKenna and Riley Plant ’18 completed the strong overall showing with fifth and sixth place finishes of 2:09.71 and 2:09.86, respectively. Middlebury lost the GS event to UVM by a single point.
In the nordic events, the women continued the dominant momentum that they have established throughout the season. In the classic events on Friday, Mooney won the women’s 10K by 10 seconds with a time of 31:01.2. Stella Holt ’15 came in sixth (32:06.1) and Nicolette Amber ’16 finished 14th (33:26.4). It was Mooney’s third straight win, and Holt’s third top 10 of the season in classic events. The women won the event by ten points over second place Bates.
“There is definitely a home course advantage for both nordic and alpine races,” Holt said. “On the nordic side we are able to train every day on the exact same course we race on for our home carnival.”
On Saturday in the skate race, Middlebury placed third behind UVM and UNH. Mooney placed second on the day, finishing the 5K in 16:11.2, three seconds back. Holt took 15th with a time of 17:13.9, and Amber took 19th in 17:20.7.
The men placed sixth on Friday in the classic races, and seventh on Saturday in the skate. Patrick McElravey ’17 led the team with a 13th place finish in 27:10.7. Adam Luban ’17 came in 17th with a time of 27:32.3, and Evan Weinman ’18 (27:52) placed 25th. On Saturday, McElravey slid into the top ten with a seventh place 26:20.1. Luban finished tied for 23rd with a time of 27:12.8, and Jacob Volz ’18 came in in 29:30.6, good for 50th place.
Holt looked forward to the last carnival, saying, “We know we are capable of winning a day and even a weekend as a women’s team as we have done it on multiple occasions throughout this season.”
Next week, the ski teams are off, but head up to the St. Lawrence carnival in Lake Placid, NY for the EISA championships the week after. The carnival serves as the penultimate race before the NCAA championships, which will also be hosted by St. Lawrence.
(02/19/15 12:37am)
The Middlebury men’s basketball team finished its season this weekend by splitting its two home games and failing to qualify for the NESCAC championships. On Friday, Feb. 13, the Panthers fell to Trinity 90-85 before defeating Amherst 82-69 on Sunday, Feb. 15.
Entering the weekend, the Panthers stood at 3-5 in the NESCAC, good for an eighth-place (the final spot in the playoff bracket) tie with Wesleyan — although Middlebury held the tiebreaker thanks to the Panthers’ 97-60 dismantling of the Cardinals earlier this year.
After getting significantly outplayed by Trinity in the first half and much of the second half on its home court, the Panthers frenziedly rallied to come within four points (conceivably a one-possession game), before eventually suffering a heartbreaking loss that would ultimately eliminate the Panthers from postseason play.
Middlebury took an early 8-4 lead, but Trinity quickly grabbed the driver’s wheel with several first half spurts to take a 39-24 advantage at the halfway point. The Bantams had their way on the offensive end, making more than half of their shots, including several dunks and a 6-9 mark from beyond the arc, while the Panthers crawled to a lowly 31 percent mark from the field.
Trinity came out with that same high level of play to begin the second half, scoring the first seven points of the half to build its largest lead of the game, 46-24, at the 17:52 mark. Over the next 13 minutes, Middlebury slowly chipped away, but the Bantams still held a significant 74-59 advantage with 4:30 remaining.
Matt St. Amour ’17 took over momentarily and scored 10 of his team’s next 11 points as the Panthers pulled within 10 with just over two minutes left. Hoping to extend the game, the Panthers started fouling if they failed to force a turnover quickly with their frantic defense, and a combination of Trinity turnovers and missed free throws gave the Panthers the opportunity to shrink the lead to only four, 87-83, on a Dylan Sinnickson ’15 tip-in with 26 seconds left.
The Panthers could not get any closer as Trinity’s Jaquann Starks knocked down one of two free throws, and Sinnickson missed a three to give the Bantams a 90-85 win.
Trinity played impressive defense on the Panthers all night, only allowing Middlebury to shoot 23-62 (37.1 percent) from the field and 7-22 (31.8 percent) from deep.
St. Amour scored all of his game-high 20 points in the second half, converting all eight of his foul shots and leading the Middlebury comeback. Hunter Merryman ’15 added 16 points, while Matt Daley ’16 tallied 13 points and 11 rebounds for his third double-double in the last six games. Jake Brown ’17 scored 11 points while assisting on seven other baskets and committing only one turnover.
After Wesleyan won on Friday and Saturday, the Panthers were mathematically eliminated, meaning the Amherst game on Sunday had no impact on the Panthers’ chances of making the postseason. However, intrigue remained as the result would be the difference for Amherst between the second and fifth seeds in the tournament and for Middlebury it was Senior Day for five Panthers (Sinnickson, Merryman, captain Dean Brierley ’15, Chris Churchill ’15 and Eamon Cuddy ’15), and they went out on a good note, defeating Amherst 82-69 and snapping the Lord Jeffs’ six-game winning streak.
Starting the four seniors who had never before beaten Amherst, the amped-up Panthers jumped out to an early 13-8 lead as all four seniors found the bottom of the net. The Lord Jeffs answered with a 7-0 run to take the lead, but that would last for all of eight seconds before the Panthers exploded to outscore them 20-7 over the next 5:30 and build a 33-22 lead. When the first half ended, Middlebury held a 41-34 lead behind a balanced offensive effort — all 10 Panthers who saw action scored.
For much of the second half, neither team made much headway in either direction as the Panthers still held a 67-61 lead with just under six minutes left in the game. That changed as the Panthers went on a decisive 9-0 run over the next three minutes to put the game out of reach. When the buzzer sounded on the game and the Panthers’ season, the scoreboard showed 82-69 in favor of Middlebury.
Merryman led the Panthers in scoring with 24, while St. Amour and Daley chipped in 18 and 14 respectively off the bench.
Sinnickson, a two-year starter and inarguably Middlebury’s most valuable player this year, reflected emotionally on his final season in the blue and white and his playing career as a whole.
“It’s great to end on a win,” Sinnickson said. “It was a bright spot in a tough season. It’s tough to leave Pepin Gymnasium. So many great memories. Thanks to all the fans and good luck to my teammates next season and the future of Middlebury basketball.”
(02/19/15 12:30am)
The Middlebury men’s hockey team went .500 in a pivotal rivalry home-and-home against Williams this past weekend, picking up the victory at home on Friday, Feb. 13, 2-0 before losing on the road 5-4 on Saturday, Feb. 14.
The Panthers started off the weekend on a positive note. Coming off a 3-0 shutout win over Wesleyan the weekend before, Middlebury prepared to square off against the 12th-ranked Williams College Ephs. Following an early Williams’ opportunity that was denied by Middlebury goaltender Stephen Klein ’18, the Panthers took control of the period. Less than two minutes after the Williams opportunity, the Panthers were on the board. At 5:57 into the first period Evan Neugold ’16 fired a shot from the crease that was denied, but stuck with the play and slipped in the rebound for his seventh goal of the season. Just 30 seconds into the second period it looked as if Williams would tie the game as a shot dribbled past Klein, but a rapid reaction from Panther defender Terrance Goguen ’16 cleared the puck off the goal line and kept Williams off of the scoreboard. Three minutes later and the Panthers struck again with another goal off of a rebound 4:21 into the second. After Mike Najjar’s ’17 initial shot was saved, Ronald Fishman ’16 picked up the rebound in the slot and put it away. Fishman’s goal was the end of the scoring for the game as both teams clamped down and both goalies came up with some incredible saves. Middlebury managed to end their home season on a good note as they won 2-0 and outshot the Ephs 39 to 22. Klein picked up his third shutout of the season with the victory.
The next day the Panthers looked to continue the positive momentum as they traveled to Williamstown to complete the second half of the home-and-home. It became clear after the first period that Saturday’s game would not be the low-scoring affair that Friday’s was. The Panthers took the lead 12:06 into the first period when Brendan McGovern ’16 picked up the rebound off of a Cameron Romoff ’17 shot and put it past the Williams’ goaltender for his third of the season. Four minutes later, Williams answered to make it a 1-1 game. The tie did not last long however, as the Panthers scored again at the 18:20 mark. Jake Charles ’16 found a rebound in front of the Williams net and backhanded it in to give the Panthers the 2-1 lead going into the second. Six minutes and 24 seconds into the second period Neugold increased the Middlebury lead to two. Neugold managed to get around both Williams defensemen and then shot it in glove side for a pretty goal. Unfortunately, Middlebury was unable to hold the lead in the high scoring second period and after forty minutes of play the game was tied 3-3. Charles struck once again for his team-leading 10th goal of the season 2:31 into the third. While on the power play Charles deflected a Romoff shot from the point past the Williams goaltender to give Middlebury the 4-3 lead. The lead would not hold, however, as Williams managed to get two more pucks past Klein to give them the 5-4 lead with only 3:48 remaining in the third period. The Panthers went on the power play at the 17:18 mark but were unable to convert and the Ephs picked up the 5-4 victory. Middlebury outshot Williams 39-25 in the loss.
