On Saturday, the women's track and field team traveled to the Bridgewater State Invitational. Led by a strong throwing squad, as well some impressive performances by underclassmen, the Jumbos enjoyed a strong start to their outdoor season.
Despite the busted brackets, emptied wallets, disconsolate die?hards and the walking disaster that is my friend at Missouri who had to drink himself into a stupor during the Tigers' inexplicable loss to 15th?seeded Norfolk State, March Madness consistently boasts the most unpredictable and exciting competition in American sports.
In an era of upset?minded'Cinderellas' - including recent runs by Butler, VCU and George Mason - it seems that the country's rooting attention has begun to turn toward supporting underdogs over the traditional favorite. But as the 2012 Final Four approaches, that won't be possible, as the semifinals feature four prestigious programs which have all previously won national championships, making for what is likely to be one of the most exciting closing weekends of college basketball in recent memory.
Over the course of a busy spring break, the men's lacrosse team traveled through New Jersey, below the Mason?Dixon line and then back again in a nine?day tour that included one NESCAC contest and three non?conference challenges against ranked opponents.
New York Jets owner Woody Johnson claims that trading for Tim Tebow was not a public relations maneuver.
This past week, four qualifying members of the women's swimming and diving team represented Tufts in the NCAA Div. III Championships hosted by Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). In a meet that spanned four days, from March 21-24, the Jumbos ultimately placed 28th as a team and earned several All-American honorable mentions despite a lack of national tournament experience.
After suffering a 9-0 defeat at the hands of No. 7 Middlebury in their spring season opener on March 16, the Jumbos wiped the slate clean and headed down to Hilton Head, S.C., where they went 2-3 in five matches.
Next Wednesday through Saturday, Tufts will compete in the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). The tournament will feature the athletes who have achieved top times in both individual and relay events, and needless to say, the top performers from Tufts will have their hands full against powerhouses like Kenyon College, Denison University and Emory University.
Just like their classmates, Tufts athletes get to go away on spring break. The only difference? They're trying to win, not relax. In games that could seriously shake up the national rankings, both lacrosse teams will look to stay undefeated, while other squads will simply try to start off their seasons on the right foot. Here, the Daily breaks down what each team will be doing while you're sipping margaritas:
Coming off a strong season in which they topped the NESCAC East Division with a conference record of 9-3, the Jumbos now have their sights set on a conference title - something that has eluded the team in its past two campaigns. The departure of graduated seniors IzzieSantone (E '11) and Kim Miner (LA '11), who played integral roles in the team's success last year, has left some doubts about the Jumbos' potential to outdo their 2011 effort, but this year's squad appears to have the talent to get the job done. "Our first and primary goal is to win the NESCAC," senior tri-captain first baseman Lena Cantone said. "We won it my freshman year, and we haven't won since, so it would be really nice to do it this year. But with this team, we are also confident that we can go a lot further." Last year's team built its success around pitching and defense. Tufts finished third in the NESCAC with a .955 fielding percentage, behind only Hamilton and Middlebury, in 2011, and its entire infield and much of the outfield remains intact. "Our team is much bigger this year," sophomore catcher Jo Clair said. "We have 19 girls now, and last year we only had 14. Because the freshmen play many different infield positions, I think coach [Cheryl Milligan] will be able to mix and match players in order to find the best defense. Our depth will definitely help us." Despite the loss of Santone, the Jumbos enter this season with a strong pitching rotation anchored by junior Rebecca DiBiase, who established herself as a workhorse last year, logging a team-high 110 1/3 innings. DiBiase posted a 2.47 ERA, and opponents batted a lowly .258 against her in her 24 appearances. Junior AlyMoskowitz and sophomores Kayla Holland and Lauren Giglio will round out the rotation. Moskowitz posted a 3.88 ERA in nine appearances last season, while Giglio posted a 5-3 record, including two complete-game performances, in her 16 outings. "One