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(02/28/18 11:57pm)
Winter Carnival means different things to different people. To most of the school it means no class on Friday, starting early Saturday morning to climb (and somehow get back down) the Snow Bowl later that day. To the Alpine and Nordic teams, it marks their only home carnival of the year, when they race in front of all their friends, family and alumni.
Last weekend, Feb. 23 and 24, the Ski team finished third, with some scintillating personal performances, highlighted by Caroline Bartlett ’19 winning the Giant Slalom event outright. It was her fourth career victory in the race.
On the first day of the carnival, both the men’s and women’s teams achieved third-place finishes in the slalom event. Taking part in his first winter carnival, Erik Arvidsson ’21 led the way for the men’s side, finishing in third place (two-run time of 1:34.63). In his last home carnival, Riley Plant ’18 was the next to cross the line (14th – 1:36.67) with Max Stamler ’19 and Angie Duke ’19 not far behind (18th and 20th, respectively).
On the slalom, Bartlett was the first Panther finisher, crossing the line with a time of 1:39.38, good for ninth. Lucia Bailey ’21 finished 14th (1:40.42) with Madison Lord ’21 finished just .02 seconds behind. Rounding out the top-20 was Katie Utter ’20 at 19 (1:40.88).
On the Nordic side, Lewis Nottonson ’19 described our home trail: “It’s a 5km loop starting and finishing in the field at Breadloaf campus. The loop is shaped somewhat like a 3-leafed clover each with its own climb and downhill. The first leaf being the smallest climb, the middle-leaf a steep climb to the highest point on the course and then down a series of S turns and the final leaf a long gradual climb and gradual downhill back to the stadium area, with a short quick uphill right before the finish.”
In the men’s 10K Classic, Middlebury placed six skiers in the top 20, good for second place in the event. Leading the way with a career-best fourth-place finish was Jacob Volz ’18 (24:39.5). Behind him was Peter Wolter ’21 (ninth place, 24:56.5). Also in the top-20 was Nottonson (15th), Adam Luban ’18 (16th), Evan Weinman ’18 (18th), and Sam Wood ’19 (20th).
On her home snow, Cate Brams ’18 was the fastest Panther woman in the 5K Classic, earning a fifth-place finish with a time of 14:04.8. Katie Feldman ’18 also cracked the top 10, placing 10th with a time of 14:30.8. The next two Middlebury scorers were Alexandra Lawson ’21 in 13th place and Annika Landis ’20 was next in 14th.
The second day of the competition brought not only a raucous crowd but an outright Panther victory.
Bartlett used the home mountain advantage to cruise through the giant slalom, earning a time (2:06.71) that was more than two seconds faster than her second-place opponent. The victory was not as easy as it appeared, however.
“Behind the scenes, I was battling some pretty big nerves right before my second run, but Hig Roberts ’14 skied up to me and said exactly what I needed to hear; he reminded me to ski inspired and that’s what I tried to do,” Bartlett said. However, “getting back on top of the podium was gratifying, emotional, and just a lot of fun…There’s nothing like winning at home.”
Lexi Calcagni ’19 posted a career-best fourth-place finish (2:08.98) that qualified her for NCAAs, just a quarter of a second off the podium, due to her “comfort on Allen” (the race hill). Bailey (12th) and Utter (18th) also finished in the top-20. These performances gave the women’s team a second-place finish in the giant slalom.
For the men’s side, Arvidsson completed his first carnival with a strong third-place showing (2:04.45), with Plant the next finisher (10th – 2:05.35). Duke was right on his tail, however, finishing just a hundredth of a second behind Plant. Devon Cardamone ’18 (16th) and Jack Schibli ’18 (19th) also finished their final carnival.
Brams once again led the squad, this time in the 15K Nordic Freestyle, finishing in fifth with a time of 40:15.6. Feldman was just behind in sixth (40:21.2). Landis and Lawson (16th and 20th) also scored Panther points.
Luban led the men in the 20K Nordic freestyle event, crossing the line in 46:31.1 (fifth place). Wood also made an appearance in the top-10 with a time of 46:46.3, with Nottonson (12th) and Wolter (18th) also in the top-20.
Calcagni was excited to see how many people came out to enjoy the events and support the Panthers.
“This year I think was the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen! From the start, you could hear the roar of students at the roost as skiers went by,” Calcagni said. “I am so proud to be a Panther on days like Saturday.”
Calcagni will return next year, but for Plant, Brams and the other seniors, this carnival was their last.
“It definitely was an emotional weekend,” said Brams.
Plant concurred: “It was definitely a pretty emotional day for the Seniors, but we’ve had a great run and the sport has given us a lot to be thankful for.”
But the emotions didn’t stop when the last skier finished their race.
“Afterwards, the entire race sent it down the Allen (with a lot of clothes missing) in memory of Murphy Roberts, a tradition that exemplifies how special the Middlebury skiing family is,” Bartlett said.
Several Panthers will head to NCAAs next week in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, Roberts’ hometown.
(02/28/18 11:53pm)
In 2016, the Middlebury men’s lacrosse team lost to Tufts in the Nescac championship game by a score of 20–14, finishing their season with a 12–7 record. In 2017, the Panthers finished sixth in the Nescac in the regular season, but made a run to the finals in the playoffs. In what would have been an unlikely story, the Panthers ultimately fell short to Wesleyan 9–8 in the Nescac championship game.
With the past two seasons in the back of the returning Panthers’ minds, they aim to finally get over the hump and win the conference title for the first time since 2007, the end of Middlebury’s stretch of dominance in Nescac men’s lacrosse when they won the conference title eight straight years.
As one of the team captains, Nick Peterson ’18, points out, a Nescac championship is the team’s long-term goal. There are many small steps the Panthers need to take in order to have a chance at their larger goals.
“We always enter each season with the mindset of one game at a time and try not to look too far ahead,” Peterson said. “That being said, we want to win the Nescac championship before anything else. In order to compete for a National Championship, we first need to win our league and enter the month of May playing our best lacrosse. Our expectations are to approach each practice and game with the same mentality day in and day out.”
In the Nescac playoffs last season, Middlebury upset third-seeded Amherst 12–11 and previously undefeated and top-seeded Bates 14–13 to reach the Nescac finals, where its season ended with a 9–8 loss to Wesleyan.
Still, the Panthers were playing their best lacrosse at the end of the season.
“I think the reason our season ended on a strong note with our run to the finals was because we so enjoyed being together as a team, and did not want our time with each other to end,” Parker Lawlor ’18 said. “We played like we had nothing to lose.”
If the Panthers want to challenge for the Nescac title this spring, a good place to start is repeating what they were doing at the end of last season.
They will be without six of last season’s starters due to graduation, but the Panthers still return a wealth of experience, including their top-five point-getters from last season.
“It’s always hard to replace any senior class, but we feel that we have a great group of returning players who can step into the roles that we lost to graduation,” Peterson said. “The biggest position we lost last year was our long stick middies, but we have a few younger guys who have worked hard in the offseason and the preseason to step into this spot and be productive for our team.”
A.J. Kucinski ’20 scored 38 goals and 36 assists to lead the team in points, and Henry Riehl ’18 led the team in goals with 53. Lawlor and Danny Jacobs ’20 both added 29 points.
Returning on defense are Eric Rogers ’18, who started 13 games, and Clay Hunt ’19, who started in 11. Chase Midgley ’19 started in 11 games in goal last season, and saved 55.4 percent of shots in net.
Leading the team will be seniors, Peterson, Lawlor, Riehl, Rogers, Wes Quinzani ’18, Henry Giarrusso ’18, John Jackson ’18, Stephen Clarke ’18 and Kenan Yates ’18.
Lawlor is convinced that his fellow classmates have done an excellent job in creating a welcoming and encouraging environment for all of the team’s players.
“I think that, as a senior class this year, we have focused on building strong relationships and building a culture in which everyone is valued, no matter their role on the team,” Lawlor said. “I feel confident saying that this is the tightest team I have played on in my four years here.”
The tight-knit community Lawlor describes will be crucial with the addition of 14 first-year players, who will be eager to contribute to the team.
After last season’s successes, including its win over previously undefeated Bates, and failures, its loss to ninth-place Colby, for example, Middlebury knows its season can take a lot of different routes.
“We can beat anyone,” Lawlor said.
But, as last season demonstrated, beating one good team does not make a season. As Peterson and Parker pointed out, the Panthers need to treat every moment on the lacrosse field as if it is their last, if they want to achieve their lofty goals.
The men’s lacrosse team’s first game is this Saturday, March 3, at 1 p.m, when the Panthers will host No. 14 Bates, a rematch of last year’s Nescac semifinals.
(02/28/18 11:47pm)
Advancing to their 16th Nescac semifinal on Saturday, Feb. 24, the Middlebury Panthers dismantled the Wesleyan Cardinals 5–0 in the quarterfinal round.
Maddie Winslow ’18 started the Panthers off four minutes into the first period with a beautiful shorthanded goal. Wesleyan mishandled the puck at the right point of the ice, and Winslow pounced on the loose puck to pass it to Jessica Young ’18. Young carried the puck down the ice, moving into the right circle and feeding Winslow who one-timed it passed Wesleyan’s goalie. Sidney Portner ’20, who would score later in the second half, almost put the hosts up, but her shot ricocheted off the post and back onto the ice.
The hosts ran away with the lead in the second period, scoring three goals over the course of the stanza. Ellie Barney ’21 led the charge, breaking in from the left wing and securing the puck before scoring with a short-side shot. The score was Barney’s four career goal and eighth point on the season in 25 games played.
Madie Liedt ’21, who has had a phenomenal run in the last several games, scored her first of two goals on a power-play advantage. With the Panthers swinging around the outskirts of the zone, Hayley Lafontaine ’18 fed Leidt, who blasted the puck from the top of the zone and through the outstretched pads of Wesleyan’s goalie. Porter would redeem her missed bid in the first, adding to the hosts lead. Young took a shot on goal, which was saved, but pushed out onto the open ice. Porter found the loose puck and blasted a shot into the corner to give the host a 4–0 lead.
Leidt, for her second score of the game, struck after a Wesleyan power-play expired. Winslow found the loose puck and fed it to Leidt who dangled up the ice and blasted a shot off the back crossbar to put the Panthers up 5–0 and give them the win. Wesleyan could not find the back of the net all game, taking a meek 10 shots on goal — all of which were denied by Lin Han ’20 for her sixth shutout of the season. In contrast, Middlebury took 36 shots on goal, showing off the offensive skills that propelled them to the semi-final match.
Rachael St. Clair ’19 reflected on the team’s goals for the weekend:
“I think we just focus on what’s in front of us and tackle the battles one at a time. We know that every practice and game from here on out is a privilege and maintaining focus and energy throughout the week have been two key components to our success so far.”
“We’re playing for one more week together and that is what has kept us going,” said Janka Hlinka ’18. “We’ve kept the chemistry going by spending time on and off the field — whether it that be watching film or getting meals. Our drive to accomplish the same goal has built our chemistry and we look forward to playing this weekend.”
Elizabeth Wulf ’18 echoed her captain’s sentiments of motivation, team chemistry and determination.
“We are laying for a common goal and we are taking it one game at time. We know our next game could be our last, so we go into each game playing like it is the last one we will ever play. We are so focused on playing the way we know how, every shift, every period and every game. I mean, you can see our team chemistry, from the way we move to the way we pass the puck. We are just pumped for this weekend.”
Middlebury will face the Bowdoin Polar Bears on Saturday, March 3, and the winner of the contest will advance to the Nescac championships.
(02/22/18 2:41am)
Behind 50–44 with 9:55 remaining on their home court, No. 14 Wesleyan outscored No. 18 Middlebury 29–15 the rest of the way to defeat the Panthers 73–65 in the Nescac Quarterfinals last Saturday, Feb. 17. The fourth-seeded Cardinals (20–5) defeated the fifth-seeded Panthers (19–6) for the second time this season to move on to the Nescac semifinals, while Middlebury will wait until Monday, Feb. 26, to see if it receives an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Entering this year, Middlebury had defeated Wesleyan 15 games in a row, dating back to the 2004-05 season, but the Cardinals snapped that streak with their 80–70 win on Jan. 6.