This coming weekend marks the final two regular season games for the Panthers as they jostle for position in the playoff bracket. Currently sitting just under .500 at 9-10-3 overall and 6-7-3 in the NESCAC, the Panthers will look to end the season with a winning record and victories in two key NESCAC away games. The Panthers will square off against Amherst on Friday, Feb. 20 and then play Hamilton Saturday, Feb. 21. While Middlebury has already secured a NESCAC playoff berth, the Panthers have an opportunity to improve their seeding with a good showing this weekend.
(02/19/15 12:25am)
Despite dropping two games to conference foes this past weekend on the road, the Middlebury women’s basketball team earned the opportunity to play in the NESCAC postseason tournament for the 10th time in school history. The seventh-seeded Panthers will travel to Brunswick this Saturday, Feb. 21 to lock horns with second-seeded Bowdoin, who bested Middlebury 53-43 earlier this month.
Head Coach KJ Krasco secured a NESCAC tournament berth in her first year at the program’s helm, but would have liked to end the regular season on a better note.
“We wanted to try our best to put together a solid 40 minute game on Friday and Saturday,” Krasco said. “Unfortunately we didn’t play as well as we would have liked, which resulted in two losses.”
Middlebury began the weekend with a contest at Trinity on Friday, Feb. 8 in which the Panthers made a late push but were unable to overcome the nine-point halftime deficit.
Middlebury kept the contest close for the game’s first seven-plus minutes, but a 9-0 Bantam run left the Panthers down by eight. Middlebury tried to claw back but could not bring the deficit below four points, and entered halftime trailing 29-20.
Sabrina Weeks ’18 and Elizabeth Knox ’17 opened the second half with a pair of layups to make it a five-point game. Later in the period, another Weeks layup closed the gap to three. The game went back and forth with Trinity stretching the lead out to eight, and Knox again shrinking it to three.
With just 1:48 left in the game, Krystina Reynolds ’17 sunk a layup, decreasing the Panther point deficit to just two points. Unfortunately, Trinity hit a three-pointer seconds later, and made 7-8 free throws down the stretch to clinch a 62-54 victory.
Knox paced the offensive attack for the Panthers, scoring 19 points with a 8-14 shooting ratio, and winning eight rebounds. Further scoring contributions came from Alexis Coolidge ’15 who netted nine points, and Weeks who scored eight.
The Panthers returned to action at 11th-ranked Amherst on Sunday, Feb. 15 for their final regular season NESCAC game. Amherst entered the game with 20-2 overall and 8-1 in-conference records, and were able to dispatch of the Panthers 61-33. The Lord Jeffs have now won 109 straight games at home in LeFrak Gymnasium.
Weeks opened the scoring in the game with a layup on the Panthers’ second possession. Neither team was able to separate itself in the first half, and at one point there was a five minute stretch where only one basket was scored by either side. Knox made a layup with 30 seconds remaining in the half to make it a 25-19 game.
“In the first half,” Crews said, “we were able to compete with a top 25 team, despite not playing our best basketball. That first half was another example of how we can compete with any team in the NESCAC when we are mentally focused and communicating.”
Amherst put the pedal to the medal in the second half, which opened with a 13-5 Lord Jeffs’ run. Crews hit a three-pointer to bring Middlebury within 11, but Amherst soon exploded on a 17-point run to blow the game open.
Overall, the Panthers struggled against the NESCAC’s second-ranked defense, shooting 22 percent (13-59) from the floor. Sarah Kaufman ’18 was the only Panther to record double figures, tallying 11 points and adding six rebounds. Coolidge snagged six boards as well for Middlebury.
“I thought we competed in both games [this weekend],” Krasco said, “we were able to play well for portions of both games, but not consistently enough throughout the entire game.”
The Panthers will have their work cut out for them when they meet 21-3 (9-1) Bowdoin this coming Saturday, Feb. 21
“Our goal is to … become a mentally tougher team this week in practice to prepare for our opponent this weekend,” Krasco said. “We have to execute on both ends of the floor and play better in order to win.”
(02/12/15 3:19am)
When the op-ed “It’s Actually Just a Game” was published in the Campus on Jan. 22, what followed was an explosion of conversation about athletics on campus. With almost 60 comments online and multiple responses to the opinion piece, the topic dominated conversations until the end of Winter Term.
In light of this, the College has been forced to consider a divide between the athletes and non-athletes on campus. This divide has given rise to a number of questions surrounding the role of athletics at a school like Middlebury and the existence of athletic privileges.
As a member of the NCAA and NESCAC divisions, the College athletic department abides by two sets of rules, both of which strive to create an athletic environment consistent with a commitment to academics. However, as the College and so many other institutions have discovered, finding the right balance between athletics and higher education can be difficult.
The NESCAC established itself as a conference in 1999 and currently sponsors 26 conference championships for 11 institutions. NESCAC member schools offer an average of 30 varsity sports programs. The College offers 31 varsity programs and 15 Club programs, putting it near the top of that list. The decision to offer certain sports as varsity programs versus Club programs at the College was made in collaboration with the other members of the NESCAC years ago.
Because 28% of the student body is involved in the varsity sports program, the College has committed itself to supporting the varsity sports program on many different levels. These commitments must work in harmony with the College’s dedication to academics and a diverse and engaged student body.
Financial
Each year, the College budget reflects a number of different needs. According to the College’s budget office, “Budget decisions reflect the College’s mission and core values. Our top priorities are our academic program and our need-blind admissions policy for U.S. students.”
In the 2014 fiscal year, the College’s budget was $292 million. Of this, approximately $5 million (or 1.7%) is allocated to the athletics department on a yearly basis.
According to Athletics Director Erin Quinn, budgets are constructed to pay for the essential elements of each varsity program, including items such as food, lodging, travel and the basic equipment. This process is the same across all varsity sports at the College, including the Alpine and Nordic ski teams and the Squash teams, all of which are not traditional Division III sports but instead compete with only one division. In these sports, the College and other DIII institutions compete against DI institutions, while retaining the DIII classification and following DIII rules.
Specialized equipment is not anticipated in these budgets but can be applied for through the same process as any other department of the College.
“Some of the stuff that students might say that they paid for themselves might be the choices of those students to buy those things…Things that go beyond what a normal budget might cover, that a team arguably could do without, shouldn’t necessarily be covered by the budget,” Quinn said. He added that if the budget does not provide the entire cost of an item, teams may raise money and then families often contribute the difference; for example, spring trips are not fully funded by the budget. (see spread in Features)
Other organizations on campus are not included in the College’s budget. They rely on the comprehensive Student Activities fee, which was $407 per student for 2014. This money is pooled together and allocated to student organizations through the SGA Finance Committee.
Between last spring and this fall, approximately 140 clubs came in for both budget and new money requests, including a number of Club sports programs. Club sports rely on the Student Activities fee for all expenses except that of any coaches.
According to Katie Linder ’15, captain of the Women’s Rugby Club team and SGA Athletic Affairs Committee chair, figuring out finances is a large part of Club sports. “Staying in hotels the night before versus driving up at five in the morning is something that we would love but we make it work, it’s the only way we know how to operate. It’s a process, but we get as much money as we need… I can’t say that I wouldn’t like more money, but it’s manageable,” she said.
SGA Treasurer Ilana Gratch ’16.5 said, “It’s not that we run out of money, it’s that we have to discern which requests are going to have the widest reach and be the most beneficial to the most students because, at the end of the day, it’s coming from the Students Activities fee which we all paid for. It is a finite amount of money so we can’t fund everything.”
Because athletic facilities are open to the College and town communities, a separate section of the College budget provides for these facilities. However, the construction of the new Virtue Field House and the Squash Courts was not included in these numbers. The $46 million project was the first of its size completely funded by donors, many who have previously given to the College’s financial aid, to academic programs, or to other College initiatives outside of Athletics.