of the problems last year was that we had the talent but we didn't have the depth," Clair said. "Rebecca is a great leader, and Aly and Lauren now have some more experience under their belt. They will help [freshman pitcher] Allyson [Fournier] grow. They all have great work ethics." Offensively, the Jumbos will present challenges for opposing pitchers throughout their lineup. In her first season at the collegiate level, Clair established herself as one of the premier individual talents in the NESCAC and all of Div. III, exploding for a team-high 42 RBIs while shattering the school's single-season home run record with 16 dingers. With a year of experience under her belt, there is no telling what kind of damage Clair can produce from the clean-up spot. But what could truly make the Jumbos great this year is their balanced attack from one to nine. Cantone is coming off a terrific junior season in which she hit .435 and collected 34 RBIs. Junior second baseman Emily Beinecke hammered opposing pitchers last year for a .374 batting average while posting 23 RBIs. Senior tri-captain shortstop Mira Lieman-Sifry is coming off her best year as a Jumbo, having batted .306, forced 15 walks and stolen 12 bases. Finally, senior tri-captain center fielder LizzyIuppa hit for a .328 average, stole a team-high 20 bases and patrolled the outfield with a .952 fielding percentage. While the game is not played on paper, the squad has talent in bunches. "We're going to have a lot of depth this year, which takes pressure off individual players," Cantone said. "Offensively, it's not top or middle or bottom, but the whole lineup has the potential to do great things. The pitcher basically has to pick her poison." This year's team also has a handful of promising young players. Clair worked firsthand throughout much of the fall with Fournier, and she is optimistic about her potential. "She will be on the radar of other NESCAC teams before long," Clair said of the freshman righthander. "She has the talent to be really good, not to mention a great work ethic." "All the incoming freshmen are really talented," Cantone added. "I wouldn't say there is one standout just yet, but they all collectively bring a lot of talent, and I think they will contribute right away to the success of this team." The Jumbos will open their 2012 campaign with their annual trip to Clermont, Fla., for the NTC Spring Games from March 17-24. The tournament will offer the players and coaches an opportunity to build chemistry as they prepare to make another run at the NESCAC title. "That week is when the team truly comes together," Clair said. "We live together and basically do everything together, so it's a really good time to become even closer with everyone both on and off the field."
Andrew Rayner is listed as 6-foot-6 and 265 pounds. On Saturday, as part of a touchdown celebration competition, the junior offensive lineman did the worm. And then he did the reverse worm. "It was very impressive for a big guy," football coach Jay Civetti said. "He may have won the competition." The event wrapped up the Jumbos' duties as hosts of a clinic for sixth-graders in conjunction with the Level the Field initiative. Junior field hockey player Rachel Gerhardt, Rayner, Civetti and junior Samantha Tye helped coordinate the event, at which 25 football players turned out to the Carzo Cage to run the kids through stretching and drills before taking them into the weight room and hosting the celebration competition. "Our guys potentially had more fun than the kids did," Civetti said. "We've got great kids in this program, and the more we can get them involved, the more they can continue to be mentors and leaders in the community, the better." As for whether Civetti saw any potential Jumbos among the sixth-graders? "I didn't want to break any NCAA recruiting rules, so I kept my distance," he joked. In the middle of a busy offseason, Tufts also spent two hours on March 3 working at the Open Center, a preschool in partnership with the Jumpstart program, an early childhood education organization. Ten players, Civetti and his wife helped clean out a room and paint one of the preschoolers' activity rooms. A few of the eight freshmen and two sophomores tried to sit in the miniature chairs, a "good stretching exercise," according to Civetti. The Jumbos were contacted two weeks ago by freshman Kelsey Howe, who asked them to help on a Saturday morning. "It falls in line with being a champion in the community," Civetti said. "They should be grateful for the opportunities they have here and at the same time be willing to help out, whatever the cause may be. It's an eye-opening experience, and certainly it's great to be able to lend a hand to others."
