Women’s Swimming & Diving Captures 5th at NESCAC Championships
With the conclusion of the four-day conference Championships hosted at Middlebury the Mules finished 5th out of the 11 NESCAC schools for their most points (858.5) and highest finish since 2010. Diving Coach Doug Hall earned NESCAC Diving Coach of the Year while Eleanor McGrath earned the NESCAC Career High-Point Diver Award.
Event Highlights:
- 200 Medley Relay, 4th place - Tahlia Crowley, Kellen Mottl, Lily Moy, Gabriella Landau (Colby Record and NCAA B-cut)
- Annabelle Mullin - 200 Backstroke (Colby Record)
- Mottl - 4th place, 100 Breaststroke (NCAA B-cut)
- Avery Rappaport - 2nd place, One Meter Dive & 3rd place, Three Meter Dive
- Eleanor McGrath - 2nd place, Three Meter Dive
- 19 of 24 women scored in individual events
- 11 women scored in maximum number of events (three swimmers, two divers)
- Colby’s edges by Amherst for first time
Next up, the men’s team will compete in the Men's NESCAC Championships, hosting the event on Mayflower Hill February 22nd-25th.
Men's Ice Hockey Returns to Conference Playoffs
With a thin lead over Williams for the eighth and final playoff spot heading into the weekend, the Mules were pressed to play their best and earn points against two teams who had delivered Colby tallies in the loss column in December.
Against Conn. College Friday night, goaltender Andy Beran was stellar in net, turning away all 25 Camel shots in regulation. The Conn. goalie was equally strong, sending the game into overtime. Griffin Grise sounded the siren with one minute to go in the extra frame, giving the Mules the much-needed victory.
On Saturday Tufts built leads of 2-0 and 3-1 before Colby stormed back. Grise and Tyler Crist each scored in the second period and Jake MacDonald added his second of the game midway through the third. A late goal by the Jumbos forced overtime, and after quality scoring opportunities on both ends the 4-4 score stood.
With a win and a tie, the Mules edged out Williams to take the final spot. Colby will return to Hartford next weekend to face top-ranked Trinity in the NESCAC quarterfinals.
There Will be Another Game in Waterville!!
Colby's Women's Ice Hockey team went into the final weekend of regular season play sitting in the 6th seed. By sweeping Conn. on the road to finish the regular season with four straight victories, Colby vaulted all the way to 3rd position. The Mules will host an opening round game next weekend in the O'Neil | O'Donnell Forum.
Colby opened the scoring Friday night with three goals in the first period. Breanna Studley, Beth Sinson, and Megan Martodam gave the Mules a lead they would not relinquish. The Camels scored twice in the second frame, but Courtney Schumacher stole one back to make the final score 4-2.
In Saturday's matinee, Colby kept the pedal to the floor. Cailyn Murphy opened the scoring in the first, and two third period goals (Jo Tattersall, Georgia Pettygrove) gave goaltender Mandy Busky her third shutout of the season.
The 16-7-1 Mules will host Wesleyan Saturday for the three-vs-six matchup. Game time is set for 3:00pm.
Women’s Basketball Takes on Trinity in NESCAC Quarterfinals
After claiming the seventh seed for the conference tournament, the Mules headed to Hartford to battle the second seeded Trinity Bantams in a NESCAC Quarterfinals matchup.
Colby stayed close with the hosts throughout the first two frames with help from 12 points off Trinity turnovers, but were still trailing 22-16 at halftime. Trinity pushed their advantage to double digits in the third quarter and hung on to the lead for the rest of the game for a 51-35 final result. Kate Olenik led the offense with 12 points while securing two steals as the first-year guard closes out the season ranked 5th in the conference in points per game with 15.3.
With a 12-12 overall record, this concludes the season for the young Colby Women’s Basketball squad.
Alpine Skiing Collects SIX More Top-10's as Carnival Season Nears Final Stage
The Alpine Ski teams traveled across the Berkshires for the two races of the Williams Carnival as well as the makeup Slalom from UVM. The men's team skied into 2nd place (Williams GS) and 3rd place (Williams SL) finishes, while the women's team nearly kept pace with 4th place finishes both days.
*The UVM Slalom went unscored in team calculations but presented an important opportunity for individuals in search of an NCAA Championship nod.
Men's Top-30 Finishes:
- Harrison Digangi - 3rd Williams GS, 5th Williams SL, 9th UVM SL
- Noah Reimenschneider - 11th Williams SL, 11th UVM SL, 16th UVM GS
- Nolan Sweeney - 11th Williams GS
- Patrick Coughlin - 19th Williams SL, 30th UVM SL
- Jack Schaede - 20th Williams GS
- Tucker Strauch - 25th UVM SL
Women's Top-30 Finishes:
- Meagan Olsen - 6th Williams GS
- Lydia Riddell (photo right) - 8th Williams GS, 22nd UVM SL
- Carissa Cassidy - 9th UVM SL, 12th Williams SL
- Molly Mueller - 14th UVM SL, 15th Williams SL
- Hannah Soria - 19th Williams SL, 21st UVM SL
- Marit Kaiser - 20th UVM SL, 24th Williams SL
The EISA converges on Middlebury College next weekend for the final carnival of the 2024 season before NCAA Championship qualifiers are announced.
