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(02/27/13 11:49pm)
The Middlebury men’s squash team finished their season with three resounding wins over Connecticut College, Bowdoin, and Wesleyan this past weekend at the national championship tournament at Yale University. Coming into the weekend ranked 17th nationally, the Panthers qualified for entrance into the Summers Cup (C division) to compete in a tournament against seven other highly competitive teams.
The Panthers defeated the Conn. College Camels in their quarterfinal matchup by a match score of 7-2. The Panthers were able to garner wins in their no. 2 - no. 7 seed matches, as well as their no. 9 seed match. Middlebury’s no. 2 seed Parker Hurst ’14 was able to defeat his Camel opponent Brian Mullen in five sets.
After defeating Conn. College on Friday, Feb. 22, the Panthers moved onto their semifinal matchup against Bowdoin on Saturday, Feb. 23. The Panthers were able to defeat the Bears by a match score of 8-1.
Finally the Panthers moved onto the Summers Cup final match against fellow NESCAC competitor Wesleyan. Again, the Panthers were able to come to a quick and easy victory against their Cardinal opponent, winning by a match score of 7-2. With this win in the finals, Middlebury was able to finish the season ranked 17 in the nation out of a total of 66 teams.
Over the course of the weekend, seven of the nine Middlebury players were able to remain undefeated. This included no. 2 seed Spencer Hurst ’13, no. 4 seed Will Moore ’14, no. 6 seed Robert Galluccio ’15, no. 7 seed Harrison Croll ’16, no. 9 seed Willy Clarke ’15 and no. 10 seed Will Hanley ’15. Although the no. 3 seed Spencer Hurst ’13 was unable to finish completely undefeated, he lost only one match which went into four games.
Playing all NESCAC teams in nationals can be a challenge, especially when the team had played all three opponents before.
“Playing three NESCAC teams that we had previously played this year is always challenging,” said Spencer Hurst. “However, after beating Connecticut College and Bowdoin, we were able to stifle a red hot Wesleyan team in the finals which was huge. Everyone on the team brought their best for the three matches and left it all on the court. Overall, it was a great feeling to end the year with three straight victories.”
With top-seeded players graduating, Jay Dolan ’13 and Spencer Hurst, the no. 1 and no. 3 seed, respectively, Middlebury will have to rely on their depth to continue their success in the years to come.
(02/20/13 6:14pm)
While the Middlebury men’s squash team has had a respite in matches over the past week in preparation for nationals, the women were busy competing in the national competition held at Yale Univ. this past weekend, Feb. 15-17. Going into the weekend, the Panthers were ranked 11th in the nation, and therefore played in the Kurtz cup for teams ranked in the 9-16 positions.
In their first match in the quarterfinals against Franklin & Marshall, the Panthers went 9-0 in match score with nearly all matches ending in three straight sets. The Panthers then moved on to the semifinals on Saturday to play Bates, but fell to the Bobcats by a match score of 3-6. The Panthers gained wins from Saskia Pownall-Gray ’16, Amanda Chen ’14, and Tiffany Hau ’16. Hau was the only Panther to remain undefeated over the course of the weekend.
After falling in the semifinals to Bates, the Panthers moved on to the third place match on Sunday and fell in an incredibly tight match to Columbia University by a match score of 4-5. The top four seeds, Charlotte Dewey ’15, Abby Jenkins ’14, Annie Wymard ’15, and Hau defeated their Columbia opponents. Meanwhile, three of the five remaining seeds played their matches to five sets in what was one of the Middlebury women’s closest matchups of the year. After falling to Columbia, Middlebury finished the tournament – and their season – with the number-twelve ranking nationally.
Number-one seed Dewey commented on the Panthers’ play this weekend and reflected on the season as a whole.
“Overall we were really happy with our performance this season,” she said. “Our national ranking and success over the course of the season can largely be attributed to the depth we have. Although it would have been nice to beat Columbia, we were really happy with our finish in nationals this past weekend. Everyone played their hearts out in that final match, and as a whole we ended the season with high spirits that should role on into next year.”
After seeing a very successful season this past year, it appears as though the Middlebury women’s team has a significant amount of young talent, and should be exciting to watch in years to come.
The men’s team will travel to Dartmouth to compete in Team Nationals Feb. 22-24. The men are ranked 16th nationally after falling most recently to St. Lawrence 9-0 on Feb. 6.