Both the men's and women's lacrosse teams improved to 2-0 on the season and in the NESCAC yesterday afternoon with victories over Conn. College. The No. 2 men's squad won its home opener, 16-9, outshooting the Camels 53-38. Tufts was led by senior co-captain Kevin McCormick, who had five goals, and sophomore Beau Wood, who added two goals and three assists. The women won 12-7 on the road; game statistics and box scores were not available at press time. In a physical matchup, the men's team converted on three of five extra-man opportunities. Sophomore keeper Patton Watkins played tall between the pipes, making 21 stops, including several saves down the stretch on high, close-range shots. For Conn. College, junior attackman Andrew Freedman and junior midfielder John Lyons led the way with two goals and an assist apiece, but their efforts were not enough to keep the Camels in the game against a strong Tufts defensive unit. Senior keeper Rob Moccia made 15 saves, but he struggled to handle Tufts' new-look offensive set. Even while senior co-captain attackman Sean Kirwan sat out again with a sprained ankle, the Jumbos jumped to a 5-1 lead behind strong efforts from Wood, McCormick, freshman Cole Bailey and juniors Ryan Jorgensen and Geoff Sheasby. By late in the third quarter, the Jumbos led 11-4, but the Camels answered with their own 5-2 run that extended into the fourth quarter and reduced margin to four. That was as close as they would come, as Tufts tacked on three goals to seal the win. The men will next see action when they take on No. 4 Stevens Institute of Technology on Saturday in the first game of their spring break tour. The women will play their first of four spring break contests at Babson on Friday. See tomorrow's Daily for full coverage of yesterday's games.
Lindsay Vonn and Bode Miller are likely the only two names that might ring a bell. For all intents and purposes - and because professional skiing languishes near the bottom of the American sports popularity list - I'm assuming they don't, so let me introduce them briefly: Vonn, who just clinched her U.S.-record fourth alpine season world title, and Miller, one of five people to win at least five World Cup events across all five ski disciplines, are generally regarded as the best American skiers of all time. Now let me introduce you to a young man you certainly do not know. His name is NikZoricic, a once-promising 29-year-old who skied his last race on Saturday. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Sarajevo-born upstart had a breakthrough season in 2010-2011, logging six top-10 World Cup finishes and mounting his first podium - a silver medal in St. Johann, Austria. Connoisseurs of professional skiing believe that the young man still hadn't plateaued, that he had more in the tank. And based on the trajectory of his career, which saw him switch from alpine to skicross, Zoricic indeed seemed destined for loftier heights. "Ski authorities called it a 'freak accident,' much the same way they labeled the fatal accident of Canadian freestyle skier Sarah Burke, who crashed during halfpipe training two months to the day before Zoricic's accident," the Associated Press reported. And that's not an exaggeration. TheInternational Ski Federation, known by its name in French, F?©d?©rationInternationale de Ski (FIS), has an impeccable track record regarding safety. Meticulous course preparation is done prior to all races, and particularly competent medical staff are arguably the most vigilant of those of any sport. Additionally, FIS issues an annual exhaustive report on safety, injury treatment and prevention in order to assess whether precautions have been implemented optimally. Ski mountains are littered with signs that essentially read, "Ski at your own risk," to forewarn the amateur skier about Mother Nature's indiscriminate wrath. So, imagine vrooming down the unkindest of these slopes with reckless abandon while jockeying for position with three other guys who are equally as nuts, utterly disregarding fear and rationality for just over a minute. Sound crazy? It is. The above description, I believe, aptly characterizes skicross, the discipline in which Zoricic competed. Dubbed "NASCAR on skis," skicross made its debut at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver as a way to liven things up. Its proponents have recognized the tremendous risk inherent in the sport, but, in a sport already awash with rules and regulations, they can do little to increase safety. Unlike the debate about safety in football, the debate about safety in skiing deals with man vs. nature as opposed to man vs. man. Safety hawks (a bit oxymoronic, I admit) can bicker all they want about implementing tougher regulations, but the efficacy of regulations wanes at a point and eventually reaches zero. Canadian junior hockey can ban fighting, and the NFL can enact stricter rules about hitting, but rules that govern Mother Nature - well, they don't exist. Far be it from me to suggest that innovations in technology and other forms of protection should not be introduced. But the brutal reality of a sport like skicross is one with which people need to reconcile their feelings about severe injury and death: These things do happen. In ruminating the perils of skicross, I have discovered no clear-cut solution. Perhaps skicross should not be sanctioned at the Olympics or maybe not even by the FIS. Truthfully, I don't know how I feel about it. But as long as it's around, we need to brace ourselves for more ill-fated stories like Zoricic's.
