The following is a preview of the upcoming spring sports teams. We wish you a wonderful warm spring season!
Just two other teams in the long history of the baseball program had more wins than the 18-14 record put up by the squad last year. Timely hitting and pitching plus depth at many positions enabled the team to establish momentum in Phoenix during their spring trip.
The team looks forward to the 2009 season, hoping to build on the 18 wins and make the postseason conference tournament under third-year head coach Dale Plummer. The Mules will again start the season in Phoenix.
Colby returns three of the top 10 hitters in the conference. League batting leader Ryan Conlon '10 hit .442 and played first base, John LaMantia '11 hit .410 and was seventh in the conference, and outfielder Ken Kaufman '11 was 10th at .392.
The Mules should have fine leadership in senior captains Craig Cooper, Kyle McKay, and Bob Whelan Jr. Cooper can play multiple spots in the infield, McKay is a catcher, and Whelan will pitch in relief.
The Mules return nine players who hit .300 or higher and have a number of pitchers returning. Matt Moore '10, Justin Clark '09, and Robert Tourek '09 all return as starting pitchers. Whelan will be counted on to anchor the bullpen.
The women's lacrosse team heads into the 2009 season as defending New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) champions.
In 2008 the Mules won the program's first NESCAC title under first-year head coach Karen MacCrate Henning. Colby won its first NCAA tourney game before falling in the second round to eventual national champion Hamilton College.
Colby, which finished the season ranked eighth nationally, loses just two players from last year's 13-6 squad and returns three players who earned All-America honors.
Kate Sheridan '09 earned first team All-America honors from three organizations and was named the Midfielder of the Year by womenslacrosse.com. She set a single-season Colby record for points (91) and goals (58). Sheridan will likely become the program's first-ever four-time All-American. Sheridan will be a co-captain along with Cary Finnegan '09 (11 goals, 5 assists).
Becky Julian '09 also earned All-America honors after putting up 49 goals and 21 assists for 70 points. Caroline Duke '10 is the other returning All-American after playing an important role on defense in 2008. The Mules will have a fourth All-American in Lauren Barrett, who sat out last season after earning the honor in 2007.
Amy Campbell '10 (41 goals, 9 assists), Heather Nickerson '09 (23 goals, 6 assists), Kathleen Kramer '10 (20 goals, 7 assists), Lauren Strazzula '09 (11 goals, 14 assists), Caroline Atwater '10 (16 goals, 4 assists), Anne Geraghty '11 (13 goals, 3 assists), and Carly Rapaport '10 (12 goals, 4 assists) are other leading scorers returning.
Duke will be a leader on defense along with Mary Clare Snediker '09 (who returns after an injury ended her season last year), Lexi Crook '11, and Mary Cummings '11. Sarah Warnke '11 earned the starting job in goal and finished with a 10-3 record over Colby's final 13 games. Keryn Meierdircks '10 also returns in net.
Jon Thompson heads into his first year as head coach of the men’s lacrosse team and will have a veteran team to work with.
Thompson, a former player and assistant coach at Brown University, will need senior captains Caddy Brooks and Jason Forino and junior James Brady to lead on and off the field. Brooks was an All-NESCAC selection last year at attacker with 30 goals and 16 assists for 46 points. He heads into his final season with 70 goals and 52 assists for 122 career points. Meanwhile, Forino and Brady will be key roles in the midfield and defense.
Whit McCarthy ’10 also returns after scoring 29 goals and dishing nine assists for 38 points. He went from a solid 15 goals in his first year to 29 last year and has 44 goals in two seasons. Todd Boertzel ’09 was fifth in scoring for the Mules with seven goals and 14 assists for 21 points, while Stew Brown ’10 (8 goals, 8 assists) and Mark Squicciarino ’11 (6 goals, 3 assists) also return.
Jamie Leake ’11 and Craig Bunker ’11 both were active in face-offs last year. Brady, Collin Weiss ‘09, and Geoff Parr ’09 all will be counted on in the midfield and on defense in front of goalie Alex Farmer ’09.
