Women's Swimming & Diving Ends Regular Season a Perfect 9-0
Colby's Women's Swimming & Diving team cruised through this weekend's annual CBB meet, taking down Bates 243-52 and Bowdoin 194.5-104.5. The Mules, also winners of the eight-team Maine State Meet in December, end the regular season with a perfect 9-0 record in dual meets for the second straight season. Head Coach Tom Burton collected his 250th and 251st wins as head coach of Colby.
Colby celebrated event winners in 11 of the 16 events, led by Alexis Coates, Kellen Mottl, and Eliza Marco who had two individual wins apiece. Coates and Marco were also members of a pair of winning relays. The Mules swept the podium in the 100 and 200 Backstrokes, running a remarkable one-through-five in the 200. Mottl (100 Breaststroke) and Coates (200 Backstroke) set new program records, with Mottl's time ranking second across Division III this season. The 200 Medley Relay team of Coates, Mottl, Lexi Asch, and Marco currently ranks fourth.
INDIVIDUAL EVENT WINNERS:
- 200yd Medley Relay - Coates, Mottl, Asch, Marco
- 200yd Freestyle Relay - Marco, Coates, Zoe Buzzelli, Lucy Mackey
- 100yd Backstroke - Coates
- 200yd Backstroke - Coates
- 100yd Breaststroke - Mottl
- 200yd Breaststroke - Mottl
- 100yd Butterfly - Asch
- 50yd Freestyle - Marco
- 100yd Freestyle - Marco
- 1000yd Freestyle - Abby Bauman
- 3mtr Diving - Avery Rappaport
Colby currently ranks 16th across all of Division III, behind only Williams (8th) and Tufts (9th) in the NESCAC. The conference championships are only two short weeks away, hosted by Wesleyan February 12-15.
#13 Women’s Ice Hockey Rolls to Three Wins, 20 Goals in Busy Week
Colby had a dominant week, taking care of Nichols College at home before controlling Trinity in back to back games in Hartford.
The Mules wrapped up their non-conference schedule with an 8-3 victory over the Bison Tuesday afternoon. After falling behind 1-0 early in the second period, the Mules responded with four unanswered goals from Emily Olsthoorn, Molly Lefebvre, Jo Tattersall, and Sophia Kennedy. Nichols managed to get two more on the board in the third, but Colby’s offense proved too strong, adding another four goals to close out the contest, including Olsthoorn’s second of the contest. Beth Sinson and Addie Paskowski finished with two assists each. The Mules followed up with a dominating 8-0 shutout of the Bantams Friday night. Colby jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the opening two minutes of play setting the tone for the rest of the contest. Marion Legge scored two of the eight goals which came off the sticks of seven different players. The next day, Colby closed the week with a 4-1 win over Trinity to close out the series. Courtney Schumacher, Olsthoorn, and Brooke Eselunas each scored in the first period to give Colby a commanding 3-0 lead. Allie Corrieri added an insurance power play goal in the third, while the Bantams scored a late power-play goal to disrupt the shutout.
With three goals and two assists on the week, Olsthoorn was named NESCAC Player of the Week.
Women’s Ice Hockey (13-4 overall, 7-3 in NESCAC action) will look to bring this week's momentum into their series at Amherst Friday and Saturday.
Men’s Basketball Splits Tight NESCAC Showdowns with Back-to-Back One-Point Games
The Mules endured a rollercoaster week, dropping a heartbreaker before bouncing back with a one-point victory of their own.
Colby fell just short in a thrilling matchup at Amherst, losing 65-64 Friday night. The Mules jumped out to a 20-6 lead 10 minutes into the opening frame but the Mammoths crawled back to narrow the lead to just one at the break. The game ultimately came down to the final three seconds with Amherst hitting two free throws for the one point win. Dan Civello led the way with 17 points followed by a dozen from Theo Pow off the bench. The Mules bounced back the next day in another nail-biter, narrowly defeating Hamilton 80-79. Colby surged to a 45-39 first-half advantage and withstood a late Hamilton rally to hold on for the win. Down one, Matthew Lamy scored the game winning layup with three seconds remaining off a pass from Savion Stroud. The call on the court was a goaltend, and after video review the call stood and Colby was awarded the goa head score. Civello led the charge once again with 25 points, while Max Poulton and Pow each chipped in 19, combining for 63 of Colby’s 80 points. The game featured 14 lead changes, keeping fans on edge throughout.
Civello, the second leading scorer in the NESCAC, was named conference Player of the Week for his efforts.
Men’s Basketball is now 14-6 overall (2-4 in NESCAC play) and will host Williams Friday and Middlebury Saturday in their second to last regular season week.