Wesleyan’s rise in the Nescac hierarchy has corresponded with the arrival of Joe Reilly as head coach, who has brought Wesleyan from a 1–8 conference record the year before he became coach to a 7–3 record and a tie for first-place in the Nescac this year. Reilly has also guided the Cardinals to the NCAA tournament two of the last three seasons.
Middlebury jumped out to a 4–0 lead in the first half of Saturday’s game, but never led by more than six points in the first half. Wesleyan tied the score on four different occasions in a low-scoring first half. The Panthers turned Wesleyan’s 11 first half turnovers into nine points to take a 32–28 lead into halftime. The Cardinals hung around by hitting six of their 13 three-point attempts, including Antone Walker coming off the bench to drain all three of his shots from beyond the arc.
Out of the locker room, Wesleyan converted an old-fashioned three-point play and made another from beyond the arc in the first minute of action to take a two-point lead, their first of the game. Seven minutes later, behind by one point, Middlebury, driven by seven points from Griffin Kornaker ’21, went on a 9–2 run to retake the lead, 50–44.
Once more, Wesleyan responded, tying the game at 50 before going on what would prove to be the game’s decisive run. From Kornaker’s layup at the 9:55 mark to put Middlebury ahead 50–44, until another Kornaker bucket with 2:08 remaining, the Panthers made only one field goal in six attempts, from Jack Daly ’18 and turned the ball over four times. Wesleyan outscored Middlebury 20–7 in that crucial stretch of almost eight minutes.
As Daly noted, Wesleyan “was able to keep us off the offensive glass down the stretch. That’s been one of our biggest strengths this year and they did a great job of limiting our shot opportunities each possession.”
Entering the game, Middlebury averaged 15.67 offensive rebounds per game, almost two more than any other team in the conference. On Saturday, Middlebury grabbed 12, most of which were team offensive rebounds off blocked shots, and zero as Wesleyan took the lead in this eight-minute stretch. Wesleyan blocked 11 shots as a team, including eight by Jordan Sears.
Kornaker’s basket at the 2:08 mark brought Middlebury within five, 64–59, but Wesleyan made enough free throws in the last two minutes to secure a 73–65 victory and a spot in the Nescac Semifinals.
65 points is Middlebury’s lowest scoring mark this season, for a team that averaged 81 points per game entering the playoff game on Saturday.
A lot of credit goes to Wesleyan, who has had one of the stingiest defenses in the Nescac this season, ranked first in opponent field goal percentage and second in scoring defense.
“Wesleyan is one of the best defensive teams in the country, so we knew it was going to be a battle,” Daly said. “Offensively, we had great movement on the perimeter, but not much attacking and dishing the ball in the last 10 minutes.”
Daly led the Panthers in defeat with 20 points, including 14 in the second half, and six assists. Matt Folger ’20 added 17 points, six rebounds and four steals, and Kornaker scored nine off the bench.
Wesleyan will play top-seeded Amherst this Saturday, Feb. 26, in the semifinals. In the other semifinal game, second-seeded Williams matches up with third-seeded Hamilton.
The Panthers will hold their breath until Monday, Feb. 19, when the NCAA DIII Committee makes its selections for the 64-team tournament field. 43 conference champions receive automatic bids into the tournament, leaving 21 spots for at-large teams. Middlebury is no. 18 in this week’s D3hoops.com national poll. In the final poll before last season’s selections, 13 of the 21 teams to receive at-large bids were not ranked. The Panthers should be in a good position to receive a bid, but no one knows for sure until the committee releases its decisions on Monday, Feb. 26.
The Panthers were as high as No. 5 in the country before three consecutive losses that knocked them out of the first-seed in the Nescac playoffs and then the playoffs themselves. But those losses were on the road to No.13 Hamilton, Amherst, and Wesleyan, three of the teams who tied for first in the Nescac, along with Middlebury and Williams.
“Right now it’s all about keeping a positive mindset, practicing hard every day, and watching as much film as we can to learn from our mistakes,” said Daly. “It’s all about remaining focused over the next couple of weeks. As Coach has been saying all year, we just need to stay the course despite the bumps in the road.”
The Panthers had a stretch like this one earlier in the season, when they lost to three out of five games to No. 12 York, No. 11 Swarthmore and Wesleyan. That time, they responded by rattling off 12-straight victories, including a win over Nescac rival, No. 8 Wesleyan.
If Middlebury is chosen for one of the 21 at-large bids, they will play in the NCAA tournament for the ninth time in 11 seasons. However, unlike last season when the Panthers hosted all four of its tournament games, they will likely be on the road in every game they play. 16 teams host the first two rounds of the 64-team tournament, and as the 18th-ranked team eliminated from the Nescac playoffs early, Middlebury is most likely on the outside looking in at that conversation. Head Coach Jeff Brown is not unfamiliar to playing on the road in the NCAA tournament though. In Middlebury’s first and only trip to the Final Four in the 2010-2011 season, the Panthers received a bye in the first round and won its second game at home, before going on the road to win their next two games to advance to the national semifinals.
At the beginning of the season, the Panthers set their sights on returning to Salem, Maine, to play in the Final Four. Despite this recent losing streak, that goal is still within reach, provided history holds.
Seniors Daly, who has already left his mark on the Middlebury record books, Nick Tarantino ’18 and Adisa Majors ’18 certainly are not prepared to let the season and their careers end. They and the Panthers have won a lot this year, and lost some close games to tough teams. Still, it seems like the final chapter on the 2017-2018 Middlebury men’s basketball team has not been written yet.
(02/22/18 2:40am)
Following a third-place finish at Nescacs earlier this month, where the Panthers pulled off a 5–4 win over Amherst, the 15th-ranked women’s squash team headed to the CSA Team Championships in Boston last weekend to compete in the B draw for the Kurtz Cup. They finished their season ranked 15th, after losing their first two matches of the weekend then defeating Amherst in a rematch on Sunday, Feb. 18.
Middlebury entered the weekend as a huge underdog — the Panthers were the 15th-ranked team in a draw that features the ninth through 16th-ranked teams. While they were the second lowest ranked team in the draw, their morale was high.
They began by facing No. 10 Dartmouth, the same team the Panthers lost to 8–1 earlier this season on their home courts.
Virginia Schaus ’21, who performed consistently well throughout her first season with the Panthers, claimed Middlebury’s only point against Dartmouth in a four-set triumph (11–3, 9–11, 11–7, 11–7) against Julia Potter at No. 6.
While the Panthers only tallied one point against the Big Green, several matches stood out as near misses for Middlebury. One of those was Alexa Comai ’19’s matchup in the No. 3 slot.
Comai battled into the fifth set against Dartmouth’s Sandra Reiss despite dropping the first game of the match 11–5. Comai quickly recovered though, and manufactured some momentum as she fought back to win the next two games 11–3 and 11–4, which made the next two games potential close-out sets. Unfortunately, after a hard fought fourth set, Comai ’19 fell 11–9, she could not get her energy back up for the fifth game and lost 11–3.
In the middle of the ladder, Anne Glassie ’20 and Natalie Madden ’21 missed the chance to pull off victories in their matches that went all the way to a fifth set. At No. 4, Glassie ’20 dropped the first two games against opponent Brynn Bank, 11–3, 11–7. But the tide changed when she fought tooth and nail for the third set, securing it with a score 13–11, before falling in the fourth set 11–7.
Madden ’21, another outstanding Panther rookie lost at No. 5 against Janel Gaube in a closely contested four set match 11–3, 11–7, 8–11, 11–4.
After falling to Dartmouth, Middlebury went on to play No. 14 Virginia in the consolation semifinal, where the Panthers fell to Virginia for the second time this season. Although, by only falling 7–2 this time around, the Panthers improved on their 8–1 showing earlier in the season.
In last weekend’s meeting with Virginia, the Panthers managed to get off to a good start when Natasha Lowitt ’20 tied the overall match 1–1 by winning a four set nailbiter in the No. 9 slot (11–7, 4–11, 13–11, 14–12). Unfortunately the winning streak didn’t last as Virginia won the next six matches, leading with a score of 7–1.
Mira Chugh ’20 put up a good fight in a tough five set match at No. 8 against Isabelle Ezratty. Chugh led the match with a two-game lead, 14–12, 11–5 but was then overtaken the next three sets 11–4, 11–8, 11–9.
At the top of the ladder, Beatrijs Kuijpers ’19’s match was the last on the day for the Panthers. Kuijpers ended the match on her terms as she defeated Carey Danforth in a well played four set match (11–9, 7–11, 11–4, 11–6). Their 7–2 loss to Virginia sent the Panthers onto the 15th-versus-16th-place game against Amherst. The matchup with the Mammoths offered a chance for the Panthers to finish in the top 15 in the year-end rankings for the ninth time in the last 10 seasons.
The team’s head coach, Mark Lewis, talked about how proud the team should be given the level of competition it faced in the first two rounds at nationals.
“We played really strong teams in the first two rounds (Dartmouth and UVA), played pretty well and learned that the team that applies pressure, sustains that pressure and relieves pressure tends to win.” But even after the two losses, the Panthers looked forward to apply pressure against Amherst to claim the 15th rank.
Rounding out the three day tournament with a 6–3 victory over Amherst in the 15/16 match, the Panthers finished their season with a 12–10 record.
Lowitt got things started on the right foot for the Panthers in the No. 9 slot, as she won a four-game match over Ashira Mawji. Undeterred from losing the first set 11–8, Lowitt powered through full force, claiming the next three sets, 11–5, 11–7, 11–7.
The Mammoths went on to two consecutive victories at No. 3 and No. 6 to gain a momentary 2–1 advantage. Comai put up a fight with a five set match in the No. 3 slot, narrowly falling by a score of 9–11, 11–6, 11–8, 5–11, 11–8. The loss at No. 6 by Schaus was also closely contested (6–11, 11–3, 11–8, 13–11).
Chugh’s result in the No. 8 slot broke the Mammoths winning streak. She racked up a four-game triumph over Pierson Klein. After losing the first set relatively quickly 11–3, Chugh made a huge comeback and won the next very close three sets, 11–9, 11–8, 11–8.
After that, the tide changed for the Panthers as they went on to win the next three consecutive matches. The wins came from Madden at No. 5, Emily Beinkampen ’21 in the No. 7 slot, and Lucy Bostwick ’18 at the No. 2.
Madden slipped past Madison Chen with a close four setter with a score of 11–9, 8–11, 11–8, 11–9. Beinkampen locked down her match in only three games (11–7, 11–7, 12–10), rounding out her first season on a positive note. Bostwick clinched a deciding five set match against Haley McAtee with a close score of 9–11, 11–5, 11–3, 8–11, 11–1.
The Mammoths gave a final push, breaking the Panthers’ winning streak with a three-game win at No. 4 (11–5, 11–6, 11–8), making the score 5–3. Kuijpers closed out the match, and tournament, with a three-game triumph against Kimberly Krayacich (11–6, 12–10, 11–9) in the top spot on the ladder.
Comai reflected on the tournament and the season in general.
“This season obviously had its high and low points,” Comai said. “I felt that overall the team really came together both on and off the courts.”
Coach Lewis agreed with Comai’s sentiments.
“In the match against Amherst we put in a really strong performance,” Lewis said. “Overall the season was good. Every team member had some wins and in their losses hopefully walked away with some valuable takeaways.”
Some great contributing factors to a solid season for the Panthers boiled down to great leadership and a strong support system, even from the underclassmen.
“We had a lot of great freshman who had an enormously positive contribution to the team and I am excited to see how they can help us to be even better next year,” said Comai.