Both teams and the entire squash community saw their championship season schedule change as complications from winter storm Nemo forced the cancellation of the D3 singles invitational on Feb. 9. The men’s team will have to look to come out strong at Team Nationals despite having not competed in a match since Feb. 6.
(02/13/13 10:18pm)
The Middlebury men’s and women’s squash teams continued their string of success to close out the regular season and NESCAC tournament as the year winds down.
In its last regular season match, the Panthers women’s team triumphed over Columbia by winning 6-3. Charlotte Dewey ’15 led the win against Columbia in the number one spot for the Panthers, coming away with a victory in five sets. The remaining five match wins came from Zoe Carey ’16, Saskia Pownall-Gray ’16, Amanda Chen ’14, Lindsay Becker ’13 and Katie Dewey ’15, the five through nine spots respectively. Three of those five matches were also won in five sets.
Meanwhile, the men’s team came up short in its match against Columbia, losing 5-4. Middlebury’s Parker Hurst ’14, Robert Gallucio ’15 Reed Palmer ’15, and Will Hanely ’15 defeated their Lion opponents. This however, was not enough for Middlebury to gain the win over perennial powerhouse and 10th-ranked Columbia.
On Feb. 2, both the men and women’s teams traveled down to Hartford, Conn. to compete in the NESCAC championship held at Trinity College. Going into the tournament seeded fourth in the 11-team bracket, the Middlebury men finished in that same spot, behind Trinity, Williams and Bates, in that order.
After receiving a bye for their first-round match, the Panthers took on Bowdoin, handling the Polar Bears by a match score of 8-1. This placed Middlebury in their third straight NESCAC semifinal appearance against top-ranked powerhouse Trinity.
The Panthers fell to Trinity by a match score of 0-9. After losing to Trinity, Middlebury played in the third place match set against Bates College and lost 2-7. Sophomore Will Hanley ’15 and junior Will Moore ’14 were the only Panthers that bettered their Bates opponents. Trinity went on to win their seventh NESCAC championship against Williams College.
Spencer Hurst ’13 was content with his team’s tournament performance.
“We were happy to have a truly decisive win over Bowdoin after having previously close matches with them,” said Hurst. “Although we lost against Trinity, it was a good experience and fun to play against such great talent. Overall we were happy about our performance, but would have liked to have a better outcome in the Bates match. We will most likely see them at nationals and we look to put forth a better result.”
Meanwhile, the Middlebury women, going into the weekend seeded third in the tournament, also finished in the same place as their seed, falling behind top-ranked Trinity and Williams College.
After earning a bye for the first round of match play the Panther women faced Bowdoin College, shutting them out in a match score of 9-0. The Panthers then advanced to the quarterfinals against
NESCAC rival Williams, where they lost in a close battle by a match score of 6-3.
To finish the weekend, the Middlebury women beat Bates by a match score of 6-3 to earn the third place finish. All six wins came from the bottom six seeds for Middlebury, speaking to the depth on this year’s team. The Trinity women’s team also placed first in the NESCAC championship, beating Williams College by a score of 9-0.
After the weekend of NESCAC championship play, the Middlebury men then traveled to ninth-ranked St. Lawrence, falling by a match score of 9-0. Both Spencer and Parker Hurst played their matches to five games against their St. Lawrence opponents.
After a short respite, the Middlebury men will travel to Yale to play in the national team tournament beginning on Feb. 22. Meanwhile, the women will travel to Yale a week earlier to play in the same national tournament on the weekend of the Feb. 15.
(01/24/13 12:51am)
The Middlebury squash team had another action-packed weekend this past Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 18-20, with both the men’s and women’s teams traveling to New Haven, Conn., for the Yale round robin. Both teams played three matches over the course of the weekend.
The men’s team took on Cornell, Franklin & Marshall and George Washington University, while the women’s team had matches against Cornell, Franklin & Marshall and Yale. While the women were able to handle the Franklin & Marshall Diplomats with ease, winning 9-0, they struggled against Cornell and Yale, losing 9-0 to both of the perennial powerhouses. The men, meanwhile, had a tougher time with Franklin & Marshall and Cornell as well losing 9-0 and 6-3, respectively. They were, however, victorious in the match against George Washington, winning by a match score of 6-3.
