March 11, 2024

Alpine Skiing Places 12th at National Event

The Alpine Ski team took on the rest of NCAA Skiing at the Championships in Steamboat Springs, Colo. As one of the only sports NCAA sponsors that combines Divisions I, II, and III, the Mules put their best foot forward against the top international and scholarship athletes in the four-day event.

The first run of Wednesday's Giant Slalom proved to be the highlight for the Mules. Harrison Digangi sparked his teammates with a 5th place first run, followed by Nolan Sweeney in 14th. Meagan Olsen sat at the edge of All-American status in the women's race coming in 10th. On the second run Colby skiers found a touch more challenge, with Digangi falling back to 23rd and Olsen to 16th. Sweeney led the Mules on the day placing 15th as the 8th eastern skier.

In Friday night's Slalom, Hannah Soria provided the spark by jumping from bib 30 to 20th place and securing major points for her Mules. She was the 8th eastern skier to cross the line.

Colby Finishes:

• Nolan Sweeney: 15th GS, 29th SL
• Meagan Olsen: 16th GS, 29th SL
• Hannah Soria: 20th SL, 27th GS
• Harrison Digangi: 23rd GS, DSQ SL

Colby will close out the winter with select racers traveling to Sun Valley, Idaho for US Nationals in a few weeks.

Nordic Skiing Places 16th at National Event

In the four-day NCAA championship event in Steamboat Springs the Nordic Ski team took on the top collegiate racers from across Divisions I, II, and III. The competition was steep, as the majority of the competitors had World Cup or Olympic games experience, coming from universities offering athletic scholarships.

The thin air in mile-high territory made distance events a major challenge, especially for eastern competitors who had little or no time to acclimate. With sights set on placing inside the top-30 to earn points for team scoring, the Mules complied in both Thursday's Freestyle and Saturday's Classic to place 16th overall in the Nordic portions, fourth for Division III schools.

Jack Young paced Colby with a 26th place finish in the Freestyle event, and Gretta Scholz led the way for the Mules in the Classic placing 27th in the series finale.

Colby Finishes:

• Jack Young: 26th Freestyle, 34th Classic
• Gretta Scholz: 27th Classic, 29th Freestyle
• Zach Nemeth: 31st Classic, 36th Freestyle

Combining the four Nordic events with the four Alpine events, the Mules placed 14th overall at the championships out of the 23 qualifying schools. Middlebury was the top Division III school in 10th while Bowdoin, St. Lawrence, Plymouth State, Bates, and Williams all fell in line behind Colby. The top-three teams all came from the western region as scholarship universities Colorado, Utah, and Denver held down the podium.

Select Mules have one more event to close out the winter, testing themselves at the Jr. National Championship this week in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Squash Concludes Season at CSA Individual Championships

The Mules wrapped up the 2023-24 campaign this weekend at the three-day CSA tournament hosted at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center in Philadelphia. Five athletes represented Colby in the event, each competing in different brackets.

Andrea Lee highlighted Colby's performance, battling in the Holleran West (B Division). The senior took care of her first round matchup against Emma Kate Watts-Roy (Bowdoin) 3-0, followed by a victory against Stanford's Marianna Dardon in a close 3-2 comeback victory in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Lee fought hard before falling to Alyssa Ali (Cornell) 3-1.

Also on the women's side, Aileen Dominguez (headline photo) was able to reach the consolation finals of the Holleran North (B Division) bracket after defeating Rachel Miller from Williams in the semifinals. Dominguez came up just short in the final to Lily Seckendorf of Brown 3-1. Abhisheka David posted hard fought battles against her opponents from Bates and William Smith in the Holleran South (B Division).

In the Men's Pool Trophy (A Division) Inwoo Lee secured a win in the consolation bracket quarterfinals before falling in the semifinals to Hollis Robertson of Princeton. Seif Ashraf also fell in the consolation semifinals to his opponent from Cornell.

This concluded the 2023-24 season for the Mules.

Men’s Lacrosse Defeats UNE at Home, Takes Care of Conn. in a Thriller on the Road

The Mules saw not only their first victory of the season, but also their second, taking care of UNE at home on Wednesday and Conn. College on the road on Saturday.

In the non-conference win over the Nor'easters the Mules dominated from the jump scoring four goals in each of the first three quarters. UNE tallied just four goals over that stretch. The Nor-easters were able to find the back of the net once more in the final frame, but Colby took the 12-5 victory for their first win of the season. Individually, Bennett Goller (two goals, one assist) and Cormac O’Neill (one goal, two assists) led the way in points with three apiece. Carson Byrd tallied three caused turnovers and three ground balls.

On Saturday the Camels raced ahead to a 7-3 halftime lead. The Mules came out firing in the third quarter, netting five goals to close the gap to one. The Camels opened back up their lead early in the fourth quarter with two quick goals before Colby tallied three times to tie the game at 11. After trading scores with five minutes to play, Max Solmssen found Gavin Rothenberg with 26 seconds remaining for the game clinching goal–his third of the game–giving the Mules the conference victory 13-12.

Goller had another fine offensive performance totaling five points (three assists, two goals) as Solmssen finished with four points (three assist, one goal). Goalkeeper Matt Suffredini finished with seven saves.

The 2-1 Mules are back in action next Saturday as they journey down to Amherst, Mass. to take on the Mammoths.

Men’s Tennis Sweeps USM and Endicott in Home Doubleheader

In Sunday's doubleheader action, the Men's Tennis team dominated their competition taking down both of their opponents 9-0 while scattering only a handful of dropped games.

In the first match against USM, Julian Cangieter Hernandez notched his first collegiate win in both doubles (partnered with Sriram Das) and singles. Across all doubles and singles action, the Mules only allowed six points to fall into the hands of the Huskies.

In game two versus Endicott, Colby remained hot in doubles taking 8-0 wins at line 1 and 2, as well as a 8-3 win at line 3. In singles the Mules only dropped five total games with senior captain Joey Barrett, junior captain Jake Cohen, and first-year Paul Dandler all winning their matchups 6-0, 6-0.

Colby is back in action Sunday, March 17th against MIT at the Kennebec Valley Tennis Association in Augusta.

Baseball Tops USM For Third Time in 25 Matchups

The Mules opened the week with their annual matchup against regional power USM. In the previous 24 games with the Huskies, Colby had only been the victor twice.

Despite falling behind by scores of 1-0 and 3-1, Colby lit up the middle frames scoring twice in the sixth and twice in the seventh to secure the 5-3 victory. Noah Reichman's two-run double in the seventh inning pushed the Mules ahead for good. Matthew Scibilio pitched 3.2 scoreless innings in relief, striking out 10 of the 15 batters he faced while scattering two hits.

In Saturday's double-header in Beverly, Mass. against #2 Endicott, the Mules played close from start to finish. While matching the Gulls with eight hits in the first game and seven in the second, runs were hard to come by. In the end, Colby gave way to their hosts in both games, falling 4-1 and 2-0.

Senior Cole Palmeri collected four hits on the week, reaching career hit 100 Saturday afternoon. The two-time All-NESCAC selection has hit safely in all four games this season.

Colby will continue to thwart off the cold with double headers both days this coming weekend. Saturday the Mules will host Brandeis before NEC comes to town Sunday.