When John Casey's sons were growing up, Tufts' baseball coach told them about Red Sox infielder Lou Merloni. A perennial journeyman whose frequent trips between Triple-A and the majors became known as the "Merloni Shuffle," he would have had a great career if he never had to play four days in a row, Casey explained to his sons. But the Red Sox needed guys who could make plays day after day. So do the Jumbos. One of those sons is Brian Casey (LA '07), a captain in 2007 who played for four years under his father and is now in his fifth season as an assistant coach, specifically dealing with the infielders. Together with former catcher Bob Kenny (LA '05), they make up an energetic duo, serving as living proof that Casey's system works. With 10 freshmen on a young roster that graduated five regular starters, assistants like Brian Casey and Kenny are a commodity, especially with the season-opener rapidly approaching. "We're the connection to those guys, it's positions that we're familiar with because we played it while we were here, so certainly we have an idea of what it takes to get ready for those positions," Brian Casey said. "That makes it easier to talk to those guys, prepare them the way we want them to prepare." In his seventh year as a coach, Kenny, one of the best defensive catchers in Tufts history, will have his work cut out for him with the current crop of backstops. Senior Matt Collins will likely not see time behind the plate this season while recovering from Tommy John surgery, and sophomore Nick Cutsumpas is not listed on the Jumbos' roster after tearing his ACL. The duo started 36 of 39 games last season at catcher. Freshmen Nick Barker, Carter Bidwick and Bryan Egan are the three catchers who will travel with the team down to Virginia and North Carolina for spring break, each of them with a shot to take over the starting job on a team that hasn't been this young since 2008, according to Kenny and Brian Casey. Kenny, for his part, caught a couple of batting practices during his freshman year spring trip in 2002, then wound up starting the Tufts' third game against St. Andrews. He never lost the spot. "Once we're outside and it gets going for real, that's when you see their true colors," Kenny said. "We're hoping that the freshman experience sort of wears off quickly on the trip. Two, three games to get the weight off the belt, then we need them to jump to almost sophomore status to get where we want them to play." Lineup madness With the season opener days away, how unsure is John Casey about his opening day lineup? "About as sure as whether I can walk on the moon," he said. "Do we have a lineup down? I have about 10 sheets of paper with about 50 lineups." The only two guarantees are senior co-captain infielder Sam Sager and junior outfielder Eric Weikert, who will be positioned, in some order, in the heart of the lineup. Sager, a four-year starter in the infield and two-time All-NESCAC selection, hit third for 34 out of 37 games last season, logging a .333 average and a team-high 33 RBIs, 27 walks and 15 multi-hit games. Weikert, on the other hand, came on strong during his sophomore campaign, finishing with 20 RBIs and a .280 average while spending the bulk of the season in the No. 6 spot, though he also saw nine starts in the cleanup spot, three at No. 3 and two at No. 5. Other than that? John Casey expects to shuffle the order throughout the Jumbos' spring trip, saying that they will probably play three different lineups in the first three games. "There's just not a lot of games under guys' belts outside of those two guys, so guys are going to have to go out and earn it," he said. "We're just trying to figure out how guys fit, then we'll worry about in what order they're hitting." Besides Sager and Weikert, only junior outfielder Nate Izzo - a transfer from Boston College last season - and classmate Tom Howard saw action in at least 22 games for Tufts in 2011. They hit .258 and .273, respectively. A Crowded Rotation Things are clearer in the rotation as far as names go, but, as with the lineup, Casey still hasn't named his opening-day starter. Tufts leaves for its annual 10-day, 11-game spring break trip without a No. 1 for Friday's season opener at Lynchburg. Seniors Dave Ryan and Kevin Gilchrist and sophomore Christian Sbily are all in the mix. Expect them to, in some order, start Tufts' first three games, including a March 18 afternoon game at Washington & Lee and a March 19 date with Guilford. "We've been having great competition between three guys, so we'll have to see how someone throws tomorrow, then we'll make our decision," Casey said. Gilchrist started last season's opener against the Hornets, giving up two earned runs in seven strong innings, striking out one and walking three. With an 8-1 record last spring, Ryan led the Jumbos in wins and innings pitched, while Sbily was strong in 14 appearances out of the bullpen. Scouting Lynchburg Lynchburg currently sits at 11-4, including a perfect 5-0 at home, buoyed by the hot bats of juniors Dan Savage (.471 average, 13 RBIs), Brock Shiflett (.386 average, 15 RBIs) and Michael Del Buono (.373 average, 16 RBIs, two homers). The Jumbos will likely see one of the Hornets' top three starters on Friday, though Lynchburg should be resting its best for Saturday's Old Dominion Athletic Conference doubleheader at Eastern Mennonite.