Although College fundraising efforts are not directed towards athletics, research shows that often athletics are a source of inspiration for alumni donations. In 2006, Professor of Economics Jessica Holmes published a paper using 15 years of data from the College which concluded that alumni, regardless of whether they were involved with athletics or not, tend to donate to the College when athletics are doing well or when academics are doing poorly. Although the data is not recent, these results remain relevant to the College according to David K. Smith ‘42 Professor of Applied Economics Phani Wunnava.
Tim Spears, Vice President for Academic Development and a leader in fundraising efforts at the College, said, “In the larger world of intercollegiate athletics, one of the reasons why booster clubs exist at universities and the like is because through successful athletics programs, you raise awareness for the school and build loyalty. There may be merit to this approach, but that’s not the strategy that’s at work at a place like Middlebury.”
Admissions
Under NESCAC guidelines, the College may not admit recruited athletes until they have gone through the same process as any other applicant. However, coaches can get feedback from Admissions about where to prioritize their recruiting and, according to Dean of Admissions Greg Buckles, “The boundaries of that get pushed a lot.”
Recruited athletes are often given extra and earlier advance notice as to their viability as a candidate for the College based on criteria set by the NESCAC, which can often lead athletes to premature assumptions about their admittance. Instances have occurred where students in the recruitment process have claimed a “commitment” to the College similar to those allowed at Division 1 institutions. As a matter of protocol and process, Buckles said, Admissions will track down these claims to correct them when they see them.
“[The NESCAC recruiting process] is at the same time the most confounding but also the most noble undertaking of any athletic conference I know of,” said Buckles. “In other words, it’s complicated, it can be confusing, frustrating, and sometimes it will seem like it’s hypocritical but, in the end, it works well. We keep a lid on the appropriate amount of emphasis on athletics and at the same time we’re very successful.”
Recruitment success is a significant part of assessing the performance of Coaches, and so they are part of the admissions conversation. However, the same process exists for the Arts department. Through the same evaluative system as the Athletics department, members of the Arts may convey to admissions which candidates they would like to see admitted. Furthermore, any department or any faculty member can oversee potential candidates in whom they have an interest and may open a conversation with Admissions.
In the Athletics department, the ability to evaluate applicants has proven beneficial to the overall application process. In any given year, about 25 percent of the incoming class is recruited athletes. This number has remained constant while the total number of recruited athletes who apply has been shrinking (see graphic on front page).
The recruiting process also encourages more athletes to apply Early Decision. In 2014, 44 percent of Early Decision 1 applicants who enrolled were recruited athletes. “The upside of that is that interestingly leaves room for more non-athletes because it’s typically one-for-one…That leaves us, in some sense, with more room to consider a whole host of other needs and goals for the class,” said Buckles.
The recruiting process at the College across all varsity sports is consistent with those of the ten other NESCAC institutions. This process is one of the most restrictive in the country and has caused a lack of diversity in athletics. Between these restrictions and a lack of resources to travel extensively or reach out to athletes, Coaches are often limited to those athletes who have the ability and the connection to NESCAC institutions to approach coaches themselves.
“Almost everywhere else, a lot of times athletic conferences and athletic teams will support more diversity…As we’ve made great progress and strides in the overall student body…that has not been reflected in the athletic teams as much,” Buckles said.
“A coach puts together the class holistically just the way the College does,” Quinn said. “We try to be very consistent and we try to have the athletic department be representative of the College. We have some limitations on our ability to recruit as broadly due to practical, financial considerations as well as NESCAC restrictions on recruiting. The NESCAC has looked carefully at some of these practices as well. How can we create the most diverse pool as possible? Are there league restrictions that prohibit us from doing so?”
One way a lack of diversity in athletics might be addressed is by looking at athlete GPAs or how financial aid is allocated to athletes and non-athletes on campus. According to Quinn, athlete GPAs are tracked internally by the Athletics Department periodically to evaluate the academic success of student-athletes, but these numbers are not open to the public, just as GPA numbers are not available for any other campus constituencies.
Additionally, because of the College’s need-blind policy, financial aid numbers for specific groups are not tracked except through annual audits on the Student Financial Aid office, of which the results are not shared unless an issue becomes apparent.
Time Commitment
Students’ commitment to athletics is often seen as a diversion from the College’s commitment to academics. Although the College outlines specific procedures for students, coaches, and professors, it is often left to the discretion of those involved how to balance athletics and academics.
“One of the things that we think about a lot as faculty is student time and whether or not students have the time that they need to devote to their academics,” said Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty Andi Lloyd. “What’s the right amount of time to devote to academics relative to extracurricular activities? It’s a question about time as a scarce resource.”
Lloyd also commented on claims that student-athletes are given access to easier classes. Although unaware of any specific practices concerning this she said, “The kinds of things I hear—and the kinds of conversations I have with my advisees—have more to do with time management than with taking easier classes… I think people are making choices about classes based on any number of different factors, including athletics and other extra-curricular commitments. I would not define it as an issue of athletic privilege in the sense that it is playing out at other schools.”
By College and NESCAC regulations, varsity athletes are limited in the amount of time they are allowed to practice, how long their season is, and how many games they may compete in, among other things. However, the time commitment to a varsity sport is still substantial and, for many students, a deciding factor for participation.
“I came in and I picked rugby because I wanted to learn the sport but also because I didn’t want to try to play a varsity sport,” Linder said.
She added, “We have a lot of girls who played sports in high school and didn’t want the commitment of a varsity sport because it’s a huge time commitment and we’re sort of looking for a middle ground where it was a structure, a team, but wasn’t that much of a high competitiveness level.”
Lloyd added that this conversation extends beyond athletics. “Having been here for almost 20 years, I have seen that students find any number of different pathways through this place, they distinguish themselves in any number of different ways, they find a range of things outside of the classroom in order to stretch themselves and challenge themselves, and athletics is one of those things but, it’s not the only thing,” she said.
Social Life
The divide between athletes and non-athletes on campus goes beyond areas in the budget, admissions and time commitments. The op-ed published in The Campus, a response by basketball player Jake Nidenberg ’16, and another published on Middbeat by Lizzy Weiss ’17 and Aleck Silva-Pinto ’16 are all part of the ongoing conversation around this divide.
Many have pointed to freshman orientation as the origin of this separation between athletes and non-athletes. In the 2015 SGA student life survey, participants were asked if they think the staggered arrival of fall athletes, international and non-athlete domestic students during orientation impacts relationships between different groups. Results showed that 16.13 percent of participants saw a positive impact, 59.04 percent saw a negative impact, and 24.83 percent saw no impact.
In their column “NARPs” in the Campus, Maddie Webb ’17 and Izzy Fleming ’17 have explored how non-athletes at the College can get involved with both athletics and other activities on campus. “‘NARPs’ is a term I had never heard before I came to Middlebury,” Webb said. “Most people use it as a term of endearment but there are also people who use it to put other people down.”
She added, “There are so many people on this campus who think that sports are everything and you are nothing without athletic ability and so a point of our column is to not only take back the term NARPs but to show people all the opportunities there are on campus to get involved that they might not have known about.”
As head of the SGA Athletic Committee, Linder works to bridge this gap. “A lot of what we do is how to get more people to come to games and support the team and school spirit…I think we run into issues less with privilege and more with the disconnect between athletes and non-athletes and trying to find ways to make a connection between those two sides,” she said.
Whether athletics are seen as an outlet for extra privileges or a source of diversity and connection on campus can be attributed to how students at the College embrace the divide. “This is college, and we love to refer to Middlebury as a bubble, and that’s not a bad thing—to an extent, it should be a bubble,” Spears said. “This place, of all places, of all moments in students’ lives, should be where people are crossing those boundaries and getting to know people who are different from one another.”
(02/11/15 10:26pm)
The Middlebury men’s hockey team have had a tough past two weeks that ended in a milestone achievement. The Panthers lost to Tufts 2-1 and were shut out by Connecticut College 3-0 in two away games on Jan. 30 and 31 before returning to Kenyon Arena the next week and losing to fourth-ranked Trinity in overtime 2-1 and then beating Wesleyan 3-0 for Head Coach Bill Beaney’s 600th career victory.
Bowdoin took the 1-0 lead just 15 seconds into the game when a Bowdoin pass took a weird bounce off of a Middlebury defender and landed right on the stick of a Bowdoin forward, who managed to snap a shot past Stephen Klein ’18. Middlebury answered just over two minutes later on the power play when Evan Neugold ’16 picked up his third of the season. After the quick flurry of goals to start the game the two teams locked down as the game evolved into a defensive showcase. Middlebury had a couple of stellar chances in the second but were unable to put any past the Bowdoin goaltender.
