sportsbriefs

Author: Peter Baumann

First-years lead track

The Middlebury indoor track team traveled to Maine this past weekend to take on three other teams at Bowdoin. The women turned in an impressive outing, winning six different events. While Jennifer Brenes '09 won the 55-meter hurdles, and Jennifer Currie '08 took the 20-pound weight throw, the day belonged to the Middlebury first-years. Katy Magill '11 won the 200-meters, Grace Close '11 won the 600-meters and Kaitlynn Saldanha '11 won the 1000-meters. Classmate Sophia Spring '11 also tacked on a victory in the mile.

The men were once again paced by Jimmy Butcher '08, who finished second in the mile with an impressive time of 4:24.06. He was joined on the podium by Ian O'Reilly '08, who recorded a third-place finish in the 600-meters. In the field events, Joel Valverde '09 leapt to a second-place finish in the triple jump and Kristoffer Williams '11 added to Middlebury's first-year-dominance with a third-place finish in the pole vault.


Men's hockey drops third straight, falls to 14-6-2

The men's hockey team added to their late season woes last week, losing a 4-3 decision to UMass-Boston. The loss marked the third straight for the Panthers leading into their final weekend of the year. Middlebury easily outshot the Beacons 45-25, but were stifled by UMass goaltender Ryan Donovan who finished the evening with 42 saves. UMass-Boston took an early lead on a goal from Steve Ebbole, and Devin Hutchinson added another goal just two minutes later for a 2-0 lead. Michael Kretschmer '11 got things started for the Panthers with a power-play goal at 7:06 of the second period, but Kris Kranzy answered for the Beacons just 83 seconds later. Robert MacIntyre's '08 first goal of the year brought Middlebury to within a goal, getting an assist from Tom Maldono '08. The assist was the 100th point of the senior's distinguished career. Casey Ftorek '08 tied the game up with a little over two minutes remaining in the contest, but Eric Tufman put the Beacons up for good just 23 seconds later. Ross Cherry '08 finished with 21 saves.


Women to face Tufts, Feb. 23

The Middlebury women's basketball team finished up the regular season with a 68-58 loss to Connecticut College. The loss dropped the Panthers' league record to 4-5, and earned them the seventh seed for the upcoming NESCAC championship. The Camels won the game on the glass, finishing with a 46-32 advantage in rebounds. Aylie Baker '09 and Ashley Barron '09 led the Panthers with 11 points each. Emily Johnson '09 chipped in with five assists, and tri-captain Lani Young '08 pulled down nine rebounds to go along with her six points. Their efforts were not enough to slow down the Camels, due in large part to the efforts of Lindsay Michel. Michel scored a game-high 19 points, helping Connecticut College to their first winning season since the '96-'97 season. Middlebury trailed by two at the half, and later fell behind 54-46. The Panthers were able to close the gap to six, but Connecticut College used stellar free throw shooting down the stretch to bury the visitors.

The women now travel to Tufts to take on the Jumbos in a first round NESCAC match-up.