“This year we had amazing leadership under our captain, Lucy Bostwick, as well as the rest of the senior class. We feel super grateful for everything that they have done for us and will miss them dearly.”
The women’s squash team is officially finished with their season, except for a select few competing in the Individual CSA championship in Washington D.C., March 2–4. After a grueling and competitive season, most of the Panthers are ready for a break, but also looking forward to continue training hard, getting prepared for the next season.
“I think after a little break we want to try to do a lot of match play and captains practices this spring to keep our skill level and fitness high,” Comai said on behalf of her Panther teammates who are already looking forward to the team’s potential going forward. “We also want to try to incorporate a lot of mental fitness training this spring and fall in order to allow each of us to be in our best competitive headspace come season.”
(02/22/18 2:33am)
To cap off syllabus week, the Middlebury nordic and alpine ski teams competed in the Williams Carnival. After Friday and Saturday, Feb. 16 and 17, Middlebury finished in third place as a combined team.
The men’s nordic team opened the competition in a strong way, finishing first in the 10K Classic event. Sam Wood ’19 highlighted the day with his first career victory, leading the entire pack and finishing in 29:45.4. Just two seconds behind him at 29:47.1 was Lewis Nottonson ’19 with a career-best finish of his own (second place). Rounding out the top-ten for the Panthers were Adam Luban ’18 (eighth place – 30:18.4) and Peter Wolter ’21 (tenth place – 30:26.9). Jacob Volz ’18 also contributed a fine effort, placing 14th (30:45.0).
When asked what led to such a strong showing, Luban said a lot of things came together. “The snow conditions were actually really sloppy and terrible, but our coaches did a fantastic job on our skis. We’ve worked a lot on mental toughness this year and being able to tough out the tough days and that really showed.” Luban emphasized that the men’s margin of victory (22 points) was the “largest margin of victory for our team in a decade.”
The woman’s side also saw some fantastic individual efforts and finished in second place, with Cate Brams ’18 tying a career-best finish of second place (16:39.4) in the Women’s 5K Classic. Katie Feldman ’18 placed eighth (17:16.5), while Alexandra Lawson ’21 achieved a tenth-place finish (17:28.4). Also doing well were Annika Landis ’20 (12th place – 17:35.3) and Orli Schwartz ’20 (15th place – 17:50.6).
For the Alpine teams, Caroline Bartlett ’19 paced the women’s squad with a two-run time of 1:45.43, good for 11th place in the Giant Slalom. Lexi Calcagni ’19 also finished in the top-20, finishing in 1:45.91 (16th place).
Erik Arvidsson ’21 was the first finisher for the men with a time of 1:42.25 (eighth place) and Riley Plant ’18 was the other top-20 performer (11th place – 1:42.54). Plant, however was .02 seconds away from a top-ten finish, and the men finished the Giant Slalom in second place.
On day two, Brams put on another strong performance in the 3.8K Freestyle. Brams crossed the line at 9:39.6, good for seventh place. Behind her were Feldman (13th place – 9:51.4), Lawson (16th place – 9:55.0), and Schwartz (19th place – 9:58.6). Wood also skied well, posting another top-ten finish at eighth place (8:28.8), with Wolter and Luban also earning points (13th place and 19th place, respectively). Both teams finished the event in third overall, with Brams and Wood named EISA women’s and men’s nordic skiers of the week, respectively.
In the Slalom event, Lucia Bailey ’21 finished in 2:09.38, which cracked the top-10. Katie Utter ’20 also finished in the top-20, ending up in 16th place (2:10.6).
Arvidsson continued to race well, posting a second-place time of 1:52.79. Plant was the lone other Panther male to score points, finishing in 19th place.
This Friday and Saturday the Panthers will return to the mountain for the Middlebury Carnival (EISA Championships) at the Snow Bowl. For Luban and the Nordic squad, they are “looking forward to throwing down at our home carnival and then sending a full contingent to NCAA championships.”
“We always joke on the team that [the Middlebury] Carnival is the only weekend that matters, but coming up to the last time I’ll race at Rikert, it doesn’t feel like a joke,” Bram’s explaims. “There’s so much pride in hosting NCAA Regionals at Middlebury, and then there’s also something special about the last Carnival of my college career being Midd Carnival. It’s always the best weekend of the year, and I’m just stoked to see what the team can do.”
With the College providing shuttles to the Bowl, come one, come all and bring the noise.
(02/22/18 2:32am)
In an exciting and tightly contested bout, the Wesleyan Cardinals (17–7) managed to escape Pepin Gym last Saturday, Feb. 17, with a 63–62 win over the women’s basketball team (17–8) in the Nescac quarterfinals.
Middlebury and Wesleyan met earlier in the season on Jan. 6, in what also was a home game for the Panthers. The Panthers comfortably won the regular season matchup by a 17 point margin, with guard Lily Kuntz ’20 scoring a career-high 13 points.
Both teams traded blows out of the gate, and Middlebury trailed 6–5 about halfway through the first quarter. Then things changed thanks to the Cardinals getting hot behind the arc. Wesleyan put together a 15–2 run over the span of five minutes run by sinking four out of their six three-point attempts in the quarter. A Betsy Knox ’20 jumper late in the quarter stopped the bleeding, but the Panthers still trailed by a dozen heading into the second.
Facing a 14-point deficit after the Cawrdinals opened the second quarter by hitting a jumper, the Panthers began a spirited effort that would last the rest of the game.
Middlebury began to cut the deficit with fluid ball movement, which began paying off almost immediately as they found easy buckets inside the paint. Catherine Harrison ’20 was able to have her way in down in the post for a majority of the quarter, and a basket from Sabrina Weeks ’18 cut Wesleyan’s lead to just six, 32–26. Over the final two and a half minutes, both teams went on small spurts, but a Knox buzzer-beater allowed the Panthers to have the last laugh and made the halftime deficit a manageable six.
Heading into the third down 36–30, the Panthers’ comeback hopes seemed even more realistic as Maya Davis ’20 almost immediately made a basket to bring the lead down to four.
However, the momentum then shifted in favor of the Cardinals who went on another run, 10–0. But, the Panthers responded this time with a 10–3 run of their own over the remaining minutes of the third which was capped by an Ivy Houde ’19 jumper to cut Wesleyan’s lead to 49–42.
With the crowd on their feet anticipating a comeback, the Cardinals silenced the crowd by playing hard defense. With just under six minutes and the deficit up to a dozen again, 56–44, Middlebury’s urgency caused them to run rampant over a span of three minutes that saw the Panthers go on an 11–0 run and which brought them within a point of the Cardinals.
With about ninety seconds remaining, the Cardinals secured a three and a pair of free-throws and found themselves up 61–55 with 35 seconds remaining on the clock.
On the next possession, Kira Waldman ’20 dribbled the ball up court and hit a step-back jumper from beyond the arc to cut the lead down to three with roughly 27 seconds in the game. Middlebury fouled to extend the game, and Wesleyan made one of two free throws.
With 13 seconds left, the Cardinals fouled Davis who sank two free throws to bring the Panthers within two. Once again, Middlebury fouled and Wesleyan made one of two free throws to make the score 63–60.
In quick succession, Sarah Kaufman ’18 managed to draw a foul on a shot attempt from downtown to be sent to the line for three free throws. After missing the first, she converted the next two and Middlebury was forced to foul with just 2 seconds left on the clock. The Cardinals missed both free throws, but time expired as both teams scrambled for the rebound.
Waldman led the Panthers in scoring with 14 points. The Panthers concluded their season with a 17–8 record, which matches their record from last season. The Panthers were engaged in a hard-fought battle that almost ended in an emphatic comeback. The near-comeback would have been all the more epic given the packed and raucous stands at an energetic Pepin Gym.
(02/22/18 2:28am)
Literatures and cultures librarian Katrina Spencer is liaison to the Anderson Freeman Center, the Arabic department, the French department, the Gender Sexuality & Feminist Studies (GSFS Program), the Language Schools, Linguistics and the Spanish & Portuguese departments. These affiliations are reflected in her reading choices.
“While I am a very slow reader, I’m a very critical reader,” she says.
“In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World”
by Rachel Dolezal
Pages: 270
Happy Black History Month!
The What
Back in 2015, a media firestorm erupted when “ethnically indeterminate” Rachel Dolezal, a woman who ran a local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the Pacific Northwest, was caught in a strange conundrum: her biological parents were white but she claimed to be black. Dolezal’s memoir, In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World, covers more than 35 years of her life, highlighting many of her identities and roles as someone born into poverty in Montana, a mother of black children, a mixed media artist, a historically black university graduate, a cancer survivor, an activist, an academic, a teacher, and… a [questionably] “Black” woman. Her story is told in 30 chapters and details the progression of events, affinities and experiences in her life that led her to identify as a racial minority despite her familial history falling outside of more traditionally accepted narratives of blackness. This is her attempt to clarify her stances on racial identity and to respond to her numerous critics who, over the last two years, have ridiculed her on a national scale, suggesting that her racial presentation was a farce.
The Why
As a black woman, an identity I hold that is hardly ever called into question given my stereotypical physical features and comparatively more typical background, I approached Dolezal’s memoir with great skepticism, #allthesideeye. Many people in the “black community” decided a while ago that Dolezal was an impostor, concluding that she wasn’t black and was electively living a lie. However, as I had the time to read her story and attempt to understand her positions over winter break, I took the opportunity to do so. To be clear, while I have *not* been convinced that she’s a black woman, I found out that her story is not as simple as expected. Like many black women, Dolezal has black children and has shown herself to be committed to activism for the benefit of the black community. The contention, as I see it, lies in the fact that there is a difference between having lived experiences that are similar to a black woman’s and calling oneself a “black woman.” Her choice strikes me and her critics as cavalier and reductive. It is rare that I want to speak for the entire black community. Yet, in this scenario, I feel compelled to assert that while Dolezal’s work to pursue justice for black causes is welcome, she can do it as a white woman. Race, as Dolezal suggests, is a social construct. It’s weak in its very foundations and not supported by science. However, if we insist upon engaging it and the idea of blackness, as we do unquestionably in this nation and around the world, we need some meaningful and marginally delineated definitions. I doubt “blackness” means “born of European descendants and having acquired a degree from an historically black college.” Stretching race and blackness beyond recognition has the potential to invalidate a marker of identity about which millions of people organize their fealty and families. And while policing blackness is hardly my favorite pastime, willfully abusing an inherently faulty label does not work either.
One of the features that’s difficult about this work is its strong appeals to pathos that paint Dolezal as a perpetual victim. Her recounting of her life suggests that she has suffered many injustices in multiple scenarios. It is troubling, though, to see her heavy-handedly massage the “truth” in terms of race. This misstep ushers others towards questioning other accountings in her life. Is she a reliable narrator? I wrestled with this work more than any other in the short history of this column. It is well written, but overall I do not feel it advances the conversation on race. If there is one conclusion it has gestured towards, it is that race is a conversation, not a box that you check or a binary choice between two poles. For more on ethnic and racial identity, listen to the stories at go.middlebury.edu/inyourownwords. For black, women writers fitting a more traditional bill, try out the collection of poems, salt, by Nayyirah Waheed; tales of travel to Spain in the memoir Kinky Gazpacho by Lori L. Tharps; Longthroat Memoirs: Soups, Sex and Nigerian Tastebuds by Yemisi Aribisala; We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo; the historical fiction novel Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi; or the short story collection Heads of the Colored People by Nafissa Thompson-Spires which will be out April 10th. For more on the phenomenon of racial passing, see Almost Black: The True Story of How I Got Into Medical School by Pretending to Be Black by Vijay Chokal-Ingam or the 1929 novel Passing by Harlem Renaissance writer and former librarian Nella Larsen.
(02/22/18 2:21am)
On Friday, February 19, members of the Middlebury community gathered at the Mitchell Green Lounge to attend the first Reflection Friday series of the semester. The Reflection Friday Series is a program created by the Innovation Hub in which speakers are invited to share what they consider valuable and why.