This past weekend, Tufts sent seven fencers to the NCAA Northeast Fencing Regionals at Boston College, including all four of the team's sabre starters and all three of its epee starters. The individual tournament was the Jumbos' last of the season and provided an opportunity to receive a national ranking. To qualify for the individual regionals, fencers needed to have fenced a certain number of bouts and to have won a certain percentage of those matches. Tufts' qualified fencers from the sabre squad were senior and overall team captain Sarah Danly, sophomore squad captain Julia Hisey, freshman Sarah Innes-Gold and senior Brianna Smith. From the epee squad, sophomore squad captain Laurel Hutchison, junior Abigail Hepworth and freshman Katharine Lynch met the requirements. Although only those seven were allowed to participate, most team members made the trip to support their fellow Jumbos. Unlike previous conference events, the regional tournament was formatted as a succession of pool play. The first round consisted of pools of five fencers competing in inter-pool round-robin play, seeded according to the U.S. Fencing Association ratings and ending whenever a combatant scored five touches. Those with an existing national ranking were exempt from participating in the first round. The lowest two-fifths of each pool, as determined by their touches and indicator scores, were dropped from the first round. After being re-seeded, the remaining fencers then progressed to a second round of seven-person pools, again with the lower strata of fencers being dropped from the tournament. All participants, regardless of when they dropped out of the standings, received a ranking for the regional tournament. SabristsDanly, Hisey and Innes-Gold, as well as all three epee starters, advanced past the first round. Only Danly progressed further, entering the third round of pool play before being eliminated. "I think, at least in the final round she was in, [Sarah] fenced the best she has all season," Hisey said of Danly's performance. "It's been a progression; every time she fences better. It was awesome for her." "Sarah blossomed this year. She's been fencing stronger and stronger every meet," Hutchison added. "Sarah was a great captain - this was her last meet - and she's been very valuable for the team. She was always there, on top of everything, made sure everyone was doing what they were supposed to be doing." Out of a total of 45 competing sabres, Danly, Hisey, Innes-Gold and Smith placed 21st, 23rd, 30th and 41st, respectively. From the epee squad, Lynch, Hepworth and Hutchison placed 25th, 28th and 33rd, respctively, among 48 competitors. "I was pretty pleased with epee as a squad," said Hutchison, who noted that she is likely fencing her last full season at Tufts due to plans to study abroad and then graduate early. "We worked hard to get the three of us to regionals, and we did pretty well. I'm hoping that the team will be able to drill a lot more in the future. "There's always room for improvement, and I think we've been improving year by year," she continued. "We're building up a stronger team, a better-organized team, and we're building fencers." Moving forward, the team is looking to add a large recruiting class. A number of incoming freshman have already contacted coach ArianaKlinkov, and in addition to the continued development of a young core, there is hope that the future of the team is in good hands wrapping up this season and heading into the next. "I think we're trying to get more intense every year," Hisey said. "We want to be recognized as a real sport and really be a part of Tufts athletics."
The Jumbos capped off their indoor track season with a superb showing at the Div. III National Championships at Grinnell College in Iowa this past weekend.