Nordic Skiing Closes in on Final EISA Carnival
Williams College hosted the fifth carnival weekend of the EISA circuit, welcoming teams to Prospect Mountain in nearby Woodford, Vt. Friday Colby's men's and women's teams combined for five top-30 finishes in the Classic before the groups competed in a high-spirited Sprint Relay Saturday.
Individual Top-30 Results:
- Zach Nemeth - 14th Men's Classic
- Gretta Scholz - 20th Women's Classic
- Taiga Moore - 28th Men's Classic
- Maddie Hooker - 28th Women's Classic
- Benjamin Lewis (photo right) - 29th Men's Classic
Saturday's Relay Teams/Places:
- 10th place Women (out of 18 teams) - Scholz, Hooker, Isabel Seay
- 10th place Men (out of 19 teams) - Andrew Defor, Nemeth, Lewis
- 13th place Women - Lola Villafranco, Natalie O'Brien, Rose Clayton
- 18th place Men - Matous Matousek, Moore, Isak Nightingale
The Mules return to Vermont next weekend for the Eastern Collegiate Championship (also the final EISA Carnival) hosted by Middlebury College. After the conclusion of the circuit, the NCAA will announce its qualifiers for the NCAA Championship. Colby has several athletes in strong contention.
Squash Heads to Philadelphia for CSA Team Championships
The Mules headed to the 2024 CSA Divisional Team Championships taking place at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center in Philadelphia, Penn. The 14th-ranked Men's team competed for the Hoehn Cup (B Division) as the two seed moving up from the Summers Cup (C Division) a year ago, while the Women once again competed for the Walker Cup (C Division) as the four seed.
In the quarterfinals round both teams came up just short in intense battles as the men fell to MIT 4-5 and the women to St. Lawrence, also 4-5. In the consolation rounds the next day both teams turned the momentum against conference opponents as the women took a dominant 9-0 win over Hamilton, and the men topped Middlebury 6-3. To wrap things up on the final day, the women defeated another NESCAC opponent in Conn. College 7-2 to win the 2nd consolation finals, while the men took a tough loss against Franklin & Marshall 4-5 in their own consolation finals.
Andrea Lee, Alieen Dominguez, Abhisheka David, India Spencer (photo right), Inwoo Lee, Seif Ashraf and Carlos Zendejas all went 3-0 for the Mules in the tournament.
With the conclusion of the CSA Team Championships both teams will await for the CSA Individual Championships taking place March 8th-10th right back in Philadelphia.
Mules Host Colby Invitational
In their last meet before heading to D3 New England Championships the Mules hosted Bates, Bowdoin, CMCC, Husson, Thomas and UMF for the Colby Invitational. Despite no team scores the Mules pulled away with many dominant podium finishes including multiple podium sweeps and personal records. 17 men and 16 women have met qualifying marks for the D3 New England Meet next weekend, with the opportunity for more spots via provisional entries.
Women’s Top-3 Performances:
- 60m Dash, Podium Sweep - Simone Waheed 1st (PR), Tally Zeller 2nd (PR), Sade Greenidge 3rd (SR)
- 200m, Podium Sweep - Kaitlyn Ewald 1st (PR), Greenidge 2nd (SR), Ellie Wang 3rd
- 800m, Podium Sweep - Haley Wims 1st (PR), Maddie Bush 2nd (PR), Olivia Doherty 3rd (PR)
- Anna Mackey - 1st, 400m (SR)
- Abby Steffler - 1st, 3000m (PR)
- Penny King - 1st, 5000m (PR)
- Erin Daugherty - 1st, 60m Hurdles & 2nd, Triple Jump (PR)
- Alene Fernandes - 2nd, 600m
- Ewald - 2nd, Long Jump
Men’s Top-3 Performances:
- Pole Vault, Podium Sweep - Peter Martel 1st, Logan Lehnert & Myles Thorton-Sherman tied 2nd
- 800m, Podium Sweep - Jackson Coelho 1st (PR), Liam McGoldrick 2nd (PR), Thomas Speltz 3rd (PR)
- Terrell Hood-Simeon - 1st, 60m Dash (PR)
- Henry Reichle - 1st, 600m (PR)
- Levi Biery - 2nd, 60m Hurdles (PR)
- Thornton-Sherman - 2nd, Long Jump (PR)
- 1 Mile - Hugh McGuire 2nd (PR), Brady Clegg 3rd (PR)
- Triple Jump - Kevin Yan 2nd, A.J. Feldman 3rd (PR)
- Jackson Brielmann - 3rd, 400m
- Anthony D’Itria - 3rd, High Jump
The D3 New England Championships will kick off Sunday February 25th and conclude the 26th.
Special thank you to the photographers who helped make this production possible: Bonnie Baker Photography, Cole Burkhart '24, Steve Cheney P25, Stephen R. Clouthier, Ashley Conti, Jamie Fiedorek '25, Colin Flood '26, Steve Fuller @flyingpoint, Michael Garrett P23, Andrew Hearns P24, Peter Li '26, Michael Maher, Joshua McKee, Dustin Satloff '15, Ellie Sawyer P25, Bill Stevenson P24, Isadora Wells '26, Ansley White '26