Among the main goals of the series is to “build bridges of communication amongst faculty and students in an intimate setting.” The speaker for February 19 was Mark Orten, Dean of Spiritual and Religious Life. Conducting the interview was Liz Robinson, Associate Dean of the College for Creativity, Engagement & Careers.
The audience was presented with a biography of Orten prior to his tenure at Middlebury. He spent 13 years as the director of religious and spiritual life at Denison University, where he was also chaplain. There, he organized interreligious educational service trips to Guatemala and instituted an interfaith dialogue program. Before Denison, Orten was a Presbyterian chaplain at Princeton University.
When asked about what matters to him, Orten provided a list of eleven items. The first item, process, reflects his belief that any journey toward attaining a desired result is as important as the result itself. A self-described introvert, Orten shared his need for solitude, the second item on his list. The other nine values he finds important are affirmation, dialogue, integrity, communication, consideration, community and ritual.
Orten also spoke of mindfulness, noting the concept’s current popularity, and characterized the phenomenon as being fully engaged and present in the moment. Orten insisted that the idea of mindfulness allows people a new way of “recognizing as a whole, something that has always been recognized throughout cultures.” In these cultures’ continuous attempts to explain reality, they share a common belief: that all of life is infused with sacredness, according to Orten.
He humorously described his attempts at mindfulness as being like a “monk on the freeway.” He believes that too much stimulation exists in our society, and that “all our joy and insight” can be found in our internal selves. Orten recommends that we recondition our focus toward being present instead of chasing after external rewards.
Orten believes that if the list of important things is intact during one’s day-to-day existence, one is doing well. Otherwise, if one senses that certain qualities are missing, it is time to adjust. To prevent one from deviating from what they consider valuable in life, Orten suggests that they stop, reflect, pay attention and observe.
Orten shared his embracing of certain rituals. He abides by principles of yoga, which ensures that his behavior is grounded in nonviolence. When stressed or anxious, he rings a bell in his office. Orten also lights incense, walks the newly installed labyrinth at the Knoll, and attends church on Sundays, which provides him with a renewed sense of community.
The moments that led Orten to pursuing ordained ministry started in childhood. Growing up in a rural area of North Carolina, Orten found himself passing time by catching baseballs he threw up in the sky. This activity gave him meaning: the feeling that “everything in life belonged” and that every aspect of life was in “complete integration.” Raised in a fundamentalist background, Orten went to a religious camp where he was recognized for his potential. He was then invited to attend a series of lectures at Yale. This experience showed him that life was different from the bubble of North Carolina. Orten eventually applied to the Princeton seminary despite backlash from his hometown. At the seminary, he realized the many forms that prayer can manifest itself in life.
Ultimately, the event provided students and faculty the opportunity to explore the ever important question, what do we value? Mark Orten, Dean of Spiritual and Religious Life, shared his ideas during this Friday lunch, but by hearing from other speakers in future reflections, we can expect even more opportunities to explore understanding of one’s values.
(02/16/18 11:33pm)
While the rest of campus enjoyed February break either in the sun or on the slopes, the men’s hockey team celebrated the competition in the rink. Middlebury earned a tie against both Conn. College on and Tufts, leaving the weekend before break with a 2–2 score against the Camels on Friday, Jan. 26, and a 1–1 count, Saturday, Jan. 27, against the Jumbos on Saturday. The men then fell to three conference teams over the next two weekends, losing to Wesleyan 3–1 on Friday, Feb. 2, Trinity 3–0 on Saturday, Feb. 3, and Williams twice by a score of 2–1 on Friday, Feb. 9 and Saturday, Feb. 10.
The Panthers kicked off the last weekend of January hosting the Camels in Kenyon Arena and looked to avenge a 5–0 loss earlier in the season.
Both teams’ defenses held tough throughout the first period, preventing either offense from gaining any advantage. It was not until five minutes into the second stanza when Conn. College’s Mason Evans capitalized off a power play. He slid a shot past the Panther goalie to lift his team ahead, a lead that would hold until the third period.
The hosts found the back of the Camel net just 56 seconds into the last period. Frank Cosolito ’20 worked his way past the Conn. College defense with ease, when he slapped the puck giving the Panthers their place on the board. The pressure was on both teams as they skated around Kenyon searching for an opportunity. The Camels were the first to respond five minutes later when Ryan Petti reacted quickly to his teammate’s rebounded attempt, and knocked a shot past Middlebury.
With time running out, the Panthers were anxious to equalize the competition. Although the Conn. College defense was impenetrable, Kamil Tkaczuk ’19 finished off Cosolito’s rejected effort with only a few minutes remaining, tying the game at two. Neither team scored in overtime, and the final score remained.
After their 5–0 loss earlier in the year, Middlebury tied Conn. College this time around, holding their own in Kenyon Arena.
“I think for us it comes down to being focused and playing our game for the whole 60 minutes,” said Danny Tighe ’20. “Earlier in the year we came out flat against them, whereas this time around we were ready to go from the start.”
On Saturday, Jan. 27, Middlebury faced Tufts for the second time this season, after beating the Jumbos 2–0 in December, and hoped to sweep the visitors. Their hopes were not realized as the Jumbos put up a tough fight, tying the Panthers 1–1.
Neither team was able to edge past one another in the first period. Stephen Klein ’18 played well all game, allowing only one of the 40 shots on goal past him.
“Klein has been playing great in net for us, but we just need to bury more of our own offensive chances,” said Tighe. “I think that starts with us placing heightened emphasis on executing when we work on scoring in practice.”
At the 9:31 minute mark in the second period, Tufts broke the tie. Ross Delabruere quickly jumped on a rebound, and Tufts led 1–0. But Middlebury had an answer for the visiting Bostonians less than eight minutes later, when Vincent Gisonti ’18 scored his third goal of the season on a power play opportunity. Brendan Dawson ’20’s shot was blocked, but Gisonti stayed with the play and hammered the rebound past the Jumbo goalie, tying the game at one. The score stay that way, as neither team could break through the rest of regulation or in overtime.
The Panthers traveled to Connecticut the following weekend to face Wesleyan on Friday, Feb. 2, looking at another opportunity to redeem themselves after dropping their last matchup 6–1.
Neither the Panthers nor their opponents scored in the first period for the third straight game, but Wesleyan snuck their way past Klein at 10:12 in the middle period on a powerplay. Four minutes later, the Cardinals doubled their lead when Matthew Zandi slapped the puck Klein
In the final stanza, Brett Dineen ’20 found the back of the net to put Middlebury on the board. The Panthers hope of knotting the score was quashed soon after when Jordan Jancze increased the Cardinal lead to two. Middlebury could not respond to that goal, and fell to Wesleyan 3–1.
On Saturday, Feb. 3, the men continued their journey in Connecticut when they faced Trinity. The men once again fell to the No. 5 Bantams by the same 3–0 score.
Following the same pattern, Middlebury defense proved impermeable in the first period but could not score either, entering the locker room knotted at zero still. It took the Bantams until the 17:34 mark in the second period to get by Middlebury. Michael Grande earned Trinity their first of three goals after a creating his own opportunity in a remarkable effort.
The Panthers refused to back down from this one-goal deficit. They continued to hold Trinity at bay, despite the Bantams offensive onslaught on Klein.
Trinity closed out the game in the final period. Ryan Pfeffer hammered in an easy shot six minutes into the stanza, giving the hosts a two-goal lead. Nicholas Polsinelli followed up Pfeffer, scoring on an empty net to give Trinity a 3–0 victory.
Heading into this past weekend, Friday and Saturday, Feb. 9 and 10, the Panthers had two good opportunities to topple a Williams team in the bottom half of the Nescac standings as well.
In the first contest on Friday at Williams, neither team scored in the first period. This continued Middlebury’s trend of strong defense, despite Williams significant advantage in shots. Finally, 10 minutes into the second period, Gisonti broke the silence. Off a Williams turnover, he broke past the Ephs to drive home his fourth goal of the season.
Gisonti’s goal fired up his teammates, as well as the Williams offense. So much so, that the Ephs has a response at the 17:40 mark in the same period. The hosts matched the visitor’s tally when C.J. Shugart got past Klein to make it anybody’s game once more.
Both teams grinded for the win in the final stanza but neither could break the tie in a highly contested third period, and the game entered overtime.
With no score in the first 4:30 of overtime, Middlebury pulled its goalie, needing a win to if they wanted to move out of last place and into the Nescac playoffs. But the move backfired when Williams’ Colby Cretella found the back of the empty net with ten seconds remaining to give Williams the 2–1 win.
Middlebury trailed Williams in shots on goal by 22 shots (43–21), as Klein turned in another impressive performance, stopping 41 shots.
On Saturday, Feb. 10, the two teams returned to the ice, this time in Kenyon Arena.
For the seventh game in a row, the Panthers held off their opponents in the first period. Although the Panthers did not score, they Trevor Turnbull ’20 and Kamil Tkaczuk ’19 had separate opportunities when they almost did beat the Williams netminder.
In the second period, C.J. Shugart again proved to be a danger to the hosts. Within the first minute, he took advantage of a power play and redirected a shot from his teammate to put his team in the lead. But, the junior from Toronto was not satisfied yet. With just a few moments remaining in the period, Shugart’s teammate found him after collecting a rebound, and whipped a shot past the Panthers.
Despite going down by two, the hosts were determined to find a way past Williams. The Panthers found some life in the eighth minute of the final stanza. Alex Heinritz ’21 slid in his second goal of the season on a power play to give bring his team within one and give it a fighting chance.
Middlebury found some opportunities in the final remaining minutes, but was unable to finish them off, losing its fourth straight game.
Middlebury will look for a way to end its losing streak when they play their last two games of the regular season this weekend. Mathematically eliminated from the Nescac playoffs, the Panther seniors will play their last two games in the blue and white on Friday, Feb. 17, when they host Hamilton, and Saturday, Feb. 18 when they welcome Amherst to Kenyon Arena.
(02/15/18 2:03am)
“I can honestly say I’ve been waiting my whole life for this moment,” said field hockey captain Lauren Schweppe ’18 just days after her team won it all for the first time — after years of highs and lows, of high expectations and dashed hopes. Not the NCAA Division III National Championship, mind you. In case you forgot, when she and the rest of the Middlebury field hockey team brought home the national title last fall, it was their second in three years. And as monumental as their achievement was, who’s ever heard of someone “waiting their whole life” to win something for the second time?
“Losing in ’05 was rough,” she continued, “but I think we all felt like this year was our chance for redemption, and it was.” Naturally, she was talking about her hometown team and the champions of Super Bowl LII: the Philadelphia Eagles. And if Schweppe thinks she’s waited a long time, imagine how her parents, her grandparents — heck, the whole city of Philadelphia — feel. Despite being one of the oldest franchises in the NFL (founded in 1933), the Eagles were one of nine teams who had been around for all 51 Super Bowls and hadn’t won a single one.
But on Sunday, February 4 the Eagles crossed their name off the list of teams who have come up short 51 times and hoisted the franchise’s first Lombardi Trophy (still remaining are the Bills, Browns, Cardinals, Chargers, Falcons, Lions, Titans, and Vikings). For most Philadelphia fans, the joy of the victory has as much to do with the company that they’re joining as with the past they’re leaving behind. The two sides are inseparable: for a place that Time Magazine dubbed “The Worst Sports City in America” as recently as 2015, the long-awaited championship tasted that much sweeter on account of all the heart-wrenching seasons that Philadelphia fans have suffered in the past.
Brendan Donohue ’18, a lifelong Eagles fan as well as a member of the Middlebury baseball team, still hasn’t given up hopes for his first collegiate championship — but also didn’t let that get in the way of celebrating Philadelphia’s success. “I grew up as an Eagles fan and watched every game with my dad,” he recalled. “I still remember the devastating feeling we felt each year watching them lose. I can’t explain how amazing it feels to be Super Bowl champions.
