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(05/09/18 11:14pm)
Exceptional performances against top-notch talent highlighted last week’s DIII New Englands meet for the track and field teams.
“I thought overall we had some really solid performances,” said Jonathan Perlman ’19. “After a big meet like Nescacs, it can be difficult to compete the next weekend with the same level of intensity. Despite that, a lot of guys were able to build off the momentum of Nescacs and set PRs.”
The women came in ninth with 27 points in a field of 33. MIT, winners in both the men’s and women’s meets, finished with 161 points in the women’s meet.
There were several crucial pieces to the women’s success this week. Kate McCluskey ’18 came in second place in the 200-meter race with a time of 24.97, breaking her own school record, which she set just the week before.
The 1500 also turned out favorably for the Panthers, as Tasha Greene ’21, Katie Glew ’21, and Abigail Nadler ’19 came in third, fourth, and fifth, respectively. Greene had a time of 4:34.58, Glew had a time of 4:35.49, and Nadler had a time of 4:35.52.
The men’s team also competed in a 33-team field and finished fourth with 62.5 points. MIT racked up 167.5 points in their first-place finish.
Following his winning performance as Nescacs, Nick Hendrix ’20 did well in the 200-meter race with a time of 21.72, netting him second place. There were several contributors in the 400-meter race. Jimmy Martinez ’19 came in first with a time of 48.29. James Mulliken ’18 came in fourth with a time of 49.79. Also, William Robertson ’21 got sixth place with a time of 50.27.
John Natalone ’19 did well in the pole vault event with a vault of 4.55 meters, good for a fourth-place finish.
With a time of 42.08, the 4x100 relay team, composed of Hendrix, Martinez, Jackson Bock ’19 and Mike Pallozzi ’18, broke the school record.
Perlman saw success in the 1500-meter race as he captured second place, coming in at 3:54.41.
“I was really happy with my race in the 1500,” said Perlman. “I felt like it was my best race of the season. I put myself in good position the first half of the race and was able to make a move for the lead with 600 meters to go.”
Next up for the Panthers is the Open New England Championship at Dartmouth tomorrow and Saturday, May 11 and May 12.
“Open New Englands is a very competitive meet, so we’ll look to take advantage of the talented field and try to continue to set PRs.” Perlman said. “Our goal for the rest of the season will be to continue to improve our marks and get as many guys qualified for NCAAs as possible.”
(05/09/18 11:13pm)
The men’s tennis team went into the Nescac playoffs as the hottest team in the country. Newly minted as the top-ranked team in the nation, the Panthers had not lost a match since April 7. Even though they entered as the third seed in the conference tournament because of a tiebreaker amongst them, Bowdoin and Williams, the Panthers entered as a favorite to bring home the conference crown.
As the No. 3 seed, Middlebury faced off with No. 22 Bates on Friday, May 4 in the quarterfinals in Amherst, Massachusetts. The Bobcats have had an up-and-down year and were never quite able to hit their stride to move into the top 15 in the country. Hovering around No. 20 for much of the year, they suffered several 5–4 losses to higher-ranked teams and finally had their season cut short by the Panthers in a crushing shutout last Friday.
Matches in the Nescac tournament are played only until one team clinches the match, so once a team reaches five points, the match ends. Middlebury left no doubt to their skill as they raced out to five points with ease on Friday. The Panthers swept the doubles with their usual staff of upperclassmen to take a 3–0 lead into singles.
William de Quant ’18 and Timo van der Geest ’18 shined at No. 3 and No. 6 singles, respectively, each dropping only one total game to their opponents. This ended the match quickly and efficiently as the Panthers walked away with a 5–0 victory. All other Panthers players were leading in their matches, including Lubomir Cuba ’19, who was just a couple of games from winning at No. 1 singles.
The next day was a more formidable test for the Panthers in a rematch with Williams, who has been one of the toughest teams in DIII this year and handed Middlebury a loss on April 7. Going into Saturday, the Ephs had only lost two DIII matches all year, at the hands of powerhouses University of Chicago and Bowdoin. Middlebury has faced Williams seven times in the previous four seasons and won every single match before its loss to the Ephs earlier last month.
Saturday’s match was reminiscent of years past. Middlebury’s winning started in doubles, when the Panthers gained a 2–1 edge. Cuba and Kyle Schlanger ’18 won their ninth straight match together in a tight 9–8 (7–3) win in the first slot. Noah Farrell ’19 and de Quant won their 10th match of the spring 8–5 at No. 2, while van der Geest and Peter Martin ’19 lost just their eighth match of the spring compared to 14 wins.
Leading 2–1 as singles began, the Panthers needed only three matches to complete the day, holding Williams to one win on Saturday. Cuba overcame Williams’ Brian Grodecki in two sets, and Middlebury’s seniors followed suit, as de Quant and Schlanger dominated their opponents in similar straight sets. Farrell, van der Geest, and Nate Eazor ’21 were all relieved of their duties as the Panthers clinched the match.
After the Panthers got revenge on Saturday, Bowdoin had its own chance at retribution after Middlebury gave the Polar Bears their only loss of the season on April 14. Cuba and Schlanger continued their impressive winning streak by way of an 8–6 victory at No. 1 doubles that mirrored their win from three weeks ago. Van der Geest and Martin confidently picked up their 15th win of the spring, while Farrell and de Quant struggled as Bowdoin’s Kyle Wolfe and Jerry Jiang reversed their prior loss to the duo, besting the two Panthers 8–4.
Middlebury went into singles play with a 2–1 lead.
“There were many positives to take away from the match, including another solid doubles performance as a team winning two of three,” Middlebury’s coaches, Bob Hansen and Andrew Thomson, said. “We feel that if we are able to continue staying connected and playing hard every doubles match that we will often find ourselves with an advantage heading into singles play.”
Cuba picked up his 12th win of the spring in a straight-set win over Grant Urken, who pushed him to a third set in their last matchup. This, however, was the only other match Middlebury won. The four other matches that finished went Bowdoin’s way.
“It was certainly a disappointing finish,” said the coaches. “We were thrilled with the effort and passion that our guys poured into each of their matches. We knew Bowdoin was going to come after us because we had gotten the better of them in the regular season matchup, and credit to them for playing some great tennis.”
Farrell’s opponent, Bowdoin’s Luke Tercek, avenged an earlier loss, besting Farrell 6–2 in a third set. The same went for Bowdoin’s No. 3, Kyle Wolfe, whom de Quant edged out last time in a tie break. This time around, Wolfe got revenge, handing de Quant his third loss of the spring in the process.
Bowdoin’s Gil Roddy provided their lone victory in their April matchup against the Panthers in a straight-sets shutdown of Eazor, and this time proved similar, though Eazor fought to make the match much tighter, losing in three sets. This marks only Eazor’s fifth loss of the spring, compared to 12 wins.
Van der Geest, at No. 6 singles, has fought his way back into the singles lineup, replacing freshman Andre Xiao, who ended his season on a rough note with a four-match losing streak. Van der Geest, however, could not convert in the third set against Bowdoin’s Justin Patel, who Xiao bested in straight sets in April. Schlanger’s match got cut short in the third set as Bowdoin took the fifth and decisive point to avenge its earlier loss at the hands of the Panthers and win its second straight Nescac championship.
The season does not end there for the Panthers, though. They received an at-large bid into the NCAA DIII men’s tennis championship Monday. As members of perhaps the toughest conference in the country, Nescac foes No. 4 Williams and No. 8 Amherst also earned at-large bids, to bring the conference total to four along with the Panthers and the Polar Bears. The selection committee clearly looked past the Panthers’ playoff woes and showed respect to their national ranking, selecting Middlebury to host a region of the tournament this weekend, when six other teams will descend onto the Proctor Tennis Courts.
Four teams, Wilkes University, Colby-Sawyer College, MIT, and Cabrini University, will battle for the chance to play either Middlebury or No. 24 Johns Hopkins University in the second round. All four of the first-round teams made runs to win their respective conferences, granting them an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.
“We are looking forward to a very tough and challenging series of matches after seeing the release of the NCAA bracket,” said the coaches. “Most importantly, our job this week is to stay focused on what matters most, enjoying every step of the process and competing with everything we have each day whether it’s a practice or a match day.”
It’s possible that the second round will see Middlebury play a Colby-Sawyer squad that they demolished about a month ago. This would more than likely set up a match with Johns Hopkins, who plays a relatively weak schedule and whose most notable wins have come over top-20 opposition Swarthmore and Mary Washington in their Centennial Conference tournament run.
Being the favorites to move out of their region, the Panthers will be hoping to extend their season to next weekend, when, if given the opportunity, they would fly back to Claremont, California, for a possible rematch with Williams or No. 2 Emory.
“As always, we will try to prepare ourselves as best we can in every facet of the game to ensure we give ourselves the best possible likelihood of being successful,” said the coaches.
They are certainly favored to make it at least that far, and they have home-court advantage and seeding on their side as they try to make it to the quarterfinals in their quest for a national championship.
(05/09/18 11:10pm)
On Friday, May 4, Hamilton beat Amherst, handing the Mammoths their third loss in the Nescac and setting up the most important series of the Nescac West season. For Middlebury to make the Nescac baseball playoffs, they needed to win two out of three games on Saturday and Sunday, May 5 and 6. The Panthers came up just short, winning the first game but losing the last two, ending a comeback attempt that featured a 10-game winning streak to bring Middlebury within striking distance of first place.
But first the Panthers had to make up games against Union and Plattsburgh, which had to be rescheduled from earlier in the season due to inclement weather. In doing so, the Panthers extended their winning streak to eight and then nine games.
Against Union the Panthers cruised to an easy 6–3 victory. Colin Waters ’19 earned the win on the mound, as he managed to strike out six opponents while allowing only three hits over the course of seven innings of work.
Although neither team scored in the first four innings, Sebastian Sanchez ’18 put the Panthers on the board with a run in the fifth, and five more followed it up in the seventh inning — topped off with a grand slam homer by Alan Guild ’20.
The Panthers’ busy week continued with another make-up game on the road against Plattsburgh, which also ended in Middlebury’s favor and added one more onto their winning streak.
Justin Han ’20, Hayden Smith ’20 and Ryan Hanrahan ’21 all had doubles, while Sam Graf ’19 put up both a double and a triple.
Young Panther pitchers fared well and got more innings on the mound. Will Oppenheim ’21 and Jack Miller ’21 combined for nine strikeouts. Miller closed out the game and struck out all four hitters he faced — a confidence-booster heading into the winner-take-all showdown over the weekend with Amherst.
