Photo by Tela Ebersole

How would you describe this season?

Coming into the season, I was very excited because I was just happy to do track again from my study abroad. It’s been good in a sense that I started placing better compared to two previous seasons.

Did you keep yourself in shape during your semester abroad?

It was very hard to stay in shape because it wasn’t easy to find a gym that had the same [facilities] as the ones we have here. There would only be one or two running machines.

Was there a difficulty in transitioning from not practicing to an actual track season?

Yes, because coming into the season I suffered a couple of injures and I’m actually still recovering from a quad injury. I feel like maybe if I had more off-season practice, I would not be in a position where I’ll be getting injured.

Favorite meet of the season?

The Drake Relays because the 4×400 team managed to qualify for the Drake Relays and it was inspiring to be in a place with Division I athletes and be able to run with players with such high caliber.

What is the best part about running relays?

I just enjoy working with people. People I run relays with are people who I get along well with and who I like to be with.

What is the biggest difference between running indoors and outdoors?

The curves. Outdoors curves are less sharp. For a runner, you’re able to run 400 meters in a much shorter time outside because you only have to run around once. In indoors, you have to run twice. Psychologically, it feels good to only have to run around once.

Who is your funniest teammate?

Ronald [Edwards] ’14. He knows how to turn any situation into a funny one. We could be having the hardest workout and he would just say one thing and he would make us laugh.

How does it feel to be a senior next year?

I’m ready for it. Right now, I have ideas of what to do after Grinnell. I feel like as a senior, I’ll have more concrete ideas. I just want to know what my next steps will be.

The Pioneers defeated Carroll 5-1in the semifinals and handled Lawrence 5-0 in the title match.

“I had fearful thoughts that if we don’t win [Conference] this year, how are we going to rebuild 10 years of winning?” said head coach Andy Hamilton. “It is always a piece of success that we want the most because it can be our culminating experience each year.”

The Pioneers faced Carroll in the semi-finals. The No. 2 doubles team of Tracy Johnson ’16 and Colin Johnson ’13 and No. 3 doubles team of Benjamin Charney ’15 and Aaron Lapkin ’15 got the Pioneers up 2-1.

Then, singles victories by Emilio Gomez ’15, C.J. Ray ’16, and Tracy Johnson propelled the team to a finals matchup against Lawrence. Facing a talented Lawrence team, Grinnell won all three of its doubles competitions.

“Lawrence has a deeper team than us, so it was important for us to get out of the gates quickly,” Gomez said. “The moment we captured three doubles victories [and] were up 3-1, it was a great feeling to know that we only needed to win two singles [to win conference].”

The Pioneers did just that, finishing a complete sweep against Lawrence.

The team attributes their tough regular season schedule to its dominance in conference.

“Compared to last year, we tried to beef up our schedule,” Hamilton said. [Our record] is 22-11, and many of those 11 losses have come from regionally ranked opponents in NCAA Division III or [National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics] ranked opponents.”

Men’s Tennis prepares for next week’s Nationals Tournament at practice. Photo by Greg Hinton.

For a squad with just two healthy seniors that was forced to rely heavily on underclassmen, the tough schedule paid off. Competing in the National Tournament next week, the Pioneers will test their endurance once more. They will first compete in the regional round.

“Hopefully we can advance as far as we can. We know we’re going to run against some tough teams,” Gomez said. “We played a lot of tough competition this season, so we’ll see how we stack up.”

“My hope is that we can translate that good performance against Lawrence into Regionals,” Hamilton added. “The likelihood is we’re going to be either the number four or five seed in a seven team regional, which means we’re going to play someone very similar to us. If we can win on Saturday and make it to the final sixteen, that would really be special.”

With no third year athletes, underclassmen’s performance, again, will be crucial in the tournament. While they played an essential role this year, there is still a need to grow and expand. To climb up the ladder, players need to continue to encourage each other and to possess a resounding sense of confidence.

“We need to keep getting better. If we stay where we are we will be good, but not beat the really good teams,” said Charlie Wilhelm ’15. “When we’re in a tough match, it’s important to pump up each other— not just to fold and accept that we are playing poorly, but to stay positive.”

While Hamilton is hopeful of advancing far into the tournament, he is already very pleased with what he has seen this season.

“My hopes, at the end of the season, are always that we play our best tennis,” he said. “This is sometimes difficult time to play tennis just because of academic rigor. But I’ve been speaking with our team about having all nine positions playing their best. I think we came as close to accomplishing that this season as ever in the championship match.”

The victory halted a losing streak that dated back to 2010 and also marked Grinnell’s first win against Monmouth since 2006.

“The victory was very sweet,” said head coach Amanda Reckamp. “This team has come a long way. We have seen the bottom, but it was so nice to be the ones celebrating at the end of a huge comeback in the bottom of a seventh inning.”

The Pioneers trailed the Fighting Scots 1-0, unable to record a hit until the sixth inning. The team stranded two runners in the sixth, but took full advantage in the seventh inning.

Robin Campbell ’16 and Jordan Matosky ’16 each hit singles to start the seventh. Lindsay Fujimoto ’15 reached first base safely on a fielder’s choice to load the bases. Alissa Hirsh ’16, a basketball player who was playing softball for the first time this weekend to cover for injured players, drove in a run to tie the game thanks to Monmouth shortstop’s error.

“We were all super pumped and proud of all of the contributions everyone made to make the last inning comeback,” Hirsh said. “I was really nervous so Coach Reckamp tried to calm me down by telling me it was just like a free-throw. I guess it worked.”

Then, Aniela Wendt ’14 smacked a game-winning line drive single to drive in the second run, sending the athletes, coaches, and fans into celebration.

“I was extremely happy for Aniela Wendt,” Reckamp said. “She had struggled prior to that at bat; popping a lot of pitches up. But once the ball came off the bat, it was no doubt a line drive up the middle. The players were excited, but I think mostly relieved that we had finally pulled something great off.”

Jennifer Fulton ’15 agreed that the intensity of the game was through the roof.

“I couldn’t watch the batters. We were all cheering in the dugout, hoping we can pull it off. It was perfect when Aniela stepped to the plate and hit a line drive to score a run. I don’t think any of us have been that excited. One of my favorite quotes is from Connie [Lee ’15], who said ‘I’ve never had that much adrenaline even in an organic chemistry test.’”

Photo by Alysia Horcher

The Pioneers seemed to carry this momentum into the second game of Sunday’s double-header, when they almost achieved another comeback performance. Down 2-0, Matosky hit a single to drive in Alyssa Bean ’16 home in the seventh inning.

Then Campbell walked and both runners stole a base, inching closer to another thrilling seventh inning finish. Unfortunately, a groundout ended the game at 2-1.

On the previous day, the Pioneers nearly tasted victory against conference-leading Lake Forest. In the second game of a double-header, Bean hit a two-run home run in the first inning to take a 2-1 lead. Bean also pitched a five-hitter, but gave up four more runs over the rest of the game as Grinnell lost 5-2. Grinnell lost 18-0 in the first game, mustering only five hits.

With Tuesday’s double-header finale against Greenville College canceled, the Pioneers have ended the season with a record of 1-28. But perhaps the team’s season was more promising than their record would indicate.

“We have a lot of new players this year. We have some players who haven’t seen a lot of time in sports general,” Fulton said. “That one win told us that yes our work is paying off, yes all of our time going over the basics is helping. It’s just taking its time.”

The team also suffered from injuries this season. In a team of only 13 players, four suffered season-ending injuries, forcing youngsters to play bigger roles earlier than they expected.

“I am encouraged by the fight our new players have had this year,” Reckamp said. “They were put right in a starting role, had to play major positions and got a lot of balls hit at them.”

Reckamp is hopeful that this season’s challenges means a stronger next season is waiting, driven by these new recruits.

“They all improved greatly from the beginning of the season and they will continue to get better each year,” she said. “They will continue to be major contributors to our program.”

Data from the Student-Athlete Survey of Social Norms, conducted in the fall, reveal only 6.6 percent of current Grinnell student-athletes say their sport is the most important thing in their life. However, for many prospective student-athletes, their biggest link with Grinnell is through the coaching staff.

“I knew that I wanted to keep playing football coming out of high school and so, when I was contacted by [head coach Jeff] Pedersen [’02] and [assistant coach Jason] Martinez, I looked at Grinnell as a prospective school,” said Pioneers defensive back Brendan Ramirez ’16. “I came on a few visits and was happy to see that all the guys on the team acted a lot like my friends back home, which certainly played a factor in my decision to come to Grinnell.”

Recruiting is vital to the existence of competitive varsity athletics at Grinnell.

“You wouldn’t have a team without recruitment,” Pedersen said. “We would have a roster in the single digits if we didn’t spend countless hours recruiting.”

For the struggling softball team, recruiting will be particularly key to turning around the program.

“Especially for softball, it’s crucial for the rebuilding process we’re in,” said softball head coach Amanda Reckamp. “Recruiting is the life of your program—to keep it going, to keep it strong. As of now, we have four committed for softball and are looking for two more to commit in the coming weeks.”

Some other teams in particular will be especially reliant on a strong incoming freshman class next fall. Women’s basketball, for example, is graduating six seniors from its 14-player squad.

“We have eight student-athletes coming in, three posts and five guards,” said women’s basketball head coach Kate Gluckman. “Our incoming freshman class consists of women from many different states—from the Midwest, California, Colorado and Oklahoma—a real diversity of hometowns.”

The swim team is one of the most geographically diverse teams, with players hailing from 25 states and five countries. Assistant men’s and women’s swim coach Tim Hammond attributes this to the effort coaches and student-athletes put into the recruiting process, as well as the team’s structure.

“We try to be really efficient about [recruiting],” he said. “We have a no-cut policy, with a baseline of being able to swim 100 yards of each of the four strokes competitively to be on the team.”

Hammond also looks over high school state meet and club meet results. In swimming, it isn’t as necessary to travel to meets. Divers will send videos to coaches, so their ability can be assessed without traveling.

“Times are pretty telling,” Hammond said.

Other coaches travel throughout the Midwest to gather names and make contacts.

“During the summer, I choose one tournament out of the Midwest to go to and I go to several tournaments in Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri,” Reckamp said. “We get huge recruitment booklets and I evaluate academic and athletic standards and make contacts with individuals and teams to start getting a database of recruits.”

Gluckman conducts her recruiting in a similar fashion.

“I find [players] at AAU tournaments and they also contact me,” she said. “Last summer I traveled to Nebraska, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Chicago and places in Iowa like Ames, which has a really good tournament.”

After making an initial connection, coaches stay in constant contact with recruits. They send basic information about the College, as some recruits have never heard of Grinnell. They notify Admissions for coordination purposes. Then coaches continually update recruits on news about the team and Grinnell, and make sure that they are aware of timelines. Many teams have a Facebook page or a blog that recruits can read.

