Mules Fourth at NESCAC Championships
Earning six All-NESCAC Awards and seeing a remarkable 22 performances qualify for championship finals events (top-8), Colby's Women's Swimming & Diving team put on a show for its home crowd this weekend at the conference championships.
Threatening for a top-3 team finish for the duration of the four-day competition, the Mules were edged by Amherst on the final event for third place by just five points (four-day tally of 1117-1112). Three relay squads earned a step on the podium to go along with three individual All-NESCAC selections.
Eliza Marco collected an individual podium and three more as part of a relay squad. Alexis Coates and Kellen Mottl joined Marco as All-NESCAC members for finishing in the top-3 of an event.
This marks the best performance by the women's team in almost 20 years by many calculations (place, total points, All-NESCAC selections).
Colby Women's Swimming & Diving has had many spectacular successes throughout the history of the program, and this season and team stands out as truly one of the best. From day one they set their sights on goals at all levels and through discipline, dedication, and passion for each other, together they are on the verge of achieving every one and reaching the highest levels of achievement in our program's history. I am so proud of them and honored to be their coach.
- Tom Burton, Head Swimming & Diving Coach
Top-8 Performances:
- 200 yd Freestyle Relay - 3rd Place (Eliza Marco, Lily Moy, Lucy Mackey, Gabriella Landau)
- 400 yd Freestyle Relay - 4th Place (Marco, Zoe Buzzelli, Landau, Moy)
- 200 yd Medley Relay - 3rd Place (Tahlia Crowley, Kellen Mottl, Landau, Marco)
- 400 yd Medley Relay - 3rd Place (Alexis Coates, Mottl, Lexi Asch, Marco)
- Asch - 50 yd Butterfly (8th), 100 yd Butterfly (8th), 200 yd Butterfly (8th)
- Abby Bauman - 1650 Freestyle (8th)
- Coates - 100 yd Backstroke (2nd), 50 yd Backstroke (7th)
- Crowley - 50 yd Backstroke (7th)
- Landau - 50 yd Backstroke (4th), 50 yd Butterfly (6th), 100 yd Backstroke (7th)
- Marco - 50 yd Freestyle (2nd), 100 yd Freestyle (4th), 50 yd Breaststroke (6th)
- Mottl - 50 yd Breaststroke (2nd), 100 yd Breaststroke (5th), 200 yd Breaststroke (5th)
- Avery Rappaport - 3 mtr Diving (5th), 1 mtr Diving (6th)
The women will have a break next week while the men's team competes at Middlebury for their conference championship. With many B-cuts in the mix, the Mules will need to wait until selections are final to see who will be traveling to Indianapolis in March for the NCAA Championships.
Cassidy Takes Slalom Lead with Back-to-Back Victories for Alpine Skiing
Colby junior Carissa Cassidy took her career-year to another level this weekend, winning her second EISA Slalom in a row and taking over the event leader bib. Over the weekend, the men and women combined to collect eight top-20 finishes and will head into the final weekend of the EISA schedule with a plethora of Mules in contention for NCAA Championship qualification.
On par with a Player of the Year Award, an event leader is determined using results from all six carnival weekends to name a champion come carnival season end. With one more week to go, Cassidy leads Zoe Zimmerman of Dartmouth by 40 points (380 to 340), and holds hefty leads over the next in line (Hedda Maretelleur from UNH with 249, and Justine Clement from UVM with 200).
Top-30 Women's Results:
- Cassidy - 1st Slalom, 14th Giant Slalom
- Lydia Riddell - 9th Giant Slalom
- Hannah Soria - 14th Slalom
- Charlotte Maurer - 19th Giant Slalom
- Molly Mueller - 27th Slalom
Top-30 Men's Results:
- Patrick Coughlin - 14th Slalom, 26th Giant Slalom
- Harrison Digangi - 15th Giant Slalom, 26th Slalom
- Topher Davenport - 17th Slalom
The final stop on the EISA circuit will be Cannon Mountain in Franconia, N.H. for the UNH Carnival. The series also serves as the NCAA Eastern Regional Championship.
Women's Basketball Secures No. 2 Seed for NESCAC Playoffs
Splitting with Trinity and Wesleyan over the weekend, Colby earned the second seed for the conference playoffs matching their highest ranking since owning the same spot in 2011. With a NESCAC record of 7-3, the Mules tied the 2001 and 2011 teams for the most conference wins in a regular season since NESCAC play began in 2001.
Colby put up a strong fight against Trinity on Friday to open the weekend, but despite a strong 19-point fourth quarter, the Mules fell to the Bantams 67-60. Kate Olenik and Amelia Hanscom (career high) each scored 23 points, with Olenik contributing six rebounds and Hanscom adding three steals and two assists. The team shot an impressive 25 of 29 (86.2%) from the line while playing solid defense and adding 11 points off turnovers.