“When some of our key pitchers got injured, I felt the need to step up and fill that role in the bullpen,” Miller said.
“Pitching against Plattsburgh felt great,” Oppenheim said. “It proved that I could overcome a huge setback and get out of tough innings without the walks that plagued me earlier in the season. I had great control of my pitches and got a lot of swings and misses on my curveball. My confidence was completely brought back after pitching against Plattsburgh.”
Middlebury extended its winning streak even further on Saturday with a shutout victory in the first of their three-game set against the Mammoths, adding to the fanfare of a series already chock-full of storylines. That win was Middlebury’s 10th in a row, tying the program record for consecutive wins.
The first game of the Amherst series remained scoreless until the bottom of the third, when Brooks Carroll ’20 had a two-RBI single to get the Panthers on the board. A subsequent hit from Han drove home Henry Strmecki ’21 to increase the Panthers’ lead to two.
Middlebury picked the scoring back up in the next inning, driving in three runs for the second time and bringing the score to 6–0. A sac fly from Jake Dianno ’21 in the sixth inning pushed Han across the plate for the last run of the game.
Captain Colby Morris ’19 pitched a complete game for the Panthers, bringing his total career innings pitched to 183. For his efforts, he won Nescac Pitcher of the Week. With the regular season coming to a close, Morris finishes the season with the pitching triple crown for Nescac pitchers (including non-conference games). His overall ERA was 1.71, with 52 strikeouts and five victories. After his sensational junior season, Morris has big plans this offseason before his final round in the blue-and-white.
“I always have [wanted to play professionally], and now think I have a much more realistic shot at it after this season,” Morris said.
Luckily for the Panthers, working towards professional baseball won’t detract from Morris’ star contributions to the team.
“Fortunately, working towards this personal goal also will ultimately help the team,” Morris said. “I’m going to play this summer in the Northwoods League, one of the top summer ball leagues in the nation, and am going to be in Green Bay for that. After my contract is up with my team, I’m going to a training center in Seattle to work on velocity and then going home after before the fall to train and get stronger in preparation for the coming year. I’m hoping Coach can help me out a little bit with the end goal of playing after next year, but the better I do for Midd, the better shot I have, so it’s a win-win.”
With their win in the opener, the Panthers were only one win away from a playoff berth. The day ended with split results, however, as the Mammoths came back from their loss to pull off a 6–3 win over the Panthers in the second half of the twin bill.
Though Middlebury scored first in the second inning, Amherst answered with three runs in the third, putting them in the lead. The Mammoths went up by two more in the seventh inning and then by another in the top of the ninth. The Panthers tried to rally in the bottom of the ninth inning with a pair of runs fueled by a hit from Phil Bernstein ’19, but could not match their opponents.
And so the last game of the series, on Sunday, May 6, was for all the marbles.
Middlebury scored first when Carroll stole third and then scored when the ball got past the catcher and to the backstop. But Amherst quickly responded with three runs in the second, all with two outs, and then added two more in the third. The Panthers countered with another run from Carroll off a hit from Graf in their half of the inning to make it a 5–2 game after three.
Middlebury made another push in the seventh. Strmecki led off with a double down the left-field line, which Han followed up immediately with a single to score Strmecki. Han stole second and then induced a pickoff attempt that flew into centerfield, so he advanced to third. Then the Amherst pitcher hit Smith and threw a wild pitch, scoring Han and bringing the Panthers within one. On the wild pitch, Smith advanced to third, but injured his shoulder on the play and had to come out of the game. Carroll walked, then Graf flew out to shallow centerfield. Brendan Donahue ’18, Smith’s pinch-runner, tagged up but was tagged out at home, so Amherst’s one-run lead stayed intact heading into the eighth inning.
But let’s be clear. The game was decided in the bottom of the eighth, when the Panthers trailed by a run, 6–5, and had the bases loaded after Hennings reached on a double, Dianno singled and Sanchez moved them over to put runners on second and third. Strmecki lined out to third before Han was intentionally walked. Raj Palekar ’18 then had the biggest hit of the season for the Panthers, when he hit a single to drive in Hennings, but Dianno could not score from second, bringing up Carroll with the bases loaded and two outs. However, the ever-reliable Carroll could not capitalize this time, grounding out to the pitcher and being thrown out at first by a step.
Amherst added two insurance runs in the top of the ninth, and then brought in their closer, who struck out the side.
This loss was especially devastating for the Panthers, whose goal of winning a conference title was dashed a year after a resurgent season saw Middlebury make it all the way to the championship series before falling to Tufts. This season was supposed to be their redemption.
“Our reaction was just as you would expect — a crushing loss. Not only was it a physical defeat, but just is tough to swallow knowing we are the best team in the league,” said Morris.
Miller echoed Morris’ sentiment. It was Nescac champions or bust.
“We’re heartbroken by the outcome,” Miller said.
In spite of the raw talent Middlebury held this season, the team encountered many uncontrollable obstacles.
“We definitely had a tough-luck season, losing three guys to season-ending injuries, having others banged up all season, and needing to mature really quickly after the tough beginning of the season,” said Morris.
And, according to scouting reports from the director of baseball operations and statistics, Jack Langerman ’19, the team was not blind to how these challenges could impact the Amherst matchup. “It was going to be a close series and would come down to a few plays,” reported Langerman.
The team plans to pick up right where they left off next season, however, taking advantage of the young talent on this year’s roster. “We have a bright future together as a team, and I am ecstatic to start it back up,” says Morris.
This optimism is exemplified across the team. “I think that we have all the pieces to win the Nescac next year. We’ll be working hard in the offseason and getting some key players back from injury,” explained a hopeful Miller.
Oppenheim agreed. “The future is bright for Middlebury baseball.”
(05/09/18 10:03pm)
Although Middlebury College has yet to set targets for its goal to increase the number of students receiving financial aid, the incoming first-year class will have more students on financial aid than this year’s first-year class. This unexpected increase is due to Middlebury’s need blind admissions policy, and tuition has partially risen to cover the increased financial aid budget.
“That’s not strategic, that’s just because of our policy. We don’t get to decide who sends in their deposit,” said David Provost, the college treasurer. “The interesting part about financial aid is, because we’re need blind, a lot of it’s out of our control.”
Middlebury currently lags behind its peers in the percentage of students on financial aid. With 44 percent of students on financial aid, Middlebury ranks seventh out of the eleven colleges in the NESCAC, according to an analysis of common data sets at each school.
The college also garnered negative attention last January for a New York Times article which showed that more students at Middlebury come from the top one percent of the income bracket (23 percent of students) than the bottom 60 percent (14 percent of students). Across all U.S. colleges and universities, Middlebury ranked ninth.
Another New York Times article cited in last week’s issue of The Campus revealed that Middlebury recruits from rich, white high schools (on average, high school locations had a median family income of $101,000 and were 57 percent white). According to this article, the college ranked near the middle of peer institutions.
Although President Laurie L. Patton has announced her aim to increase both the percentage of students on financial aid and the amount of financial aid awarded, the college has not yet established target numbers. This is largely due to the college’s current financial position, which puts pressure on tuition, rather than the endowment, to cover ever-increasing costs including financial aid, according to Provost.
“I’m trying to fix two problems right now,” said Provost, who began as treasurer last January.
“One is that we have an operating deficit, which we’re taking down. The second problem was, when I arrived, we had been taking 6.6 percent out of our endowment a year. Of our peer institutions, the average is 4.7.”
Provost aims to eliminate the deficit by 2021 and to decrease endowment withdrawal to five percent.
“In the last few years — why tuition has gone up — it’s been an effort to help with this deficit and the withdraw,” Provost said.
“I believe longer term, that will put us in a better financial position, that will take pressure off tuition.”
Currently, 75 percent of the $53 million financial aid budget is covered by tuition, and 25 percent is covered by the endowment. Provost aims to increase the percentage covered by the endowment.
“If that was 35, 40 percent because we had a bigger endowment, more students are going to have accessibility, or it’s going to take pressure off of tuition increases,” Provost said.
To allow the endowment to grow, the college must focus on withdrawing less money from it now. The college will most likely announce a plan to increase the number of students on financial aid within the next year or two.
“We’ve been having a series of conversations at leadership as well as with the board...of what targets should be,” Provost said.
Once the college creates specific goals (like a target percentage of students on financial aid) it can start a campaign to raise money. Last week, Dartmouth launched a $3 billion campaign that includes allocations for financial aid, and peer institutions initiate similar campaigns frequently. These multi-million dollar campaigns call on alumni to donate.
“We are in the early planning stages,” Provost said.
The campaign will align with a strategy decided upon by Envisioning Middlebury, Provost said. Introduced in April 2016, Envisioning Middlebury is President Patton’s framework which aims to involve students, faculty and staff in conversation about the College’s future. It was responsible for the new mission statement. In February, with the endorsement of the Board of Trustees, Envisioning Middlebury published three “transformative goals” for the college.
The eventual campaign will call on donors for support for more than just financial aid, but financial aid will play an important role.
“The pieces that get generated for the next campaign will be built on that foundation,” Provost said.
Perhaps this campaign will allow Middlebury to address the alarming lack of economic diversity within the student body.
Provost responded to a question about selling the idea of financial aid and accessibility to donors.
“I’m in higher education for the reason of what education represents. Neither one of my parents went to college, they put five sons through college, all five of us are wildly successful in our professional lives because of education,” Provost said.
“We as a society and a country know the power of education, so the ability to give financial aid to those who otherwise wouldn’t have the means to get a Middlebury education is extremely powerful, not as an individual, as a society,” Provost said.
“Laurie’s passionate about that.”
(05/09/18 10:02pm)
President Laurie L. Patton announced changes this week within the senior leadership group, the 17-member advisory council. A nine-member cabinet will be formed out of that group to “improve the efficiency of decision making” in Old Chapel.
The new cabinet represents some of Patton’s closest advisors. It includes provost Jeff Cason, treasurer David Provost, spokesman Bill Burger, diversity officer Miguel Fernandez, advancement VP Colleen Fitzpatrick, human resources VP Karen Miller, general counsel Hannah Ross, dean of students Baishakhi Taylor, and chief of staff Dave Donahue.
The non-cabinet members of the senior leadership group include admissions dean Greg Buckles, academic officials Andi Lloyd and Tim Spears, philanthropic advisor Mike Schoenfeld, and representatives from the schools — Jeff Dayton-Johnson, Stephen Snyder and Carlos Velez.