“As a 9 year old in 2005, I cried when we lost. This time I cried even harder when we won.”
As befits the city of Philadelphia, the Eagles’ road to the championship was hardly uneventful. After a blistering 10-2 start that had them positioned as easy favorites to win the NFC, their quarterback and MVP candidate Carson Wentz suffered a torn ACL in their week 14 victory over the Los Angeles Rams. Although fans of some teams might have had their doubts, Philadelphia fans — accustomed as they are to hardship and suffering — see doubt as a luxury not worth indulging in. “Philly fans never give up on their team,” said Schweppe. “Even after we lost Wentz, the overwhelming feeling was that we were confident in our team and confident in [Nick] Foles. We knew the Birds would pull through no matter what.”
Nick Foles, the unassuming backup with the goofy grin and who nearly hung up his cleats two years ago, took the helm in Philadelphia after Wentz’s injury. First, a little background: Foles was a third-round pick for the Eagles in 2012, and would step in to play when the starter, Michael Vick, suffered a concussion about midway through the season. In 2013, he tied an NFL record with seven touchdown passes in a single game and finished with one of the best single-season passer ratings of all time (119.3). The next season, Foles’ record was not nearly as clean, as he threw 13 touchdowns but also 10 interceptions in eight games. In his ninth game of the season Foles broke his collarbone, ending his season. At the time the Eagles were 6–2, but they went 4–4 the rest of the way and missed the playoffs. Foles was traded to the Rams after the 2014 campaign, ended up losing the starting position to Case Keenum, and asked to be released after the team drafted Jared Goff the next year. At this point, Foles was moments away from calling it quits and moving on from the NFL, he has said openly since that time. However, he took a chance and signed a contract with the Chiefs to play as a backup under his former coach Andy Reid. He saw limited action as a backup, but wasn’t satisfied with his role on the team and asked to be released; luckily for him, his skillset convinced the Philadelphia Eagles to re-sign him as backup before this past 2017 campaign.
Which brings us back to the weeks following Wentz’s injury. The Eagles had an uncertain finish to the regular season, to say the least: Foles showed some flashes but didn’t look outstanding on the whole, and it would be hard hard to say that the Eagles were coming in to the playoffs on a hot streak after their 6–0 loss to the Dallas Cowboys in week 17 (of course, the Eagles’ starters barely saw the field — after all, that contest didn’t affect their place in the standings — but it certainly wasn’t a high note to end the regular season).
Despite being the number one seed in the NFC coming into their divisional round matchup against the Atlanta Falcons, there was enough doubt surrounding the Eagles team that Las Vegas books actually had them as the underdog coming into the game — at home, to boot. Philadelphia managed to come away with a 15–10 win behind a solid performance from Foles: certainly not resounding enough to silence their critics, but enough to keep them alive for one more week.
But the team kept on driving, and their fans followed suit, doubling down on their grit and even getting a little cocky about it. “The biggest surprise for me,” Donohue said, “was seeing how resilient the team was once we lost our MVP-caliber QB in Carson Wentz. Everyone talks about the Patriots’ ‘Next Man Up’ mentality, but I could guarantee they don’t make it past the divisional round with a backup QB.”
That faith paid dividends during Philadelphia’s head-turning performance in the NFC championship. Facing a Vikings team led by Case Keenum — the same quarterback that took his job a few years earlier on the Rams — Foles threw for three touchdowns and 352 on 26 for 33 passing en route to a 38–7 trouncing of Minnesota. The highlight of the game came with Foles under center with a 24–7 lead on the Vikings’ 41-yard line: Doug Pederson, the Philadelphia coach who never met a trick play he didn’t like, called the flea-flicker that would seal the game when Foles lofted a pass carefully into the hands of Torrey Smith just inside the end-zone pylon.
Sure, there was some time left in the game at this point, but the narrative for Super Bowl LII was already starting to take shape. Waiting for the Eagles were the New England Patriots juggernaut, led by the Brady-Belichick duo with five Super Bowls to their credit — including last year’s, which they won with the greatest comeback in NFL history, let alone on the biggest stage in football. It was the evil empire versus the lovable losers, the playoff perennials that everybody loves to hate against the against-all-odds, down-but-not-out upstarts with their eyes on the throne. Luke Skywalker versus Darth Vader; Rocky Balboa versus Apollo Creed.
Any sports fan could find a team to root for under such circumstances; still, many student-athletes might feel a special affinity for the thrill of this particular athletic contest, since so often in their own careers they’ve been in the place of one if not both teams on the field. Take Schweppe, who, despite being a Philadelphia fan, plays for a Middlebury team that has more or less been the New England Patriots of Division III field hockey, let alone the Nescac, over the past few years. The fact that she could personally relate to the swagger and absolute confidence that the Patriots play with, only made it all the more exciting for her to root for her underdog Eagles on the big stage. “I think any athlete can relate to the competitive spirit of the Super Bowl,” she later said. “Although it’s definitely more stressful being a spectator who can only sit and scream at her TV than being one of the actual athletes on the field with the game in your hands.”
The game itself was nothing short of an absolute classic, a back-and-forth thriller guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat. Even if you didn’t have skin in the game, it was damn good football. Although Foles gave the Eagles a 38–33 lead with his third TD pass of the game with 2:25 remaining, the game was far from over: indeed, the Philadelphia faithful were more than likely seeing visions of the Patriots’ comeback from last year’s Super Bowl. With the Eagles holding a five-point lead, overtime seemed out of the question in this contest: Brady and the Patriots were set for an all-or-nothing drive, end zone or bust. But just two plays in, Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham beat his man to strip sack Brady well within New England territory, and the Eagles fell on the fumble. Foles and company would play it safe and settle for the field goal to push the score to 41–33 with about a minute remaining. Of course, Brady managed to put the Patriots in position for in a last-second Hail Mary, as everyone more or less knew he would, but Eagles fans across the country leapt for joy as the pass was swatted to the ground to seal the victory.
The City of Brotherly Love may not be known for its hospitable fans, but their victory was one that everyone outside of New England — and a good deal of folks within it — could take at least some share in rejoicing over. With characteristic Philadelphian irreverence, Donohue summed up what the victory meant for him and, by extension, countless others. “Being a Philadelphia fan is in my blood,” he said: “it’s something my dad and I bonded over during my childhood. Being an Eagles fan isn’t just about sports for me. It’s about family, and I don’t care if people think we’re scumbags, because now we’re scumbags who are champions.”
Unlike Schweppe, Donohue is still waiting on his turn to taste a championship in his Middlebury career. But that hasn’t stopped him from taking lessons from his fandom and putting them to use on the diamond. “I love to take the grit I’ve developed over the years as an Eagles fan and apply it to the grit I have on the baseball field,” he later explained. “I never really knew that ‘tears of joy’ were a thing until the Eagles won, and I can’t wait to bawl my eyes out again when the baseball team takes home the Nescac title.”
Here’s to all those underdog dreams coming true — for Middlebury students and athletes alike.
(02/15/18 1:59am)
The women’s basketball team played its final pair of regular season games on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 9 and 10. Middlebury defeated Hamilton (14–10) in Pepin Gym on Friday 53–44, ensuring they would host a quarterfinal game in the Nescac playoffs. The Panthers lost their final home game of the regular season at home to the defending Nescac and NCAA Division III champions Amherst, 68–41.
Hamilton looked aggressive from the opening minutes on Friday. After a brief moment of being tied at four, the Continentals were effortlessly finding the bottom of the net to go on an 11–0 run. On the defensive end, Hamilton managed to cut off much of Middlebury’s movement inside the paint. Hamilton’s lockdown defense forced the Panthers to take difficult shots, only allowing seven points to Hamilton’s 17 at the end of the first quarter.
The Panthers stepped up on the defensive end in the second quarter. They hustled tenaciously on both ends of the floor, and scored the opening six points of the quarter to cut the lead down to four. Sabrina Weeks ’18 came up with a huge steal and finished the layup to keep the Panthers close at 19–15 with three and a half minutes to play. The final few minutes saw Hamilton score five of the next eight points to give themselves a half-dozen point lead heading into halftime.
The visitors opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer to extend their lead to nine. But the Panthers continued their strong defensive efforts and fluid ball movement to go on a 14–2 run, limiting the Continentals to just one basket and forcing nine turnovers. The Panthers finally managed to take the lead off a 3-pointer from Sarah Kaufman ’18 late in the quarter.
Catherine Harrison ’19 opened the final quarter with a jumper to give the Panthers a 39–33 lead. An exchange of runs ensued for the remainder of the game, and the Panthers led 48–40 after a pair of Maya Davis ’20 free throws. The Panthers overcame a six-point halftime deficit to win by nine, 53–44. Harrison led the Panthers in scoring with a season-best 13 points on 6 of 9 shooting.
The following afternoon, defending champion Amherst immediately looked dominant in the opening quarter as they led 10–0 after seven minutes of play. The Panthers found their first basket of the game on a Lily Kuntz ’20 3-pointer with 2:45 left in the first ten minutes.
Behind 16–5 at the beginning of the second quarter, Middlebury began to slowly chip away at the large deficit, eventually cutting the lead down to six on another three from Kuntz. The Mammoths immediately retaliated and cemented a 25–15 lead going into halftime.
The Mammoths looked unstoppable coming out of the locker room for the third quarter, putting together a 13–5 run over the first half of the quarter. Middlebury could not slow the Mammoths this time, and the lead ballooned as many as 26 in the third quarter.
Though the fourth quarter was tight in scoring, 16–15, the Mammoths were able to end their regular season with a 27-point win away from home.
Kuntz was the Panthers’ top scorer with 11.
Though the Panthers would not have liked to end their final game of the season at home with such a tough loss, the errors and shortcomings should be internalized quickly to prepare themselves for the playoffs. Amherst has not lost a game since the start of the 2016-2017 season, making them undefeated in their past 57 games. If the Panthers are looking to make a run for the Nescac title, they can almost assuredly expect to face Amherst again.
Fourth-seeded Middlebury, who boasts a 17–7 overall record and 6–4 record in the conference, will host fifth-seeded Wesleyan (5–5, in the Nescac) on Saturday, Feb. 17, at 3 p.m. The Panthers defeated the Cardinals 77–60 at Pepin Gym earlier this season.
This is the second straight season Middlebury will host a quarterfinal game, but only the third time since 2002, the first and only time the Panthers advanced to the Nescac championship game. If the Panthers win on Saturday, they will advance to the semifinals held the following weekend at the highest-remaining seed’s gym.
(02/15/18 1:57am)
Literatures and cultures librarian Katrina Spencer is liaison to the Anderson Freeman Center, the Arabic department, the French department, the Gender Sexuality & Feminist Studies (GSFS Program), the Language Schools, Linguistics and the Spanish & Portuguese departments. These affiliations are reflected in her reading choices. “While I am a very slow reader, I’m a very critical reader,” she says.
Pages: 159
The What
Having grown up in the South Bronx, New York, Antiguan-born author Carol Tonge Mack is a Middlebury College graduate from the class of 1995. While she completed a bachelor’s degree in history, her undergraduate experience became rather unique when she found out she was pregnant during her first year of studies. As one might ascertain from a quick and cursory survey of our campus, mothers are not the “non-traditional” students that tend to matriculate here. Facing the challenge of simultaneously becoming a mother and completing a college degree in the 90s, Carol was faced with some difficult decisions. This memoir tells the story of how she made sacrifices for both her education and her offspring, a road that ultimately led her on a path to success, yet one that was not without bumps, turns and detours.