The Panthers were able to take the 2-1 lead early in the third period when Mike Najjar ’17 put home the rebound from a shot from Cameron Romoff ’17. Middlebury was then granted an opportunity to put the game away when a Bowdoin player boarded a Panther resulting in a five-minute boarding major and a game-misconduct 11:49 into the third. It seemed as if Middlebury had cashed in on the extended power play when it appeared as if Mark McLellan ’18 was able to put in a rebound off a David Belluche ’18 shot from the point, the red light went off and the fans cheered, but the ref made a controversial no-goal call, claiming that the puck had never completely crossed the line. Bowdoin was then able to equalize with 1:22 left in the third when they pulled their goalie for an extra attacker.
The game then went to overtime where, despite having an early power play, the Panthers were unable to pot the game winner, ending the game as a 2-2 tie. Middlebury outshot Bowdoin 36-19 in the contest.
After their frustrating tie to Bowdoin the day before Middlebury had to quickly turn around and face off against Colby in an afternoon game in Kenyon Arena.
After a closely contested first period Middlebury was able to take the lead on a goal from Neugold. After two successive Middlebury penalties just under halfway through the second Colby was able to cash in on a five on three power play to tie it up. Five minutes later Middlebury responded with a power play goal of their own. After setting up in the offensive zone Middlebury cycled the puck around before Romoff found an opening and shot it into the top left corner of the Colby net. Once again, Colby was able to equalize as they managed to put a wrap-around past Klein 1:17 into the third period. The back-and-forth game continued as Middlebury took the lead on the power play 12:09 into the third. Charles tipped in a Max Greenwald ’16 shot for his team pacing seventh goal of the year.
The Panthers were once again unable to hold on to the lead as Colby equalized with 1:58 left in the third, forcing a second game in a row into overtime. This time, however, the Panthers were able to convert. 59 seconds into the five-minute overtime period Charles scooped up the rebound from a Brendan McGovern ’16 shot and put the game away with a quick shot into the back of the Colby net. Klein stopped 19 of 22 Colby shots in the win as Middlebury outshot the Mules 35 to 22. Middlebury started off the February break away at Tufts. By the midway point of the game Tufts managed to squeak the puck by Middlebury goaltender Liam Moorfield-Yee ’16 twice, putting the Panthers into a two-goal deficit. Middlebury got on the board just four minutes after the second Tufts goal when captain Derek Pimentel ’15 put home the rebound off a Zach Haggerty ’16 shot. Despite continued pressure for the remainder of the game, the Panthers were unable to get any more pucks past the Tufts goaltender. Middlebury outshot Tufts 32-22 in the 2-1 loss.
The next away game, a day later, did not go any better for the Panthers. After the tough loss to Tufts, Middlebury faced off against Connecticut College. After a closely contested first period during which the Middlebury penalty kill stood on its head, Connecticut College got one by Middlebury goaltender Klein with 1:32 remaining in the first. From then on the Camels dominated the game and Middlebury ended up losing 3-0 as they were outshot 35-16.
After the tough weekend, Middlebury had to regroup as they prepared to host the fourth-ranked Trinity Bantams. After a closely contested first period it was 1-0 Trinity as the Bantams managed to get one by Middlebury goalie Klein with 50 seconds remaining. The second period featured plenty of excitement but no change in the scoreline.Both teams’ goaltenders made key stops, with Trinity getting a little help from their left post as McGovern’s shot made it past the goalie but hit iron and bounced away.
The Panthers went into the third looking to equalize. Middlebury poured on the pressure, playing the majority of the period in Trinity’s defensive zone. After a number of good chances, including another shot which rang off the pipe, Middlebury was able to equalize with their goaltender pulled and just 14 seconds remaining in the period. Neugold collected the rebound off a Ronald Fishman ’16 blast from the point, skated around the goal, and stuffed home the wraparound to tie the game at 1-1. However Trinity was able to come away with the victory as they scored just 47 seconds into the sudden death overtime period. Middlebury outshot Trinity 34-15 in the contest.
Middlebury was finally able to get a win in their next game. Hosting Wesleyan, the Panthers put pressure on early, with the hard work finally paying off 16:35 into the first period. Neugold picked up the rebound off a Greg Conrad ’17 drive to the net and shot it top shelf for his sixth of the season. Middlebury then doubled their lead on the power play 2:22 into the second period when Pimentel scored off the rebound from a Romoff shot from the point. Continuing to dominate play, the Panthers took a dominant 3-0 lead 14 minutes later. Fishman skated into the slot and then dropped the puck back to Najjar who made no mistake in rifling it home. Middlebury outshot Wesleyan 37-13 and Klein picked up his second shutout of the year.
Overshadowing all other achievements from the game, however, was what the victory represented for Beaney. Now in his 35th season as a head coach and his 28th year leading the Panthers, Beaney picked up his 600th career victory, making him the 12th coach in NCAA history to reach the milestone as well as the NCAA leader in Division-III victories.
The Panthers are now gearing up for the final stretch. This Friday, Feb. 13 marks the last home game of the season as Middlebury squares off against Williams in a pivotal home-and-home series. Middlebury completes the series away at Williams on Saturday. Puck drop for both games is at 7:00pm.
(02/11/15 10:25pm)
The women’s basketball team has hit a rough patch in their season, dropping a handful of tight NESCAC games. The Panthers now sit at 11-11 overall and 3-5 in-conference, but are a lock for a spot in the NESCAC tournament.
Middlebury lost a non-conference matchup with the Owls of Keene State on Thursday, Jan. 22 by a slim margin, 60-56. Keene jumped out to an 11-0 lead before Krystina Reynolds ’17 scored the first bucket for the Panthers.
Middlebury chipped away and tied the game at 25-25 on an Alexis Coolidge ’15 layup on the first possession of the second half. The two squads battled back and forth for the next 10 minutes, but Keene was able to extend the lead to as much as eight with 10:32 left in the contest.
Kaufman led the Panthers with 23 points on 8-13 shooting. Elizabeth Knox ’17 was tops with 11 boards and five assists for Middlebury while also adding nine points, and Rachel Crews ’15 tallied 11 points.
Middlebury had over a week off before taking on conference foe Williams at home on Friday, Jan. 30 in a game that ended in favor of the Ephs by a score of 67-52.
Williams was able to get to the line 28 times in the contest, making 21 of its foul shots, which made the biggest difference in the ball game.
The game remained tight for most of the first half and Middlebury took a three-point lead with 8:51 left in the first frame on a Coolidge lay up.
The Panthers entered the half down just two, and Crews went into the locker room with 10 points at the break. Unfortunately, things got away from Middlebury quickly in the second half. Williams led by as many as 19 with 8:54 left in the game. The Ephs were able to keep the Panthers at bay and win by a comfortable 15 point margin.
Sarah Kaufman ’18 led Middlebury with 14 points and added eight rebounds. Sabrina Weeks ’18, who never came off the floor, also grabbed eight rebounds. Kaufman, Knox, Crews and Coolidge all scored in double figures.
Middlebury got some redemption with a 60-59 win on the road at Hamilton on Sunday, Feb. 1. The victory was an important win for the Panthers, who now hold a critical tiebreaker over both Hamilton and Wesleyan, two teams currently sitting at 2-6 in the NESCAC standings.
Middlebury extended their lead to 14 points just after halftime, but Hamilton never gave in and had a couple chances to tie at the buzzer that would not fall. Scoring was tough to come by in the game’s opening minutes, as Middlebury led 11-10 with 9:44 left in the first half.
Then the Panthers went on a 10-2 run and took a lead that would not be relinquished until there was just 6:42 left in the game. The lead did not stretch beyond five in either direction for the remainder of the contest. Reynolds went 4-4 from the stripe in the game’s final 1:12 (the Panthers were 9-9 on the evening) to help seal the victory.
Two Hamilton three-point attempts failed to fall in the waning seconds. A putback layup with just two seconds remaining brought the line what would prove to be the final, 60-59 in favor of the Panthers.
Three Panthers scored in double figures in the game. Knox led with 16 points, followed by Kaufman with 15 and Crews with 11 on 4-8 shooting (3-6 3PT FG). Kaufman earned her fourth double-double of the season while snagging 10 boards as well.
On the team’s senior night, the Panthers faced another NESCAC rival, the visiting Colby Mules, ultimately falling late in the game by a score of 66-60.