In the men’s match against Cornell, the Middlebury seven, eight and nine-seeds, Harrison Croll ’16, Reed Palmer ’15 and Willy Clarke ’15, respectively, were able to pull off wins against their Cornell opponents.
These three also pulled off wins in their matches against George Washington. Their wins were complemented with wins from Parker Hurst ’14, Spencer Hurst ’13 and Andrew Jung ’16, en route to securing the victory. Both of the Hurst brothers beat their opponents in five-game matches in order to secure the wins.
For the men, the win versus George Washington will help their standing in the national rankings. Furthermore, many of their matches against Franklin & Marshall were close affairs, an encouraging sign for the team given that the Diplomats are ranked sixth in the nation.
This weekend’s match play also speaks to the depth of the squad, as many of the lower-seeded players were major factors in allowing Middlebury to compete against strong opposition.
For the 11-th ranked women, a win versus Franklin & Marshall should boost their national seeding, while losses against Yale and Cornell, who are ranked third and sixth, respectively as of Jan. 13, should have relatively little negative impact.
“We played really well by going 3-6 against a top-five Cornell team,” said captain Spencer Hurst. “Although we lost against F&M, all of the matches were close which is good for our team considering F&M is ranked six nationally. Our biggest match was against George Washington on Sunday and we were able to beat them, which is huge for our team. Overall we had an awesome weekend, and the depth that was demonstrated by our seven, eight, and nine seeds this weekend is key to going forward.”
This coming weekend, the men’s team will host the Middlebury Invitational in which the team will play matches against Columbia, Bard and University of Vermont, while the women will play one match against Columbia on Saturday Jan. 26. The matches will be pivotal for the Panthers in helping them prepare for the NESCAC championships, which will be played the following weekend. Both teams will be traveling to Trinity for the NESCAC Tournament, which take place from Feb. 1-3. Last season, both the men and the women had third place finishes.
(01/17/13 2:31am)
The Middlebury Men’s and Women’s Squash teams have continued their string of early season success in the start of the next segment of their season this winter term. After a brief respite in match play over December break, the Panther Men and Women have returned with decisive wins over fellow NESCAC teams Bowdoin and Colby College. The Panther men won the Bowdoin and Colby matches 6-3 and 9-0 respectively, while the Panther women won both of those matches by a score of 8-1.
The Panther women faced a tough week this week with matches against Mt. Holyoke, Williams, Amherst and Connecticut College. Middlebury was able to capture wins against Mt. Holyoke, Amherst, and Connecticut College by scores of 7-2, 7-2, and 9-0 respectively.
The Middlebury women did, however, fall short of a win in a nail-biting match against perennial powerhouse Williams College in which they lost 5-4. Charlotte Dewey ’15, remained undefeated in all four of her matches after defeating the no. two players of each of the four teams. Annie Wymard ’15 garnered two wins against the no. three seeds from Connecticut College and Amherst College.
The success of the women’s team can also largely be attributed to a number of underclassmen players who have stepped up successfully to fill important positions in the teams seeding order.
“While we lost to Williams, it was a great environment to play in due to the large crowd and vocal fans which makes matches like that enjoyable despite having lost,” said Wymard.
Like Wymard, Dewey was equally positive about the team’s latest matches.
“It was a squash filled weekend, and we ended up playing really well,” said Dewey. “We won three out of the four matches and had a great run against Williams despite the loss. Overall it was a great weekend of squash and we hope to carry the momentum into next weekend when we play Cornell, Yale and F&M.”
The Panther men also faced a tough weekend with three matches played in a three day span against Williams, Amherst and Connecticut College. Although the men’s team fell to Williams by a match score of 7-2, they were able to bounce back with two wins against Amherst College and Connecticut College by scores of 7-2 and 9-0 respectively. Parker Hurst ’14 remained undefeated over the course of the weekend while playing in the no. 2 spot for the Panthers.
Both the men’s and women’s squash teams rolled past visiting Hamilton on Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 15, with both squads winning 9-0. The men went to four games at the number-four and number-five slots, but otherwise had little trouble with the 21st-ranked Continentals. On the women’s side, the Panthers swept through the top eight matches, before Annie Ulrich ’13 went to a fifth game before defeating her opponent in the ninth slot. The Hamilton women entered the day as the nation’s 16th-ranked team.
Coach John Illig earned his 500th career win over the weekend with his career record remaining at 506-314. Illig has coached Squash at a number of top ranked college for over 22 years.