“As the year goes on, I gauge the mutual interest between me and the recruit about what they are looking for academically and athletically,” Reckamp said.

Current student-athletes play a large role in the recruiting process as well. Coaches rely on their teams to host recruits and to introduce them to Grinnell culture.

“Generally our freshmen and sophomores host. We try to make some kind of connection, either geographic, academic interest or another variable,” Pedersen said.

Hammond agreed. “If they’re a diver, we want to house them with a diver. We want to pick somebody who has a similar disposition, someone they’re going to get along with. Sometimes we choose someone who swims the same events,” he said.

Ramirez emphasized the importance of the host-prospective student relationship.

“I feel that hosting a [prospective student-athlete] allows the host to better acquaint themselves with a future teammate,” he said. “This is important for student-athletes, considering strong bonds between teammates are a quality of any successful team. Acting as a host for a prospective student and teammate is a valuable experience that people should try out at least once while they are here at Grinnell.”

Colin Johnson ’13 serves the ball during practice this week.
Photo by Ellen Schoenmaker

The team has worked hard this season to earn the top rank in the South Division of the MWC.  Andy Hamilton ’85 has been coaching the team for 26 years and is proud of the team performing well in the face of some difficult opponents.

“We played some nationally ranked and regionally ranked teams… Our season, so far, has been one of mixed production—when we play against the ranked opponents, we have difficulty. When we play against the less highly ranked opponents we’ve been very successful,” Hamilton said.  “The challenge for us is to make sure that we can be successful against the less highly ranked opponents and that’s the type of opponent we’ll face this weekend.”

In a game against Monmouth College last Saturday, the team managed to extend its winning streak in divisional play to 51 matches with a 6-3 win.

“As a team we played well,” Hamilton said. “We played good doubles—you always play 3 doubles to start the match and we were leading 2 to 1 after the doubles, then we played solid singles. We lost at number one and number two in pretty well-played matches by our guys and then we won 3, 4, 5 and 6 very handily.”

“This was one of our most important matches. Monmouth is probably one of the best teams in the conference and beating them means we got the number one seed in our division,” said co-captain Colin Johnson ’13.

Now as they wrap up the season, the overall anticipation is on the team to come out of the weekend with a win, which could mean great things for them in the future.

“I think we’ve been playing decently this year,” Johnson said. “We’ve had really high hopes for the season; we’ve been doing well and hopefully we can win Conference.”

Coach Hamilton believes that, based on results from earlier this season, the team has a good reason to hope.

“What I want from our guys is for them to play to their potential; I think if they play to their potential they’ll be successful. We’ve played 8 out of the 9 other schools [in the conference] and we’ve beaten all 8 of those schools,” Hamilton said. “So our goal is to be playing our best so that our talent level can prevail.”

The students are excited to finish up the season.

“[Winning] would be a great thing for Grinnell. Right now we’re ranked 14th regionally and we would like to get nationally ranked soon,” said Caleb Kumar ’16. “We have a lot of young talent this year, so hopefully our potential can get us though.”

“We’re so fortunate to have the indoor facility we have. We’ve been able to train inside, but it’s also really hard. For example, with the 4x100m handoffs, you really need to know the markings and curvature of the outdoor track, and we’ve mostly been working on the indoor track,” said assistant coach Jennifer Jacobsen ’95.

Nora Brusette Buccino ’16 competes in the hurdles Saturday at Central in Pella.
Photo by Alysia Horcher

The team has maintained an upbeat sense of morale and enthusiasm despite the awkward training adjustments.

“It’d just be very nice to be able to train for our outdoor events on our actual outdoor track,” Jacobsen said.

Weather wasn’t an issue during the Florida training trip during Spring Break, where plenty of sun and good training led to some great performances by the Pioneers at the Walt Disney World Invitational, with first place finishes by Alison Bayly ’15, Elsa Goldman ’15, Eloise Miller ’15, Diana Seer ’15, Luis Hernandez ’15, and Nate Kolacia ’16. The training focused on building strength and endurance while continuing to stress basic skills, which can easily affect a race, particularly relays.

“We’re good at fundamentals, so we get far just by holding onto our batons,” Jacobsen said.

The team has continued to perform increasingly well as the season has continued.

“We just ran at Central this past weekend, and came away with a boatload of personal records,” Jacobsen said.

The Pioneers have seen steady improvements in many of their performances throughout the season, and hope to peak at Conference or beyond.

Three weekends of competition remain for the Pioneers this season. This weekend includes a few events at the Drake Relays and a meet at Simpson, both of which should provide the team with good opportunities to compete and continue to improve. The following weekend will see the team travel to Monmouth College to compete in the final meet before Conference. Finally, the team will head to Beloit for the 2013 Midwest Conference Outdoor Championships. Despite tough competition from Monmouth and other conference schools, the Pioneers should be able to produce some impressive performances.

“[Last year] we had our season-best performances at the Conference meet. We’re looking forward to that again, and when you have that expectation, it’s easier for that to happen,” Jacobsen said.

After performing at Conference, some of the team may have an opportunity to compete on the national level at the Division III Track Nationals Meet in late May. Jacobsen named a few possible contenders:  Eloise Miller ’15 in triple jump and long jump, Gavin Warnock ’14 in long jump, the women’s 4x400m relay team, Isabelle Miller ’13 in hurdles, Frank Canady ’14 in the 10k, Diana Seer ’15 in steeplechase, and more. With the end of season coming closer and closer, the Pioneers are on track to finish strong.

Winter has seemed interminable this year, and perhaps no one has felt this as acutely as Grinnell’s athletes, who have had to work around Mother Nature’s whims.  Some sports, such as basketball and swimming, never have to face the elements during practice or competition, although they may experience delays traveling to or from games or meets.

Graphic by Sinan Goral

“We got snowed in in Rockford, IL, my first year, when we were playing IC [Illinois College]. We hung out at the mall for three hours to kill time. I never want to go back to Rockford in my entire life,” said women’s basketball player Karen Gogins ’13.

Other teams have been forced to cancel or postpone competitions due to weather. Men’s golf had to cancel or postpone two tournaments this spring and were delayed in beginning to practice outside.

Baseball and softball stay inside and practice in the Fieldhouse until the snow has melted off the fields. The Fieldhouse becomes very crowded, as many other teams—in season and out of season—are sharing the same space.

“As an off-season athlete, it’s difficult to get into the Fieldhouse. You have to go in at odd hours of the day,” said football player Morgan Kinsinger ’14. For example, Ultimate has to resort to practicing from ten to eleven at night.

Baseball tarps their field in anticipation of rain or inclement weather: the entire infield gets covered with a heavy tarp. There must a balance of covering the field and allowing it to dry out.

The tarp patrol can be seen heading out at odd hours of the night or early morning in order to protect their field from precipitation.

“Tarping is especially fun when it’s extremely windy. It’s a struggle to keep the tarp down and it becomes a game with the weather. People get tossed, which is funny to watch,” said Matt Schaeffer ’14. “I haven’t been lifted off the ground before but I have seen people get lifted off.”

Cross-country and distance track brave the wind, the hail, the snow and the cold, practicing outdoors year-round. It doesn’t matter how cold it is; runners add a couple shirts, wrap a scarf around their faces, and head out to run. Snow flurries could be seen through April this year at meets and an announcer even joked that they would need to clear the ice off the steeplechase water pit.

“It’s terrible. You’re really dressed up in as many clothes as you can fit on your body and you still manage to lose all feeling in your hands and feet,” said Zack Angel ’15.

Soccer plays and practices in all sorts of weather, tracking mud into the locker rooms throughout the late fall.

However, most would agree that practicing in the cold is much preferable to practicing in the heat. Teams that come back early in August often deal with very warm temperatures while adjusting to two-a-day practices.

Football comes back to Grinnell the earliest, about two weeks before New Student Orientation.

“Right when you walk outside, you’re immediately soaked with sweat. There’s no way around it,” said Cody Weber ’13.

“Iowa summers are bound to be hot and humid. It’s always pretty rough when the sweat can’t evaporate off your body,” Kinsinger said.

The football coaches make sure not to keep players outside when the heat index is too high and players must make especially sure to stay hydrated.

“I just spray water on myself,” said Daniel Ryerson ’15.

Grinnell’s athletes are looking forward to May, one of the more pleasant months Iowa has to offer.

“I can’t wait to run outside,” said women’s basketball player Anne Boldt ’16.

Photo by Eric Mistry

Walker Bell ’15, of Newberg, Oregon, hit his career-first homer last weekend in an 8-2 win over Illinois College. Bell additionally set a Grinnell College school record April 4 and was selected as Grinnell College’s Athlete of the Week this week. Bell went 6-of-6 during Grinnell’s 14-8 win over Knox College, breaking the previous hit record of five, which had been held by five players.

What are you most proud of this season so far?

I’d have to say our team’s ability to come back in tough games and after losses. We’re very good at flushing out mistakes and not repeating [them].

What’s the training schedule like?

During the fall and winter, we were lifting five times a week. When we started practicing, it became two-a-days five days a week, plus lifting five times a week. With practice hitting, we can end up with four to five hour practices.

Do you have any lucky rituals that you do before games?

Me and the other first baseman, Graham Conlon [’14], have a handshake we like to perform before each game. And then me and few of the other players get together for a prayer before and after the games.

What would be the last sport you would ever compete in?

Diving, it’s just crazy. You’re going headfirst into a pool and if you miss, you end up breaking your wrist. It’s not fun; it’s terrifying.

What’s it feel like when you hit a home run?

Well, off the bat, you can’t tell it’s a home run, so you want to get around first as quickly as possible. And then once it goes out, you’re trying to get yourself to slow down, because you don’t have to run that fast anymore. When you finally race to the plate, it’s not really an emotional thing, but a moment of success to share with your teammates.

What’s your favorite Dining Hall item and why?

Gooey butter cake. That’s just obvious. It doesn’t matter what else is in the Dining Hall. If gooey butter cake is there, you need to get some.

If you were an animal, what would you be?

A koala, because you don’t do anything. It’s perfect. It’s what every college student aims for.

If you could make any Harris party, what would it be?

I’d make it bounce-themed. There’d be trampolines, bouncy castles, all those kind of things. It’d be awesome.

The Pioneers pitched remarkably well, allowing 14 runs–only six of which were earned–in four games.

“Pitching has been definitely the strong suit for the entire season,” said shortstop Anthony Mack ’16.

And while the Pioneers have pitched well in their eight conference games thus far, they have struggled at the plate in several games.

“Pitching was solid,” said head coach Tim Hollibaugh. “Offense, in three games we dominated. In five games, we were average if not below average.”