Both sides traded baskets throughout the first half, but Middlebury entered the halftime break with a narrow 27-24 lead. The story remained the same for much of the second half as well, and despite a number of lead changes neither team was able to pull away.
Colby came alive in the final three minutes of play, scoring nine straight points to make the score 59-52 in favor of the Mules. In the final 1:03 left to play the Mules sealed their victory by capitalizing on 7 of 8 free throw attempts.
Despite the outcome, many Middlebury players performed outstandingly in the contest. Knox scored 27 while teammate Kaufman added 11 points, six rebounds and four assists.
The Panthers capped their regular season home game schedule with a loss to 20th ranked Bowdoin on Sunday, Feb. 8. Middlebury played even with the Polar Bears for much of the game, but a high number of second half turnovers allowed Bowdoin to secure the 53-43 victory.
The teams exchanged leads six times throughout the first half, eventually going into the halftime break with the score notched at 24 apiece. The Polar Bears mounted a significant second half effort, starting the period on a 10-2 run accompanied by four Panther turnovers.
Consequently, Middlebury trailed for much of the second half as turnovers and poor shooting held the squad from regaining traction. However, the Panthers were able to tally a late 9-1 run which included three-pointers by Crews and Siobhan Sullivan ’17. Knox led the team with 13 points and nine rebounds while Coolidge also contributed seven.
The Panthers travel to NESCAC rival Trinity on Friday, Feb. 13 before ending their regular season on the road at Amherst on Sunday.
(02/11/15 10:19pm)
The track teams bracketed their Feb Breaks with meets, competing in the Tufts Stampede & Multi on Saturday, Jan. 31 and the Dartmouth Indoor Classic on Saturday, Feb. 7. The teams originally planned to host a meet in the new Virtue Field House on Jan. 31, but construction delays led to a last minute change of plans and a trip to Medford. Despite these delays, the teams have continued to perform well, breaking school records and recording individual victories in competitive fields.
At Tufts, the women were led by Maddie Pronovost ’17, who took fifth in the pentathlon with a school record score of 2897. The events in the pentathlon include the 60m hurdles, the high jump, the shotput, the long jump, and the 800m, and an athlete’s mark in each event earns a certain number of points. The highest total score wins.
“Knowing that I have good events and bad events takes pressure off me, because I know that if I do not do well in one event, I can make up for it in another event,” Pronovost said of the pentathlon. “This makes competing much more fun, because there are so many events to test your athleticism in.”
Alex Morris ’16 continued her comeback, winning the 600m in a time of 1:41.21 with her teammates, Paige Fernandez ’17 and Kate McCluskey ’18, not far behind, taking third and fourth with times of 1:42.18 and 1:43.30, respectively. In the mile, Erzsie Nagy ’17 led a Panther stampede, winning the event in 5:12.22 while leading Robin Vincent ’18 to a second place finish in 5:13.90 and Sarah Guth ’15 to third just two hundredths behind Vincent. Katie Carlson ’15 joined the winners club, taking the 5000m in 18:03, more than 14 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor. The final winner of the day was Hannah Blackburn ’17, who leaped 16’7.75’’ in the long jump, a half-foot farther than her nearest competition.
Sam Cartwright ’16 paced the men at Tufts, winning the mile in 4:20.70. Sam Klockenkemper ’17 was right behind to complete a Middlebury 1-2 finish, racing to a time of 4:21.06. Nick Blelloch ’16 recorded his first collegiate victory by taking the 60m hurdles. Blelloch ran a personal best of 9.12 seconds in the trials to be the third fastest qualifier and smashed that best by running 8.95 seconds in the final, edging out two Tufts runners. Other strong performances were turned in by Will Bain ’15, who took third in the 60m by running 7.20 and Kevin Wood ’15, whose 5000m time of 14:53 was good for third as well.
A week later, the teams convened at Leverone Field House at Dartmouth College. The women’s day was highlighted by the 3000m. Alison Maxwell ’15 won the event in a school record time of 10:10. Adrian Walsh ’16 — making her track debut as a Panther — finished third in 10:16 and was followed closely by Vincent and Nagy, taking fourth and fifth in times of 10:17.88 and 10:17.91. Rookie Brianna Bisson ’18 ran her best race of the year to finish fifth in the 1000m, recording a personal record of 3:05.16. Summer Spillane ’15 made her indoor debut by taking third place in the mile with a time of 5:16.
On the men’s side, Cartwright took home his second victory in as many weeks, this time winning the 1000m in 2:31.53, the second fastest time in Middlebury history.
“I’m not really used to running the 1000,” Cartwright said. “It was my second time ever running it, so I basically hung back and hoped for a fast race.
Kevin Serrao ’18 continued his strong rookie year by taking third in Cartwright’s race with a time of 2:32.08. Wilder Schaaf ’14.5 — who missed the previous week’s race due to his Feb graduation — was the second place finisher in the 3000m, finishing in 8:42. Luke Carpinello ’16 was second in the 800m by running 1:58.75, finishing just a hundredth of a second ahead of a Williams competitor.
The teams will travel to Boston this week to compete in the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational on Feb. 13 and 14 for one of the biggest meets indoor meets in the country. The combination of BU’s blazing fast banked 200m track — nicknamed the Launching Pad for the fast times it has produced.
(02/11/15 10:18pm)
The ski teams participated in three carnivals surrounding the February break, taking fourth at all three. UVM hosted a carnival at Stowe on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 23 and 24, followed by the St. Michael’s Carnival the following weekend. The teams then traveled to Dartmouth on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 6 and 7.
At the UVM carnival, the men’s nordic team began the weekend with in the 10K skate race with a seventh place finish. Patrick McElravey ’17 placed 15th in the race after posting a time of 26:24.2. His teammates Adam Luban ’17 and Jacob Voltz ’18 placed 19th and 51st with times of 26:42.2 and 28:03.2, respectively. The next day, the men took sixth in the 15K classic race. McElravey paced the team with his first top 10 of the season, taking eighth after completing the course in 42:31.3, 55 seconds off the winning time. Voltz came in 30th while Evan Weinman ’18 came in 31st with a time of 44:27.2, three seconds behind his teammate.
The women’s nordic team fared better. Friday’s 5K skate saw the team put all three racers in the top 10, lead by Heather Mooney ’15 who placed third with a time of 14:35.3, 25 seconds off the pace. Kelsey Phinney ’16 placed ninth in the race in 14:48.4, nine seconds ahead of Stella Holt ’15 in 10th. Despite these individual performances, UVM and UNH were both able to best the women in the race, leading to a third place finish for the Panthers. On Saturday in their 10K classic race, the women again placed third, with Mooney coming in at 33:31.5, 55 seconds behind the winner for fourth place. Phinney came in 7 seconds behind Mooney in seventh place. Holt finished another minute back in 18th place.
On the alpine side of the carnival, the women improved on last weekend’s result to place fifth in the GS race. Mary Sackbauer ’15 again led the team with a 10th place finish of 2:15.53. Elle Gilbert ’16 and Katelyn Barclay ’15 also scored for the Panthers in 12th and 16th, respectively.
“As a whole our girls team had a strong finish,” Sackbauer said of the GS showing. “That was the first time in my four years that all six girls were in the top 30.”
On Saturday, the women took sixth in Slalom. Sackbauer again finished first for Midd, taking 10th with a combined time of 2:00.02. Barclay took 20th, 8 seconds behind Sackbauer, and Yina Moe-Lange ’15 took 22nd, another second behind.
The men’s team fared well in the GS competition, finishing second, the leading the Panthers with the highest place finish. On Saturday, Rob Cone ’17 won his second straight GS race. On each run, he placed second and his consistency earned him the top time, 2:08.12, 0.59 seconds clear at the top. Christopher McKenna ’17 placed 12th with a time of 2:10.61, and Ghassan Gedeon-Achi ’16 placed 15th, finishing with a combined time of 2:10.86.
In slalom, UVM swept the top four spots after Cone was disqualified for missing a gate on the second run. Middlebury posted a fourth place finish led by McKenna (1:54.12) in 15th, and the duo of Jack Schibli ’18 (1:55.62) and Christoph Niederhauser ’16 (1:56.07) who came in 20th and 21st, both scoring their first points of the season for the Panthers.
At the St. Michael’s carnival on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 30 and 31, the fourth place showing was highlighted on the nordic side by a Panther win in the women’s 5K classic race, and a second place showing in the mixed 4x3K skate relay. In the relay, the two teams of four combined to take second, but Holt, Luban, Mooney, and McElravey crossed the line first by 11 seconds. Mooney also won the individual 5K classic race, with Holt and Phinney in the top 10.