The Mules finished 6-8 last year but started the season at 5-0. Colby had some tough losses during the year, including a one-goal loss to Wesleyan. The Mules have beaten the eventual NESCAC champion during the regular season in the past two years. Colby defeated Williams last year and beat Middlebury two years ago.
After a 17-14 season in 2008, the softball team will be led in 2009 by senior captains Alyssa Crowell, Carlie Minichino, and Tory Starr.
Minichino batted .333 last year and finished with a pair of home runs and 12 RBI. Starr was a .324 hitter last year and led the team in put outs (196) from her first base position. Meanwhile, Crowell had a 7-2 record to lead the team in wins and also led the way in innings pitched (71.0).
Alex Essman earned NESCAC second team honors last year after leading Colby in batting average (.382) of players with 20 at-bats or more, runs scored (22), total hits (39), doubles (9), triples (tied with 3), home runs (10), RBI (36), and slugging percentage (.824). Essman also played right field and made just one error in 36 chances.
Brittany Tasi went 4-4 a year ago and led the team in earned run average at 1.93.
The Mules open the 2009 season with their annual Florida trip to Fort Myers for 10 games from March 21-28.
Julie Achenbaum and Audrey Jacobsen played the first doubles spot for the women’s tennis team during the fall, and Jacobsen and Katie Muto both competed at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) tourney.
The men’s team will head into the spring season ranked eighth in the northeast region poll after finishing in the same place at the end of the 2008 season.
The Mules will be led by senior captain Bryan Brown, who finished the fall season ranked 15th in the region after ending last spring ranked 17th. He also will join forces with Alex Chin ’09 to form a formidable doubles team. Brown and Chin are ranked 11th in the region in doubles and were winners of the Middlebury Invitational during the fall season.
Nick Rosen-Wachs ’09, Michael Johnsen ’11, and Matt Von Vogt ‘11 also return at singles along with Chin. The Mules got solid play during the fall from first-year players Robbie Yee, Phillip Zunshine, and Tommy Kimball.
The Mules will begin the season during the annual trip to Hilton Head, S.C.
Emma Linhard ’11 comes into the 2009 season as one of the top NESCAC track and field athletes after winning the 1,500-meter run at the league meet and earning the conference’s Most Outstanding Rookie Performer honor.
Linhard ran in the 1,500 at the NCAA Division III meet after placing fourth in the event at the Open New England Championships. She also was third in the 800 meters at the New England Division III meet and fourth at the NESCAC meet in the 800. Linhard and teammate Heather MacDonald both return from the 3,200 relay squad, which took third at the New England Division III meet.
Brianna Kondrat ’09 also did well in the throwing events at the championship meets. She was third in the discus and fifth in the hammer throw at the New England Division III meet after taking second in the discus, fifth in the hammer throw, and seventh in the shot put at the NESCAC meet.
Katrina Gravel ’10 took eighth in the Open New England 10,000 meters and also was eighth in the event at the NESCAC meet. Erin Beasley ’09 led the sprinters by placing seventh in the 100 dash at the NESCAC meet and ninth at the New England Division III meet. Jennifer MacDowell ’09 also returns in the 10,000 after placing 11th at the New England meet, and Jordan Schoonover ’11 was 18th in the triple jump at the same meet.
Danielle Sheppard ’11 was fourth in the NESCAC in the high jump, Mandy Ivey ’10 took sixth in the 10,000 at the league meet, and Alyssa Marquez ’11 finished eighth in the conference in pole vault.
Chris DeRoo missed the NESCAC meet with an injury, but gamely came back the following week to win the New England Division III title in the 400-meter run for the men’s track and field team.
DeRoo had a time of 49.47 in the race and then was a key component in helping the Mules’ 3,200 relay team break a 25-year-old school record at the same meet. He and Ben Ossoff return for the squad that took second in 7:40.93) at the Open New England meet in a close battle with Williams (7:40.86). The old Colby record was 7:41.0 set back in 1983. DeRoo and Ossoff also ran for the 1,600 relay team that placed fifth at the New England Division III meet.
At the Maine State meet, DeRoo was a winner in the 400 meters and Ossoff took the 800 meters.