Hollibaugh noted the ability of the Illinois College team, but also felt a portion of the blame fell with his own team, including the fact that they are averaging nearly three errors per game in league play and were on the receiving end of a no-hitter on Sunday.

“We’re young and [Illinois College] showed it,” he said. “So ultimately, they beat us. But we also gave them additional opportunities on defense and when you don’t score any runs in two games, let alone get no-hit, it’s hard to beat anybody.”

The Pioneers fell victim to a remarkable pitching performance by Illinois College senior pitcher Nate Jones, who did not allow a single hit to the Pioneers all game.

“That was probably one of the worst feelings I’ve ever been a part of,” Mack said.

However, the team rallied in the second game of the doubleheader and posted 15 hits as they rolled past the Blueboys, 10-4.

“The offensive guys had a team meeting in between games and just discussed what they were doing in terms of their approach at the plate… I’m just happy how we responded, how we came back in the second game,” Hollibaugh said.

The team’s lineup is still changing as the coaching staff attempts to find the right mix of guys to score the most runs, which has resulted in many first- and second-years getting more playing time than expected.

“There comes a point where you have to make some tough decisions and make some adjustments with your lineup and unfortunately some of our upperclassmen weren’t getting the job done,” Hollibaugh said. “There’s some good young talent [and] we had to give them some opportunities.”

In fact, twice over the weekend, the Pioneers started only two position players who were third- or fourth-years.

“I feel a sense of pride as a class that we’ve been able to step up so much,” Mack said of the first years.

Right-handed starting pitcher Jason Ormond ’13 noted the ability the team has displayed at times, such as their pitching against Illinois College and their run production in their second game against Knox, when they posted 14 runs.

“We’ve been up and down this year, but we’ve shown we can be a very good team if we perform to our potential,” he said.

Andrew Platt ’13 pitches during practice.
Photo by Ellen Schoenmaker

Mack sees the team as capable of making a playoff run if they play within themselves.

“We’ve really got to stick to what we know best,” Mack said. “After [Mike Nodzenski ’12] graduated last year, we really lost that power in the lineup. So we have to stick to what we know how to do, which is small ball. Bunts and getting singles and stuff. I feel like if we do that, we’ll be able to make a push for the playoffs.”

As the team moves forward, they have eight more conference games to improve their record and finish as one of the top two teams in the South Division, permitting them entry into the conference tournament.

“What’s encouraging is that even though we’ve underperformed, we’re still pretty much in complete control over our destiny,” Ormond said.

Grinnell will host a doubleheader against the Rams of Cornell College this Saturday at 12:00 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. and will travel to Mount Vernon to complete the four-game series on Sunday.

With only 12 players on the team, with three being brand-new to the sport (Jeanette Au ’16, Connie Lee ’15 and Jordan Matosky ’16), there is a great amount of pressure on each player to perform and play positions they may not be comfortable with when needed. Though this is not an issue most teams would like to face, it has allowed individuals to become better all-around players and the team to grow as a whole.

“We’re just working with what we have. Yes, it’d be nice to have backup, but we don’t,” Au said. “Everyone is willing to try something new. Everyone has been stepping up.”

In addition to taking on new roles, players have set their own personal goals. While outfielder Robin Campbell ’16 had played softball for several years before joining Grinnell’s team, she knows that there is always room for improvement.

“I want to become a better hitter and outfielder,” Campbell said. “I want to become quicker and get better at judging the ball.”

The desire to improve can be seen across the team. Everyone wants to contribute the most that they can because they know how crucial every player is to the team. For instance, Au noted a recent incident where she was struck in the face with a ball but continued playing because she knew that there were not enough players to fill her position.

The small roster has been a challenge that the softball team has faced in the past. Both the coaches and players have been working hard to change this for the future through efforts to recruit new players and increase campus interest in the sport. Though this has shown some promising results, with five potential new players for next year’s season, change will not be instantaneous.

“It’ll take time to get rid of the negative stigma about the softball team,” Campbell said. “Our coach is definitely preparing us.”

In addition to helping the players adjust to new positions and improve their skill, head coach Amanda Reckamp has not let the team spirit slip throughout the season.

“Our coach stays calm and encouraging,” Au said. “Sometimes, I think she believes in us more than we do.”

With only a handful of games left, the team still hopes to close the season with a win on their record.

“I have a lot of faith in my team. I know we can win. I feel like we have to want it more than any other team,” Campbell said. “We have to go into the games with confidence.”

Despite the pressure, the injuries and the losses, the women of the softball team have stayed devoted to their team and their sport. Their record is far from a representation of the team’s unwavering determination.

Lindsay Fujimoto ’15 bats during Tuesday’s games against Cornell.
Photo by Ellen Schoenmaker

The women’s team, the Sticky Tongue Frogs, recently participated in a combined conference/regional tournament, where their teamwork and hard work translated to winning a berth in the national tournament yet again.

“Making Nationals was a kind of validation for all of the hard work we’ve put in and all of the hard work the team has put in and just how motivated everyone has been,” said women’s team co-captain Hannah Bauman ’13.

The men’s team, the Grinnellephants, recently won their conference tournament for the third year in a row, and is looking forward to Regionals, where they have a chance of their own to snag a spot at the national tournament.

“Regionals is going to be very tough,” said men’s frisbee co-captain Gio Danforth ’13. “There’re three teams ranked ahead of us, and they’re all very good teams. We’re also all competing for only one spot at Nationals.”

The weather has been complicating the competition for the Sticky Tongue Frogs and the Grinnellephants. The long winter and copious precipitation have affected both of the teams.

“We’ve had some issues this entire fall and spring with weather; we got rained out of several tournaments and snowed out of several tournaments this spring. That made it really difficult to assess where we were at as a team in terms of competition,” said women’s co-captain Carla Eckland ’13.

The men’s team also saw a variety of tournaments canceled for weather-related reasons. This makes it more difficult for the men to gain a place at the national tournament, as teams need to play a certain number of tournaments to gain extra bids. Practice space and time has also been an issue, but the teams continue to do their best to work hard despite the conditions. The men’s team has moved practices to the nearby Ahrens Park, while the women continue to practice on Mac Field.

Even with these difficulties, the frisbee teams have a great deal to be pleased about. Both teams boast a strong section of younger players, and all of the co-captains agreed that the first-years played a crucial role.

“We’ve got a very deep team this year,” said men’s co-captain Eric Streed ’14. “A lot of first years are playing really big roles. … At different tournaments along the way, different [first years] have just exploded, which is great to see.”

This effect was especially prominent in the fall.

“We were down a lot of juniors in the fall due to study abroad and swimming, so it often ended up that five of the seven guys on the line were first years; they stepped up well and we’re continuing to see the effects of that,” Danforth said.

A similar situation occurred for the women.

“We also saw a lot of first years.” Bauman said. “We’ve got a huge roster with 35 girls, considering only seven play at once.”

Looking forward, the men are preparing to take on the competition at Regionals, while the women continue to practice for Nationals. The national tournament takes place in Milwaukee, which will help Grinnell by allowing seniors to make it home for Commencement instead of having to choose between the tournament and Commencement. Additionally, the weather conditions should be close to what the Grinnell teams are used to dealing with.

Both teams are optimistic for the rest of the season and for the future of the team.

“With the weather and so many new people coming out, it’s been kind of an underdog season all year,” Eckland said. “We’ve just really come together. It just shows how important sidelines are to keeping the mentality and focus up; that’s what got us to Nationals and helped us do so well in the last four years.”

Photo by Tela Ebersole

How does it feel to chase down the school record?

Coming into Grinnell, I didn’t know where I would be in terms of my position on the team. I thought I would be in the middle, you know, rack up some points for the team, but not really do anything of importance. Getting the #2 record really makes you feel good about yourself, like you can accomplish things. I actually have had the second-fastest time for a while, but I broke my own record again. There’s a big gap between number two and number one. Right now I’m just looking ahead, knocking down those seconds, getting closer and closer until I can be number one.

What are some of your hopes for the rest of the season?

I really hope our team can place well at the conference meet at the end of the year. As far as individual goals, obviously I want to beat the #1 fastest time. I don’t know if I can; there’s still a lot of time in between, but to just keep getting faster and stronger is the main goal.

Why do you think this race went especially well?

There was another girl, who is comparable to me in terms of speed, but she went out a little too fast and I kept my ground and I recognized that she was going to go too fast. I held myself steady and listened to my body and I went out strong. The weather was really nice, too. I had previously done the steeple at the Florida meet and it was really hot and that really tires you out.

Do you run any other events? Which do you like best?

I run the 5k outdoor and possibly the 1500. I like the steeple best; it’s really fun. People think you’re crazy for jumping over things and jumping into water and running almost two miles while doing it all. It makes you feel kind of powerful and strong. We use a term on our team: the women runners are called beasts, like, “Oh, you’re such a beast! You’re in beast mode!” You feel like a total beast when you run it. I like that feeling.

What is your favorite snack at the Grille?

I don’t come to the Grille that often because I don’t do the whole Dining Dollars thing, but if I had to choose, I do love mozzarella sticks. I don’t get them that often, but if a friend gets some, I’m like, “Can I sneak one?” They’re so good.

What is the most interesting class you’ve taken so far?

I really like a class I’m currently in, just as a fun class, Intro to GWSS. It’s not my major, but it’s a topic I wanted to know more about and the professor is really great and the discussions are really interactive.

What are your tentative plans for after Grinnell?

I have two years left, so… eventually graduate school. I’m a psychology major, so definitely something with that, counseling for sure, maybe traveling and doing volunteer work. I’m not going abroad, so I definitely want to get some travel in.

“We played five matches in four days in Florida [over spring break] and even though I think we ended up going two and three, they were really good teams. It was just a lot of tennis and a lot of good preparation in a short amount of time,” said co-captain Laura Krull ’13.

Coach Andy Hamilton ’85 ensured that the matches over spring break represented the types of teams that the team would face at Nationals.

“We did play a pretty difficult schedule in Florida…we played two or three teams that were top in their conference; they were also spring teams,” Hamilton said.

Both the players and their coaches cite the need for more preparation time in order to be ready to compete against other spring teams at Nationals.

“Especially because [the spring season] is shorter, we haven’t had as much time to practice with the coaches,” Krull said.

The Midwest Conference limits coach-to-player contact in women’s tennis to 14 to 16 weeks per year, while the NCAA allows 19 weeks of coach-to-player contact. The situation is less than ideal for student-athletes to maintain the level of athleticism and conditioning needed to compete in Nationals.

“It’s a little bit problematic because most programs in the country have their entire spring season in terms of preparation. We’re only allowed, because of conference rules, to have six weeks of spring play,” Hamilton said.