Friday's loss was short-lived as Colby was able to bounce back the Saturday at Wesleyan, securing a 65-49 win. The Mules were led by strong performances from Lydia Mordarski (16 points, seven rebounds), Olenik (15 points, seven rebounds), and Hanscom (13 points, six rebounds). Defense was key as Colby held Wesleyan to just 33.3% shooting, including 18.8% from three-point range. Colby’s second-half surge, a characteristic common to the 2025 Mules, sealed the victory.
Colby will host Middlebury Saturday at 2:00pm for their quarterfinal matchup. In a regular season barnburner a little over one week ago, the Mules outlasted the Panthers 75-72 in overtime.
Young 2nd for Nordic Skiing at Middlebury
Colby senior Jack Young has been nothing short of remarkable since his return from the early World Cup season, finishing in the top-seven in every EISA race he's started. Friday he posted his best career finish in second, narrowly missing the top step of the podium by less than two seconds.
Young's leadership in the Sprint events has certainly had an effect on team results, and it has also sparked teammates on both the men's and women's teams to find top gears as well. With a season-best 15 top-30 individual finishes this weekend, Colby has several Mules in contention to join Young at NCAA Championships in March.
Top-30 Men's Results:
- Young - 2nd Sprint, 6th Classic
- Andrew Defor - 12th Classic, 20th Sprint
- Taiga Moore - 15th Sprint, 20th Classic
- Clint Macy - 22nd Sprint
- Benjamin Lewis - 23rd Sprint, 30th Classic
- Matous Matousek - 28th Sprint
Top-30 Women's Results:
- Maddie Hooker - 18th Sprint, 24th Classic
- Lydia Kraker - 22nd Sprint, 28th Classic
- Natalie O'Brien - 25th Sprint
Colby will close out the EISA regular season Friday and Saturday at the Jackson XC Center for the UNH Carnival, also serving as the NCAA Eastern Regional Championships.
Men's Ice Hockey Tops Wesleyan, Goes to Shootout with Trinity
The Men's Ice Hockey team gave fans their monies worth, taking both matchups this weekend to extra time. The Mules downed Wesleyan 1-0 two minutes into overtime Friday night before suffering a shootout loss Saturday at the hands of reigning NESCAC champion Trinity.
Saturday's game with Wesleyan remained scoreless through the first three periods, with both teams having opportunities on the power play but failing to capitalize. Colby’s Tyler Crist scored the only goal of the game at 1:37 of overtime, assisted by Massimo Gentile. The game was marked by strong defensive play and goaltending, with Cooper Rautenstrauch earning his third shutout victory of the season after tallying 25 saves.
On Saturday, the game between Colby and Trinity was a defensive battle with both teams struggling to break the deadlock through the first two periods. The Bantams scored first in the third period at 7:57 on a power play but the Mules responded moments later, scoring a power play goal of their own. Will Soloway scored the equalizer with the assist again going to Gentile. Despite numerous penalties (12 in total) and power play opportunities, neither team could score in overtime, leading to a shootout Trinity would steal 2-1. Gentile scored the lone shootout tally for the Mules.
Rautenstrauch performed heroically once again, racking up 41 saves in the contest. The goaltender currently ranks second in the conference in saves percentage (.935) and third in saves per game (28.69).
Colby celebrated its six seniors before Saturday's game for Senior Day.
With a 12-5-5 record, the Mules currently sit in 4th place in the conference standings with one more weekend to go. Colby needs to win one of the two games to secure a home playoff quarterfinal game.
Women's Squash Sweeps Bates, F&M
With only four regular season matches remaining, the Colby Men's and Women's squash teams took on Franklin & Marshall and Bates this week.
Both the men's and women's teams made quick work of Bates, making it two in a row over the Bobcats for the men and two out of three for the women. Amanda Miller highlighted the women's team's 9-0 win with comeback victory after being down 7-10 in the final set. The junior defended five match balls to take the victory 12-10. On the men’s side of the competition, Inwoo Lee (headline photo) in the one spot and Seif Ashraf in the two spot were part of the six wins (6-3) to go 2-0 on the week.
Against Franklin & Marshall, the women dominated to the tune of a 9-0 sweep. Seven of the nine matches ended in 3-0 victories as the Diplomats only picked up a pair of games. The men fell 6-3 with individual victories coming from Lee, Ashraf and Sebastian Campos.
Colby's Squash teams will travel to Dartmouth Saturday before return home to host Bowdoin on Sunday to close out the regular season.
Women's Ice Hockey Splits with Cardinals
In the midst of a swift rise up the NESCAC standings, Colby traveled to Middletown, Conn. for their final road trip of the regular season. Splitting the pairing with the Cardinals, Colby's only setback in the last three weeks has come at the hand of an overtime tally.