With the announcement, Patton fulfilled a pledge to faculty to maintain the costs of SLG and to shrink its size. But the change to a smaller cabinet does not demonstrate an actual change in executive compensation. In an interview, spokesman Bill Burger said that compensation is not increased or decreased when a person is either designated or removed from a senior leadership position.
“Just because they are not sitting on the senior leadership group does not mean that you (do not) need that person in the job they have,” Burger said. “You could make a decision to not have the head of schools abroad and the language schools sit in the (senior leadership) group, it still does not mean you do not need the head of schools abroad and language schools,” he said.
Provost added, “Their pay is for their job, whether they are on one committee or another.”
When asked where the cost-saving measures would occur if compensation was not altered by shrinking the size of the SLG, Provost and Burger pointed to a more long-term strategy of either merging roles or organization restructuring after key individuals resign.
“When Katy Smith Abbott stepped down, (Patton) took two student life positions and made it one,” Provost said. “So that is one fewer SLG member. That demonstrates (Patton’s) commitment to that. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more of that.”
Burger added, “You might have people leave over time and then you do not replace them — that is a possibility. Sometimes these (changes) are done through organizational changes.”
The announcement comes at a time of increased scrutiny for administrators, who faced criticism for the practice of “stay bonuses” involved in the 2015 presidential transition.
During Patton’s briefing at the faculty meeting, she cited that costs of the SLG were already $300,000 less than the previous year. In an interview with The Campus, Provost supported Patton’s claim by citing a lack of increases for executives in the previous year.
“Last year there was zero [net change] for anyone with a salary of $200,000 and above — no increases for senior leadership last year,” he said.
According to research done by faculty, executive bonuses and payouts were above market-competitive rates. In the context of the college’s financial crisis and increasing tuition fees, some argued that these policies were a gross mismanagement of college finances.
Treasurer David Provost has argued that stay bonus payouts appearing on the 990 tax form made executive pay look higher in some years, but that base compensation has consistently been in line with market rates.
The bonuses effectively encourage key officials to remain at Middlebury during presidential transitions, two administrators said, and that years that appear especially high in executive compensation are the result of stay bonuses and should not be viewed as the norm.
Two officials close to the president said that while she intended to reduce the number and size of stay bonuses, she would not commit to ending the practice altogether.
“I’m still interested in maintaining a very modest use of these bonuses because they are used in higher ed to prevent a kind of constant searching and turning over,” Patton said during a faculty meeting in February. “But as you saw from the data, my interest and commitment to them is very modest. They are one tool among many, and I am committed to moving to most of those other tools before we do that.”
During the same meeting, college treasurer David Provost revealed that beginning in 2009, 11 different retention bonuses were distributed among seven administrators. The compensation ranged from annual amounts of $50,000 to $100,000, with total payouts summing $150,000 to $250,000. His presentation also revealed that Middlebury’s total executive pay of $4.1 million was higher than the $3.6 million average of peer institutions.
Three administrators are have stay bonuses that are still being paid out: provost Jeff Cason, admissions dean Greg Buckles and finance VP Mike Thomas. Bonuses are only paid when the recipient stays at Middlebury for the agreed-upon number of years.
At the faculty meeting in February, Provost reported an additional bonus for President Liebowitz that had not yet been disclosed in form 990 filings. Because the college received an extension to the reporting deadline last November, the amount of this bonus will only be made public on May 15.
(05/09/18 6:56pm)
Respect. R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Written on the chalkboards of kindergarten classrooms, in gymnasiums and in doctor’s offices. From a young age, we are told that the respect we give is the respect we get. As a young adult lady today, I have not found this to be true.
(05/09/18 6:48pm)
Dear MiddKids,
To begin, thank you to all who helped out with Staff Appreciation Day! It was a huge hit and the staff greatly appreciated the dinner as well. This was the 2nd Annual Staff Appreciation Day, and we hope it will continue and improve in the many more years to come.
For this column, we will share some final updates from SGA along with some lessons learned this year.
SGA Updates:
1. SGA 2018–2019 Bylaws Amendments: There were some internal SGA bylaws amendments that were discussed and passed at the Apr. 29th Senate meeting. Here are a few of these changes: Publicity Committee was renamed Communications Committee, SGA committees for the sophomore and junior classes were formed and matched to the model of the SGA First-Year Committee, Commons Senator positions will be on a semester basis instead of the current yearly basis, a formal structure for the appeals process was formed, and more. Please check at go/sga under Archives to see an official version of the passed bylaws amendments.
2. Finance Committee Budget Allocations of $10,000 and More Presentations: The SGA discussed and ultimately approved of the budget allocations by the SGA Finance Committee at this past May 6th Senate meeting. Budget allocations of $10,000 and more included Club Sports (Crew, Equestrian, Mens Rugby, Sailing and Women’s Ultimate Frisbee), InterCommons Council (ICC), Middlebury College Activities Board (MCAB), Middlebury Intercultural Leaders Coalition (MILC), Middlebury Mountain Club (MMC), Service Cluster Board (SCB), Student Government Association (SGA), The Campus Newspaper, WRMC (Middlebury College Radio Station) and YouPower. Throughout these conversations there were discussions around student employment and hiring by organizations, needs for organizational restructuring and more. Be sure to check out the SGA minutes for a more comprehensive look at our discussions. These budget allocations will go into effect Fall 2018.
3. Spring Finals Week Library 24/7 Hours: Thank you to all those who submitted survey responses to Library 24/7 Hours for finals week. The survey results showed that 60.2 percent of student respondents used the library during 24/7 hours this past Fall finals week, and most hours of usage were from 12 p.m. – 3 a.m. followed by a resurge in numbers at 7 a.m. 51.5 percent of student respondents answered that the library should not be opened the full 24/7 hours for this upcoming Spring finals week. In the comments section, many student respondents encouraged the library to be open until 2 a.m. and then to re-open at 7 a.m. during finals week to meet students’ needs and library constraints. After presenting the survey results to Michael Roy (Dean of the Library), he decided to keep the 24/7 hours for this Spring finals week and begin plans to keep the library open until 2 a.m. for Fall 2018 finals week.
4. Common Agenda Updates & Cabinet Final Reports: Be on the look-out for final common agenda updates and an SGA cabinet report that will be published for the student body in the coming weeks!
5. Board of Trustees: Middlebury College Trustee Members will be in town for their final meeting of this academic year from Thursday (05/10) – Saturday (05/12). The College Board of Overseers will be in all three dining halls during Friday lunch to directly engage and converse with students. The SGA is working to release the College Board of Overseers agenda to the student body, so please check your emails for this. If you have any concerns or comments, feel free to contact sga@middlebury.edu.
Lessons Learned:
It has been an honor to serve as the SGA President and Deputy Chief of Staff this past year. Along the way we’ve learned some important lessons that we’d like to share with the larger Middlebury community as you all look towards next year at Middlebury.
1. Students at Middlebury are passionate about various causes, ideas and beliefs. This is incredibly important and valuable to the community. And we’ve also realized that many of us, including ourselves, fail to provide needed time and attention to the things that our peers may be passionate about as well. Caring more about the things that may matter to another person (possibly someone who is widely different from you) could help to create a more empathic and open-minded environment.
2. We all come from different backgrounds and communities. It’s important to recognize your own background and privileges that you may carry. We all have moments where we act unintentionally and fail to recognize our own privileges in our actions with one another. Particularly staff members at Middlebury College are often negatively impacted by our failure to be more aware of our privileges. By being more intentional and aware of our privileges, our actions can better reflect who we actually are and what we value.
3. Truthfully, change is not easy nor fast. This is something that many of us at Middlebury are already aware of. We’ve also realized that oftentimes students want more short-term and immediate change while administrators and others who have been here for longer than four years look towards more long-term and institutional implementation. These differences in priorities, although sometimes they do overlap, continue to cause tension in our community. We don’t have the answer for overcoming this tension, but being aware of this discrepancy could be the key in understanding how to work together. Persistence and accountability in action are other important factors to working together.
4. At the same time it’s important to acknowledge that there isn’t just tension between students and administrators, but also between students and students. We all work to positively contribute to the Middlebury community in different ways, and there are some students who do more than others. It’s time to work to not just keep administration, faculty or staff more accountable to the Middlebury community but also your fellow peers. Accountability should apply to everyone — this is your community.
These are just a few of our closing thoughts from this year, and we are aware that you may disagree with these lessons we’ve learned. We also want to thank you for staying engaged and committed to the Middlebury community in the ways you have this past year.
As always, all past and current bills (including the ones mentioned above) are accessible at go/sga under Weekly Updates and/or Archives. The final SGA Senate meeting will be Sunday (05/13) from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Enjoy the final days of this semester and remember to take moments for self-care in the midst of finals!
Jin Sohn is SGA President.
Annie Cowan is SGA Deputy Chief of Staff.
(05/03/18 11:49pm)
The women’s tennis team continued to roll in their last match of the regular season, when they defeated No. 8 Amherst 6–3 on Saturday, April 28, for their eighth straight victory. Now they turn to the Nescac playoffs, which the Panthers enter as the second seed behind undefeated Williams.
Even with Williams’ dominance this season and in the past, the Panthers firmly believe they can parlay the play that has led to their recent winning streak into the first Nescac championship in program history, avenging a loss to Williams in the process if necessary.
“We are very excited to have a potential Williams rematch,” said Katy Hughes ’20. “We lost in the regular season to Williams 4-5, so we are looking forward to this rematch. However, we are focusing on one match at a time. But if we do play Williams I am confident that we will win.”
Since its loss to Williams on April 7, Middlebury had won seven matches in a row leading up to the Amherst match last Saturday, playing its best tennis of the season to beat Quinnipiac, a DI opponent, No. 18 Skidmore, No. 14 Bowdoin and No. 5 Wesleyan.
Their match on Saturday provided the Panthers one more test before they enter the highly anticipated postseason. Amherst’s 10–6 record this spring was deceiving because the Mammoths had lost their matches to the other six teams ranked in the nation’s top seven besides Middlebury. Their No. 8 ranking spoke to how Amherst stuck with many of the nation’s top teams even though the matches ended up as losses. They lost to No. 1 Emory, No. 2 Williams and No. 3 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 6–3, and No. 6 Tufts and No. 7 Pomona Pitzer 5–4.