The Midwest Conference rules regarding limited coach-to-player contact in women’s tennis could actually violate Title IX, a problem that the Midwest Conference administration has noticed recently.

“For example, the men’s tennis opportunity during a year is anywhere between 17 and 18 weeks. Personally, I’ve pointed this out several times,” Hamilton said.

Despite the controversy, the players look forward to the chance to prove themselves at Nationals.

“It’s exciting that we get to go,” said co- captain Catherine Fitch ’13. “We’re probably going to play a really strong team… that’s why we’re playing teams maybe slightly above our ability, to play up to them.”

Although this past weekend women’s tennis lost 7-2 to Coe College, the Iowa Conference champion, the match represented one of their best performances against the tennis powerhouse. The players and coaches agree that their overall performance bodes well for the rest of the season.

“That type of loss, a 7-2 loss, could turn into a 6-3 or 5-4 win, especially as our women get a little more into their games,” Hamilton said.

Athena Carlson ’15 pole vaults at practice this week.
Photo by John Brady

An intense and productive first week of practice built on the momentum that began in preseason.

“[It was] obvious which folks had gone to Florida and those that had trained over spring break,” said Coach Evelyn Freeman, head coach of the women’s track and field team.

However, commitment and focus set the tone of the week for all athletes.

The team garnered good results from members competing in events across the board at the Cornell College Invitational last weekend. On the men’s side, sprinter and jumper Gus Fulgoni ’15 won the high jump and came just shy of setting a new school record. Other champions for the men were Nate Kolacia ’16 in the 1500-meter run, Jake Lindstrom ’14 in the pole vault and Gavin Warnock ’14 in the triple jump.

For the women, Diana Seer ’15 won the 3000-meter steeplechase with the second-fastest time in school history. Also taking first-place for the women was the 4×400 relay team comprised of Sarah Jensen ’15, Christine Ajinjeru ’14, Eloise Miller ’15 and Isabelle Miller ’13, who bested their closest opponent by more than 3 seconds.

The performance of the Pioneers this past weekend demonstrated the talent, cohesion and potential that define this year’s men’s and women’s teams alike. Freeman commented that this team was “particularly close-knit” compared to previous years.

Runners are also expanding their repertoire.

“People [are] doing events that they don’t normally do,” Fulgoni said.

This is a testament to a flexibility and depth that will be pivotal to the team’s success considering the length and taxing nature of the season and injuries that team members may consequently incur.

Fulgoni added that the team has set some time aside to hash out their goals for the season.

“[People are] pushing the envelope, remaining humble and diligent in approach and using each meet and practice as a stepping stone to the next,” Fulgoni said.

The ethos of this year’s team and the strides that the Pioneers have made within the first week of their season hint at the prospect of a record-breaking and thoroughly exciting season. Though their goals and expectations are ambitious, they appear fully equipped with the talent and fervor to make them a reality over the remainder of the season. The Grinnell Pioneers will compete at the Jim Duncan Invitational at Drake University in Des Moines this weekend.

1. “[The team is] looking to improve conference standings [and ultimately] to qualify a group of individuals and potentially even a relay team for nationals,” Freeman said.

The first Division III Week was in 2012 and was created to celebrate athletics and student-athletes.

“Division III Week is a positive opportunity for all individuals associated with a Division III institution to observe and celebrate the impact of athletics,” said Pioneer Diversity Council (PDC) adviser Taunita Stephenson, quoting an NCAA press release.

The College celebrated D-III Week last year, but wanted to expand their events this year. Stephenson was the head organizer for the week, helped by PDC and the Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC).

“This year, we wanted the week to be more encompassing,” Stephenson said.

As part of both D-III Week and Pride Week, PDC invited Dave Pallone to speak on campus. Pallone is a former MLB umpire, the third youngest in baseball history. He was fired after ten years with the National Baseball League when it was revealed that he is gay.

Currently, Pallone is a public speaker who gives talks about the reality of understanding sexual orientation. His talk on Wednesday was partly autobiographical in nature, telling the story of his exclusion from the world of baseball and the isolation of being forced to keep his sexuality a secret from friends and family.

Ultimately, Pallone encouraged an environment where friends and teammates would feel safe and comfortable coming out. Respect is the most important thing to him.

“Respect makes everything simple,” Pallone said. “It’s colorblind. It’s gender-blind. It’s orientation-blind.”

Pallone believes that the NCAA has done a good job over the last three decades educating athletes and promoting an attitude of acceptance, but he says that the world of sports, especially professional sports, has a long way to go on the path to inclusion.

“I hope that [the talk] at least started some dialogue within the Grinnell athletic community about making the Grinnell sports teams more LGBTQ-friendly, something I think sometimes gets overlooked at a place like here,” said SAAC Chair of Community Service Karen Gogins ’13

The Diversity Dialogue panel discussed issues of diversity in athletics Thursday night in JRC 101.
Photo by John Brady

The diversity dialogue panel on Thursday night also featured the topic of inclusion. It featured six student-athlete panelists from diverse backgrounds: Kathryn Vincent ’13 of women’s soccer, Brendan Ramirez ’16 of football, Eddie Guen-Murray ’15 of football, Grace Ryan ’14 of softball, Claire Williams ’13 of women’s swimming and Ben Vaughn ’15 of men’s swimming.

The panelists were asked to share experiences in which they felt either included or excluded at some point in their lives. They emphasized many ways that Grinnell has included them: through nicknames and traditions among their teams, support from professors and students and the fact that Grinnell is such a safe space.

Another purpose of the week was to fight misconceptions about student-athletes. SAAC organized a poster campaign called Unique You and put up little-known facts about student athletes that showcase their diversity.

“It is meant to be a fun way to learn fun facts about Pioneer athletes and help fight misconceptions about athletes at Grinnell,” Gogins said about the posters.

Facts on the posters ranged from “Did you know that one Grinnell student-athlete is a two-time national champion and has received multiple national top ten honors on the Arabian horse show circuit?” to “Did you know that one Grinnell student-athlete appeared on Sesame Street 8 times as a young actor?”

The focus of Division III schools on having true student-athletes is something that means a lot to the organizers of D-III Week. Athletic scholarships are not offered at Division III schools, so students can be competitive in athletics while still putting classes first.

“I’m extremely proud to be a student-athlete,” said Aamir Walton ’15. He explained that it is a special thing to be able to share a bond with teammates both on the field and the next day in the classroom.

“What makes D-III different from D-I and D-II is that, while student-athletes at the D-III level really appreciate the athletic experience and they want to compete on a pretty highly competitive level, they appreciate the total experience of college,” Stephenson said.

Photo by Saw Min Maw

How was your spring break?

The golf team goes down to Tucson, AZ. We basically play the whole week. Every day we get up pretty early and go to the range, practice all morning, play a round in the afternoon, and then on the last day we play a tournament. This year we played against Pima College at Skyline Country Club.

What does a 79 mean?

At that course, a 79 was eight over par. The course down there was a low narrower because it’s grass and desert so you have to hit the ball a lot straighter and be a lot more controlled. If you do miss the fairway, you’re going to lose the ball. It’s also faster and drier than courses here.

How did the team do?

The team did well [considering the fact that] Pima College gets to play all year. We lost a lot of people from last year—five seniors from a very small team. We’re rebuilding just a little bit. We have seven guys on the whole team right now. We shot 334. We’d like to be a little lower, but it’s the start of the season. None of the courses around here are open yet, so we hadn’t played outside.

What are your expectations and hopes for the season?

I hope to have a great individual season. I think my game’s ready. Ideally I’d have a stroke average around 80 or below. For the team, I think we can compete for a top four spot in Conference this year; the Conference is down as well. The team has been fifth every year of my college career, so we’re going for fourth this year.

When did you start playing golf and why?

I started when I was really young, like four or five. My neighbor cut down his old adult clubs for me. In high school I really committed and got a lot better then. [Whether I would play golf] was a debate when I was coming into college, but ended up becoming a deciding factor.

What other sports did you play in high school?

I played baseball, tennis and golf leading up to high school, but in high school they were all the same season, so I had to choose. I don’t regret it at all, but that was kind of a bummer.

What do you aspire to do after graduation?

I want to work in the field of international agriculture/international development, so hopefully putting my two degrees together.

What is your favorite Grinnell memory?

My freshman year, the team set the school scoring record of 301 at DMACC in Boone, IA. We also won the tournament that day. Also, when we won the academic national championship, that was pretty sweet.

“Spending just one week in Myrtle Beach helped our team out so much,” said Kristina Weber ’16.

“The spring break trip was a great way for people to gain experience and get to know each other,” said Jessica Menary ’13.

After the positive experience of the spring break trip, the team is “looking forward to everyone continuing to make improvements,” according to Menary. Along with some quality team bonding, the team members were able to learn about themselves and their style of play over the trip. Though the team was not able to take home a win from Myrtle Beach, they gained a lot of confidence and experience.

Jeanette Au ’16 catches a grounder during practice Thursday.
Photo by John Brady

With a strong team dynamic, lots of hard work and drive, the softball team is poised to make its mark this spring.

“[We] support each other on and off the field,” Menary said. Weber added that she “couldn’t ask for a better team.”

“We have started off the year with a lot of injuries, but we have talked over some defense changes that put us at our best and the team is positive as we move forward,” said head softball coach Amanda Reckamp.

One especially tough loss was Kristina Weber ’16, who has had a great start to her career and was recently awarded Midwest Conference Performer of the Week but was injured during the trip and is out for the season. The team has refocused their defensive strategy to try to cover for Weber’s absence and is staying positive as they look forward.

One big change this year’s team has made is with regards to offensive output.

“We have scored 10 more runs in our first 10 games compared to last year,” Reckamp said.

Reckamp noted Summer Wilke ’15 and Aniela Wendt ’14 as the team’s leaders in hits, and Weber and Alyssa Bean ’16 as leading the team in RBIs.

Two other players, Lindsay Fujimoto ’15 and Grace Ryan ’14, have also made their mark thus far in the season. Fujimoto has successfully transitioned to the outfield, greatly benefiting the team. Ryan is also transitioning to a new position, spending her time at third base.

“Both Fujimoto and Ryan have greatly improved offensively from just a year ago. I look for them to make big impacts as the season moves forward,” Reckamp said.

The team is excited to spend time on their home fields, where they have not been able to have a full practice before this week. Both players and coaches have spoken of the positive dynamic between the team and coaches, and expressed this as a boon to future successes. Softball looks forward to making their mark in the conference game, hoping to get into the top two. This close-knit and determined team seems more than ready to take on more local teams in the coming weeks.

The team has their first home games of the season this weekend, hosting the Pioneer Softball Invitational with games on Saturday, April 6 at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. and on Sunday, April 7 at 9 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. This will be the team’s first competition since spring break.

The team is “focused on improving,” Weber said, and their hard work has set them up for success.