On the alpine side, Barclay, Sackbauer, Kara Shaw ’15, and Moe-Lange all put in top 15 finishes for the panthers for a fourth place finish in GS. Cone again led the men’s GS squad, finishing a half second clear at the top, with McKenna in sixth and Devon Cardamone ’18 in 35th for a third place team showing.
The women also placed fourth in slalom with Sackbauer in 9th, Barclay in 16th, and Gilbert in 21st. The men suffered a sixth place showing in Slalom: Cone placed third and McKenna 15th, but no other panther finished both runs.
The Dartmouth carnival saw another fourth place finish, the third consecutive carnival with UVM, Dartmouth, UNH and Middlebury in the same order. For the first time on the carnival circuit this season, Cone did not win the giant slalom race, coming in second by 0.19 seconds. McKenna (sixth) and Gedeon-Achi (10th) turned in two top 10 times to see the team to a second place finish in the event. The women again put four racers, in the top 15 for a fourth place finish in GS. Gilbert, Shaw and Sackbauer scored for the panthers, placing 11th, 12th and 14th, respectively.
On the nordic side, Mooney led the women both days, winning the classic sprint on Friday. Phinney placed fourth while Nicolette Amber ’16 was 14th. Mooney followed her win with a second place finish in the 10K with a time of 30:51, with Phinney in seventh and Amber in 23rd.
McElravey paced the men with a seventh-place finish in the sprint race. On Saturday, McElravey brought the Panthers home in the 10K with a 20th-place finish in 27:43. Luban followed in 23rd (27:55), while Volz rounded out the scoring.
All teams return to compete on home turf on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 13 and 14, at the Middlebury Carnival.
(02/11/15 9:38pm)
Imagine going online and with just clicks having access to the status of all the laundry machines at the College. No dragging your gargantuan laundry bag down snowy paths only to discover the machine you wanted is full. No waiting hours for a machine to open up. No forgoing laundry for weeks because every machine you try seems to be broken.
This is the Middlebury that Sophomore Senator Karina Toy ’17 envisions. Toy has been working since January 2015 to create legislature implementing LaundryView, a new technology that would allow students to check the status of the College’s laundry machines remotely. With a site similar to Papercut, Toy describes, students could log on and instantly view whether laundry machines in any building are “Available,” “In Use,” “Idle” (stopped but have not been emptied) or “Unavailable.”
In the SGA’s 2015 Middlebury Student Life Survey, 71.77 percent of students who participated in the survey voted “Yes” in approval of the LaundryView system whereas only 33.8 percent of students said they were satisfied with laundry services as they currently are.
Toy explains the appeal of LaundryView: “I am a person who plans my day down to the T. So being able to plan when is best to do my laundry, showing up and having a machine available, or to know that there is a machine available before I even leave is a great thing.”
Toy says the system would also allow the school to monitor laundry machine use, collecting data that would allow them to decide where best to put future machines. This data could help the College please the 39.01 percent of respondents who complain that there are not enough machines near where they live, according to the SGA’s survey.
Additionally, through the system, Facilities Services would be able to be notified when machine are broken or malfunctioning, permitting them to address problems more quickly; currently, Facilities relies on students or custodians reporting broken machines to get their information. 32.55 percent of students who responded to the SGA survey said there were not enough functioning machines at the College.
LaundryView is already in use at many of the College’s peer institutions including Williams, Bowdoin, Trinity, Tufts and Wesleyan. Its use was suggested in SGA meetings in 2012 by former SGA President Charlie Arnowitz ’13 but was shifted to the backburner at the time because of other more pressing budget issues.
Of the fifteen buildings on campus with laundry facilities for students, Toy proposes LaundryView be implemented in ten: Atwater, Coffrin, Forest, Gifford, Hadley, Hepburn, Kelly, LaForce, Painter and Stewart. The proposal excludes facilities in social houses for the time being because, according to Toy, they are less in demand and easier for students to check the availability in the traditional way than the other, larger student residences.
The hurdle standing between Toy and the approval of LaundryView is funding. LaundryView is a system produced by Mac-Gray, the College’s current laundry machine provider, but would require the addition of Ethernet in the laundry rooms. Assistant Treasurer Tom Corbin, who has been working in conjunction with Toy on this project, estimates that the installation cost of LaundryView would be 6,000 to 7,000 dollars in addition to the cost of putting Ethernet capacities in every laundry room. Furthermore, according to Toy, the annual costs of LaundryView would be $2.75 per machine per month. This means that funding LaundryView could cost upwards of $11,000 in the first year alone.
The SGA believes these costs should be paid for by the administration not by the Student Activities Fee, the money the SGA has available to spend, because, in the words of SGA Chief of Staff Danny Zhang ’15, LaundryView is an “infrastructure-related cost.”
Corbin, however, takes the opposite opinion, affirming that funding should come from the SGA because “LaundryView is a convenience item for students.” To address student dissatisfaction with laundry services, Corbin’s office and the College’s Residential Life team has already added several additional laundry around campus in the past five years to address student complaints that laundry facilities were too far from their living spaces.
This question over the funding of LaundryView situates itself in the larger context of the debate about where the administration’s funding should begin and where should the SGA be responsible, a debate that Zhang says is constant. Still, Zhang is hopeful that the shared desire for efficiency on behalf of students and the College will push LaundryView and other similar technological improvements into approval.
“We’re always looking to do things more efficiently on this campus and members of the SGA [are] not the only people who are looking for that. […] [LaundryView] is part of a larger trend. We want to make use of technology if it is beneficial to students and the survey shows that LaundryView would be beneficial to students.”
If approved this spring, LaundryView could be available to students as early as Fall 2015.
(01/21/15 3:09pm)
Middlebury (13-2, 2-2) has now rattled off four straight wins, including two in-conference over Wesleyan and Conn. College.
For much of the first half on the road at Castleton St. on Tuesday, Jan. 13, neither team could distinguish itself from the other as the Panthers jumped out to an early lead before the Spartans responded with a 7-0 run to take a 14-12 lead.
Middlebury slowly began to extend its lead behind a balanced scoring effort. By the end of the first half, Middlebury had established a 46-38 lead. Connor Huff ’16 tallied 11 points while grabbing five offensive rebounds, and Matt St. Amour ’17 added 10 points while assisting on five baskets.
The Panthers announced themselves as the better team on that night with a 13-0 run over a span of two minutes early in the second half capped by a dunk and three-pointer from Dylan Sinnickson ’15 to give them a 61-41 lead. When time expired, the Panthers secured a 94-56 victory, outscoring the Spartans 48-18 in the second half.
The Spartans only recorded three made baskets in the second half, shooting a dreadful 10.7 percent from the field. Middlebury scored 26 second chance points, and assisted on 26 of its 32 baskets.
“We are best when we are in transition and that has been the main focus of our team,” St. Amour said.
Huff scored a career-high 20 points to lead the Panthers, while Sinnickson scored 17 points and just missed out on another double-double with nine rebounds.
In the first nine minutes against Wesleyan on Friday, Jan. 16, there was no indication the Panthers would run away with the contest as they trailed 14-13 at the 11:22 mark. Beginning with a transition dunk by Matt Daley ’16, the Panthers went on an 11-0 run to take a 10-point lead and force Wesleyan to take a timeout. The Panthers closed out the half with a decisive 27-10 run, including a 35-footer at the buzzer for St. Amour, giving them a 51-24 lead heading into the break.
With Middlebury on pace for more than one hundred points at the halfway point, guards St. Amour (12 points) and Jake Brown ’17 (11 assists) keyed the Panther offense, while the team’s defense forced more turnovers (10) than the field goals it allowed (eight).
A 25-10 Middlebury run to begin the second half squashed Wesleyan’s hopes of a comeback and gave the Panthers a 76-34 lead. Middlebury went on to secure their second lopsided victory of the week, 97-60.
St. Amour led the team in scoring with 20, Sinnickson added 19 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double and Jake Brown tallied 14 assists for a new career high.
Middlebury returned to the court on Sunday to play 7-7 Conn. College. From the opening tip, it was clear that the Panthers were not going to score more than 90 points for the third straight game. The team opened the game making only one shot of its first nine and quickly fell behind 9-2, culminating in a team timeout by Coach Brown. His team responded with a 7-0 run sparked by a Hunter Merryman ’15 three to tie the game. The game see-sawed to a 22-21 Conn. College lead, before Merryman was fouled shooting another three and sank three free throws to give his team a two point lead and ignite another 9-0 Panther run. At the end of the first half, the Panthers held a 32-25 lead.
