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Men's basketball team tears apart Polar Bears

The men's basketball team was busy this past weekend as they traveled to Maine to play fellow NESCAC competitors Colby and Bowdoin. The Panthers took down the Mules 65-60 on Jan. 18, thanks in part to the great play of Ashton Coghlan '11, who came off the bench and scored 19 points. Middlebury fell behind early in the game, but strung together some baskets and went into halftime with a six-point lead.

Middlebury extended that lead to as many as 12 throughout the second half, but Colby was able to get within three with one minute remaining. But the Panthers were able to hold on. Aaron Smith '09 chipped in with 15 points and six boards, while Tim Edwards '09.5 had 12 points and seven rebounds.

The Panthers carried their momentum to Bowdoin and led by eight points at the half. The Polar Bears cut that lead to five early in the second half, but co-captain Mike Walsh '08 sparked the Panthers onto what proved to be a decisive 18-5 run. Walsh led all scorers with 15 points and 11 rebounds, Ben Rudin had 14 points and four steals.

This weekend-sweep marked a strong opening of NESCAC play for the team, which will play this Friday at home at 7:00 p.m. with a big game against nationally-ranked Amherst.
- Jeb Burchenal, Staff Writer


Astolfi '11 wins the long jump event at U.V.M.

Middlebury's indoor track teams both had strong showings as they fielded young and small squads in a three-way meet with McGill and UVM on Saturday, Jan. 19 in Burlington, Vt. The women scored in five events, with Allison Astolfi '11 winning the long jump at 4.81 meters and Elyse McNiff '08 taking the triple jump uncontested.

Other placers included Kaitlynn Saldanha '11 in the 800-meter, Christina Kunycky '11 and Erin Toner '11 in the 1000m and Jen Brenes '09 in the 55-meter hurdles and long jump.

The men's races were highlighted by a one-two finish in the 800-meter by Connor Wood '11 (1:26.72) and Ben Fowler '09 (1:27.06), and by a first-year clean sweep of the pole vault from Kristoffer Williams '11, Adam Dede '11 and Abhishek Sripad '11. Sean Maye '11 took second in the 300-meter, Andres Gonzalez-Stewart '09 was fourth in the 3,000-meter, and Robbie Athan '10 came up big on his final jump to claim second in the long jump.

The Panthers will compete again this Saturday, Jan. 26 when they travel to take on Army.
­- Livingston Burgess, Staff Writer ­