“We played seven matches in five days, which was very rigorous,” Hamilton said. “Five of the six matches were against competitive teams, which is good for seeing where we are.”

The Pioneers had many standout performances during the trip, according to Coach Hamilton.

Emilio Gomez ’15 hits the ball during practice.
Photo by John Brady

“I continue to be really pleased with Emilio Gomez [’15]. He is quietly developing into one of our top opponents in his position,” Hamilton said.

Other players on the trip also saw success and growth.

“Tracy Johnson [’16], with his partner Colin [Johnson ’13] and with his singles matches, ended up winning the most matches over spring break. He’s a first year and a lefty, and is learning to use his somewhat unusual game to win against good opponents,” Hamilton said.

The spring training trip falls on the midpoint of the season for men’s tennis. The early portion of the season in February and March was devoted to giving players a good deal of experience and determining which members of the team will form the top ladder of the competition squad, while the last part of the season in April is devoted to training for the final competitions.

“We spend the last part of our season in April taking our top group and raising their level to hopefully defend our string of conference championships, and thereby make it to the NCAA tournament,” Hamilton said.

The Conference Championships will be in Madison, Wisconsin on April 28th. The Pioneers plan to send a highly competitive team and continue to bring back the title for the 10th consecutive season.

This weekend will bring matches with Cornell College and Lawrence University; the match against Cornell is a divisional match for the South Division of the Midwest Conference. In the next two weekends, the team will have matches against Coe College, Carleton College, and Luther College, all of which are ranked regionally.

Coach Hamilton also described the future of the men’s tennis team as very hopeful.

“We have a very deep team with a lot of young players; we’re trying to develop them as much as possible,” Hamilton said. “We’ve got good leadership from our older players and everyone is training well.” With their game refined after a productive training trip, the Pioneers are set to finish their season on a strong note.

“I wish we were 14-0, but the reality is, with our schedule, I feel pretty good with where we are at this point,” said head coach Tim Hollibaugh.

Competing against talented teams is part of the plan and the Pioneers do it every spring break.

“The whole goal is to play the toughest competition we can, so we’re better prepared for conference,” Hollibaugh said.

Other conference teams don’t play such difficult teams, which gives the Pioneers an advantage in conference play.

“Every year in Florida, we play way tougher competition than what we typically see in conference … the teams that they’re beating aren’t the same caliber as the teams we’re playing,” said catcher Matt Schaeffer ’14.

Though the Pioneers are 5-9, they’ve won four of the last seven games.

“The record doesn’t show how good we’re starting to play,” said pitcher John Essig ’16.

The team’s bats got off to a slow start, producing only 12 runs in the first five games.

However, the Pioneers posted more runs as break went on, including 16 runs in the penultimate game of break against Washington University.

“Offensively, it was kind of a slow start. We have a young team. And playing in Florida was the first time we went outside all year. Just trying to pick up the ball from a different pitcher’s arm slot compared to our own was kind of an adjustment, but I think we handled it fairly well,” Schaeffer said.

Hollibaugh sees room for improvement, but feels confident in his team.

“We’re in a good spot. We’ve still … gotta iron out some kinks, but in the end we’re right where we need to be, offensively. Defensively, we gotta get a little better and pitching, we gotta go after hitters a little more, but our pitching staff is deep,” Hollibaugh said.

The depth of the pitching staff could prove vital this year.

“We’re really deep with the starters,” Essig said. “And coming out of the bullpen, we’re really deep. I have a lot of trust in any of the guys.”

Grinnell will play most of their conference games in concentrated time spans, playing four games in two or three days, meaning it is important to have four starting pitchers who can win games. The Pioneers feel they have that in Essig, Will Pahos ’14, Sam Tinkham ’16 and Jason Ormond ’13, among others.

“Our pitching is really, really deep … I think our pitching staff is probably the deepest in the Conference and that’s gonna help us out a lot,” Schaeffer said.

If the pitchers can stay focused on their goals, Hollibaugh feels they can be very effective.

“Pitchers, instead of trying to go for a strikeout every time, [are] trying to hit their spots and change speeds. Because if our pitching staff can do that, we are gonna be un-hittable. I really believe that,” he said.

Grinnell’s conference season began yesterday as the Pioneers played a doubleheader against Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois (5-7, 14-8). The team’s home opener is tomorrow at 1 p.m. where they will play two games against Knox.

“Realistically, I feel good at where we are. And knowing how young we were going into the season … we’re in a good spot. We’re better than we were last year at this point, record-wise,” Hollibaugh said.

williams11@grinnell.edu

Grinnell’s men’s tennis team has had a long history of success on the courts. This past Saturday, the team played as a split squad, picking up a couple of easy wins against St. Norbert College and Hastings College. The traveling squad lost to Gustavus Adolphus College, but was able to pull through and beat Macalester 5-4.

“I was pleased that our home group was able to beat St. Norbert College… and I was also pleased that our road group was able to beat Macalester 5 to 4 because a victory over Macalester helps us in our regional ranking,” said coach Andy Hamilton ’85. “We’re trying to maintain 10 years without losing a match in the conference.”

Coach Hamilton has been coaching the men’s team for about 17 years, so he’s had a long time to see the strides that they’ve made to become this successful. In addition to being a very large team, this year the players are very young. With only two seniors and no juniors, the team of 23 is made up of mostly freshmen and sophomores.

Photo by Ellen Schoenmaker

“I can say that this team is perhaps the deepest team [we’ve had] and it’s actually the largest team we’ve ever had in Grinnell. On average we have 9 or 10 lineup caliber players—that’s a good number for our team—and right now we’re somewhere between 13 and 16 lineup caliber players,” Hamilton said. “There’s a lot of energy and enthusiasm because the players want to get in the lineup… it’s just a really good environment right now.”

“We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores, but having these seniors on the team has been a positive impact,” said Rob Storrick ’15.

Despite the fact that tennis is an individual sport, the players find themselves spending as much time with one another as any other team on campus.

“They seem to be very supportive of each other and when they do get the chance to play they take advantage of that opportunity which is exactly how I want our program to be,” Hamilton said.

“It’s one of the closest teams on campus… We hang out a lot on weekends, during lunch and dinner and… we really look out for each other,” said Ameer Shujjah ’16 .

“We haven’t had any problems between the players…everyone’s so close and we’re all really good friends so I think that really helps us on the courts. And I think we do a good job of supporting each other. The thing is in tennis, you’re in a line-up so if you’re playing six, you’ll want to move up to five but there’s no ill-will towards each other,” said team captain Daniel Nellis ’13.

As for their next match, the players seem to be very confident that they will continue this streak and remain true to Grinnell’s slogan: “No Limits.”

roebuckk@grinnell.edu

Last Saturday, 70 Grinnell students volunteered at the Special Olympics Unified Sports Day, which was hosted by the Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC). The event was designed to raise awareness and build relationships between the Grinnell and Special Olympics communities.

“It was a unified day, so it basically means it wasn’t a day of competition but a day of awareness. So, an opportunity for students here to experience and learn about people with intellectual disabilities and for people with intellectual disabilities to learn about Grinnell,” said Karen Gogins ’13, Chair of Community Service for SAAC.

The event lasted most of the day and was held at the Bear Recreation and Athletic Center. Special Olympics athletes and volunteers representing most of Grinnell’s athletic teams participated in a number of different activities.

“We had about 50 Special Olympics athletes show up and there was basketball, volleyball, bowling, parachute, bean bag, bocce ball and arts and crafts,” Gogins said. “Teams of volunteers and athletes [were] paired up and kind of rotated to all the different stations.”

Student volunteers felt that their close interaction with the visiting athletes was one of the most meaningful parts of the day.

“A lot of us created personal bonds with a lot of the athletes,” said Morgan Sullivan ’15.

The final event of the day was a basketball game in which the volunteers played the athletes.

“My favorite part was the basketball game, definitely,” Gogins said. “It was just really fun to see the volunteers interact with the athletes and just the joy on the athletes’ faces whenever they would score a basket; it was really fun.”

During closing remarks, students were able to see the impact the day’s events had on a few of the visiting athletes.

Photo by Jacqui Vautin
Dominique Bellamy ’13 practices his ribbon twirling skills with a member of his team.

This year represents a significant move toward community service as a way for SAAC to accomplish its goal of representing Grinnell student-athletes to the rest of the campus and the surrounding community.

“Basically, SAAC functions to be a voice for student-athletes on campus,” Gogins said.

This year, Gogins and the rest of SAAC have heavily encouraged each athletic team to host a Community Meal at Davis Elementary and have found many athletes willing to participate.

Photo by Connie Lee
Grinnell and Special Olympics athletes enjoy playing parachute together.

“We have probably reached about 300 athletes helping with the community meal,” Gogins said.

Later in the semester. there will be opportunities for student-athletes and other volunteers to participate in some Habitat for Humanity projects organized by SAAC. This, too, represents one of SAAC’s initiatives to involve the whole Grinnell community in their service projects.

Student-athletes who volunteered at this weekend’s Unified Sports Day emphasized that they hoped that the event would grow in the future to include non-athlete volunteers as well.

“This event wasn’t just for the athletes to volunteer at. Next year, having a greater diversity would be good,” said Summer Wilke ’15.

“We want it to be a whole campus thing,” Sullivan said.

barralfa@grinnell.edu

This past weekend, the Ultimate Frisbee team trekked out to the cold and windy fields of Missouri to play in their first outdoor tournament this year. The Midwest Throwdown is attended annually by Grinnell’s Frisbee teams and is generally their first tournament of the season. Teams from as far away as Atlanta’s Emory University are represented, including both Division I and Division III schools. The women’s team won three of their six games and the men’s team won three of their seven in the tournament.

Despite the losses, players remain confident that the team is set to improve throughout the season.

“Generally, the men’s team has been looking good all year. [The] class of 2014 has been playing three straight years together and got third at nationals their first year. They have so much chemistry, so we look really hot on the field,” said team member Keaton Cameron-Burr ’15.

Photo by Connie Lee
Linnea Van Pilsum-Bloom ’14 passes to a teammate at practice.

Teammate Joey Kathan ’15 agreed, stating that the team’s losses did not represent their true potential.

“Many of our players have been abroad and have returned not having touched a Frisbee in a while,” he said. “All of our losses were to really good, nationally-ranked teams as well.”

Both Cameron-Burr and Kathan agreed that the first- and second-years played very well—far superior than expected for their classes.

The women’s Frisbee team, the Sticky Tongue Frogs, also believe that there are good things to come this season. The Sticky Tongue Frogs had 30 students join this year, 15 of whom still play.

Many of these students were inexperienced when they joined, but co-captain Carla Eckland ’13 sees this as a potential positive.