The Panther men face a mid-week match against Hamilton at home, and matches against Cornell and Franklin & Marshall at the Yale Round Robin this coming weekend. The Panther women will also face the same schedule for the next week.
“This weekend will prove to be a challenge as well when we face both Cornell and Yale, but I think the main focal point this weekend will be to continue to coach each other well and supporting one another from the sidelines and hope that our two-a-days pay off,” said Wymard.
(12/05/12 6:22pm)
The Middlebury men’s squash team continued their early season string of success this past weekend, Nov. 30 to Dec. 2, going 2-1 over three days of matches this past weekend both at home and at Dartmouth. Despite falling 1-8 to the perennial powerhouse United States Naval Academy on Friday evening, the Panther Men quickly recovered and fought hard to win both of their matches versus Bowdoin and Drexel by team scores of 5-4.
In their match against Navy on Friday night, the Panther men garnered their only individual win from Parker Hurst ’14 in the number-two spot, who won his match in four games. Despite losing the other eight individual matches, five of them were played to five games, indicating that the team results could have certainly gone a different way.
On Saturday, the Panther men travelled to Dartmouth where they played in a round robin versus 20th-ranked Bowdoin. Middlebury took the first match versus Bowdoin by a team score of 5-4. They then rallied back at home on Sunday, and taking a match 5-4 against 24th-ranked Drexel in a nail-biting finish that came down to captain Jay Dolan ’13 winning his number-one spot match in five games against Drexel’s Ibrahim Bakir. Other notable performances in the Drexel match include wins from Robert Galuccio ’13 in the number-five spot, and wins from Harrison Croll ’15, Will Hanley ’15, and Willy Clarke ’15 in the seven, eight and nine-spots, respectively.
“We were happy with the two good tight wins over Drexel and Bowdoin,” said co-captain Spencer Hurst ’13. “Different guys have been stepping up in each match, which is good to see. However, we need to keep working hard over break to assure a successful J-term.”
The women’s squash team, with a much lighter schedule, won its match by a team score of 7-2 versus Drexel on Sunday. The women won their three, four, five, sox, seven, eight and nine-spot matches all in three or four games. Despite losses in, their top two-spot matches, both were finished close, as each was played to four games.
Both teams have a break over the next few weeks until matches start again in early January.
(11/28/12 11:30pm)
The Middlebury men and women’s cross country teams topped off one of their most successful seasons to date in the Nov. 17 NCAA Cross Country Championship.
Racing at the LaVerne Gibson Cross Country Championship Course in Terre Haute, Ind., the Middlebury men finished eighth in a 32-team field, while the women finished 11th in a 32-team field. The Middlebury men finished behind first place team North Central College, as well as NESCAC rivals Bates and Tufts, among other teams. Meanwhile the women finished behind first-placed Johns Hopkins as well as NESCAC rival Williams College who placed fourth in the race. The Middlebury women were just two points away from taking a top-10 finish from Hope College.
“It was very exciting for the men’s team to break the top 10 as this is only the third time that the men’s team has even made it to NCAAs,” Wilkerson said. “The women as well had a strong day, and missed the top 10 by one point.”
Captain Jack Davies ’13 led the men’s team to its best finish at an NCAA championship in program history.
“I think the coolest part about nationals was for about an hour and a half after the race, there was a timing error, and I wasn’t in the results,” Davies said. “The team was 12th without me, as the number one runner, and that’s better than we did last year. It shows that we’re a super-deep team and we’ve got a great future.”
Davies, who was named an All-American, finished 21st of 280 racers with a time of 24:57 in the eight-kilometer race — the best finish for a men’s runner in school history. The other top performers for the men included Patrick Hebble ’13 (58th), Nate Sans ’14 (81st), Kevin Wood ’15 (114th) and Wilder Schaaf ’14 (126th).
The Middlebury women were led by Panther standout Addie Tousley ’13 who finished fourth overall in the 277-women race. Tousley finished the six-kilometer race with a time of 21:14.70, just 21 seconds behind first place finisher Christy Cazzola of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Her finish was followed by 62nd, 124th, 127th and 162nd place finishes from Lucy Whipps ’14, Alison Maxwell ’15, Emily Atwood ’14 and Kate Rominger ’14, respectively. Tousley, like her teammate Davies, received NCAA All-American honors for her performance in the championship race and for her racing throughout the fall season.