The Mammoths leapt ahead of Middlebury on Saturday by taking two of the three doubles matches. Actually, Middlebury’s pair of Heather Boehm ’20 and Ann Martin Skelly ’21 swarmed Amherst’s No. 3 pair to win the first match of the day 8–2. After Skelly stepped into Christina Puccinelli ’19’s doubles spot in the middle of the season, she and Boehm are a perfect 6–0 in doubles.
“Although losing Puccinelli is definitely hard, Skelly has really stepped up to the task,” Boehm said. “As a first-year she shows no signs of nerves and plays all out. We are definitely now really comfortable with each other’s games and are confident going into the weekend with good results, despite the more recent switch.”
But Amherst’s first two doubles teams outlasted Middlebury’s top two pairs by scores of 8–6 and 8–5 to give the hosts their lead.
The Panthers know they cannot afford to come out flat in the postseason, when it is crucial to be sound up and down the lineup.
“We came out not as strong as would have liked to in doubles,” said Hughes. “This week we are going to focus a lot on our doubles play so we can have a stronger start.”
To win against the Nescac schools and the nation’s best teams, Middlebury must be prepared to pounce on opportunities at any doubles or singles spot.
On Saturday, that happened across the board in singles, where Middlebury took the match over. Maddi Stow ’20 finished first by dominating Avery Wagman 6–2, 6–1 in the sixth slot. Catherine Blazye ’20 followed up her teammate with an equally convincing 6–0, 6–2 win at No. 4, and Skylar Schossberger completed the sweep of the bottom half of the ladder by winning in straight sets, 6–1, 7–6 (7–4).
Ahead 4–2, Boehm clinched the match with her second win of the day in a 6–2, 6–4 victory in the third slot.
These four Panthers have not lost since Middlebury’s last loss, at Williams on Saturday, April 7, combining to go 21–0 in singles since that point to fuel the team’s winning streak.
“We have worked so hard this entire season and are thrilled to see that our efforts are paying off,” said Puccinelli.
Katy Hughes ’20 added one more straight-sets victory, winning 6–2, 6–4 like Boehm, at No. 2 for the Panthers’ fifth singles win on Saturday, before Puccinelli fell at No. 1.
Middlebury is very confident entering Nescacs, and rightfully so, given their play on Saturday and over the last month.
“While we’re still working on individual projects and improving our game on a day-to-day basis, we are all very comfortable with our level of play at this point in the year,” Puccinelli said.
That comfort level has become increasingly apparent over Middlebury’s latest run in Nescac play, which the Panthers attribute to their commitment since last season ended.
“After months of training and perfecting our fitness, we are now just enjoying the level of play that we get to see at practice every day,” said Puccinelli.
Middlebury’s comfort in their play on the court and confidence in themselves emerge in their words. But Hughes is also quick to point out the Panthers must take one match at a time, continuing to practice the way that brought them to this point.
“I believe that all of us are going to work very hard this week on and off the court,” Hughes said. “So we can go into Nescacs feeling confident.”
Middlebury’s confidence is not unfounded: it comes from their success thus far this season, their dedication to improving in practice and in every match, and their trust that a relentless work ethic will pay off.
“Even though we played great tennis this past weekend, we know that our best tennis is still ahead of us,” said Hughes.
Middlebury have a bye through the first round of the Nescac playoffs, which Amherst is hosting this season, and will play the winner of third-seeded Wesleyan and sixth-seeded Bowdoin on Saturday, May 5.
If the bracket holds, the Panthers will play Wesleyan on Saturday, whom they beat 6–3 in the regular season.
“After playing them two weekends ago, this is definitely not a team to lose sight of,” Boehm said. “They are loud and have strong games. We trust our singles but went down in doubles last time so we definitely have been working on that this week.”
If they win on Saturday, the Panthers will play for the conference championship on Sunday, May 6 at 9 a.m.
In the past two seasons, the Panthers lost to Williams in the Nescac championship. In 2016, Williams won 5–0, and in 2017, 5–4. Here’s to another rematch this season.
(05/03/18 11:47pm)
The Middlebury softball team improved their record to 18–10 last weekend as they took two games from Wesleyan.
Going into Nescac playoffs, the meeting between these two teams tested the waters for intra-conference play. The matchup was a preview for the tournament ahead.
“We’ve been performing extremely well against other Nescac teams, which gives us great confidence going into the rest of this season,” said captain Kati Daczkowski ’18. “Our game is really coming together. The wins we picked up this weekend are a testament to what we can do.”
The Panthers’ decisive victory over the Cardinals in the first (4–1) and second (8–3) game shows that the team is consistently improving as a unit.
Taylor Gardner ’18 continued to be an offensive threat for Middlebury in the first game. With the bases loaded in the first inning, Gardner started off the scoring for the Panthers with a single to left field. Her hit drove Allison Quigley ’18 home for the first run of the game.
Middlebury held its lead until the fourth inning, when Wesleyan tied the game at one run apiece.
This pressure motivated the Panthers to pull ahead, which the team did in the sixth inning. Gardner continued her impressive offensive game, while Daczkowski, Emily Morris ‘21, and Ali Della Volpe ’18 all got on base and eventually were sent home. Walking off the field triumphantly, 4–1, the team was excited to continue their success in the next game.
“Winning the first game was great for us and our mentality,” said Daczkowski. “We went into the second game with a great attitude, ready to compete.”
The Panther offense was complemented by a strong game on the mound by Quigley, who pitched the first five innings and was followed by Morris to end the game.
Unlike the first game, Middlebury started off trailing the Cardinals 1–0 by the beginning of the third inning. Emily Moore ’21 put the Panthers on the board in the third, blasting a home run to tie the game 1–1. After Moore’s homer, Middlebury picked up steam and seized on their momentum.
By the fourth inning, the Panthers had a seven-run lead, 8–1. Though Wesleyan was able to pick up two more runs at the end of the game, the Panthers clinched the win, 8–3.
“We had a great weekend of play,” Daczkowski added. “There’s still more to accomplish, though.”
(05/03/18 11:42pm)
Just days after the new ITA Division III rankings came out, new national No. 1 Middlebury men’s tennis ended the regular season on Sunday, April 29 with a dominant 7–2 win over Nescac championship hosts No. 8 Amherst. The men are anxious to prove themselves at Nescacs and NCAAs, but this won’t come easily, as the other teams in the top five in the country are all looking for another shot at the Panthers.
Middlebury hosted Amherst on Sunday in their sixth and final home match out of 21 total matches. Sent inside by the rain, the Panthers showed their fondness for the Nelson Recreation Center indoor courts as they bested the fourth-best team in the Nescac in convincing fashion.
Amherst tennis is no stranger to tennis glory, however. The Mammoths won both Nescac and national titles in 2011 and 2014, and their only losses this year have come against the current top five teams in DIII tennis. Their closest test came against Williams the day before that team snuck by the Panthers 5–4 on April 7.
On Sunday, Middlebury showed no mercy to the Mammoths, closing out conference and regular season play. Starting the match, the Panthers doubles squads returned to the excellence to which they have been accustomed this season. Timo van der Geest ’18 and Peter Martin ‘19 picked up their 13th win of the season as they stomped Oliver Kendall and Jesse Levitin by a score of 8–2 at No. 3 doubles. At No. 2, William de Quant ’18 and Noah Farrell ’19 notched their eighth straight win, also by a score of 8–2. Lubomir Cuba ’19 and Kyle Schlanger ’18 tallied their seventh straight win to move to 16–3 this spring. Panthers doubles teams moved to an impressive 50–13 this spring as they once again gave the team a 3–0 lead heading into singles.
Schlanger was first off the court on Sunday with a routine straight-sets win over Amherst’s Jayson Fung as the senior made it six in a row moving into his last postseason. Facing adversity early was standout Cuba, who ended up losing a battle in the third set to Amherst freshman phenom Sean Wei, a recent five-star prospect who was ranked 26th in his recruiting class nationally. With a comfortable 4–1 lead, the Panthers still found themselves in several battles down the stretch.
Senior William de Quant found himself in one of these tight matches after being forced into a decisive third set after splitting the first two lopsided sets. Assistant coach Andrew Thomson said of de Quant’s match, “He played a [player] who … played No. 1 for Amherst last year … [s]o a very talented player. Will got off to a very hot start and won the first set decisively, and the second set didn’t go his way, but to his credit he really bounced back strong and remained confident.” De Quant commented on how he was able to turn the tide in the third set, saying, “The difference between the second set and the third set was actually quite subtle. Whoever was on the front foot and controlling from the baseline was the one winning the most points, and I forced myself in the beginning of the third set to step into the court and dictate. Once I did this, I found it easier to spread my opponent out and keep the outcome of the points on my racket and not his.” De Quant was able to overpower his opponent in the third set by a score of 6–1 to clinch the match for the Panthers.
The drama still was not over for Middlebury as Farrell found himself in a tight second set requiring a tie-break. For Thomson, Farrell’s demeanor was plenty indication that he would figure it out and secure the win.
“It was awesome watching him play,” Thomson said of Farrell. “Noah did a great job playing his game and being patient and enjoying being out there. He always plays better when he’s having fun on the court.” Farrell’s win grew the Panthers’ lead to 6–1.
The first-years at the bottom of the ladder were left, then. Andre Xiao ’21, who has posted an impressive 12–6 record thus far, has fallen into somewhat of a funk lately, and lost his fourth straight match on Sunday, falling in straight sets. Nate Eazor ’21 had a different match, however, as he shut down his opponent 6–3, 6–4 to complete the 7–2 win for Middlebury.
The next test for the Panthers could come as early as Friday, May 4, when the No. 3 and No. 6 seeds face off in the opening round of the Nescac tournament at Amherst. As of Sunday, the team did not know its seeding for the tournament.
“From a seeding perspective, Bowdoin, Williams and Middlebury are all tied for first, but due to … tie-breaking rules, we could well end up being third seed,” de Quant said. Though they sit atop the national rankings, the Panthers could be nagged by a previous loss to Williams, which created a triangle between the Ephs, the Panthers, and the Bowdoin Polar Bears, who suffered their only loss at the hands of Middlebury several weeks ago. With the No. 3 seed, Midd would have to play an opening-round match against the No. 6 seed, potentially Wesleyan or Bates. With the No. 1 or 2 seed, they would get an automatic bye into the semifinals.
Their No. 1 national ranking guarantees the Panthers nothing in the Nescac tournament, where they may get a chance to settle the score with Williams.