“Although this has been a challenge for us as captains, the growth of the women’s program is awesome to see and we are committed to developing the ultimate Frisbee program at Grinnell,” she said.

“We have a really large team this year, so a hard part was finding flow and connection on the field. [This] was also our first outdoor tournament, so adjusting to the weather was also a challenge,” said co-captain Hannah Bauman ’13.

The women’s team did not win any games in the fall, perhaps due to many new team members and some older players being abroad.

“Our greatest challenge this weekend was working on team trust and confidence in both the handler and cutter positions,” Eckland said. “It was our first time playing together outside as a team… we still have to focus on the basics of communication and the fundamentals of throwing and catching.”

However, with three solid wins in St. Louis, Eckland commented that the spring season is already looking up.

“Our first-years played really well and we had some spectacular plays made by them,” Bauman said.

The men’s team has similar sentiments about the upcoming season.

“We’re poised to kill it,” said Cameron-Burr.

vautinja@grinnell.edu

Despite lacking a physical mascot, Grinnell’s twenty varsity teams take pride in calling themselves Pioneers. However, other teams break the mold and adopt different mascots, including the Wild Turkeys, the Black Sheep, the Grinnellephants, and the Sticky Tongue Frogs. These are examples of club sports at Grinnell: more competitive than intramurals but lacking varsity status.

There are several distinctions between varsity and club sports, including frequency of practice, access to facilities, coaching and funding. Varsity sports tend to practice every day and have many competitions each year. However, club sports are sometimes less intense. Women’s water polo, for example, practices three times a week and has three tournaments each season. Varsity athletes have team locker rooms, towel and laundry services and can be seen by a trainer when injured, while clubs sports have none of these privileges.

Additionally, varsity sports have priority when it comes to shared space, like the pool or the fieldhouse. This can lead to situations for club sports that are not ideal, such as water polo having to move or share their space if a varsity team wants to use the pool. Ultimate Frisbee sometimes practices from 10:00 to 11:00 p.m., which, as women’s co-captain Carla Eckland points out, has several disadvantages.

“You should not be exercising that late at night and it makes sleep and homework even more difficult to manage,” Eckland said.

Another difference is that unlike club sports, varsity sports have coaches to supervise practice and conduct necessary administrative duties like ordering equipment, finding transportation, recruiting players and getting funding through the Athletic Department. Transportation can sometimes be a concern for students in club sports.

“[As a varsity sport,] we would not have to worry about tired students having just played Frisbee all weekend having to drive six hours home on a Sunday night,” said Dan Ehrlich ’14, member of the men’s Ultimate Frisbee team.

There isn’t as much pressure in club sports, and missing practice isn’t considered a huge deal. However, it is also harder to recruit players.

“Many players are beginners, so we have to start from scratch,” said Sara Hanneman ’14, co-captain of the women’s water polo team, the Black Sheep.

In terms of funding, club sports are funded through SGA. There is now a separate club sports budget, which shares funds between Ultimate, Volleyball Club, water polo and Running Club. Additionally, members attempt to raise money through hosting a home tournament, seeking funding from alums or even making personal donations.

Conflict over space, funding and certain privileges can lead to occasional tensions. However, club athletes do not necessarily want their sport to become varsity.

“As a varsity sport, we would be completely funded by the College, but that brings with it greater expectations, greater time commitments. … There are definitely some people on the team that would like to see [water polo] become a varsity sport, but there are some negatives that go along with [attaining varsity status],” said Alec Knight ’13, four-year member of the men’s water polo team. “It could end up hurting the polo program because people would choose to do swimming instead of polo or vice versa if both were varsity because the seasons overlap.”

The men’s water polo team, called the Wild Turkeys, was fourth at Nationals last year. Other team captains have similar concerns about becoming a varsity sport, at least in the short-term.

“The men and women’s Frisbee teams would be interested in becoming varsity sports at Grinnell, but that would require a lot of changes in the Ultimate program that we are not quite ready to make,” Eckland said.

The same is true for water polo.

“In order to have interest in being a varsity sport, we’d likely need athletes who were more intense about water polo,” Hanneman said. “Additionally, there aren’t many varsity polo teams in the area, so we may have to travel pretty far in order to compete.”

In fact, there are some benefits to club sport status.

“I personally like that [water polo] has been a club sport. It makes it much more open. If you’re playing varsity sports, there’s the expectation that your skills are at a certain level,” Knight said. “It’s very hard to pick up a new sport in college, but I’d never played water polo until I came to Grinnell.”

A major drawback is not having a professional coach. However, neither Hannemann nor her co-captain Kristina De La Torre ’14 think water polo will become a varsity sport any time soon, citing lack of student interest.

“I think people enjoy how casual it is,” De La Torre said.

However, club sport athletes can feel like second-class citizens at times.

“[Even if we received varsity status] we’d still be at the bottom of the pecking order, but we’d get a little bit more respect in the bottom of the pecking order…that can sometimes be our complaint as a team,” Ehrlich said. “We try very hard to be respectful and responsible and sometimes we don’t get the same respect that we give.”

At this point in time, Ehrlich feels that there are things more important to Frisbee than going varsity.

“It’s less of an issue of varsity status and more of an issue of clear and respectful status. It’s hard to know where we stand,” he said. “There is a lot of miscommunication on both sides, like losing our practice fields with no prior warning.”

Photo by Jacob Salzman.

Emilio Gomez, from Las Vegas, New Mexico, won both his singles matches this weekend against Lake Forest College and Knox College as well as his doubles match (with Elliott Czarnecki ’15) against Lake Forest. Last year, Gomez ranked #13 on the team and is now ranked #2, a huge amount of improvement from one season to the next.

When did you start playing tennis and why?

I started playing tennis when I was twelve and I grew up in a small town [with] no tennis club or coach but I was really fortunate because my older brother was one of the top players in the southwest region. He was always willing to hit with me and he was [like] my coach. I would tag along to tournaments. It was really great having a really good tennis player right down the hall, always willing to go hit or practice.

Why did you choose to attend Grinnell?

Coach Hamilton sent me an email as a senior. I showed it to my family and they heard it was a really good academic school and I would be able to be on the team. I came to prospie and I loved the team dynamic. Everyone seemed very close and that’s what really sold me on Grinnell.

What are your aspirations for the season? 

Definitely to win our 10th MWC championship. As one of our captains, Daniel Nellis [’13] says, to be accountable for my spot because nothing’s guaranteed. I want to just keep improving and improve my teammates and work hard every day in practice.

What’s the best part and the worst part of living at Tennis House?

As Elliott Czarnecki [’15] says, we are literally like a family. We’re all brothers together. Nobody takes themselves too seriously. We love to laugh at each other and dish it out and we’re able to take it as well. Whenever I want to hit with somebody, someone’s right down the hall. The worst part is that I lived in a triple my first semester in the house. Our room was meant to be a double so we put our dressers on top of each other, so every morning I had to get a stool to get my socks. But now I’m in a single.

What is your favorite part about playing tennis at Grinnell?

Definitely the friendships we’ve developed as a team. We eat almost every meal together. We see each other all the time. We are family. Mostly all the laughs. We laugh so much, mostly at ourselves.

If you could change something about Grinnell, what would it be?

One thing that drives me crazy is that it’s $2.25 for a small thing of chocolate milk at the Grille. I work there. I wouldn’t charge 10 cents for hot water. That’s ridiculous.

Who’s your role model on the team?

It’s got to be Elliott Czarnecki ’15 because he’s really hardworking and really dedicated and he gives 100% in every practice.

What’s been your favorite class at Grinnell?

Constitutional Law and Politics with Helen Knowles [Political Science] last semester, because I want to attend law school eventually. My dad is a law prof and we have a great relationship but we never really talk about his job and I was able to call him up and he would talk to me about the concepts and interpretations of what we were studying and he would help me study over the phone.

Meg Schmitt, schmittm@grinnell.edu

Sporty and non-sporty, competitive and recreational, Grinnell’s intramural sports program is pretty well-rounded. Offering dozens of sports and activities each year, the spring semester is kicking off with some of the most popular.

“We have four of our most popular leagues [coming up, including] flag football, basketball, soccer and sand volleyball,” said intramurals organizer Jason Ormond ’13.

The intramurals program at Grinnell is offered year-round to all Grinnell students, faculty and staff as a fun and informal opportunity to get some exercise and enjoy themselves.

“The more the merrier—all of us that are running and participating in the intramural sports program want everyone to feel welcome to participate,” said Tim Hammond, Director of Intramural Sports.

The organizing team works to ensure a proper array of sports is offered, including many newer options.

“Every year, we’ve got one or two tournaments that we filter in. Like this year, we tried pickleball,” Ormond said.

Where do they get their ideas?

“[Mostly] from peer institutions…but sometimes we get students who ask [about different sports],” Ormond said.

In fact, the intramurals program works hard to offer a diversity of new options every year. One of their most eccentric perhaps, was water-borne.

“Inner tube water polo has probably got to be one of the most unorthodox [that we’ve offered],” Ormond said. “It’s huge at other Big 10 schools.”

Organizers welcome new ideas enthusiastically, and experimental sports offer some entertaining and often surprising results in terms of popularity.

“Every year we’ll try three or four random sports to see if it sticks…year-by-year we try to see [what’s popular],” Ormond said.

Past examples range from the croquet phase several years ago to the new and exciting Rock, Paper, Scissors tournament held last semester.

“We like the idea of a ton of students in the JRC Lobby just doing Rock, Paper, Scissors,” Ormond said.

Intramural sports encourage participation across the social and skill level board, including varsity athletes, faculty and first-timers. In fact, the intramural leagues want to see more representation from women and faculty especially.

“One thing we’ve been trying to work on is we’ve got probably two-thirds male participants to one-third female,” Ormond said.

Similarly, Hammond reports that only 8% of participants in the sports are faculty members, despite intramurals being open to anyone employed at or attending the College.

Why join an intramural sport? The exercise and social hours within intramural sports are no insignificant factor in their popularity.

“Simply by participating in intramural sports ,you can get 2-5 individual exercise sessions in one week,” Hammond said.

With about a quarter of the school participating in intramural activities at one point or another last year, the emphasis is on inclusivity.

“Because anyone can do it, like [with] any of these sports it’s more for fun than anything,” Ormond said.

The open leagues and registration are readily available online, through grinnell.athleague.com, which will transition sometime next year to IMleagues. For now though, opportunities abound in any number of sports for any level of time commitment, whether a full league with twice-a-week practice or single-day tournaments.

Summer Wilke ’15 throws the ball to Grace Ryan ’14 during practice on Tuesday. Photo by John Brady.