The Why
During the Alumni of Color Weekend this year, I met Carol, an affable and generous woman with an indulgent sense of humor and warm personality when I attended her book talk hosted at the Anderson Freeman Center. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the event, but after having some breakfast bites, an audience came in and sat to hear her speak. She was interviewed by her former classmate, Trustee Leilani M. Brown, author of From Campus To Cubicle: 25 Tips For Your First Professional Year. There I learned that Carol is now part of the administrative staff at the University of Cincinnati where she works as the Director of Student Retention Initiatives. She gave her book talk in the same building on our campus, the former site of the health center, where she first found she was pregnant more than 20 years ago. I was moved by her story and convinced I’d request a copy be purchased for the libraries.
During the Q&A session, I asked Carol how her personal narrative impacted the ways she engages the topic of sex education on her campus, a question that continues to intrigue me. While there is a newer wave of rhetoric surrounding sex positivity and certainly a burgeoning one surrounding sexual assault, sex education still needs louder, more frequent and consistent voicing. I’d recommend this work to anyone interested in knowing more about our alums of color and their present day activities.
(02/15/18 1:51am)
The men’s basketball team’s 10-game winning streak was snapped last Friday, Feb. 9, when the Panthers fell to Hamilton 102–83, in Clinton, New York. In a crucial game for Nescac seeding the next night at Amherst, Saturday, Feb. 10, Middlebury lost to the Mammoths 80–68. After sitting atop the conference standings entering the weekend, the Panthers fell into a five-way tie for first place and lost the tiebreaker because of their 1–3 head-to-head record with the other teams, dropping them all the way down to the fifth seed in the Nescac tournament.
In Middlebury’s loss on Saturday, Jack Daly ’18 became the 23rd Panther in program history to score 1,000 points. Daly has accumulated 1,002 career points, 611 rebounds and 579 assists, and is believed be the first player in Nescac men’s basketball history to tally 1,000 points, 600 rebounds and 500 assists.
“Jack is a unique player,” said Head Coach Jeff Brown on Tuesday. “He has the ability to impact a game in so many different ways with his scoring, passing, rebounding and defense. His mental and physical toughness is at an elite level. The fact that Jack is the first NESCAC player to reach 1000 points, 600 rebounds and 500 assists shows the impact that he has had in our success.”
A week earlier in a 75–56 victory over Colby, the Panthers’ star player became Middlebury’s all-time assists leader, surpassing Jake Wolfin ’13’s record of 553 helpers. He leads all of DIII this season with 8.7 assists per game.
Middlebury will travel to Middletown, Connecticut, for their quarterfinal matchup with Wesleyan this Saturday, Feb. 17, which will mark the first time the Panthers have had to play a conference tournament quarterfinal game away from Pepin since 2004.
Middlebury had two chances to clinch the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, the first coming on Friday at Hamilton. Middlebury entered the matchup 7–1, while Hamilton was 6–2 in second place. The Continentals led by as many as nine points in the first half after going on an 8–0 run to go ahead 32–23. But the Panthers responded with an eight-point run of their own to pull within one. At the end of the first twenty minutes, Hamilton led 38–32.
Middlebury struggled with turnovers in the first half, giving the ball away 12 times compared to Hamilton’s six.
The Panthers kept pace with Hamilton the first nine and a half minutes of the second half, staying within six. But then the Continental offense took off, hitting four straight threes to take an 11-point lead, 73–62. Middlebury cut the lead to single digits a couple more times, but Hamilton’s attack was too much in the second half. The Continentals scored 64 points in the final 20 minutes to defeat the Panthers 102–83.
Hamilton’s Kena Gilmour scored a career-high 29 points on 10 of 15 shooting, including four of four from three. The Continentals’ shooting from beyond the three-point line carried them to victory, as they knocked down 15 of 24 threes after making only eight per game before Friday.
Eric McCord ’19 led the Panthers with 21 points coming off the bench. Matt Folger ’20 scored 17 while hitting four threes, and Daly added 15 points, nine rebounds, and six assists.
With the win, Hamilton moved into a tie for first place with Middlebury, but controlled their own destiny heading into the last game of the regular season by beating the Panthers.
Entering the last game of Nescac play on Saturday, Middlebury, Hamilton and Williams sat atop the Nescac standings, one game ahead of Amherst and Wesleyan.
Ahead 16–14 a little over seven minutes into the first half on Saturday afternoon, Amherst went on a 16–0 run to take a 32–14 lead at the 7:20 mark in the first half. The Mammoths hurt the Panthers with offensive rebounding all afternoon, and half of their 16 points in this game-defining run were second chance opportunities.
Over the final 7:20, Middlebury outscored the Mammoths by three but still trailed 43–28 at halftime.
Middlebury could never get much closer either, only trimming the lead to single digits with around a minute remaining in the game, 75–66. McCord got the Panthers within eight, but Amherst hit four free throws to secure an 80–68 win.
Middlebury shot 35.8 percent from the field and 25 percent from three on an afternoon when the Panther offense never got going, scoring its lowest total of the season. Amherst hurt the Panthers inside, where the Mammoths outscored the Panthers 42–30. The hosts also scored 17 more second chance points than the visiting Panthers, 22–5, and outrebounded the visitors 60–34.
Jack Farrell ’21 scored a career-high 22 points for Middlebury, and Nick Tarantino ’18 also finished in double digits with 11 points. Daly had a tough day from the field, making only two of 15 shots on the afternoon when he scored his 1,000th career point.
The Panthers’ hopes at hosting the Nescac semifinals were dashed with the losses to Hamilton and Amherst, and with those hopes also went any playoff game in Pepin Gym. But Middlebury still finished in a tie for first place with a 7–3 record in conference. And as Coach Brown pointed out, “I am going remind our guys that two years ago, we lost our last two regular season games on the road and won the NESCAC Tournament. We will put last week’s results in our rear-view mirror.”
Now fifth-seeded Middlebury will travel to Wesleyan on Saturday, Feb. 17, to play the fourth-seeded Cardinals at 3 p.m. Earlier this season, on Jan. 6, Wesleyan beat Middlebury 80–70 but led by only three with 47 seconds remaining. With the win, the Cardinals snapped a 15-game losing streak against the Panthers dating back to the 2004-05 season.
Wesleyan lost two of its first three Nescac games, but won six of its last seven to finish in the five-way tie for first in the standings.
The Cardinals had the third-stingiest defense in Nescac play, allowing only 65 points per contest. They’re led by junior guard Jordan Bonner, who averages 15.6 points per game, and have four other players averaging at least seven points per game. Senior forward Nathan Krill averages 11.9 points and nine rebounds per game, while shooting 38.5 percent from three-point range.
The Panthers tip off in Middletown on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.
(02/15/18 1:46am)
While the rest of Middlebury was enjoying its last days of February Break, the Middlebury Alpine and Nordic ski teams were competing at the Dartmouth Carnival on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 9 and 10. The teams earned a third-place finish with 699 points, behind Dartmouth and University of Vermont.
After the first day of competition, Middlebury sat in third place, behind the hosts and University of Vermont, because of a strong showing on the alpine side. Riley Plant ’18 led the way with a time of 2:02.17, good for third place in the Giant Slalom. Erik Arvidsson ’21 continued his strong rookie campaign, placing ninth (2:03.06). Pate Campbell ’20 and Angie Duke ’19 placed 24th and 25th, and the men as a team placed second in the Giant Slalom behind Dartmouth.
On the women’s side, Caroline Bartlett ’19 led the team, placing fifth with a combined time of 2:06.74 in the Giant Slalom. Also posting a top-ten finish was Lexi Calcagni ’19 (2:07.53), good for ninth. Katie Utter ’20 and Lucia Bailey ’21 earned NCAA points for the squad, placing 17th and 18th (2:09.79 and 2:09.98), respectively. Overall the women placed third in the Giant Slalom.
Even after a foot of snow on Wednesday at Dartmouth, the alpine teams have enjoyed the icy snow conditions this year. “It is actually great for us because courses hold up better (less ruts and bumps) as more people ski it,” said team captain Plant. “Dartmouth wasn’t much of an exception, though the foot or so of snow we received on Wednesday meant the icy layer took some work from the groomers and racer to access.”
For the nordic teams, Annika Landis ’20 was the first Panther woman to cross the finish line during the 5K Classic, placing ninth with a time of 37:31.20.
Just behind her was Cate Brams ’18, who finished 10th (37:34.00). Also earning NCAA points for Middlebury were Alexandra Lawson ’21 (13th), Avery Ellis ’21 (15th), and Katie Feldman ’18 (25th). These five Panthers carried Middlebury to a third-place finish in this race.
Team captain Brams was thrilled to see Middlebury’s underclassmen lead the Panthers on Friday. “We had some underclassmen really step it up on the women’s side,” said Brams, “which for me was more exciting to see than any standout individual results, and indicates that we have a lot more to give these last couple weekends.”
Jacob Volz ’18 (31:54.60) paced the men with a 16th place finish in the 10K Classic event, with Sam Wood ’19 just three-tenths of a second behind. Adam Luban ’18 also earned points with a 22nd place finish.
On Saturday, the Alpine teams competed in the Slalom event. The women took home third place (98 points) while the men placed ninth. Once again Bartlett finished fifth with a time of 1:48.88 (her second run time of 54.29 seconds was the best out of any skiers). Bailey (ninth in 1:50.22) and Utter (16th in 1:52.23) also finished in the top-20. Rounding out the top-30 was Madison Lord ’21 (30th – 1:55.39).
Justin Alkier ’21 finished the day with a career best 21st-place finish (1:47.25), while Plant also earned points, finishing two spots behind Alkier with a time of 1:47.40.
In the women’s 5K freestyle event, Feldman and Brams paced the Panthers, placing sixth and seventh (14:57.2 and 15:05.5) overall, respectively. Also earning points were Lawson (17th in 15:18.6), Landis (27th in 15:39.7), and Ellis (29th in 15:43.3). As a team, the women finished third in this race.
In the men’s 10K freestyle, Wood led the squad this time, crossing the line in 26:32.7 (7th place) while Luban also placed in the top-15 (12th, 26:46.0). Just seconds between them, Lewis Nottonson ’19 placed 27th while Volz placed 28th.
Middlebury will travel to Prospect Mountain in Woodford, Vermont, to race in the Williams Carnival on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 16 and 17.
Then, the following weekend, Friday and Saturday, Feb. 23 and 24, the Panthers will host the Middlebury Carnival at Rikert and the Snow Bowl, which will double as the EISA Championships.
“We’re generally really strong as a team later in the season,” Brams said, looking forward to the rest of the season. “I’m excited to see those younger athletes build on this weekend’s performances.”
Following these two carnivals are the NCAA Championships in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, which Plant and the Panthers have set their sights on.
“Moving into the final 2 carnivals, we are hoping to qualify a couple more individuals for the NCAA Championships,” Plant said. “We can take a maximum of 3 men and 3 women and currently have 2 of each qualified, so it’s really important that we act selflessly on race day the next few weekends to make sure everybody is in a great head space when they get in the starting gate.”
Calcagni agreed with Plant that the Panthers have what it takes to finish the season on a high note. Dartmouth, where a number of skiers achieved personal bests, was “a great start to the second half of the season,” said Calcagni. “There is so much potential on our team to put it all together.”
(02/15/18 1:45am)
MIDDLEBURY — On Sunday, Dec. 3, members of the local community and the college gathered at the Town Hall Theater for the inaugural film of the 2017/18 Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival (MNFF) Winter Screening Series. Titled “Menashe,” the film was directed by Joshua Z. Weinstein and follows the struggles of its eponymous protagonist to maintain custody of his son Rieven after the passing of his wife. The traditions of Menashe’s orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, New York, require a mother to be present in every home, forcing Rieven to be rehomed away from his father into another household. Shot in secret and based largely on the real life of its Hasidic star Menashe Lustig, the film allows a rare glimpse into a famously private community to explore the weighty bonds of both parenthood and faith.
“Menashe” was the first of six films screened in a series that spans from December 2017 to May 2018. The second film in the series, Doug Nichol’s documentary “California Typewriter,” was screened on Sunday, Jan. 7. The film paints a moving portrait of artists, writers and collectors who stand together against the waves of time, united by their loyalty to the typewriter as a tool and muse. Alternating between the nostalgic and the forward-thinking, the film meditates on the changing dynamics between humans and machines.