“Of course, we would love to get a swing at Williams again, as we are a different team than we were when we came up just short to them a few weeks ago,” de Quant said. “Despite now being No. 1, we feel we are only starting to heat up, and we have not yet reached our peak level.” Revenge against Williams, or a conference-tournament win punctuated by another win against national No. 3 Bowdoin, could be just what the Panthers need to remove all doubt surrounding their new ranking.
“I think [our new ranking] was well deserved on our part. However, there are a lot of very good teams out there, and it’s definitely a year where there’s a lot of strong teams at the top and you could certainly make a case for them being really strongly ranked,” Thomson said. Because of the strength of the Nescac as a whole, Thomson added, this weekend could be a good test for the Panthers to prove themselves yet again.
“We’ve done a good job beating some really good teams recently, but they’re going to be hungry and coming after us, especially after the latest rankings, so I think we have a little bit of a target on our back,” Thomson said. The Panthers are sure to see some familiar faces this weekend at Nescacs. “Every year we set a goal to win the Nescac championship. The Nescac is the deepest conference in the country. To be the best we have to beat the best,” de Quant said.
The Panthers did not know their fate for the weekend after receiving the No. 1 ranking or even after beating Amherst. This, however, does not change their goal. They are sure not to look past the familiar opponents in the Nescac for this weekend.
De Quant said it best: “We go into the weekend ready for any opponent, focused on controlling what we can control.”
The Panthers are deep, talented, healthy and ready for another go at the best conference in the country this weekend at Amherst.
(05/03/18 11:40pm)
After having to recover from first-half deficits on consecutive weekends leading up to the Nescac playoffs, the women’s lacrosse team pledged to come out firing at the sound of the first whistle. The first-seeded Panthers did exactly that in the quarterfinals of the Nescac playoffs, jumping out to a 3–0 lead in the first 7:05 of their matchup with eighth-seeded Hamilton on Saturday, April 28, en route to a 14–5 win on Kohn Field.
Now, the Panthers will have to play a full 60 minutes against stiffer competition in their semifinal game against sixth-seeded Trinity at Kohn Field on Saturday, May 5. Trinity led Middlebury 8–4 in the team’s regular-season matchup before the Panthers stormed back with 10 unanswered goals to get a 14–8 win.
“I think that going into this Hamilton game, we knew how important it was [to] come out strong,” said Murphy. “We had some difficulty in the beginning of the last game against them, so this time we were determined to give it our all from the first whistle. We were really excited going into our first postseason game, and our energy showed on the field in our ability to get a quick start on Saturday.”
Middlebury’s three goals in the first seven minutes set the tone for the entire game on Saturday, as the Panthers outshot the Continentals 39–18 and outscored the visitors by at least four goals in each half.
Kirsten Murphy ’21 started the scoring just over two minutes into the contest. Thirteen seconds later, Hollis Perticone ’18 made the score 2–0 on a free-position shot. Then Emily Barnard ’20 scored less than five minutes later as the Panthers looked completely in control on their home field early on.
Hamilton slowed the tide momentarily with back-to-back goals, but another Murphy-fueled run put Middlebury ahead 7–2 at the halfway point. Murphy added her second and third goals of the game — her 22nd and 23rd goals of the season — and then set up Jenna McNicholas ’19, who scored Middlebury’s seventh and final goal of the first half.
Just like in the first half, the Panthers pounced on the Continentals at the beginning of the second half, scoring four straight goals to extend their run from the first half to eight straight goals, putting Middlebury ahead 11–2 and the game effectively out of Hamilton’s reach. Georgia Carroll ’18 scored three of the four goals. Hamilton came back with three goals of its own, but Middlebury closed out the game with three straight to seal a 14–5 victory, as Carroll put two more home for a game-high five goals.
Along with Carroll’s five goals, Barnard and Murphy both scored three, and Murphy assisted on four more. Murphy, in her first season at Middlebury, has scored 23 goals and assisted on a team-high 23 more. Her 23 assists place her second in the Nescac in that category, and she is second on the team in total points, behind only Emma McDonagh.
“I am so grateful for the opportunity to play on this team and the chance to go in each game,” said Murphy. “I think that my stats, along with my other teammates’, reflect the depth and versatility of our team. Any given game, there is a new leading scorer, and we often have a high number of people scoring each game. This team has been extremely welcoming, and the fact that I am a first-year does not even factor into my thoughts on the field.”
Nine Panthers have scored at least 10 goals this spring. And perhaps even more telling, no Middlebury players are in the top 10 in goals scored in conference play, even though the Panthers have scored the most goals as a team.
Middlebury’s back line turned in a solid performance that is the norm for the conference’s best-scoring defense this spring. Addy Mitchell ’21 and Evie Keating ’18 held the line on Saturday. Mitchell caused four turnovers and recovered five ground balls, while Keating forced three turnovers and picked up three ground balls. Julia Keith ’20 and Kate Furber ’19 each played a half in the cage.
This Saturday’s game promises to be more of a challenge for the Panthers. Trinity surprised third-seeded Tufts to reach the semifinals and could have beaten Middlebury in their first game.
“In preparation for this weekend’s game against Trinity, I think a big focus of ours is to go hard from the start,” said Murphy. “Some of our recent games have had a slow start where we have had to come back from behind in order to win. In practice this week we’ll work on having composure but also intensity throughout the entire game.”
Middlebury aims to win its second Nescac championship in three years after an eight-season drought. If the Panthers beat Trinity on Saturday, they will play the winner of Amherst and Bowdoin on Sunday for the Nescac championship game on Kohn Field.
(05/03/18 11:38pm)
In the past five seasons, the men’s track and field team has finished second, third and fourth at Nescacs, but not first. In fact, the Panthers had never won a Nescac championship … until last Saturday, April 28. On the backs of first-place finishes by Kevin Serrao ’18, Jimmy Martinez ’19, Nicholas Hendrix ’20, the 4x100-meter relay team and the 4x400 team, and bolstered by strong performances in every event, the Panthers supplanted the two-time defending champions, Williams, who have now won only 23 of the 33 Nescac crowns — instead of 23 of 32.
And combined with the women’s team, which finished third, Middlebury track and field improved upon last year’s performance, when the men’s and women’s teams came together to finish seventh at Nescacs.
“Knowing that this was the first Nescac title in program history made last weekend even more special,” said Martinez. “Knowing that we could actually win it this year led to so many spectacular performances. I can’t express how proud I am of everyone for bringing the amount of energy they did.”
Martinez was one of several Panthers who rose to another plane of performance on Saturday. He won the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.02, while Serrao won the 1500-meter race in 3:52.20 and Hendrix crossed first in the 100-meter dash in 10.58.
Two relay teams encapsulated what needed to be a complete team effort if they wanted to unseat Williams and outrace the rest of the Nescac competition. Jackson Bock ’19, Jackson Barnett ’18, Mike Pallozzi ’18 and Hendrix came together to run a 42.29 in the 4x100-meter relay, crossing the finish line five-hundredths of a second before Tufts’ team to win the race. Arden Coleman ’20, William Robertson ’21, Josh Howard ’19 and Martinez beat the entire field by at least two seconds to claim the 4x400-meter relay crown.
Along with these five victories, a Panther finished in the top five of every competition but two on the men’s side. James Mulliken ’18, Nathan Hill ’20, Connor Evans ’19, Matt D’Aquila ’21, Harrison Knowlton ’19, Ascencion Aispuro ’18, Tyler Farrell ’18, Jon Perlman ’19, Sawyer Tadano ’21, Jonathan Fisher ’20, John Natalone ’19, Max Memeger ’21, Nathaniel Klein ’21, Minhaj Rahman ’19 and Brenden Edwards ’18 all chipped in top-five performances. And these spectacular efforts came across all of the events — individual running and relays, jumping and throwing.
The man who has guided Middlebury to this moment is Martin Beatty ’84. Beatty was a sprinter for the track team and a running back on the football team at Middlebury. After graduation, he was an assistant for the track and field, football and women’s basketball teams for a season before leaving to fill similar assistant roles at Trinity. In 1987, he returned to Middlebury as an assistant for the track and field, football and men’s basketball teams. Then, in 1988 he chose to focus on track and field, becoming the head coach. The women’s team has won two Nescac titles under Beatty. Now, in his 30th season at the helm, he has championships with both teams.
“Being the first men’s track team to win Nescacs is something we will never forget,” said Hendrix. “Not having won before definitely served as a motivating factor. We’re especially happy for our coach, Martin Beatty, because he deserves it for all the hard work he’s put in over the last 30 years.”
The women’s team also featured remarkable performances. Kate McCluskey ’18 broke a personal record and placed third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.13, along with a first-place finish in the 400-meter dash with a time of 56.22. Additionally, McCluskey won first place in the 4x400 team race along with Lucy Lang ’19, Kai Milici ’21, and Kate Holly ’21.
“I am so proud of both of our teams this weekend, men and women,” McCluskey said, praising her teammates. “We had a lot of outstanding performances all around, and everyone had a lot of fun doing it. I also really admire the way our team comes together at NESCACs. All day we had people cheering for one another.”
With a time of 4:35.22, Katie Glew ’21 placed fourth in the 1500-meter run. Kate MacCary ’19 secured second place in the 5000-meter run with a time of 17:16.57. Kreager Taber ’19 placed second in the pole vault event with a vault of 3.55 meters, while Alex Cook ’20 captured third in the long jump with a jump of 5.44 meters. Finally, Helene Rowland ’20 finished third in the shot put event with an 11.99-meter throw.
“Competing at Nescacs is completely different from any other meet. In my opinion, the team seems to be much more unified and competitive with our overall results, as opposed to our own personal performances” said Devon Player ’18. “As a senior, I look back at all of the positive memories of being a part of this team, and it makes me want to try so much harder to do the best that I can and to cherish the time that I have left with my fellow athletes.”
Camaraderie proved to be a constant theme amongst members of the team.
“The preparation for this meet was a real team effort. When a few of the guys realized there was a chance for us to win, the excitement quickly built,” said Paul Malloy ’18. “From top to bottom, this team has shown an incredible amount of commitment and drive. Everybody knew we had a strong group coming into the season, and we’re so fortunate to have an amazing coaching and training staff that knows how to push our limits so that we could perform our best this weekend. I’m so proud of this team for setting a goal of winning this meet and not letting anything get in the way.”
One of the Cinderella stories for the track and field teams that emerged in last weekend’s championship was that of Isabella “Speck” Alfaro ’18, who spent much of the last five months on crutches due to a high risk of stress fracture. However, after being cleared to run in April, she leapt at the opportunity to compete.