By Danielle Williams, williams11@grinnell.edu

Grinnell’s softball team has struggled in recent years due to low student participation, but this year’s team is hoping to change that. With their first game of the season coming up next Saturday, the small team of thirteen, including their student-assistant coach, is hard at work, hoping to start the season off with a win against Westminster College. They are optimistic about the season.

“We open up [this season] against Westminster College, who we’ve opened up against in the past… We’ve also played them in our home tournament that we host in April; we beat them the last time we played them, which is always good heading into a game,” said head coach Amanda Reckamp, who is entering into her third season coaching softball at Grinnell.

She has high expectations of the team as they approach the beginning of their season.

“I have high hopes… [Westminster has] a really good pitcher, but I think that we’ve prepared our bats well enough that we’re going to be able to put some runs on the board against them,” Reckamp said. “We’ve definitely decreased our talent gap in terms of our top to our bottom; we have a ton of more speed… I feel like in our freshmen that we’ve added, we have players with enough years of experience behind them—we’re going to be able to put more runs on the board, which is going to be huge for us.”

Although the softball team’s record might sound disappointing to many, the team’s lack of wins actually seems to reduce the factor of pressure on the team members and they’ve learned to see that as a bit of an advantage.

“We’ve only won two games in two years,” Reckamp said. “Just having another year of experience is an advantage.”

“Grinnell Softball doesn’t have a very good track record, [but] our coach has a lot of faith in us. She keeps telling us that we have nothing to lose. We only have room for improvement and I think that’s our greatest advantage,” said Jeanette Au ’16. “We are the underdogs—people don’t expect us to win and I think that’s our advantage. Because we have nothing to lose, we can go out there as hard as we can and it will still be a job well done.”

Summer Wilke ’15, a team captain, has been around long enough to recognize changes taking effect on the team since last year.

“[Compared to the team last year,] we’re a little bit bigger and I think we also have a little bit more versatility as well as more speed…that’s going to be one of our biggest assets: the speed on the team,” Wilke said.

Wilke and Au recognize the amount of effort the team has been putting in to prepare for the season.

“The commitment is great. The work that was put in during the off-season is really promising,” Wilke said.

“I’m learning so much. … It’s a lot more mental than it seems, because you have only a split-second to react and think of what play to do, where the ball has to be thrown, if you’re on offense [then] how to run; it’s such a mental game,” Au said.

Even with the huge strides the team has made in skill, they are even more proud of their team unity.

“I think that once we get more reps and more time on the field, our chemistry will really kick in because our off-field chemistry is awesome,” Au said.

“The chemistry on the team is really great,” Wilke said. “We’re a small group so we’re really tight-knit and it’s common to describe us as family… Everyone gets along really well.”

Reckamp attributes their improvement to this chemistry that they share and she thanks the team captains for that.

“Christina Colver [’13] and Summer Wilke have done a great job of leading the team on and off the field,” Reckamp said. “[The team] is a great bunch of ladies who offer anything and everything in terms of their personalities, [which is] what drives them academically and athletically. And they’re going to make some changes in terms of the win-loss column.”

“I think we’ll be getting a better start than we had last year and I think that all we need to do is just believe in ourselves and realize that we do have potential and that we can be a great team,” Wilke said. “We just have to work towards it to achieve the success that we are capable of.”

Sam Tinkham ’16 throws during a live pitching drill. The Grinnell baseball team plays their first game against Westminster College this Saturday in Fulton, MO. Photo by Ellen Schoenmaker.

By Hayes Gardner, gardnerh@grinnell.edu

Despite freezing temperatures and snow on the ground, it’s once again baseball season in Grinnell. The Pioneers will, if conditions permit, play their first two games tomorrow in Fulton, Missouri against Westminster College in a doubleheader. Grinnell, who has been to the MWC Tournament the last four years and won the South Division the last three years, hopes to repeat that feat this year.

While the Pioneers will look to ride the arms of some familiar pitchers this season, they’ll be carried by some new batters.

Of the top seven hitters for batting average from the 2012 season, only one is returning. In addition to average, the Pioneers lost power from last year’s squad, only returning two players who hit more than three extra base hits.

“We lost a lot of hitters. We lost an All-American. We lost our shortstop and the bulk of the middle of our order, but I don’t necessarily think we’re going to have a huge drop in offensive production,” said starting pitcher Will Pahos ’14. “It’s going to be a different looking offense, but it’s still going to be a productive offense… It’ll make for a pretty fun brand of baseball.”

Head Coach Tim Hollibaugh agreed.

“It’s just going to be a different look. We’re going to have to grind out at-bats and be aggressive on the bases,” Hollibaugh said.

At this point in the season, the lineup is far from set.

“We’ve got 21 varsity and JV games before our first conference game, so we have a while to figure out the lineup,” Hollibaugh said. “It’s going to be a battle. There’s plenty of competition at every spot.”

Some of this competition will be from a very talented first year class.

“There were definitely big losses and coming in [to this season] there was a little concern,” said Kainoa Inafuku ’14, Grinnell’s top returning hitter. “But early on, in the off-season, in the fall, we realized that we had something with the freshman class.”

First years Anthony Mack, Jake Beecher and Coby Klar will all see time in the infield early on in the season, while Matt Godinsky and Adam Renfro, both also ’16,could get at-bats from the corner outfield spots.

“Anthony Mack…is our starting shortstop as of right now and I believe he’s going to be a main person in our lineup,” Inafuku said.

The Pioneers do have several upperclassmen who will lead the team, including two-year starter Drew Davis ’13 in center field. However, hitting for power may be an obstacle.

“I hope we can find power. I don’t know if this team can find power,” Hollibaugh said.

Similar to last year, the Pioneers’ strength this year will likely be when the other team is at the plate.

“Defensively, this is probably the best we’ve ever looked. On the mound this is the deepest [team] we’ve ever had, in terms of quality and quantity,” Hollibaugh said.

The Pioneers return most of their pitching staff from last season, including workhorse Pahos, who threw for 59.1 innings last year, Andrew Kelley ’14, who led the team with a 2.96 ERA, Andrew Platt ’13, Jason Ormond ’13 and Max Jacobson ’14.

Three first years will also figure into the pitching mix this year: Sam Tinkham, John Essig and Graham Fisher.

“We did lose [Ben] Pope [’12], but I think our pitching’s going to be stronger this year, just based on the improvements that we’ve made and the freshmen that we have coming in,” Pahos said.

Inafuku noted the hard work the team put in this off-season, staying more focused than they have in years past.

“What we’ve been trying to do since the off-season is change the work ethic on the team. In the past, we worked hard when it was time to practice,” he said. “We’re coming to realize that if we want to be a great team and if we want to make that next step, you have to put in more work than just two or two and a half hours of practice.”

The team will be able to see the progress they’ve made, starting this weekend, when the season begins.

“We might not start off hot, but honestly I believe that the way this team is and how tightly-knit we are, I think that no matter how we start, we’ll be there at the end, in a position to win [Conference],” Inafuku said.

“It should be fun,” Hollibaugh said.

It doesn’t matter that he had just broken many school and conference records and made several NCAA A and B cuts. Michael Brus ’14 knew he could not and should not scream and celebrate immediately after it was announced that both the men and women’s swimming and diving teams won this year’s Conference championships, the 12th consecutive Conference championship for the men and 14 of the last 15 championships for the women.

“I’m always very conscious that we have good sportsmanship,” he said. “When it comes time to celebrate, jump in the pool, and throw the coaches in the water, it was so much fun. You’re celebrating with 50-plus of your best friends.”

And who can blame him?

With yet another dominating performance put up by Brus, he clinched his third Swimmer of the Year award, wowing spectators repeatedly last weekend with his fast times.

The Conference meet took place this past weekend in the Russell K. Osgood Pool on Grinnell’s campus. Brus set a NCAA Division III record in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:45.94, beating the previous record of 1:46.01.

“Making the A cut was my goal, but another goal I had in the back of my head for the entire season was the national record for DIII,” Brus said. “It felt like it was a good race, and at Nationals I plan to go faster. I also don’t want to overshadow the fact that me, Ben Weideman [’15], Alex Lundy [’16] and Sam Ross [’16] all were in the final heat. There’s nobody else I’d rather be standing up with than those three guys. I was very proud to have three other Grinnellians up there with me.”

Brus currently has the fastest time in Division III in both the 100 and the 200 back.

Another A cut for Brus came in the 100 backstroke in a medley relay, where he swam the first leg in a time of 49.01, also breaking the school and conference record. His B cuts came from 200 freestyle, 500 freestyle, 200 medley relay, 400 medley relay, with times of 1:39.47, 4:30.72, 1:39.47 and 3:24.68, respectively.

His 200 medley relay partners were Beck Ringdahl-Mayland ’13, Manu Spooner ’13 and Gus Fulgoni ’15, while his 400 medley relay partners were Dylan Gray ’14, Spooner and Kevin Bennett ’16.

“The team has gotten progressively faster my four years here and it mostly has to do with Michael,” Ringdahl-Mayland said. “People are inspired by him and he brings energy to practice. With the national record, he’s in a league of his own right now.”

Brus was joined by Jerry Brown ’14, Joe Lytle ’14 and Bennett to break the school and conference record in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:06.74, beating the previous mark of 3:07.03 set last year.

Manu Spooner ’13 swims the finals of the 200yd butterfly. He placed 4th with a time of 1:59.50.

Brus, along with Thomas Robinson ’16, Bennett and Lytle, set the school and meet record in the 800 freestyle with a time of 6:54.11, besting the previous record of 6:55.97. The 400 freestyle relay, which was the last event of the meet, was especially exciting as the Pioneers were behind by more than three seconds at one point but came back to win.

“That was the most insane thing I have ever seen,” said Hayley Levin ’16, referring to the 400 freestyle relay event. “They were getting beat by a lot, and then [Brus] dove in. I didn’t think it was possible for him to catch up because 100 is a really short race. But he swam out of his mind and out-touched the opponent at the end.”

Other swimmers besides Brus joined in on record-breaking performances as well. Ringdahl-Mayland, despite suffering from bronchitis, still managed to finish second in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 57.72. His time beat the previous school record of 57.85 and was also fast enough to make the NCAA B cut.

“The biggest regret I have is that I was sick during the meet,” he said. “I was able to get a B cut in the breaststroke, which was something I wanted to do in a long time, but knowing that I could’ve gotten potentially faster, that’s going to haunt me for a while.”

Spooner also broke a 21-year-old school record in the 100-yard butterfly. He came in second place with a time of 51.34. The previous record was held by Dave Ressner in 1992.

“You see the big record board everyday. When I was a first year, I thought the time for 100 fly was just too fast,” Spooner said. “It was actually Dave Ressner who inspired me to swim as fast as I could and work as hard as I could and I’m excited to see my name up there. It was great to go out this way.”

