After finishing second at the NESCAC Championships, selected members of the men's swimming and diving team will be looking to finish off the season on a high note when they travel to Minneapolis for the NCAA Division III National Championships beginning today.
In NESCAC baseball, there's Trinity, and then there's everyone else. The Bantams haven't lost a conference matchup since 2007, when Tufts beat them in the final regular season game to claim first place. Since then, the Bantams not only won two conference championships but added a NCAA championship in 2008 as well. The Bantams rank No. 4 in the nation, and the challenge of every other NESCAC team will be to try to usurp them. In preparation for this year's slate, the Daily goes around the league, taking a look at each team's prospects.
Despite its annual goal of winning the NESCAC Tournament, over the past few years, the baseball team has developed an irritating penchant for coming up just short.
Few coaches at Tufts, or in the NESCAC as a whole, have a legacy as storied and successful as that of baseball coach John Casey. He's coached 789 games at Tufts — more than double the number of any other coach — and his .596 winning percentage is the best of any skipper that has worked for more than one season. His teams have produced a .500 record or better for 18 straight years, and his players are extremely committed to making sure that streak stays alive.
After a five−month hiatus, the men's tennis team returns to action this spring looking to continue its impressive play from the fall. In spring 2009, a Jumbos team featuring no seniors ultimately finished with a 9−7 record, including a 3−5 mark within the NESCAC. This year's unit returns with an entire roster full of players who hope that an extra year of experience will lead to more success in 2010.
Any way you look at it, whether you are a Celtics fan or not, it is impossible to ignore the obvious: The Celtics are just not championship contenders anymore.
Seriously, is there anything better than March? St. Patrick' Day, spring break, the start of baseball season and the NCAA Tournament all occur during these glorious 31 days. It's the only month so crazy that it literally has an alliterative adjective affixed to the end and requires capital letters to explain it. March Madness. The best month of the year.
The men's lacrosse team opened its season slate against familiar NESCAC foe Amherst, and for the second straight year, the Jumbos garnered what has become a familiar result against the Lord Jeffs: a resounding victory.
It was too little, too late on Saturday for the women's lacrosse team. After falling behind 11−5 to the nationally unranked Amherst Lord Jeffs in the season opener, the No. 9 Jumbos went on a run in the last five minutes to close the gap to three before time ran out. The 11−8 final margin drops the team to 0−1 in both overall record and in the NESCAC standings.
In the culmination of a strong indoor season, the women's track and field team will send two representatives to the NCAA Div. III Indoor Championships this weekend at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind. With sophomore Nakeisha Jones and junior Amy Wilfert the lone competitors for Tufts, the Jumbos are looking forward to competing on the sport's biggest stage.
It all comes down to this. As of this morning, the men's track and field team has sent five athletes to Depauw University in Greencastle, Ind. to compete in three events at the NCAA Championships this weekend in the final meet of the season.
Expectations for the women's lacrosse team are higher than ever as it comes off a historic 2009 season. The Jumbos finished the regular season atop the NESCAC and reached the third round of the NCAA tournament in their first appearance on the national stage, losing to eventual champion Franklin and Marshall.
When you think about the most important people in baseball history, there are a few very famous men that come to mind: Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Roberto Clemente, Hank Aaron, Ty Cobb.
The call came in the middle of the night. In that hour when both professors and the sun have long retired to their chambers, the playful minds of the students were stuck in overdrive, furiously shifting mental gears from fast to faster as the darkness provided a starry blanket for mischief. The phone call awoke Rocco Carzo — then−athletic director — from a deep slumber at 2 a.m., as he jerked out of his bed to the shrill ringing piercing his ears.
"I let my emotions get the best of me in a heated situation. I take full responsibility for my actions."
On Monday, the NCAA officially released the names of the athletes who qualified to compete in its National Championship events. Nine members of the men's swimming and diving team and one from the women's team will be representing Tufts, while five from the men's indoor track and field squad and two from the women's will contest their own events. Here are the athletes who will be representing the Jumbos in the upcoming championships: Men's Swimming and Diving Andrew Altman (400- and 800-yard freestyle relays) Zed Debbaut (200-yard medley, 400-yard medley relay, 100-yard breaststroke) Michael Del Moro (200-yard medley, 400-yard medley relay, 100-yard backstroke) Gordy Jenkins (200-yard freestyle relay) Patrick Kinsella (200-yard medley, 200-, 400- and 800-yard freestyle relay, 400-yard medley relay, 100-yard butterfly, 100-yard freestyle) Rob Matera (1- and 3-meter dive) David Meyer (400- and 800-yard freestyle relay) Owen Rood (50-, 100- and 200-yard freestyle, 200-yard medley, 200- and 400-yard freestyle relay, 400-yard medley relay) E.J. Testa (200- and 800-yard freestyle relay) Women's Swimming and Diving Lindsay Gardel (1- and 3-meter dive) Men's Track and Field Ben Crastnopol (Distance medley relay) Jared Engelking (Pentathlon) Jesse Faller (DMR, 5,000 meters) Billy Hale (DMR) Matt Tirrell (DMR) Women's Track and Field Nakeisha Jones (Triple jump) Amy Wilfert (1 mile run)
When one has a conversation with juniors D.J. Hessler and Ryan Molloy, the only thing that stands out is what typical Tufts students they are. Hessler, standing at 6−foot−1 and a generous 175 pounds, is a chemical engineer who graduated high school near the top of his class. Molloy, 5−foot−9 and tipping the scales at 180, is a quick−witted economics major who isn't afraid to make himself the punch line.
As the men's lacrosse team gears up for its season−opener this Saturday, and preseason Div.−III rankings place four NESCAC teams within the top 20 in the nation — Middlebury, Tufts, Wesleyan and Bowdoin — what is in store for the Jumbos this time around? The Daily has compiled a round−up of where each NESCAC team stands in one of the most competitive conferences in the nation:
In this past weekend's College Squash Association's Individual Championships, juniors Valerie Koo and Alex Gross made the trip to Trinity College, coming home with mixed results.