“I didn’t think I would race for Middlebury again until Coach Wilkerson gave me the option to be a wildcard entry at Nescacs,” said Alfaro. “The support from my coaches and team made competing on Saturday incredibly special to me and reminded me why I never quit, even when my doctor told me I wouldn’t have a spring season.
“The track team has always been my favorite part of Middlebury,” Alfaro added, “so to have all my teammates line the track and cheer gave me the biggest smile while I was running down the last straightaway.”
With this spirit of support and pattern of excellence, the track and field teams now look forward to the Division III New England Championships, which start at MIT this afternoon and run until Saturday, May 5.
“This win should propel us into New Englands and some of us into NCAAs,” Martinez said. “Over these next few weeks, expect some sick performances and a lot of qualifiers. The goal is to score some serious points at these meets and crown even more champions.”
(05/03/18 5:29pm)
The women’s tennis team continued to roll in their last match of the regular season, when they defeated No. 8 Amherst 6–3 on Saturday, April 28 for their eighth straight victory. Now they turn to the Nescac playoffs, which the Panthers enter as the second seed behind undefeated Williams.
Even with Williams’ dominance this season and in the past, the Panthers firmly believe they can parlay the play that has led to their recent winning streak into the first Nescac championship in program history, avenging a loss to Williams in the process if necessary.
“We are very excited to have a potential Williams rematch,” said Katy Hughes ’20. “We lost in the regular season to Williams 4-5, so we are looking forward to this rematch. However, we are focusing on one match at a time. But if we do play Williams I am confident that we will win.”
Since its loss to Williams on April 7, Middlebury had won seven matches in a row leading up to the Amherst match last Saturday, playing its best tennis of the season to beat Quinnipiac, a DI opponent, No. 18 Skidmore, No. 14 Bowdoin and No. 5 Wesleyan.
Their match on Saturday provided the Panthers one more test before they enter the highly anticipated postseason. Amherst’s 10–6 record this spring was deceiving because the Mammoths had lost their matches to the other six teams ranked in the nation’s top seven besides Middlebury. Their No. 8 ranking spoke to how Amherst stuck with many of the nation’s top teams even though the matches ended up as losses. They lost to No. 1 Emory, No. 2 Williams and No. 3 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 6–3, and No. 6 Tufts and No. 7 Pomona Pitzer 5–4.
The Mammoths leapt ahead of Middlebury on Saturday by taking two of the three doubles matches. Actually, Middlebury’s pair of Heather Boehm ’20 and Ann Martin Skelly ’21 swarmed Amherst’s No. 3 pair to win the first match of the day 8–2. After Skelly stepped into Christina Puccinelli ’19’s doubles spot in the middle of the season, she and Boehm are a perfect 6–0 in doubles.
“Although losing Puccinelli is definitely hard, Skelly has really stepped up to the task,” Boehm said. “As a first-year she shows no signs of nerves and plays all out. We are definitely now really comfortable with each other’s games and are confident going into the weekend with good results, despite the more recent switch.”
But Amherst’s first two doubles teams outlasted Middlebury’s top two pairs by scores of 8–6 and 8–5 to give the hosts their lead.
The Panthers know they cannot afford to come out flat in the postseason, when it is crucial to be sound up and down the lineup.
“We came out not as strong as would have liked to in doubles,” said Hughes. “This week we are going to focus a lot on our doubles play so we can have a stronger start.”
To win against the Nescac schools and the nation’s best teams, Middlebury must be prepared to pounce on opportunities at any doubles or singles spot.
On Saturday, that happened across the board in singles, where Middlebury took the match over. Maddi Stow ’20 finished first by dominating Avery Wagman 6–2, 6–1 in the sixth slot. Catherine Blazye ’20 followed up her teammate with an equally convincing 6–0, 6–2 win at No. 4, and Skylar Schossberger completed the sweep of the bottom half of the ladder by winning in straight sets, 6–1, 7–6 (7–4).
Ahead 4–2, Boehm clinched the match with her second win of the day in a 6–2, 6–4 victory in the third slot.
These four Panthers have not lost since Middlebury’s last loss, at Williams on Saturday, April 7, combining to go 21–0 in singles since that point to fuel the team’s winning streak.
“We have worked so hard this entire season and are thrilled to see that our efforts are paying off,” said Puccinelli.
Katy Hughes ’20 added one more straight-sets victory, winning 6–2, 6–4 like Boehm, at No. 2 for the Panthers’ fifth singles win on Saturday, before Puccinelli fell at No. 1.
Middlebury is very confident entering Nescacs, and rightfully so, given their play on Saturday and over the last month.
“While we're still working on individual projects and improving our game on a day-to-day basis, we are all very comfortable with our level of play at this point in the year,” Puccinelli said.
That comfort level has become increasingly apparent over Middlebury’s latest run in Nescac play, which the Panthers attribute to their commitment since last season ended.
“After months of training and perfecting our fitness, we are now just enjoying the level of play that we get to see at practice every day,” said Puccinelli.
Middlebury’s comfort in their play on the court and confidence in themselves emerge in their words. But Hughes is also quick to point out the Panthers must take one match at a time, continuing to practice the way that brought them to this point.
“I believe that all of us are going to work very hard this week on and off the court,” Hughes said. “So we can go into Nescacs feeling confident.”
Middlebury’s confidence is not unfounded: it comes from their success thus far this season, their dedication to improving in practice and in every match, and their trust that a relentless work ethic will pay off.
“Even though we played great tennis this past weekend, we know that our best tennis is still ahead of us,” said Hughes.
Middlebury have a bye through the first round of the Nescac playoffs, which Amherst is hosting this season, and will play the winner of third-seeded Wesleyan and sixth-seeded Bowdoin on Saturday, May 5.
If the bracket holds, the Panthers will play Wesleyan on Saturday, whom they beat 6–3 in the regular season.
“After playing them two weekends ago, this is definitely not a team to lose sight of,” Boehm said. “They are loud and have strong games. We trust our singles but went down in doubles last time so we definitely have been working on that this week.”
If they win on Saturday, the Panthers will play for the conference championship on Sunday, May 6 at 9 a.m.
In the past two seasons, the Panthers lost to Williams in the Nescac championship. In 2016, Williams won 5–0, and in 2017, 5–4. Here’s to another rematch this season.
(05/03/18 5:27pm)
In the past five seasons, the men’s track and field team has finished second, third and fourth at Nescacs, but not first. In fact, the Panthers had never won a Nescac championship … until last Saturday, April 28. On the backs of first-place finishes by Kevin Serrao ’18, Jimmy Martinez ’19, Nicholas Hendrix ’20, the 4x100-meter relay team and the 4x400 team, and bolstered by strong performances in every event, the Panthers supplanted the two-time defending champions, Williams, who have now won only 23 of the 33 Nescac crowns — instead of 23 of 32.
And combined with the women’s team, which finished third, Middlebury track and field improved upon last year’s performance, when the men’s and women’s teams came together to finish seventh at Nescacs.
“Knowing that this was the first Nescac title in program history made last weekend even more special,” said Martinez. “Knowing that we could actually win it this year led to so many spectacular performances. I can’t express how proud I am of everyone for bringing the amount of energy they did.”
Martinez was one of several Panthers who rose to another plane of performance on Saturday. He won the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.02, while Serrao won the 1500-meter race in 3:52.20 and Hendrix crossed first in the 100-meter dash in 10.58.
Two relay teams encapsulated what needed to be a complete team effort if they wanted to unseat Williams and outrace the rest of the Nescac competition. Jackson Bock ’19, Jackson Barnett ’18, Mike Pallozzi ’18 and Hendrix came together to run a 42.29 in the 4x100-meter relay, crossing the finish line five-hundredths of a second before Tufts’ team to win the race. Arden Coleman ’20, William Robertson ’21, Josh Howard ’19 and Martinez beat the entire field by at least two seconds to claim the 4x400-meter relay crown.
Along with these five victories, a Panther finished in the top five of every competition but two on the men’s side. James Mulliken ’18, Nathan Hill ’20, Connor Evans ’19, Matt D’Aquila ’21, Harrison Knowlton ’19, Ascencion Aispuro ’18, Tyler Farrell ’18, Jon Perlman ’19, Sawyer Tadano ’21, Jonathan Fisher ’20, John Natalone ’19, Max Memeger ’21, Nathaniel Klein ’21, Minhaj Rahman ’19 and Brenden Edwards ’18 all chipped in top-five performances. And these spectacular efforts came across all of the events — individual running and relays, jumping and throwing.
The man who has guided Middlebury to this moment is Martin Beatty ’84. Beatty was a sprinter for the track team and a running back on the football team at Middlebury. After graduation, he was an assistant for the track and field, football and women’s basketball teams for a season before leaving to fill similar assistant roles at Trinity. In 1987, he returned to Middlebury as an assistant for the track and field, football and men’s basketball teams. Then, in 1988 he chose to focus on track and field, becoming the head coach. The women’s team has won two Nescac titles under Beatty. Now, in his 30th season at the helm, he has championships with both teams.
“Being the first men's track team to win Nescacs is something we will never forget,” said Hendrix. “Not having won before definitely served as a motivating factor. We're especially happy for our coach, Martin Beatty, because he deserves it for all the hard work he's put in over the last 30 years.”
The women’s team also featured remarkable performances. Kate McCluskey ’18 broke a personal record and placed third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.13, along with a first-place finish in the 400-meter dash with a time of 56.22. Additionally, McCluskey won first place in the 4x400 team race along with Lucy Lang ’19, Kai Milici ’21, and Kate Holly ’21.
“I am so proud of both of our teams this weekend, men and women,” McCluskey said, praising her teammates. “We had a lot of outstanding performances all around, and everyone had a lot of fun doing it. I also really admire the way our team comes together at NESCACs. All day we had people cheering for one another.”
With a time of 4:35.22, Katie Glew ’21 placed fourth in the 1500-meter run. Kate MacCary ’19 secured second place in the 5000-meter run with a time of 17:16.57. Kreager Taber ’19 placed second in the pole vault event with a vault of 3.55 meters, while Alex Cook ’20 captured third in the long jump with a jump of 5.44 meters. Finally, Helene Rowland ’20 finished third in the shot put event with an 11.99-meter throw.
“Competing at Nescacs is completely different from any other meet. In my opinion, the team seems to be much more unified and competitive with our overall results, as opposed to our own personal performances” said Devon Player ’18. “As a senior, I look back at all of the positive memories of being a part of this team, and it makes me want to try so much harder to do the best that I can and to cherish the time that I have left with my fellow athletes.”