Solid finishes from juniors and sophomores on both the men’s and women’s teams speak to Middlebury’s depth this season.
“This past season was totally about the team for both the men and the women,” said Wilkerson. “There have been some great individual performances and highlights but it always is about the team’s accomplishments. The teams relied on each other, raising the bar in training and practices.”
The teams now looks to next season, when they will need to fill the void of the graduating All-Americans Tousley and Davies. A talented crop of underclassmen will keep them in contention, speaking to the tremendous strides the program has made. Davies points to the work of Wilkerson.
“If you look at the progression of where this team has come, say over the last ten years since Coach Wilkerson got here … in Nicole’s first year here, we finished 41st of 42 teams at regionals, and in the span of ten years since she’s been here she’s taken us to regional champions,” he said.
(11/28/12 7:02pm)
Looking to build on a 16-9 finish from a year ago, the 14th-ranked Middlebury men’s squash team opened up its season at the M.I.T. Round Robin Tournament in Boston on Saturday, Nov. 17. The Panthers dismantled a trio of opponents, sweeping M.I.T. and Northeastern 9-0 while only dropping one match to NESCAC foe Wesleyan, the 23rd-ranked team in the country in an 8-1 win.
“It felt really good to get our first matches under our belt this season,” said Spencer Hurst ’13. “I think everyone was happy with how we played and now it’s time to keep the good performances rolling.”
Jay Dolan ’13 played in the top spot on the men’s team for the first time in his Middlebury career, defeating all of his opponents in straight sets. Dolan had no trouble in his match against M.I.T., taking down his Engineer opponent in straight sets: 11-7, 11-2 and 11-2. Against Wesleyan, Dolan won 11-7, 11-6 and 11-9. He followed that with another sweep against Northeastern winning the sets 11-5, 11-2 and 11-3. In fact, the Panther men won all but four of 27 matches in straight sets marking a dominant opening showing for the team.
In the women’s bracket at the M.I.T. tournament, meanwhile, the 11th-ranked women’s team managed a clean sweep with three 9-0 victories. Middlebury defeated Wellesley, Wesleyan and Northeastern. Sophomore Charlotte Dewey ’15 anchored the lineup for the women’s team, competing as the top seed for the first time in her Middlebury career. Dewey dropped just one set in her three matches — the only set lost by any member of the team. After convincing performances last week, both teams now sit at 3-0 in the early going with NESCAC play around the corner.
The men’s team hosts Navy and Drexel this Friday and Sunday while traveling to Dartmouth to play Bowdoin Saturday. The women, meanwhile, play just one match this weekend when they host Drexel on Sunday, Dec. 2.
While both squads have dominated their opposition, they will face tougher competition in the week ahead.
“Everyone played pretty well for our first matches,” said Parker Hurst ’14. “It was a solid way to start of the season but we are going to have a tough weekend with Navy, Bowdoin and Drexel.”
The match with Navy will mark the third time in two years the teams have met. The Panthers and the Midshipmen split the series last year as the Panthers won the regular season meeting 5-4 before Navy exacted its revenge, knocking Middlebury out of team nationals by the same score.
NESCAC play begins in earnest for both the men’s and women’s teams in the new year when both teams travel to Williamstown, Mass. for the Williams Round Robin Tournament on Jan. 5.
(11/15/12 12:33am)
The Middlebury men’s and women’s cross country teams continued their streak of success this season, with the Panther men taking first and the Panther women taking third at the NCAA Regional Final this past Saturday, Nov. 10, at Westfield State University.
The men were able to edge out the 49 other teams, including fellow NESCAC competitors Bowdoin and Bates, for their first NCAA Regional title with a score of 91 points. Due to difficulties computing the final team scores the men learned that they had won only once they were in line to accept individual awards.
“It was very cool to be with your team and get surpised with that together,” said men’s team co-captain Jack Davies ’13.
The Middlebury women, meanwhile, placed right behind MIT and NESCAC rival Williams in the 51-team field, with a score of 89 points.