Daniel Goldstein ’16 qualified in both one-meter and three meter diving to go to NCAA Regional Championships with scores of 498.25 and 509.25, respectively. His one-meter dive was good enough to break the previous school record of 469.50.

Fulgoni and Weideman also tasted victories last weekend, winning the 50 freestyle (21.44) and 100 backstroke (53.26), respectively.

Other notable record times on the men’s side include: Fulgoni, Brown, Austin Cote ’15 and Lytle’s runner-up finish in 200 freestyle relay (1:25.46), Lytle’s second place in 200 individual medley (1:57.10), Gray’s second place finish in the 200 breaststroke (2:07.53) and third-place finish in the 400 individual medley (4:14.89), Weideman’s runner-up behind Brus in 200-yard backstroke (1:56.79) and Tim Sherwood’s [’16] third place in the 1650 freestyle (16:58.41).

If the men’s side has Brus to lead the team, the women’s has Levin, who was awarded the MWC Women’s Swimmer of the Year. In her first Conference tournament, she recorded three B cuts, while breaking several school and conference records, to lead the underdog Ducks to a thrilling comeback victory.

She established an NCAA B cut while setting school and meet records by winning the 400 individual medley. Her time of 4:27.66 beat the previous mark of Becky Shaak of Lake Forest, and shattered the school record of 4:32.79 set by Imelda Wistey in 2011.

“400 IM was really close between me and Becky,” Levin said. “[Becky]’s a senior and it was almost an honor to race with the record-holder for 400 IM.”

Levin made two other NCAA B cuts by winning the 200 individual medley (2:06.75), breaking the school record of 2:10.08 and conference record of 2:08.21, and the 200 breaststroke (2:21.49), easily beating the B cut standard of 2:24.39. She also joined Sara Hannemann ’14, Danielle Phillips ’15 and Beth Gillig ’15 to win the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:49.50.

Levin was also teamed with Dana Sherry ’16, Maddy Pesch ’16 and Gillig to come in second in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:58.48, beating the school and conference record. Levin joined Gillig, Carrie Sibbald ’15 and Josie Bircher ’16 to place second in the 400 freestyle relay, beating the school record of 3:37.03. The same quartet was also runner-up in the 800 freestyle relay with a time of 7:48.30, faster than both the previous school and conference record. In the 800 freestyle relay, Levin’s split time of 1:54.75 topped the school record in the 200 freestyle of 1:57.87.

“I set really high goals in the beginning of the season, not knowing how it was going to turn out because it is only my first year,” Levin said. “I didn’t know how I was going to go at the end of the year. I definitely was not expecting to go that fast [heading into the meet]. And I’m really happy that I got to achieve all these different things.”

Emma Falley ’15 and Allison Miller ’13 established NCAA Regional Championships marks in the one-meter dive with a score of 423.85 and 400.45, respectively. Falley also qualified in the three-meter dive with a score of 426.95.

“I was very happy to find out that both Emma and Allison also made the cuts to go to the [NCAA Regional Championships] for diving,” said Daniel Goldstein ’16. “Everyone was excited for me and I was also excited for everyone else who broke records.”

Hannemann joined the record-breaking performance party by beating the previous school record of 1:01.15 in the 100 backstroke. Pesch also recorded a victory in the 100 breaststroke, clocking 1:08.07.

Other notable places and times for the women include: team of Sherry, Hannemann, Sibbald and Callie Eyman Casey’s [’14] runner-up finish in the 200 freestyle relay (1:40.82), Bircher’s second place in the 200 individual medley (2:13.95) and third place in the 400 individual medley (4:45.29), Gillig’s third place finish in the 100 freestyle (54.17), Hannemann’s third place finish in the 200 backstroke, Madeline Gray’s [’16] second place finish in the 200 butterfly (2:14.84), Jalyn Marks’ [’16] runner-up in the 200 butterfly (2:15.60), Pesch’s runner-up finish in 200 breaststroke (2:29.32) and third place in the 200 individual medley (2:15.10) and Phillips’s third place finish in the 100 breaststroke (1:08.41).

A team effort was crucial in achieving the upset victory to regain the MWC team title.

Jalyn Marks ‘16 swims the finals of the 200yd butterfly. She placed 3rd with a time of 2:15.60. Photograph by Ellen Schoenmaker.

“The reason why we won is because we were doing best times all over the place,” Gillig said. “Everyone did [so] phenomenal that you can’t list everything. We didn’t always get first place, but people who come third, fourth, fifth, sixth place, they still get points for that. Those people stepping up and doing their best allowed us to win.”

Swimmers believe the Conference titles on both sides are a testament to team unity and great coaching.

“Even though we’re a separate men and women’s team, we practice at the same time, compete in the same meet, and travel together,” Brus said. “I found myself looking at the women’s score frequently because I was more nervous for them. I think the time we spend together [helps us in] taking advantage of team-bonding opportunities.”

“A lot of it comes back to Coach Hurley,” Ringdahl-Mayland said. “People come to Grinnell to be with her. She brings out the best in all the athletes.”

Head coach Erin Hurley was named the conference Men’s Coach of the year for the third consecutive year and fifth time in her coaching career.

Spooner also noted how he proud he was, especially of the first-year swimmers.

“They really rose to challenge,” he said. “It might be hard coming from high school, not knowing the system and not used to the pool, but they showed everyone what they’re capable of and made me confident that, as a senior leaving, the team is in good hands.”

Although Nationals qualifiers like Brus have continued to practice, the season is over for many swimmers. This year’s Conference championship meet was a brilliant showcase that proved, with great coaching and talented young athletes, that the Pioneers’ swimming program will continue to dominate the MWC in the future.

The men’s tennis team has shown that their mindset on scheduling matches this season is one of both quantity and quality. The team has played ten matches already this season, including four matches this weekend, two of which were against regionally ranked teams. The team split into two squads—one traveled north to play in the Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawk Invite and one stayed in Grinnell to host Wartburg College. The Wisconsin-bound team topped University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh 6-3 on Friday before losing to nationally ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater 0-9 and defeating regionally ranked Wheaton College 6-3 on Saturday. The Pioneers who stayed in Grinnell lost 3-6 to Wartburg.

Ben Charney ’15 and Rob Storrick ’15 play doubles at the tourney against Wartburg on Sunday morning. Photograph by John Brady.

“My sense is that we didn’t play as well as we could in all positions in that match,” said head coach Andy Hamilton ’85.

Because of the squad split, the Pioneers were not at full force in their match against Wartburg. However, this split is beneficial in getting more players involved and giving them experience.

“I think it’s a learning experience more than anything,” said John Gernon ’15. “I feel that Coach made the right decision [to split the squad] even though it might not have been popular or didn’t work out like we wanted it to. But I think that letting everyone have a chance to play is more important than losing that one match early in the season, because we can learn from it.”

“We would’ve had ten guys that didn’t get any playing time [if we hadn’t split squads],” said co-captain Colin Johnson ’13. “So even though we take a loss, all of our guys got playing time, which is really good for the program.”

The victory over Wisconsin-Whitewater was impressive, although the Wartburg loss could hurt the Pioneers in the regional rankings.

“I want us to have the best regional ranking we can. On the other hand, I think it’s vitally important that we give the players on our very deep squad a chance to play,” Hamilton said. “Being committed to these split squad weekends will ultimately help our program.”

The team is loaded with first and second years, so having each player participate in more matches will help the team in the long run.

“My adage or my sports psychology position is experience is everything,” Hamilton said. “The only way to get rid of inexperience is to play.”

At this point in the season, the team is pleased with their singles lineup, but could improve in doubles.

“We have a deep and talented singles lineup, but we need to get better in doubles,” Hamilton said.

A few players from last year’s team, including Ishan Bhadkamkar ’13 and Aaron Lapkin ’15, are unexpectedly not playing on the team at this point in the year, which has not helped with the doubles situation.

“We’re working on doubles a little bit more so that we can get some doubles points,” Gernon said.

Because doubles are played first during a match, it is important to win them to get off to a lead.

“Momentum-wise and psychologically, if you’re down after doubles, it’s so hard to come back, so doubles is very, very important because we play it first,” Johnson said.

However, Hamilton has been impressed with how the top two singles players have been playing.

“I’m particularly pleased with the way the two sophomores, Emilio Gomez and Elliott Czarnecki, look,” he said.

This weekend, the Pioneers will stay in Grinnell and host conference foes Knox College and Lake Forest College at 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. in the fieldhouse.

“We won’t completely split, but we’ll spread out the playing opportunities for as many people as we can and yet, set ourselves up for success,” Hamilton said.

Last Saturday, the men’s and women’s track and field teams broke records and exceeded expectations at the Wartburg Invitational College meet in Waverly. The men’s team placed fourth out of seven teams with a team total of 25 points and the women finished fifth out of six teams with a score of 26 points. Today and tomorrow, they will compete at the 2013 Midwest Conference Indoor Championships at Monmouth College.

“We’re still focusing on getting fit and fast and strong and learning how to do certain things. Despite it being early in the season, I think we’re doing great. We’ve got great team cohesion [and] great teamwork going on. We’re breaking school records and getting a lot of entries in our top ten list … so I think things are going really well heading into the indoor conference meet,” said head women’s track and field coach Evelyn Freeman.

At last week’s meet, the third meet of the season, Nora Bresette Buccino ’16 broke a new school record of 10.40 in the women’s 60 hurdles. The 4×200 relay team of Emily Clennon ’14, Christine Ajinjeru ’14, Eloise Miller ’15 and Bresette Buccino ran the second fastest time in school history at 1:50.10. Ajinjeru ran her best time ever in the 400 with a time of 59.30 and is now number two on the all-time list. Distance runner Diana Seer ’15 placed seventh in the mile with a time of 5:32.43.

Nate Kolacia ’16 from the men’s team was just awarded Midwest Conference Track Athlete of the Week for his performance in the mile. Participating in the pole vault, Jake Lindstrom ’14 finished third at 4.10 meters. In the men’s 4×200 meter relay, the team consisting of Quinton Banks ’13, David Garwood ’13, Ronald Edwards ’14 and Kyle Moorehead ’15 arrived in third place with a time of 1:35.43.

“We’ve got a great freshman class on both the men and women’s side so that’s really exciting for us to see how well they’re doing this early in their college career,” Freeman said.
For this upcoming Conference meet on Saturday, Frank Canady ’14 will be running both the 5000m and 3000m. Kolacia will be running the mile and the 800. Isabelle Miller ’13 will run the 400 and also in the sprint relays.

“There’s a lot of strategic planning involved in who runs what event. Not everyone on the team can go because we’re limited to three entries per event,” Freeman said. “So that’s part of the plan: trying to figure out where to spread people around. Our goal is to perform our best time or distance that we’ve had thus far and use that heading out to the outdoor season.”