Camaraderie proved to be a constant theme amongst members of the team.
“The preparation for this meet was a real team effort. When a few of the guys realized there was a chance for us to win, the excitement quickly built,” said Paul Malloy ’18. “From top to bottom, this team has shown an incredible amount of commitment and drive. Everybody knew we had a strong group coming into the season, and we're so fortunate to have an amazing coaching and training staff that knows how to push our limits so that we could perform our best this weekend. I'm so proud of this team for setting a goal of winning this meet and not letting anything get in the way.”
One of the Cinderella stories for the track and field teams that emerged in last weekend’s championship was that of Isabella “Speck” Alfaro ’18, who spent much of the last five months on crutches due to a high-risk stress fracture. However, after being cleared to run in April, she leapt at the opportunity to compete.
“I didn’t think I would race for Middlebury again until Coach Wilkerson gave me the option to be a wildcard entry at Nescacs,” said Alfaro. “The support from my coaches and team made competing on Saturday incredibly special to me and reminded me why I never quit, even when my doctor told me I wouldn’t have a spring season.
“The track team has always been my favorite part of Middlebury,” Alfaro added, “so to have all my teammates line the track and cheer gave me the biggest smile while I was running down the last straightaway.”
With this spirit of support and pattern of excellence, the track and field teams now look forward to the Division III New England Championships, which start at MIT this afternoon and run until Saturday, May 5.
“This win should propel us into New Englands and some of us into NCAAs,” Martinez said. “Over these next few weeks, expect some sick performances and a lot of qualifiers. The goal is to score some serious points at these meets and crown even more champions.”
(05/03/18 5:25pm)
Just days after the new ITA Division III rankings came out, new national No. 1 Middlebury men’s tennis ended the regular season on Sunday, April 29 with a dominant 7–2 win over Nescac championship hosts No. 8 Amherst. The men are anxious to prove themselves at Nescacs and NCAAs, but this won’t come easily, as the other teams in the top five in the country are all looking for another shot at the Panthers.
Middlebury hosted Amherst on Sunday in their sixth and final home match out of 21 total matches. Sent inside by the rain, the Panthers showed their fondness for the Nelson Recreation Center indoor courts as they bested the fourth-best team in the Nescac in convincing fashion.
Amherst tennis is no stranger to tennis glory, however. The Mammoths won both Nescac and national titles in 2011 and 2014, and their only losses this year have come against the current top five teams in DIII tennis. Their closest test came against Williams the day before that team snuck by the Panthers 5–4 on April 7.
On Sunday, Middlebury showed no mercy to the Mammoths, closing out conference and regular season play. Starting the match, the Panthers doubles squads returned to the excellence to which they have been accustomed this season. Timo van der Geest ’18 and Peter Martin ‘19 picked up their 13th win of the season as they stomped Oliver Kendall and Jesse Levitin by a score of 8–2 at No. 3 doubles. At No. 2, William de Quant ’18 and Noah Farrell ’19 notched their eighth straight win, also by a score of 8–2. Lubomir Cuba ’19 and Kyle Schlanger ’18 tallied their seventh straight win to move to 16–3 this spring. Panthers doubles teams moved to an impressive 50–13 this spring as they once again gave the team a 3–0 lead heading into singles.
Schlanger was first off the court on Sunday with a routine straight-sets win over Amherst’s Jayson Fung as the senior made it six in a row moving into his last postseason. Facing adversity early was standout Cuba, who ended up losing a battle in the third set to Amherst freshman phenom Sean Wei, a recent five-star prospect who was ranked 26th in his recruiting class nationally. With a comfortable 4–1 lead, the Panthers still found themselves in several battles down the stretch.
Senior William de Quant found himself in one of these tight matches after being forced into a decisive third set after splitting the first two lopsided sets. Assistant coach Andrew Thomson said of de Quant’s match, “He played a [player] who … played No. 1 for Amherst last year … [s]o a very talented player. Will got off to a very hot start and won the first set decisively, and the second set didn’t go his way, but to his credit he really bounced back strong and remained confident.” De Quant commented on how he was able to turn the tide in the third set, saying, “The difference between the second set and the third set was actually quite subtle. Whoever was on the front foot and controlling from the baseline was the one winning the most points, and I forced myself in the beginning of the third set to step into the court and dictate. Once I did this, I found it easier to spread my opponent out and keep the outcome of the points on my racket and not his.” De Quant was able to overpower his opponent in the third set by a score of 6–1 to clinch the match for the Panthers.
The drama still was not over for Middlebury as Farrell found himself in a tight second set requiring a tie-break. For Thomson, Farrell’s demeanor was plenty indication that he would figure it out and secure the win.
“It was awesome watching him play,” Thomson said of Farrell. “Noah did a great job playing his game and being patient and enjoying being out there. He always plays better when he’s having fun on the court.” Farrell’s win grew the Panthers’ lead to 6–1.
The first-years at the bottom of the ladder were left, then. Andre Xiao ’21, who has posted an impressive 12–6 record thus far, has fallen into somewhat of a funk lately, and lost his fourth straight match on Sunday, falling in straight sets. Nate Eazor ’21 had a different match, however, as he shut down his opponent 6–3, 6–4 to complete the 7–2 win for Middlebury.
The next test for the Panthers could come as early as Friday, May 4, when the No. 3 and No. 6 seeds face off in the opening round of the Nescac tournament at Amherst. As of Sunday, the team did not know its seeding for the tournament.
“From a seeding perspective, Bowdoin, Williams and Middlebury are all tied for first, but due to … tie-breaking rules, we could well end up being third seed,” de Quant said. Though they sit atop the national rankings, the Panthers could be nagged by a previous loss to Williams, which created a triangle between the Ephs, the Panthers, and the Bowdoin Polar Bears, who suffered their only loss at the hands of Middlebury several weeks ago. With the No. 3 seed, Midd would have to play an opening-round match against the No. 6 seed, potentially Wesleyan or Bates. With the No. 1 or 2 seed, they would get an automatic bye into the semifinals.
Their No. 1 national ranking guarantees the Panthers nothing in the Nescac tournament, where they may get a chance to settle the score with Williams.
“Of course, we would love to get a swing at Williams again, as we are a different team than we were when we came up just short to them a few weeks ago,” de Quant said. “Despite now being No. 1, we feel we are only starting to heat up, and we have not yet reached our peak level.” Revenge against Williams, or a conference-tournament win punctuated by another win against national No. 3 Bowdoin, could be just what the Panthers need to remove all doubt surrounding their new ranking.
“I think [our new ranking] was well deserved on our part. However, there are a lot of very good teams out there, and it’s definitely a year where there’s a lot of strong teams at the top and you could certainly make a case for them being really strongly ranked,” Thomson said. Because of the strength of the Nescac as a whole, Thomson added, this weekend could be a good test for the Panthers to prove themselves yet again.
“We’ve done a good job beating some really good teams recently, but they’re going to be hungry and coming after us, especially after the latest rankings, so I think we have a little bit of a target on our back,” Thomson said. The Panthers are sure to see some familiar faces this weekend at Nescacs. “Every year we set a goal to win the Nescac championship. The Nescac is the deepest conference in the country. To be the best we have to beat the best,” de Quant said.
The Panthers did not know their fate for the weekend after receiving the No. 1 ranking or even after beating Amherst. This, however, does not change their goal. They are sure not to look past the familiar opponents in the Nescac for this weekend.
De Quant said it best: “We go into the weekend ready for any opponent, focused on controlling what we can control.”
The Panthers are deep, talented, healthy and ready for another go at the best conference in the country this weekend at Amherst.
(05/03/18 5:24pm)
After having to recover from first-half deficits on consecutive weekends leading up to the Nescac playoffs, the women’s lacrosse team pledged to come out firing at the sound of the first whistle. The first-seeded Panthers did exactly that in the quarterfinals of the Nescac playoffs, jumping out to a 3–0 lead in the first 7:05 of their matchup with eighth-seeded Hamilton on Saturday, April 28, en route to a 14–5 win on Kohn Field.
Now, the Panthers will have to play a full 60 minutes against stiffer competition in their semifinal game against sixth-seeded Trinity at Kohn Field on Saturday, May 5. Trinity led Middlebury 8–4 in the team’s regular-season matchup before the Panthers stormed back with 10 unanswered goals to get a 14–8 win.
“I think that going into this Hamilton game, we knew how important it was [to] come out strong,” said Murphy. “We had some difficulty in the beginning of the last game against them, so this time we were determined to give it our all from the first whistle. We were really excited going into our first postseason game, and our energy showed on the field in our ability to get a quick start on Saturday.”
Middlebury’s three goals in the first seven minutes set the tone for the entire game on Saturday, as the Panthers outshot the Continentals 39–18 and outscored the visitors by at least four goals in each half.
Kirsten Murphy ’21 started the scoring just over two minutes into the contest. Thirteen seconds later, Hollis Perticone ’18 made the score 2–0 on a free-position shot. Then Emily Barnard ’20 scored less than five minutes later as the Panthers looked completely in control on their home field early on.
Hamilton slowed the tide momentarily with back-to-back goals, but another Murphy-fueled run put Middlebury ahead 7–2 at the halfway point. Murphy added her second and third goals of the game — her 22nd and 23rd goals of the season — and then set up Jenna McNicholas ’19, who scored Middlebury’s seventh and final goal of the first half.
Just like in the first half, the Panthers pounced on the Continentals at the beginning of the second half, scoring four straight goals to extend their run from the first half to eight straight goals, putting Middlebury ahead 11–2 and the game effectively out of Hamilton’s reach. Georgia Carroll ’18 scored three of the four goals. Hamilton came back with three goals of its own, but Middlebury closed out the game with three straight to seal a 14–5 victory, as Carroll put two more home for a game-high five goals.
Along with Carroll’s five goals, Barnard and Murphy both scored three, and Murphy assisted on four more. Murphy, in her first season at Middlebury, has scored 23 goals and assisted on a team-high 23 more. Her 23 assists place her second in the Nescac in that category, and she is second on the team in total points, behind only Emma McDonagh.
“I am so grateful for the opportunity to play on this team and the chance to go in each game,” said Murphy. “I think that my stats, along with my other teammates’, reflect the depth and versatility of our team. Any given game, there is a new leading scorer, and we often have a high number of people scoring each game. This team has been extremely welcoming, and the fact that I am a first-year does not even factor into my thoughts on the field.”