Davies, who placed third in a nail-biting finish with a time of 24:51.56 in the eight kilometer race, led the men. Davies finished just 20 milliseconds after first-place finisher Coby Horowitz of Bowdoin and nine milliseconds after second-place finisher Samuel Seekins of Bowdoin as well. While Bowdoin took the top two spots in the race, Davies’ performance was followed up by a team-wide effort with Nate Sans ’14, co-captain Patrick Hebble ’13, Kevin Wood ’15 and Greg Krathwohl ’14 finishing in 18th, 19th, 25th and 26th places, respectively. These strong efforts were crucial in allowing Middlebury to secure the top spot with the lowest amount of cumulative points of the entire field.
“It shows we’re a deep, well-rounded team,” Davies said. “Our two, three, four and five runners finished right together. It shows that we work with each other, it’s evidence of our training with each other all year and shows that we have confidence in one another.”
Addie Tousley ’13 led the Middlebury women by finishing second in the 361-women’s 6K race, with a time of 21:07.13. Tousley finished closely behind Amherst racer Keri Lambert who placed first with a time of 20:48.94. Tousley’s performance was complemented by a 13th place finish from Lucy Whipps ’15, and 21st, 24th, 29th and 30th-place finishes from Emily Attwood ’14, Sarah Guth ’15, Alison Maxwell ’15 and Katie Rominger ’14, respectively.
Each of the top-five Panther men racers and the top-six Panther women’s racers earned All-New England Honors for finishing in the top-35 finishes in the race.
Women’s tri-captain Juliet Ryan-Davis ’13 commented on the team’s level of excitement heading into the NCAA championships.
“This is an exciting opportunity for both the men’s and women’s teams,” said Ryan-Davis. “Making it to NCAA’s in such good standing within the New England region is a huge accomplishment already. Our teams have been focusing all season long on tightening the gap between every runner. Now it’s just a matter of putting it all out there and seeing what we can do.”
The strong finishes from both Panther teams secured spots for the two squads in this weekends NCAA championship. Middlebury will travel to Terre Haute, Indiana this coming Saturday to compete against 31 other teams and 56 individual qualifiers from around the nation in hopes of winning a national championship.
(11/08/12 12:38am)
Despite sitting many of their top runners, both the Middlebury men’s and women’s cross country teams competed successfully at the Eastern College Athletic Conference this past Saturday. The Middlebury women captured the win in a 41-team race finishing with an overall point score of 31, well ahead of second place finisher Tufts University. Meanwhile the Middlebury men’s team finished fifth in the 43-team field behind four fellow NESCAC teams.
In the 6K race held at Mt. Greylock High School in Williamstown, Mass. the women were paced by Lucy Whipps ’14, who placed second with an overall time of 22:57.21. Whipps finished just three seconds behind first place Drew University racer Jeniffer Van Wingerden. She was named NESCAC Performer of the Week for her strong race.
Four women runners for the Panthers finished in the top 11, and six runners placed in the top 15 as well. Summer Spillane ’15, Olivia Artaiz ’16, Juliet Ryan-Davies ’13 and Kate Leib ’16 finished in 6th-, 7th-, 10th- and 11th-place, respectively, speaking to the depth of the women’s team.
The Middlebury men’s team was led by Sebastian Matt ’16, who placed 18th with a time of 27:17.54 in the 8K race. Matt will be the alternate runner for the Panthers in the NCAA Regional Championships. Matt was followed by Panther runners Samuel Cartwright ’16, who finished 25th; Lucas Carpinello ’16, who finished in 32nd; Mac Stormont ’13, coming in 33rd; and Aaron DeToledo ’16 in 55th place.
The strong performances of both the men’s and women’s teams attests to the depth and young talent, as many of Middlebury’s top finishers were first-years and sophomores.
“We’re as deep a team as any othe other teams we will comete against in the next three years,” said senior captain Jack Davies ’13. “That depth is going to help us continue to improve next year and the year after.”
The men and women posted strong results without the help of many other top Middlebury runners as they rested in preparation for this coming Saturday’s NCAA Regional competition.
“[The week off] gave us a bit of a mental separation between NESCACs and Regionals which lets you put the race out of your mind and think about it in terms of the next race,” said Davies.
The NCAA Regional Championships this weekend will be held at Westfield State University in Westfield, Mass. on Nov. 10.
(10/31/12 8:33pm)
The Middlebury men’s and women’s cross-country teams both placed second out of the 11-team fields in the NESCAC Championships held at Bowdoin College this past Saturday. The second place finishes were great signs of success for the Panthers as the NESCAC is notorious for its highly competitive cross-country teams.