In the first match, Colby defeated Wesleyan 3-1 Friday night. The Cardinals took the lead in the first period but the Mules responded, scoring three unanswered goals. Beth Sinson got things going in the second frame, and Megan Martodam followed in the third to give Colby the lead with five minutes to play. Georgia Pettygrove sealed the win with an empty-net goal with 20 seconds remaining in the game.
The next day Wesleyan squeezed out an intense 3-2 overtime victory. Despite being down early by a Cardinal score in the first period, Colby bounced back with two power-play goals from Courtney Schumacher. Wesleyan managed to tie the game with two minutes remaining and ultimately earn the series split with a tally in overtime. Pettygrove had a goal and three assists across the set, and Mandy Busky improved her record to 8-1-2 on the season with 49 saves. The goaltender is currently ranked third in the NESCAC in save percentage (.953).
With a 14-5-2 record, the Mules will return to Mayflower Hill next weekend for the final pairing of the regular season. Currently ranked 3rd in the NESCAC, Colby will host top-ranked Middlebury Friday and Saturday before playoff pairings are announced.
Track & Field Travels to Bowdoin, BU
Over the weekend the Mules competed in the Lynn Ruddy Invitational in Brunswick as well as the David Hemery Valentine Invitational in Boston. Despite no team scores at the highly competitive Valentine Invite, the Mules gathered multiple top-10 results. At Bowdoin, the men placed 2nd out of eight teams at while the women took 6th of nine teams, with the two squads combining for 13 top-3 finishes.
The major highlight of both meets were the four Colby school records broken: Fiona Mejico in both the 200m (24.84) and 400m (55.94), Myles Thorton-Sherman in the heptathlon (4531 points), and the men’s 4x400 relay team (3:15.16) consisting of Peter Martel, Jackson Coelho, Samuel Graubart and Ren Zanze.
Valentine Invitational Top-10:
- 200m (W) - Mejico, 3rd
- 200m (M) - Martel 6th, Zanze 8th
- 400m (M) - Zanze 6th
- 4x400m (M), 8th - Martel, Coelho, Graubart, Zanze
Lynn Ruddy Invitational Top-3:
- 800m (M) - Kevin Gustafson, 1st
- 5000m (M) - Greydon Gavin, 1st
- Heptathlon (M) - Thornton-Sherman, 1st
- 3000m (W) - Abbey Wolfe 2nd, Emily Jeon 3rd
- 60 Hurdles (M) - Patrick Kuprewicz 2nd, Ivan Yan 3rd
- Pole Vault (M) - Lexington Lehnert 2nd, Logan Lehnert 3rd
- Pentathlon (W)- Michelle Branes, 2nd
- 400m (M) - Hayden Bailey, 2nd
- 3000m (M) - Brady Clegg, 3rd
- Pole Vault (W) - Gabriella Bresnick, 3rd (headline photo)
The Mules will be back in action February 22nd for the Bates Bobcats Tune Up, the last stop ahead of the DIII New England Championships.
Men's Basketball Finishes Regular Season, Enters Playoffs as No.7 Seed
Closing out the regular season this weekend against the top two teams in the NESCAC, the Mules battled but came up short against #10 Trinity and #1 Wesleyan. Jack Lawson tallied career point number 1000 Friday night to become the 43rd member of Colby Men's Basketball to reach the milestone.
In Friday night's matchup against the Bantams Colby showed resilience in the second half, outscoring their opponents 41-40. Trinity's first-half lead proved too much to overcome as the visitors outpaced Colby 88-78 Max Poulton led the way with 19 points, including a strong 5-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc. Marcos Montiel and Dan Civello each contributed 13 points and the Mules shot a solid 45.2% from three-point range.
The next day the Mules took a tough 91-64 loss to undefeated #1 Wesleyan University to conclude the regular season. Colby got a spark from the bench as Civello led the team with 15 points and Jack Gatjanis contributed 13 (career high). In total, the Mules' bench accounted for 44 of the team's points.
Colby celebrated its two seniors before Saturday's game for Senior Day.
With a 13-11 record, Colby will head to Trinity next Saturday for the opening round of the NESCAC Playoffs. Tip-off is set for 4:30pm.
Special thank you to the photographers who helped make this production possible: Bonnie Baker Photography, Steve Cheney P'25, Stephen R. Clouthier, Traigh DeMasi '28, Jamie Fiedorek '25, Steve Fuller @flyingpoint, Peter Li '26, Michael Maher, Reese Robinson '27, Junan Shimizu '25, Daryn Slover P'28, Marty Thornton Photos, Ansley White '26, and the Colby Communications team.