Nine Panthers have scored at least 10 goals this spring. And perhaps even more telling, no Middlebury players are in the top 10 in goals scored in conference play, even though the Panthers have scored the most goals as a team.
Middlebury’s back line turned in a solid performance that is the norm for the conference’s best-scoring defense this spring. Addy Mitchell ’21 and Evie Keating ’18 held the line on Saturday. Mitchell caused four turnovers and recovered five ground balls, while Keating forced three turnovers and picked up three ground balls. Julia Keith ’20 and Kate Furber ’19 each played a half in the cage.
This Saturday’s game promises to be more of a challenge for the Panthers. Trinity surprised third-seeded Tufts to reach the semifinals and could have beaten Middlebury in their first game.
“In preparation for this weekend's game against Trinity, I think a big focus of ours is to go hard from the start,” said Murphy. “Some of our recent games have had a slow start where we have had to come back from behind in order to win. In practice this week we'll work on having composure but also intensity throughout the entire game.”
Middlebury aims to win its second Nescac championship in three years after an eight-season drought. If the Panthers beat Trinity on Saturday, they will play the winner of Amherst and Bowdoin on Sunday for the Nescac championship game on Kohn Field.
(05/03/18 5:20pm)
The Middlebury softball team improved their record to 18–10 last weekend as they took two games from Wesleyan.
Going into Nescac playoffs, the meeting between these two teams tested the waters for intra-conference play. The matchup was a preview for the tournament ahead.
“We’ve been performing extremely well against other Nescac teams, which gives us great confidence going into the rest of this season,” said captain Kati Daczkowski ’18. “Our game is really coming together. The wins we picked up this weekend are a testament to what we can do.”
The Panthers’ decisive victory over the Cardinals in the first (4–1) and second (8–3) game shows that the team is consistently improving as a unit.
Taylor Gardner ’18 continued to be an offensive threat for Middlebury in the first game. With the bases loaded in the first inning, Gardner started off the scoring for the Panthers with a single to left field. Her hit drove Allison Quigley ’18 home for the first run of the game.
Middlebury held its lead until the fourth inning, when Wesleyan tied the game at one run apiece.
This pressure motivated the Panthers to pull ahead, which the team did in the sixth inning. Gardner continued her impressive offensive game, while Daczkowski, Emily Morris ‘21, and Ali Della Volpe ’18 all got on base and eventually were sent home. Walking off the field triumphantly, 4–1, the team was excited to continue their success in the next game.
“Winning the first game was great for us and our mentality,” said Daczkowski. “We went into the second game with a great attitude, ready to compete.”
The Panther offense was complemented by a strong game on the mound by Quigley, who pitched the first five innings and was followed by Morris to end the game.
Unlike the first game, Middlebury started off trailing the Cardinals 1–0 by the beginning of the third inning. Emily Moore ’21 put the Panthers on the board in the third, blasting a home run to tie the game 1–1. After Moore’s homer, Middlebury picked up steam and seized on their momentum.
By the fourth inning, the Panthers had a seven-run lead, 8–1. Though Wesleyan was able to pick up two more runs at the end of the game, the Panthers clinched the win, 8–3.
“We had a great weekend of play,” Daczkowski added. “There’s still more to accomplish, though.”
(05/03/18 1:08am)
BURLINGTON — Vermont and its varying terrain, hail as a place where cycling dominates the eclectic options of recreational activities. As summer months approach, the enchantment of warmer weather attracts cyclers who were reluctantly on hiatus. These cyclers will find some comfort in knowing that just a few weeks ago, Greenride Bike Share was established as the first bikeshare program within the state.
For those unfamiliar with cycling culture, a bike share program is a service where bikes are essentially rented and shared amongst the public for a fee. According to Greenride’s website, most of the bike shares are used for a short distance, and commonly last about 15-20 minutes. To operate the bikeshare program, users download the SoBi mobile application Greenride and enter the code received on the the bike’s system. When users sign up, they will be given a 6-digit account number and 4-digit pin code. Users can simply walk up to a bike, enter the code and PIN on the GPS into the keypad on the back of bike, unlock and begin riding. When they’re done, they can return and lock the bike at any designated Greenride Bike Share hub. The bike then becomes available for others to use.
This program is the first of its kind and will continue to go through a series of expansions over the next few weeks and months. Currently, the bike share program is in what its creators consider to be its “first phase” of development.
“The first phase of the program costs about $200,000 annually,” said Sandy Thibault of the Chittenden Area Transportation Management Association. “That total covers the cost of the bikes, which are leased from the Gotcha Group (a South Carolina company).”
“Ben & Jerry’s and Seventh Generation are providing the majority of funding through sponsorships. Corporate sponsors will cover 50 percent of the program costs,” Thibault explained. “Institutions, such as Champlain College and the University of Vermont
Medical Center, will fund about 20 percent, while cities and towns, including Burlington, will pay the remaining 30 percent.”
The program’s website also lists plans for a second phase, which includes increasing the number of bikes available, as well as expanding its available locations to include South Burlington, Winooski, Colchester, Williston, Shelburne and Essex. When asked if there were any plans for the program to extend to the Middlebury community, Thibault responded, “Once we get a good year of experience with our Greenride case study, we should be able to discuss with other communities.”
“Bikeshare has been a missing
transportation option in our region, although it has been studied and discussed over the past decade through municipal planning efforts and general community,” Thibault said of the motivation for developing the bikeshare program. “With bikeshare noted as a needed infrastructure component in Plan BTV and Walk/Bike Plan BTV, as well as in the CCRPC Active Transportation Plan, the University of Vermont and Champlain College’s Active Transportation Plans, our project team came together and committed to make the desire of bikeshare a reality.”
Thibault described the goal of the project as “providing a high quality, convenient and affordable transportation option to everyone.”
As of the end of April, Thibault noted, the bikeshare program had signed up its 200th member, and has succeeded in reducing 808.43 lbs of CO2, burning 36,671 calories and clocking 916 miles traveled. As people increasingly move away from conventional forms of transportation, the GreenRide Bike Share program is not only a viable transportation alternative, but a significantly eco-friendly one at that.
(05/02/18 8:31pm)
Davis Family Library will remain open for 24 hours each day of finals week, according to Michael Roy, the dean of the library. Roy reached this decision after considering student survey data and deliberating with administrators and members of the Student Government Association.
Roy does want to limit the library’s open hours during finals week next fall, by which time the library staff will have had time to plan for the switch.
“Upon reviewing the recent data from the student survey, I've decided to keep 24/7 for this spring,” Roy said. “I believe that we should try staying open until 2 a.m. this fall. This gives us time to (a) figure out how to staff the library until 2 a.m. and (b) to communicate this to students so that they can plan accordingly.”
Roy is concerned that keeping the library open for 24 hours will encourage students to skip out on sleep.
“I worry that staying open 24/7 sends the wrong message about sleep,” Roy said. “There is a great deal of evidence that staying up all night is very bad for your health. And as someone who at times did stay up very late in college, it is clear to me now that the quality of work produced at 4 a.m. is much lower than work produced when not sleep deprived. I hope we can also take this into consideration this fall.”
Using the results of the survey that the SGA sent to students on April 19, SGA president Jin Sohn recommended that the library stay open until 2 a.m. and re-open at 7 a.m. during finals week in an email to Roy and dean of students Baishakhi Taylor earlier this week. But after Roy decided to keep the library open for 24 hours, Sohn said she was pleased with Roy’s final decision.
“I’m glad to hear that the 24/7 hours will be kept, seeing that many students still wanted it!”, she said.
51.5 percent of student respondents answered “no” and 48.5 percent of respondents answered “yes” to the question, “should the library be open 24/7 for this upcoming spring finals week?” 60.2 percent of respondents said that they had used the library during its 24/7 hours during finals week in the fall.
While a large number of students reported using the library’s from 12-3 a.m., far fewer students reported using the library from 3-7 a.m. Sohn’s recommendation reflected the idea that keeping the library open all night might be unnecessary when students are largely using the facilities only an hour or two after the regular 1 a.m. closing time.
Sohn cited “financial constraints” as reasoning behind the library staff considering not to remain open 24 hours each day when she sent the survey to students in April. The library collected its own data earlier in the year and noticed similar findings. A small number of students reported using the library between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m.
According to Sohn, Axinn may also remain open for 24 hours each night during finals week.
“The SGA is also currently working to have Axinn open 24/7 with key card access for finals week,” Sohn wrote. “Axinn provides students access to Mac computers, classroom space, and printer access. We shouldn’t rely solely on Axinn to be a substitute for students but it may help to relieve pressure on the library.”
The doors of Axinn currently lock at 11 p.m., but students already in the building may remain there past this time.
Many respondents brought up additional concerns regarding the library’s operations during finals week, including whether Wilson Cafe would remain open 24/7 and whether there would be MCAB stressbusters or other health and wellness activities.
(04/26/18 8:52pm)
The Community Council is currently reflecting on the work that has been done throughout the year, and what the council would like to achieve before the end of the year. This has centered around the election cycle as we welcome in Lynn Travinoka to serve as student co-chair in the Fall, and John Gosselin in the Spring. As they transition into their new positions, it is likely that the council will also be transitioning.
The Community Council was founded some years ago in order to bridge the divide between Old Chapel and the other areas of the campus. The intention was to provide a space for conversation among faculty, student, and staff regarding intersecting community-wide issues. The council would then offer recommendations to Old Chapel for policy changes. So far during Laurie Patton’s presidency, a number of committees have addressed community-wide issues, such as the Restorative Practices Committee, and Diversity and Inclusion. Thus, the role that the Community Council seemed to play prior to Laurie’s tenure is no longer necessarily a priority.
But there still exists many divisions across campus and conversations that require a space where all voices are heard. The Community Council is looking to different ways it can best service that void. Members have put forth recommendations to have Town Hall Meetings be a structural component to the Council, establishing goals and topics to be discussed at the beginning of each semester, and/or creating sub-committees to address key issues before coming together as a council to converse about the intersection.
I will be meeting with Laurie Patton to discuss her vision for Community Council in the future. The Council will continue to develop ideas and implement changes before the end of the academic year.
All members of the College community are invited and encouraged to gather feedback, brainstorm solutions to a problem and present their own concerns, questions or recommendations. Please feel free to contact us at ccouncil@middlebury.edu or attend our weekly meetings on Mondays at 4:30pm in Axinn 104.