The Middlebury men’s eight-kilometer, 124-man race was highlighted by a fourth-place finish from senior captain Jack Davies ’13 with a time of 24:32.83. Davies finished just six seconds behind first-place finisher Coby Horowitz of Bowdoin. Davies’ performance was complemented by a 10th-place finish from Nate Sans ’14, a 15th-place finish from Kevin Wood ’15 and an 18th-place finish from Greg Krathwohl ’14. With the help of these top finishes, along with other top-30 finishes from captain Patrick Hebble ’13 and Wilder Schaaf ’14, the Middlebury men were able to capture the second-place team finish overall, losing by only three points to Tufts.
Senior Addie Tousley ’13 led the Panther women, finishing with a time of 21:20.62 in the 6K race, earning her second place in the 125-woman field. Tousley finished 47 seconds after Amherst senior Keri Lambert. The Panthers were also aided by 10th-, 11th- and 24th-place finishes by Emily Atwood ’14, Sarah Guth ’15 and Katie Rominger ’14 respectively, among other Middlebury top-30 finishes. The Panthers finished as the runner ups behind Williams who defended its NESCAC Championship win in 2011.
Going into the race the men’s and women’s teams were ranked fifth and second respectively in the NESCAC.
“This was a really true team performance,” said coach Nicole Wilkerson after the races. “Going into the conference meet we hadn’t seen many teams in our conference. We knew that we were going against high quality teams. It was great to see that we lined up well against them.”
Wilkerson also noted that it was great to see the Middlebury teams perform so well given that most of the training they have been doing of late is for future races.
Not only was this past race a true team performance, but also it demonstrated the ability for some of the younger runners to step up when needed as seen by the top-15 finishes from sophomores Guth and Wood.
Both the men’s and women’s teams have a tough schedule ahead of them, beginning with the ECAC Championship in Williamstown, Mass. next Saturday with a field of over 50 teams
(10/10/12 11:24pm)
The Middlebury men’s and women’s cross country teams continued their recent string of success by securing wins in both races at this past Saturday’s Westfield State Invitational. The men and women won their respective 40- and 43- team meets by a substantial point margin. Each Middlebury runner who was counted in the scoring system for both the men’s and women’s race placed in the top 10.
The highlight of the Middlebury men’s performance was a first place finish out of a 429-man field for senior captain Jack Davies ’13, with a time of 25:40.96 for the eight-kilometer race. Davies’s win was followed by third, fourth and fifth place finishes by Panther runners Nate Sans ’ 14, Patrick Hebble ’13 and Kevin Wood ’15, respectively. None of the other Division I, II or III teams came close to Middlebury’s final score.
The Panthers team win was followed by two NESCAC second and third place finishes by Amherst and Connecticut College, respectively.
The Middlebury women’s race was highlighted by a second place finish from senior racer Addie Tousley ’13 in the 453-woman race. Tousley finished the six-kilometer run with a time of 21:50.61, roughly 20 seconds behind Amherst runner Keri Lambert. Tousley’s finish was complemented with top-10 finishes from Katie Rominger ‘14, Emily Atwood ’13, Sarah Guth ’15 and Allison Maxwell ’15.
The win comes days after the Middlebury women’s team was ranked third nationally in Divison III, behind Williams and MIT in the most recent United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Poll.
Tousley’s second place finish comes a week after she sat out of the Vermont State Meet, and two weeks after her first place finish at the Purple Valley Classic. The week of rest was designed to put Tousley in a good position for upcoming meets. The program as a whole benefits from the example of the older runners.
“It seems as though the men’s success can significantly be attributed to upperclassmen strength and leadership as four of Middlebury’s five top 10 finishes came from upperclassmen runners,” Tousley said.
Likewise, the Middlebury women had three upperclassmen out of their five top 10 finishers.
The Panthers will race again this Saturday at the St. Michael’s Invitational in Colchester, Vt. The meet is the last that both the women’s and men’s teams will race before the NESCAC championship at Bowdoin College on Oct. 27.
(10/03/12 8:58pm)
The Middlebury men’s and women’s cross country teams displayed their state-wide dominance by placing first in the Vermont State Championship held at Lyndon State College on Saturday, Sept. 29. Both teams won the eight and nine-team fields for the women and men, respectively by a sizeable margin, with almost all the runners finishing in the top 15 in both races. The victory came days after the women were ranked fourth nationally, and the men were ranked 12th nationally on Sept. 26th by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll.