The four films that follow in the series are connected by their celebration of women’s experiences and achievements. This emphasis on the female spirit in the selection of the films suggests the festival’s increasing recognition of women in film and echoes the establishment of a new award in this year’s festival: the Clio Visualizing History Prize for the Advancement of Women in Film. The honored film, “Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story,” is directed by Alexandra Dean and documents the life and work of Hollywood’s “Most Beautiful Girl” in 1940, whose role in inventing devices that led to secure Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS communications is often overlooked.
The next upcoming film, scheduled to screen on Sunday, Feb. 18, is writer-director Margaret Bett’s drama “Novitiate,” which tells the story of a young woman’s training to become a nun in the Roman Catholic Church amid the changing religious landscapes of the 1960s. As she progresses from postulant to novitiate, the protagonist faces complex struggles between personal faith and organized religion.
Following “Novitiate” will be “I Am Evidence” on Sunday, March 11. The film, directed by Geeta Gandbhir and Trish Adlesic, presents a sharp exposé of a frequently broken criminal justice system through the lenses of four sexual assault survivors whose rape kits went untested for years. “Lady Bird,” a drama written and directed by Greta Gerwig on the turbulent bonds between a California nurse and her teenage daughter, Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson, will be shown the following month on Saturday, April 7. The final film in the series, “The Judge,” will be screened on Friday, May 11 and captivatingly chronicles the rise of Kholoud Faqih, the first female Sharia judge in the history of the Middle East.
Founded in 2015 by producer Lloyd Komesar, the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival aims to showcase up-and-coming talent in the film industry. The third annual festival ran from August 24 to August 27 last summer and presented 90 films across all genres, among which were the works of Middlebury alumni Beth Levison ’91, Adam Kritzer ’11, Matt Lennon ’13, and Sasha Whittle ’17. According to the MNFF website, “the emphasis at MNFF is entirely on filmmakers who have completed within the 24 months prior to the Festival either their first or second feature film or first or second short film.” For new filmmakers, MNFF provides a specialized platform to both “offer a level playing field to new and emerging voices in filmmaking” and allow audiences to “discover fresh and engaging talent…in a setting that is all about their work,” as stated on the festival’s website.
Single tickets ($12) and Winter Screening Series Passes ($60 for six films) can be purchased either on the Town Hall Theater website, at the box office in the Jackson Gallery, or at the lobby of the Town Hall Theater on the day of the show. Trailers for the six films in the Winter Screening Series can be found on the MNFF website at middfilmfest.org.
(02/09/18 12:21am)
Men’s Basketball
The men’s basketball team is on an 11-game win streak and looks to finish the season with 21 wins with conference battles against Hamilton and Amherst on the road tomorrow, Feb. 9, and Saturday, Feb. 10. With a win over Hamilton tomorrow night, the Panthers would wrap up the regular season Nescac title and home court advantage for the conference tournament. By winning their last two games, the No. 5 team in the D3Hoops.com poll will have equaled their 21-win total from last season in which they went all the way to the Elite Eight.
Women’s Basketball
The 16–6 women’s basketball squad will play host to Hamilton and defending national champion, top-ranked, and undefeated Amherst at Pepin Gym tomorrow, Feb. 9, and Saturday, Feb. 10, to wrap up their most successful season since their 2001-02 campaign when they rode a 22–4 record into the championship game at the 2002 Nescac tournament.
Assuming the Panthers split their final two games, they will clinch the four seed in the Nescac tournament which will mean a home game in the quarterfinals on Saturday, Feb. 17. (Amherst has not lost since the Final Four at NCAAs in March 2016). Middlebury has already defeated their prospective quarterfinals opponent, Wesleyan, earlier this season at home 77–60. The Panthers will tip off tomorrow night against Hamilton at 7 p.m. and on Saturday for the season finale at 3 p.m. against Amherst.
Men’s Hockey
This weekend the men’s hockey team is set to take on Williams in a home-and-home with the Ephs. They will be in Williamstown for a 7 p.m. puck-drop tomorrow night, Feb. 9, and then will be back in Kenyon for the home side of the back-to-back on Saturday when the puck will drop against the Ephs at 7 p.m.
While the Panthers have struggled of late, they have given some promising signs with ties against Conn. College 2–2 at home on Jan. 26 and against Tufts 1–1 at home on Jan. 27. With four games left to play in the season, the Panthers still have a chance to qualify for Nescacs, as they are only one-and-a-half games behind Tufts for eighth place.
Women’s Hockey
With four games left in the season, the Panthers play tomorrow, Feb. 9, and Saturday, Feb. 10, against Colby. Currently, the Panthers (14–4–2, 10–1–1) lead Conn. College (14–3–3, 9–1–2) by a half game in the Nescac standings.
After their 10-game unbeaten streak was snapped when they fell 2–1 at No. 1 Plattsburg hSt. on Jan. 30, the Panthers shut-out Wesleyan, outscoring the Cardinals 7–0 in two games at Kenyon this past Friday and Saturday, Feb. 2 and 3. Sidney Portner ’20 and Jessica Young ’18 led the way for the Panthers in the two-game series with two goals apiece.
A highlight for the Panthers was their 2–2 tie on Tuesday on the road against No. 2 Norwich. After two early goals by Jenna Marotta ’19 and Young, Norwich capitalized on a power play opportunity in the second period and then registered a late goal before time expired in regulation. Puck drop tomorrow night in Waterville, Maine, is set for 7 p.m.
Track & Field
The track teams collectively finished first at the Middlebury Invitational on Jan. 26 and 27 in the penultimate home indoor meet at Virtue Field House for the winter season. The Panthers were led on the men’s side by Matthew Durst '21 in the 500 meter race (1:09.98), Kevin Serrao ’18 in the 1,000 (2:30.74), the 4x400 relay team of Durst, Arden Coleman ’20, Tyler Farrell ’18 and Cameron Mackintosh ’20 (3:28.08), the 4x200 relay squad of Nicholas Hendrix ’20 , Jimmy Martinez ’19 , Jackson Bock ’19 and Michael Pallozzi ’18 (1:31.47), Jonathan Perlman ’19 in the one-mile race (4:19.62), Harrison Knowlton ’19 in the 5,000 (15:18.73), Minhaj Rahman ’19 in the 35-pound weight throw (52'7.5"), John Natalone ’19 in the pole vault (14'5.25") and Jonathan Fisher ’20 in the heptathlon (4,197 pts – school record). On the women’s side the Panthers winning efforts were led by Alex Cook ’20 in the long jump (16'11.25"), Lucy Lang ’19 in the 500 meter race (1:21.65), Kate McCluskey ’18 in the 400 (57.89s) and Lang, McClusky, Kai Milici ’21 and Meg Wilson ’20 in the 4x400 relay (4:05.69). Last weekend the Panthers took part in the unscored Tufts challenge and they will head to the David Hemery and Gordon Kelly Invitational meets tomorrow, Feb. 9, and Saturday, Feb. 10, where they will tune up the for Division III New England Championships that will take place next week, Feb. 16-17.
Skiing
The ski teams have enjoyed several eventful weeks as the weather has turned more favorable for their craft. Highlights have included the men’s Nordic squad’s 10K Classic win at the Vermont Carnival last Saturday, Feb. 3. In the final races, Peter Wolter ’21 finished third (27:04), which came on the heels of his being named Men’s Nordic Skier of the Week by the EISA, Adam Luban ’18 finished six seconds behind Wolter (27:10) and Sam Wood ’19 also headlined the Panthers’ efforts (27:22). The women’s side finished third in the 5K Classic, led in the final races by Katie Feldman (15:20), Alexandra Lawson (15:25) and Cate Brams ’18 (15:26). On the Alpine side of the UVM event, the usual slalom contributors led the way for the Panthers. On the women’s side that was Lucia Bailey ’21 (combined 1:53.57) and Caroline Bartlett ’19 (combined 1:54.24), and on the men’s that was Erik Arvidsson ’21 (combined 1:47.61) and Riley Plant ’18 (combined 1:50.70). The previous day, the only finisher for the women’s side in the GS was Katie Utter ’20 (combined 2:16.67), while the men’s side saw Arvidsson (combined 2:05.45) and Angie Duke ’19 (combined 2:10.08) finish. The Alpine squad was also in action in the previous week’s St. Michael’s Carnival, which was headlined by Riley Plant’s career best GS sixth-place finish (1:48.01).
Tomorrow and Saturday, Feb. 9–10, the Nordic and Alpine teams will head east to New Hampshire to take part in the Dartmouth Carnival.
Men’s Squash
Men’s squash has played some of its best squash of the season over the last few weeks – timely as it coincided with the toughest stretch of the team’s schedule.
Following a third-place finish at Nescac’s Feb. 3–4 in Clinton, New York, where the Panthers avenged a 6–3 Jan. 6 loss to Williams by beating the Ephs 8–1 in the third-place game, the Panthers stand at 21st in the College Squash Association’s rankings heading into this weekend’s matchups on the road against Nos. 16 Navy, 11 George Washington and 12 Drexel. This weekend will decide the team’s seeding fate for nationals later this month.
Women’s Squash
Women’s squash has continued playing well as J-term wound down and with the second semester set to begin. Following a 9–0 loss to a top-10 Cornell Big Red team in the home finale Sunday Jan. 21, the Panthers have won three of five and defeated the likes of Nos. 18 Bates and 16 Amherst to finish third at the Nescac tournament Feb. 3–4.
The Panthers head into this weekend ranked No. 15 and solidly in place to play in the B bracket for the Kurtz Cup at nationals next weekend, Feb. 16–18, in Boston. The Panthers are set to play tomorrow, Feb. 9, against Georgetown at Navy’s courts in Annapolis, Maryland, in what promises to be a compelling matchup given that Middlebury coach Mark Lewis held the head job at Georgetown prior to coming to Middlebury. Bigger challenges for the Panthers will be their matchups this Saturday, Feb. 10, at No. 14 George Washington, and then on Sunday, Feb. 11, on the courts of No. 9 Drexel.
Swimming & Diving
After an eventful January, the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams are off this weekend in advance of Nescacs later this month. The women’s side will be in action next weekend, Feb. 16–18, where the championships are set to take place in Williamstown, while the men’s side gets two weeks off before heading to Brunswick, Maine, where the championships are set to take place from Feb. 23–25.
(01/25/18 12:41am)
More than forty students, faculty and staff members participated in the first restorative practices training during the first three days of December break. Of the 46 attendees, six were students.
The college intends to launch the pilot restorative practices framework in the fall of 2018.
“Right now we are really working on creating a timeline to share it with the community,” said dean of students Baishakhi Taylor. In addition to creating a timeline, the college needs to recruit more community members and train more people. However, another training is not yet scheduled.
“It takes time, and it’s not a process that should be rushed, because it’s about changing the culture,” said dean of faculty Andrea Lloyd. “We’re pretty early in.”
“In the light of the Charles Murray event, we also realize that there is definitely a need and a desire from our students and other community members that we explore this,” said Taylor.
Although related to restorative justice, restorative practices exist alongside regular disciplinary processes, not in place of them. They are also voluntary. “Restorative practices is a tool for building community and restoring harm if there’s been a harm done in a community,” said Lloyd.
Ami Fürgang ’20, one of the students in attendance, expressed discontent with the nature of restorative practices. “I want to completely replace punitive measures with restorative practices, whether pre-active or reactive, and a big takeaway was that this is not replacing the judicial system,” said Fürgang. “Of course it’s a hard goal to reach, but I believe there is always an alternative to punitive measures.”
“I’m less hopeful than I was originally that this will radically change how we deal with conflict on campus, I think it can change things on a much less serious end of things,” he added.