Leading by six with 7:45 left on the clock, the Panthers went on another one of their patented 9-0 runs to take a 15-point lead, but the Camels battled back.
Conn. College’s Sean McNally converted an old-fashioned three point play off a Jake Brown turnover to pull his team within four, 58-54, with 33 seconds left. The Camels were forced to foul to extend the game, but the Panthers answered the call, making five out of six from the stripe to seal a 63-59 win for the Panthers.
The team’s solid defensive effort won the game as it held the Camels to 32.4 percent shooting and forced 15 turnovers, turning those miscues into 12 points on the other end.
“Coach Brown gave us the challenge of being the best FG defense in the country,” St. Amour said, “coming into the weekend we were number 2. Our defense allows us to win games even when we don’t shoot well, which is definitely a key for us. ”
Merryman recorded a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds, while Bryan Jones ’17 tallied 11 off the bench on 4-5 shooting.
On Tuesday, Jan. 20, Middlebury blew out Johnson St., 102-54, behind Sinnicksons 21 points and eight boards and Jake Brown’s 16 points and seven rebounds. In all, 13 players contributed points to the offensive explosion.
(01/21/15 2:59pm)
The Middlebury women’s basketball team (10-7, 2-2) garnered its second conference victory of the year with a thrilling 50-46 victory at Wesleyan on Friday night, Jan. 16. The Panthers remained on the road and took to the floor against Conn. College on Sunday afternoon, Jan. 17, playing hard but ultimately falling 54-35. Middlebury then slipped up again on the road at Smith College on Tuesday, Jan. 20, losing 65-59.
The classic battle between Middlebury and Wesleyan was close throughout, as the lead never extended beyond six for either team. The difference in the game was the Panthers’ defense.
Sabrina Weeks ’18 led Middlebury in points with 13 and matched Elizabeth Knox ’17 for the team high with 10 rebounds. With the 13-and-10 performance Weeks notched her first career double-double. Knox and Sarah Kaufman ’18 also chipped in 10 points for the Panthers.
With 7:46 left in the game, Weeks converted an old-school three-point play to put Middlebury up 40-38. The Panthers never let Wesleyan tie the game again, just keeping the Cardinals at bay. Kaufman scored the game-winning basket with a bucket in the lane off of a pass from Knox to make it 48-44. Kaufman pushed the score to 50-46 with a made free throw in the final seconds.
“Every team in the NESCAC is talented, said Weeks, “so getting a second conference win was big for us and was a good step in proving that when we play together we can compete with anyone.”
Middlebury entered halftime during its Sunday contest with Conn. College down just eight, but the Camels outscored the Panthers 24-5 over the final 11:16 of play to win the game by 19. Middlebury led just once, with 15:23 left in the second half, when Rachel Crews ’15 sank two free throws to take the lead 27-26.
Crews led Middlebury with 13 points. Kaufman and Knox also scored in double figures with 12 and 10, respectively.
On Tuesday, Jan. 20 Smith topped the Panthers for the second time this season, despite double-digit points from Weeks, Crews and Kaufman.
“Our focus each and every day is to get better and play as a team,” said Head Coach KJ Krasco, “Some days we are able to do this better than others. But instilling the attitude of no matter what happens WE still need to work to get better each day has been our motto for the season.”
(01/21/15 2:57pm)
The ski teams combined to finish third at the season-opening Bates carnival over the weekend behind winner UVM and runner up Dartmouth. On Friday and Saturday, Jan. 16 and 17, the alpine teams raced at Sunday River, while the nordic teams competed at Black Mountain.
In the men’s giant slalom competition on Friday, Rob Cone ’17, fresh off a stint on the US national team, won the day with Christopher McKenna ’17 a second behind in third place. Ghassan Gedeon-Achi ’16 finished 13th to complete the men’s GS victory for Middlebury. Cone won the first run by .4 seconds over McKenna, who himself was .75 seconds clear of the next finisher. On the second run, Cone placed third to win the race overall, and McKenna finished 13th, 1.5 seconds back of the run winner, William St-Germain of UVM who edged him for second place overall.
“I was excited for the conditions throughout the weekend,” Cone said. “Although temperatures were low or negative, they allowed a great hard, icy snow surface, which all of us enjoy…Otherwise, the sun was up, I kept it simple, skied how I knew I could, and had fun.”
The women’s alpine team tied with host Bates for fifth in GS, led by Mary Sackbauer ’15 who finished 11th. Kara Shaw ’15 and Elle Gilbert ’16 finished 24th and 25th, respectively. In Slalom on Saturday, Sackbauer notched a top 10 finish, placing 9th with a combined time of 1:51.20. Shaw placed 18th (1:52.68) and Gilbert 22nd (1:53.66). This performance again gave the women 74 points on the day, good for a 6th place finish in Slalom and overall.
The men placed second in their slalom race. Cone again paced the team, making up a large chunk of time on his second run to come in second place, 0.03 seconds back. McKenna came in 12th place, and Colin Hayes ’17 came in 18th.
On Saturday, the nordic teams competed in their classic races. In the women’s 15K classic, Heather Mooney ’15 finished strong to win the race with a time of 49:33.7, five seconds clear at the top. Kelsey Phinney ’16 finished 9th (50:02.7), with Stella Holt ’15 rounding out the top 10 with a time of 50:11.3. Middlebury, however, lost out to UVM, and finished second.
The men finished 7th in their 20K classic race on Saturday, with the three scoring members of the Panther squad coming in close to each other. Patrick McElravey ’17 came in 27th with a time of 1:02:42.6, Adam Luban ’17 (1:02:48.1) came 28th, and Evan Weinman ’18 (1:02:50.3) came 30th.
On Saturday, the women skied a 5K skate race. Middlebury won the event, and all three racers placed in the top 10 for the second consecutive day. Mooney again won the race in 13:52.
“Historically I’m a better classic skier, so it was huge for me to win in the skate race too,” Mooney said. “It was a great weekend for the women’s team especially. One of our goals was to win a carnival weekend, and we did that, in the first one!”
Mooney was not alone in her success. Middlebury was able to dominate the skate race, with Phinney coming in 5th, 30 seconds behind Mooney, and Holt coming in 10th, 52 seconds back. The Panther women won the skate race overall, and edged UVM and Dartmouth over both days.
The men also improved in the skate race, finishing fifth. Luban lead the team with his first top 10, finishing 9th with a time of 24:55.4, 1:38 behind the winner. McElravey finished 14th in 25:13.2. Jack Steele ’16 came in 30th with a time of 26:21:8.
“It’s always a relief getting the first weekend out of the way, knowing where we all stand, and in this case, we’re stacking up very well in the east,” Mooney said.
Next weekend, the EISA carnival circuit heads north to UVM for their winter carnival with races to be held at Stowe.
Cone is excited for the week to come.
“We have a great group of athletes that are pushing each other and building strength every day of training at the Snow Bowl,” he said. “This week, we’ll continue with our preparations as we look forward to Stowe.”
(01/21/15 2:47pm)
On Friday, Jan. 16, the track teams traveled to New York City to run in the Gotham Cup at the historic Armory track. The meet featured top NCAA Division-I teams and professional athletes, giving the Panthers a chance to square off against some of the best athletes from around the country.
On the women’s side, Alex Morris ’16 made her season debut in the 400-meter dash after studying abroad in the fall in Uruguay, racing to a time of 61.20 seconds. Right behind her was first-year Kate McCluskey ’18, who finished in 61.27 seconds.
Morris, a two-time All-American and individual NCAA qualifier in the 400 meters, commented on her first race back.
“I didn’t really have many expectations for this race,” she said. “For me, it was a way to start getting back to the level I was last year and almost try to race myself back into shape. It was helpful not just physically, but mentally as well because now I know where I am and can only move forward.”
“Practice has definitely been a reality check,” Morris said. “I tried to keep up with the workouts as much as possible when I was abroad, but life often got in the way. There’s not a feeling I love more though than really training hard and feeling like I’m making progress. I’m most excited to be back and see where the rest of the season goes.”
In other sprinting events, Paige Fernandez ’17 and Perri Silverhart ’16 both competed in the 500 meters, finishing in 1:19.86 and 1:22.23 respectively. Gigi Miller ’18 was Middlebury’s top finisher in the women’s 60 meters, crossing the line in 8.65 seconds.