The women’s race was highlighted by the performance of sophomore runner Katie Carlson ’15 who finished first in the 5K women’s race with a time of 20:21.6. Carlson, however, was not alone in her top finish as the women took each of the top seven place finishes out of the 71-woman race.
On the men’s side, Nate Sans ’14 placed first in the 86-man race with a time of 28:23.4, followed by teammate Greg Karthwhol ’14 who placed third in the race with a time of 28:30.1. Similar to the women, the men dominated the top finishes of the race placing 12 of the team’s runners in the top 15.
Both the men’s and women’s commanding performances came without the help of several top upperclassmen runners for both sides. Senior captains Emily Atwood ’13 and Kate Rominger ’13 and previous NESCAC Performer of the Week Addie Tousley ’13 were all missing from the women’s race while senior captains Patrick Hebble ’13 and Jack Davies ’13 along with a few other Panther runners were missing from the men’s race. These racers were sitting out of the perennially Middlebury dominated state race in order to recover from an intense four week start to the season.
“The team’s performance speaks to [its] depth and ability to rely on younger runners in order to adequately rest those that need a break,” commented coach Nicole Wilkerson on the success of the younger and less experienced Middlebury runners.
The tournament win is another indication that both the men’s and women’s team are on the right path towards getting themselves ready for a successful postseason, now less than a month away.
Middlebury will race Saturday, Oct. 6, in the Westfield State Invitational held in Westfield, Mass. The race will include 31 different schools across all tree NCAA Divisions, giving the Panthers a good opportunity to test themselves against top-flight competition.
“We are really looking forward to the bigger meet this coming Saturday,” Wilkerson said. “It will not only give us an opportunity to see the course at Westfield State, where we will compete again for the Division III New England Regional Championships in November but the competition [with teams from Division I and II] will be fun.
(09/26/12 11:48pm)
The Middlebury men’s and women’s cross country teams raced in the Purple Valley Classic this weekend, held at Mt. Greylock High School in Williamstown, Mass. The men’s cross country team, with a pre-race ranking of nine out of the 15-team field placed second overall behind Williams, while the women’s team placed third overall in the 17-team field, behind Williams and MIT. This performance comes a week after the men’s and women’s overall victory in the Aldrich Invitational, Middlebury’s only home meet of the season.
The highlight of the women’s cross country six-kilometer race was the performance of Middlebury senior Addie Tousley ’13, who placed first overall out of a 215-woman field with a time of 21:50. This victory comes days after Tousley placed first in the Aldrich Invitational, and subsequently was named NESCAC Performer of the Week for her display.
Other notable efforts from the women’s competition at Purple Valley include Kate Rominger ’14 and Lucy Whipps ’14 finishing in fifth and 21st place, respectively.
The men’s cross country team, which placed second, was led by co-captain Patrick Hebble ’13, who placed third overall in the 208-man field.
Hebble ran the eight-kilometer race with a time of 26:20, averaging a 5:18 mile throughout the race. This performance was complemented by an eighth-place finish from senior co-captain Jack Davies ’13 who finished with a time of 26:34.
Davies’ performance comes two weeks after being named NESCAC Performer of the Week on Sept. 10, a result of his strong showing in the Dartmouth Invitational against Dartmouth and Syracuse.
Other top runners in the Purple Valley Classic included Kevin Wood ’15, Anthony Lee ’13 and Greg Krathwohl who finished 21st, 22nd and 23rd overall, respectively.
After finishing at the bottom of the three-team field at the season-opening Dartmouth Classic, the performances at the Purple Valley Classic from the men’s and women’s cross country teams are further indications that both groups are back on track towards having successful seasons.
“The team was generally pleased with how we finished overall, although many on the team felt as though they needed to work on their individual performance,” Hebble said. “Coming after four of our hardest weeks of the season, it was impressive that we were able to place second. I think this says a lot about our team’s depth this year.”
The recent success can be attributed to leadership from veteran, upperclassmen runners on both the men’s and women’s teams.
For the men’s team, however, Hebble believes that the upcoming Vermont State Meet at Lyndon State College this Saturday Sept. 29, will give some of the younger runners an opportunity to lead the team as many of the upperclassmen runners will rest this week.
The cross country teams swept the State Meet with a similar strategy last year, resting many of their top runners in preparation for NESCACs in October.