Emma Lodge ’19.5 spoke to the usefulness of restorative practices. “A lot of the concepts within restorative practices are versatile, and I can see ways I think they apply to my own interpersonal relationships as well as more formal settings,” said Lodge. “I think there are also some more direct ways it could be used, but I don’t think I feel clear enough about specifics to necessarily say how.”
The training was led by two leaders from the International Institute for Restorative Practices, which issues various levels of certification in restorative practices, including a graduate degree. The attendees of the December training are now certified to lead restorative circles, the “central tool in restorative practices,” according to Lloyd.
The attendees of the training came from a variety of positions across campus. “There were some people who were tapped to participate because their work will likely intersect with restorative practices, but we also wanted to get people who were generally just interested in restorative practices so we could build some capacity around being able to facilitate these circles,” said Lloyd.
Restorative practices on campus will likely begin in residential life, and all commons deans and four Commons Residential Directors (CRDs) attended the training. “The genesis was in residential life, that it would be a primary tool for community building in student life, and so I think we’re looking first in terms of rollout,” said Lloyd.
However, Lloyd expressed optimism about the potential for restorative practices at the college beyond residential life. “We had people in the room that were off in different parts of the college, were members of different constituencies, who don’t normally sit down together in that kind of direct, vulnerable way. To have three days of it, I felt like it was transformative to just be part of the training, I can only imagine what would happen if we rolled this out on the campus as a whole.”
Both Taylor and Lloyd stressed the importance of time in creating a restorative practices framework. “We also just need to be a little bit patient with each other, but it has tremendous potential and I’m really excited about doing the work and getting it done.”
(01/25/18 12:38am)
In a college town like Middlebury, a local coffeehouse is a staple for study sessions, reunions, first dates and interviews. For the past 12 years, Carol’s Hungry Mind Café has served as a hub for students and professors alike to share ideas away from campus. Three weeks ago, though, owner John Melanson received an eviction notice after months of missing his rent payments.
Melanson said the recent downtown bridge construction has severely hurt the café’s sales and now, even though the building’s landlord has been patient and generous — a letting him pay, he said, “a thousand here and there” — he is left with no choice but to close.
After a few regular customers learned of Melanson’s decision, one of them, Doug Patterson, a local environmental consultant, started an online GoFundMe campaign to keep the café afloat. As of Jan. 23, the campaign had raised more than $2,800 from 46 donors toward the $20,000 goal. Still, Melanson said that while he was grateful for the GoFundMe effort, he doubts he can remain open much longer. (He declined to give a closing date.)
The business’s financial troubles began last summer when the downtown rail bridges closed on Main Street and along Merchants Row. The protracted construction has led to the loss of 14 parking spots near the coffee shop, as well as the obstruction of pedestrian walkways around the café, which is located at 24 Merchants Row.
“If I looked at my books from the year before last, it has cost about $30,000,” Melanson said. “The summers are a very important part. That’s when the tourists come, they sit, they spend 30 bucks and they go.”
Melanson started the café with the late Carol Ross in 2005. Melanson had been widowed a few years earlier, and in 2004 he met Ross through the online dating site Match.com. After meeting in person, Ross pitched the idea of starting a coffee house together. Just a few months later, the business plan was in place and the two opened Carol’s Hungry Mind. In June of that year, Ross was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and passed away soon after.
Although they met on an online dating site, Melanson and Ross were never romantically involved together. “That doesn’t mean that I didn’t love her. I did,” said Melanson. “I admired her, we shared much of the same musical and literary background.”
Today, Melanson is romantically involved with one of Carol’s closest friends. They started seeing each other after Carol passed away. “I am not only grateful to Carol for giving me the gift of the coffee house but also for introducing me to Karen and making my life whole again,” Melanson said.
Before opening the café, Ross worked at the Vermont Community Foundation and Melanson worked for a furniture design company. For Ross, opening a coffee shop was a longtime dream. She came into Melanson’s life, he said, at a point when he was lacking direction and purpose and so he was easily persuaded to give the café a try. “I did leave my work at Vt. Tubbs, the furniture factory, soon after deciding to start Carol’s,” he said. “It wasn’t a hard decision.”
“I had no idea I would love it so much,” Melanson said in an interview Sunday. “I was a very reclusive type of person. I wouldn’t go out and meet new people. And I knew I was going to be on stage at Carol’s. Now I love it. I go on vacation and I can’t wait to get back.”
Although the shuttering of Carol’s would be life-altering for Melanson, the Middlebury community — professors, students, and those not connected to the college — would also feel its sting. Just last summer, Middlebury Chocolates, another popular spot for meeting over café au lait or cocoa, closed when its owners converted the shop to a wholesale business and moved to Vergennes.
On a campus that can feel cut off from the town’s community, Carol’s provides students with a link to the outside world. Melanson sometimes furthered that connection by befriending students. “I was looking at the painting exhibition at Carol’s last February, and he started a conversation with me out of the blue about art and books,” said Daniel Cho ’19.5. “From then on, our relationship has grown to becoming actual friends who catch up regularly. He’s so eager to get to know students from Middlebury.”
Authors like Jay Parini, a professor of English and creative writing, have written entire books within the café’s confines. The café’s high ceilings, ocher walls and chalkboard menu seem to encourage linger over an espresso. “For many years I considered Carol’s my study,” Parini said. “I sat at a small table at the back and wrote poems and novels. I loved working there. It would be shame to see this café gone from Middlebury.”
Melanson insisted that the college was critical to the café’s success and, as a result, he has no plans to move the business elsewhere. “As I always say, without the college, I wouldn’t be here,” he said. “I wouldn’t open up a place like this in Brandon, let’s say, because the college is essential to it and everything that surrounds the college—the students, the professors.”
Robert Cohen, a professor of English and American literatures, can often be found at Carol’s, planted at a table by the window. He lamented the café’s looming closure in an e-mail, penning an ode to the coffee house that also captured the solipsistic life of the academic. “It’s a good place to write or read or just stare into space, pretending I’m not eavesdropping on my colleagues’ conversations,” Cohen wrote. “Maybe for those of us who spend a lot of time in our own heads, the buzz of human discourse in the background serves as an important lifeline.”
As businesses come and go in Middlebury, the college has realized its own stake in a vibrant downtown, where restaurants and shops are a draw for prospective students. Employees of the college serve on committees and boards like those of the Better Middlebury Partnership (BMP), the Addison County Chamber of Commerce and the Addison County Economic Development Corporation (ACEDC).
Last year, the BMP and the ACEDC secured funding to help merchants whose businesses were disrupted by the construction. Although the grant has since expired, the organizations are now looking for more funding to assist businesses. “We have been an active partner in those conversations,” said David Donahue ’91, an assistant to college president and the college’s director of community relations. “Those organizations are also thinking about new and creative ways to bring energy, and customers, into the downtown.”
Still, some residents argue that local officials are not doing enough. In a recent column in the Addison Independent, Gregory Dennis expressed concern that the $52 million bridge project could have lasting consequences. “Without measures to protect existing businesses and fill empty storefronts,” he wrote, “in a worst-case scenario we could end up with fancy new bridges over trains running through Nowhere: a place that used to be called downtown Middlebury.”
Cohen, the English professor, also imagined the town without a meeting place like Carol’s. “Ideally the presence or absence of one little coffee shop wouldn’t be a world historic event,” he said. “But imagine this town without it. It’s hard to feel good about civic life without some civic spaces that draw people together.”
(01/24/18 10:15pm)
The Middlebury Women Leaders group launched their first ever Middlebury Women’s Leadership Symposium this past week with the goal of empowering women and providing an open forum to discuss women’s issues. Club President Erin Van Gessel ’17.5 said that the “impetus for the symposium was to commemorate the Women’s March from 2017 and keep the momentum around women’s empowerment going into 2018.”
On Friday, keynote speaker Nancy Gibbs sat down with Van Gessel in Wilson Hall to discuss her career in journalism and offer advice to students.
An accomplished writer, leader, author and student, Gibbs makes for a powerful role model. As the first female editor-in-chief of TIME magazine, she led the transition from print magazine to digital media company, introduced the Firsts project and made way for TIME magazine to become the biggest news media brand on Instagram. Before beginning her illustrious career at TIME, Gibbs graduated from Yale summa cum laude with honors in history. She also holds a degree in politics and philosophy from Oxford, where she was a Marshall Scholar. She is, as Gessel said, “a fantastic role model for women at Middlebury who want to seek out challenging careers after college.”
Gessel began the discussion by asking if Gibbs had always dreamt of being editor-in-chief. On the contrary, Gibbs told the audience that her ultimate goal had always been to be a writer, as writing “would give you a front-row seat on the most interesting people, the most interesting stories.” This proved to be true for Gibbs. After being hired by TIME as a fact checker in 1985, she was eventually promoted to a writer’s position where, she said, “the view was every bit as fascinating as I had hoped.” In her 32-year career at TIME, Gibbs spent 25 of those years writing, eventually gaining the nickname “Babe Ruth” for logging a mountainous number of cover stories – 175 to be exact – more than any other writer in the history of the magazine.
Gibbs admitted that she had no managerial background or prior experience handling budgets when the time came for her to step into the shoes of editor-in-chief. However, as TIME was undergoing a transition period, she knew it was time to “get the hell out of [my] comfort zone” and tackle the job.
The conversation then turned to the topic of women leaders. When she took the job as lead editor in 2013, Gibbs felt “so accustomed to seeing women in leadership positions” that she felt no obligation to be a role model to women. The glass ceiling, she felt, had already been broken. To her surprise, she received an outpouring of support from women who saw her promotion as a symbol of progress.
Gibb said she owed part of her comfort in taking on the leadership position to her parents, who always told her she could do anything. “If you’re interested in something, do it; if there’s a door closed, bang on it,” she said. This is a message she has passed onto her own daughters as well. While she felt that the importance of her being the first female editor-in-chief was not her gender but the experience she had to offer, Gibbs embraced the role, using her position to fight for equal pay and to highlight extraordinary women.
One of the first things Gibbs did as editor was assess the salaries of women to make sure they were equivalent to men working the same job. “[There were] all kinds of inequities in compensation that I didn’t think necessarily made sense,” she said. Something that became glaringly obvious was the fact that the men on her staff were far more likely to ask for a promotion than the women were. She also noted an unfortunate penalty for loyalty that affected both men and women. “If you come in and do well and are constantly promoted, you still may not be paid as well as someone who is brought in from the outside to do the same job,” she said.
In 2017, under Gibbs’ leadership, TIME launched the Firsts project, celebrating powerful women such as Oprah, Madeleine Albright and Aretha Franklin – all trailblazers in their fields. The idea, Gibbs said, came from watching “glass ceilings being broken and wanting to look at what that experience is like.” The women – artists, athletes, TV hosts, diplomats and more – span a diverse range of careers but comprise a collective array of powerful role models.
During the Q&A session, Gibbs discussed the relationship between President Trump and the press, framing it within the context of previous presidencies. “I haven’t met a lot of politicians who are in love with my profession,” she said, to the laughter of the audience. The difference now, she discussed, is the widening gap between parties in considering whether the press’ enduring role should be that of a watchdog. In any case, Gibbs said that despite the President’s rather tempestuous relationship with journalists, she has “not seen it in any way” stop reporters from doing their job.
Gibbs ended by discussing her guiding principles as a leader and offering advice to the students in the room. As a leader, she advised, “surround yourself with people who are better, and smarter, and more talented than you are. And then you will succeed.” “Recognize that you can’t do everything,” she added, and empower those who can do what you need them to. To students, she recommended “talk[ing] to as many people as you can” before going into any field.
Alongside Nancy Gibbs’ visit, the symposium included a conflict mediation workshop led by President Patton, a “Lean In” conversation about women in the workforce, a discussion on feminism with local Nulhegan Abenaki Native American women and a fashion-show fundraiser for She Should Run, a nonpartisan nonprofit that helps women run for political offices.