A small contingent of distance runners made their season debuts in New York as well. Most notably, Sasha Whittle ’17 competed in the mile, running 5:23.99 while winning her heat by more than 10 seconds. In the field, Maddie Pronovost ’17 had her second good meet in a row, jumping 4 feet 11 inches in the high jump and a personal record 16 feet 10.75 inches in the long jump.
For the men, Will Bain ’15 led the sprinters in the 60-meter dash, running 7.19 seconds — slightly off his mark of 7.15 from the previous week. Captain Fritz Parker ’15 cut more than a second off his 400-meter time from the previous week, finishing the dastardly distance in 51.58 seconds.
The men also had distance runners make their debuts in New York. Wilder Schaaf ’14.5 opened his season in the mile with a run of 4:23.29. Schaaf, an NCAA qualifier in the event with his personal best of 4:10.98, started his season last year by running 4:30, so his improved result is indicative of more fast times to come later in the season. Accompanying Schaaf in the mile was Panther assistant coach Jack Davies ’13, who took a fourth-place finish in 4:14.08, continuing his trend of never losing a race to Schaaf. Luke Carpinello ’16 just broke the two-minute mark in the 800 meters, running 1:59.73.
The teams were originally scheduled to host Virtue Field House’s inaugural meet on Friday, Jan. 23, but construction delays have led to the meet’s cancellation. The teams will take the weekend off from competition before hosting the Middlebury Invitational on Jan. 31, which will take the place of the cancelled meet as the inaugural competition in the new indoor track facility.
(01/20/15 12:46am)
After defeating Plattsburgh State 63-53 on Jan. 6, the Middlebury men’s basketball team suffered its first two defeats of the season to Bates and Tufts and fell to 0-2 in the NESCAC this week on its three-game road trip.
The Panthers extended their unbeaten streak when they traveled to Plattsburgh and toppled the Cardinals in a relatively low-scoring affair. After no scoring for the first three minutes of the contest, Middlebury drew first blood and built a 10-4 lead seven minutes into the opening half. Much of the first half followed the general pattern of more defense than offense — neither team shot better than 31 percent from the field — and Middlebury took a 28-22 lead into the break.
The Cardinals began the second half on a 6-0 run to tie the game at 28. With a one-point lead at the 15:23 mark, the Panthers exploded on a 9-0 run behind four points from Dylan Sinnickson ’15 and a three from Nick Tarantino ’18.
The margin ballooned to 49-36 in favor of the Panthers as they held the Cardinals without a made basket for almost five minutes. Plattsburgh State refused to cave, cutting the lead to six with just under eight minutes left, but they couldn’t get closer than that. Once again the Panther defense responded by allowing only five points over the final 7:42 to secure a 63-53 victory.
Sinnickson led the Panthers in scoring with 13 points, while also pulling down 13 rebounds. Brown stuffed the stat sheet, tallying 10 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and four steals. First-year Tarantino provided a welcome spark off the bench with 11 points, including nine from beyond the arc.
The team then traveled to Lewiston, ME to do battle with Bates in its first NESCAC game. The game began as a see-saw affair — foreshadowing what would turn out to be a very tightly-contested contest — only to see Middlebury gain a 19-11 lead with 7:36 left in the first half. The Panthers couldn’t muster much else offensively in the half, and even fell behind 24-23 on the heels of a 7-0 Bobcat run to end the half.
The beginning of the second half was reminiscent of that of the first half with the teams exchanging blows, including a Sinnickson three that would give the Panthers a 33-32 lead, its last of the game. Bates went on a 10-0 run to take a nine point lead as it held the Panthers scoreless for more than four minutes, but the game was far from over. Middlebury hung around and even made it a one possession game, 48-46, with 5:20 to go.
The Panthers just couldn’t do what they had to offensively to win the game, and the Bobcats took good enough care of the ball and made their free throws to put the finishing touches on a 57-53 win.
In defeat, Sinnickson was the only scorer in double digits for the Panthers, finishing with 17 points and 10 rebounds for his eighth double-double in eleven games.
On the final leg of this three-game road trip, the Panthers hoped to get in the win column in NESCAC play against Tufts. The fact that Middlebury’s largest lead was 2-0 at the 18:35 mark summarizes the game for the Panthers. Following a 13-5 run, they trailed 18-11, and were playing from behind for the remainder of the contest.
At the halfway point, Middlebury trailed 38-26, with its only comfort being there are two halves in a basketball game. The tables turned at the beginning of the second half as the Panthers came out firing on all cylinders to knot the game at 47, scoring 21 points before the 13:50 point in the second half. The Jumbos answered right back with a 7-0 run and never looked back, extending its lead to 19 with a little of over five minutes left.
The final score read 80-63 in favor of the Jumbos who shot a blistering 61% in the second half, and got an amazing contribution of 41 points from its bench (compared to only nine from the Middlebury bench). Despite the loss, Sinnickson turned in another outstanding effort, scoring a very efficient 26 points on 10-16 shooting.
The Panthers hope to get back on track after its disappointing opening weekend in the NESCAC against Castleton in another nonconference game on Tuesday, before returning home for NESCAC games this weekend against Wesleyan on Friday and Connecticut College on Sunday.
(01/14/15 11:50pm)
This past Tuesday, Jan. 13, award-winning New York Times columnist and best-selling author William C. Rhoden addressed the College community as the keynote speaker for the 17th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration.
Rhoden has been a sports writer for The New York Times since March 1983. Before joining The Times as a sports columnist, he worked for various print media companies including Ebony Magazine, The Baltimore Sun and the Sunday Week. Rhoden graduated from Morgan State University, and during his time there he played football and acted as the assistant sports information director for some time.
Rhoden has dedicated much of his life to playing and covering sporting events. He is the author of best-selling book 40 Million Dollar Slaves and Third and a Mile: The Trials and Triumphs of The Black Quarterback. He also wrote the Emmy-winning sports documentary Breaking the Huddle: The Integration of College Football.
Rhoden has worked hard to incorporate his passion for sports with a number of outreach programs. He created a sports-oriented program for young kids in Harlem that provides a variety of activities such as basketball, ping-pong and video games, for local kids aged 7 to 14. The program works to integrate these students into the community and has events at places such as Yankee Stadium and local museums. The program is funded in part by Rhoden but also through contributions from friends who share his passion for outreach.
The program began six years ago with about 10-15 kids and has grown every year since – now, 50-60 kids participate in the program. The program is held at the Church of the Intercession in Harlem, where Rhoden has an office and does his work there when he is not on the road.
Rhoden was chosen as the keynote speaker for the MLK Celebration because of his dedication to his work and his community. Rhoden spoke once before at the College in January 2007.
Associate Professor of Writing Hector Vila helped to bring back Rhoden to campus.
“If you look at Rhoden’s career, at The Times and his books, as well as in the community, you see that Rhoden is a model of King’s ‘I have a dream.’ Rhoden always speaks truth to power; he, as King says, is always working on the inside, inside an institution, and in the community – Harlem, where he still lives – he has built a boys’ club to help the youth use sports as a way to learn about very important principles, such as fairness and collaboration, hard work and diligence, and the most important: education. That’s why he’s a good MLK lecturer,” said Vila.
For Vila’s J-term class, Media, Sports and Identity, 40 Million Dollar Slaves is required reading for all students.
“In 40 Million Dollar Slaves, Rhoden lays out several important themes: that professional sports are based on a plantation model – a master and hired hands, and that these hired hands have very limited power, never the power of ownership, for instance; that every time the black athlete gains some success, rules are changed, more obstacles are placed in his/her face; that the popular – and successful – black athlete has a responsibility to the communities from which s/he comes,” Vila said.
“This last piece is very important because, in Rhoden’s work, many athletes – Michael Jordan comes to mind – have turned away from their communities, instead of helping and educating. LeBron James, for instance, totally the opposite of MJ, embodies these principles, including working against the plantation model (he runs his own show). The Williams sisters, in tennis, embody Rhoden’s ideas as well,” he concluded.
Kyle Dudley, Assistant Coach of the men’s basketball team, is also Rhoden’s nephew and was instrumental in bringing Rhoden back to campus. Dudley remarked that Rhoden had a strong influence in his decision to play sports in college and then to become a basketball coach at Middlebury.
Vila added, “As a columnist, Rhoden looks to find the story that’s not on the surface, thus working against the way most media operates, which is focusing on the surface structure; he is not scared to provoke and challenge, whether it’s a player or ownership.”