Alpine Skiing Cruises at the Dartmouth Carnival
Marking the midway point of the EISA Carnival season, Colby returned to the site of the NCAA Championships from a season ago. With Althea Noyes toting the leader bib in GS and Carissa Cassidy narrowly missing her third podium of the season (0.01 seconds out of third), Colby's women's team placed fifth in both the Giant Slalom and Slalom out of 13 competing teams. The men's team improved from their eighth place finish in Friday's GS to earn their top finish of the season to date placing sixth in Saturday's Slalom.
WOMEN'S TOP-30 FINISHES:
- Cassidy - 4th SL
- Noyes - 7th GS
- Kate McKenney - 18th GS
- Finn Boissoneault - 25th SL
MEN'S TOP-30 FINISHES:
- Brady Malboeuf - 16th GS
- Topher Davenport - 22nd SL
- Harrison Digangi - 24th SL, 27th GS
- Townsend Mikell - 30th SL
The Mules will take to the trails at Stowe Mountain Resort next weekend for the UVM Carnival. Noyes will keep her GS series leader bib as racing kicks off with the Giant Slalom on Friday followed by Saturday's Slalom.
Track & Field Hits National Marks in Boston
Racing in a non-scored event, the Colby Track & Field teams traveled to Boston University for the annual Terrier Classic. Six top-10 event finishes for the men's team and another four for the women's group extended their list of D3 New England Championship qualifiers later this month.
Three Mules etched their names into the top-10 record books for Division III. Kaitlyn Ewald ran the second fastest 500m in D3 history. Staying in the 500m event but switching over to the men's side, Jackson Coelho and Levi Biery hit the 5th and 7th best marks respectively.
MEN's TOP-10 FINISHES:
- 1st - Coelho, 500m
- 2nd - Biery, 500m
- 2nd - Logan Lehnert, Pole Vault
- 3rd - Henry Reichle, Mile
- 3rd - Sam Graubart, 500m
- 4th - Lexington Lehnert, Pole Vault
- 8th - Eli Ziegler, Mile
- 8th - Logan Sullivan, High Jump
WOMEN'S TOP-10 FINISHES:
- 3rd - Ewald, 500m
- 6th - 4x400m Relay: Tally Zeller, Olivia Doherty, Ewald, Charlotte Brake-Hoffman
- 7th - Zeller, 400m
- 8th - Doherty, 500m
The distance unit also had some fine finishes, with Henry Reichle (4:11.81) and Eli Ziegler (4:17.10) racing into the school's top-10 rankings in the mile.
The Mules head to Lewiston for the Maine State Championship this coming weekend.
Five Top-20 Finishes Guide Nordic Skiing at Dartmouth
The Colby Nordic team used 10 top-30 finishes, including five inside the top-20, to hit the halfway point in the carnival schedule in stride. Both the men's and women's teams placed fifth in Friday's Classic, followed by a sixth place for the men and seventh for the women in Saturday's Freestyle.
MEN'S TOP-30 FINISHES:
- James Underwood - 10th Classic, 16th Freestyle
- Benjamin Lewis - 18th Classic
- Matous Matousek - 26th Classic
- Ellis Slover - 28th Freestyle, 29th Classic
WOMEN'S TOP-30 FINISHES:
- Lydia Kraker - 17th Classic
- Lola Villafranco - 20th Classic, 26th Freestyle
- Natalie O'Brien - 21st Classic
Looking at the overall season standings, the Mules have their share of athletes in striking distance of qualifying for the NCAA Championship event in March. Racing picks back up this coming weekend at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center for the UVM Carnival.
Men’s Ice Hockey Faces #14 Bowdoin in Rivalry Matchup
Colby returned to NESCAC play on the road Saturday night, but a tough Polar Bears squad capitalized on key chances as the Mules fell 4-1 in Brunswick.
Colby surrendered a late first-period power-play goal and Bowdoin carried that momentum into the second, extending the lead to 3-0 before the Mules broke through. Dan Juzych put the visitors on the board at 17:27 of the second, finishing off a feed from Ben Morgan and Connor Gallagher to make it 3-1. Bowdoin added one more in the third while holding Colby off the scoresheet the rest of the way. The Mules generated four power-play opportunities but couldn’t convert, while the Polar Bears went 1-for-1 on the man advantage. Netminder Cooper Rautenstrauch finished with 35 saves in the contest.
Colby is now 9-7-2 on the season and 5-6-1 in conference play with six games remaining on the 2025-26 schedule. The team will host Amherst Friday night and Hamilton Saturday afternoon this week.
Squash Sweeps St. Lawrence 9-0
In their lone matchup of the week both the men’s and women’s Squash teams took care of the Saints with ease 9-0.
The men only dropped four games in the nine matchups, combined with the four through eight positions all taking 3-0 wins. The 3-0 victories came from Omar Bastawy, Youssef Mostafa, Tim Radionov, Avery Roseberg, and Sebastian Campos. The women did the same in dropping just four games of the nine matchups. 3-0 victories came from Laavanya Kugan, Reshika Rajarathina, Tori Thill, Haley Coon, and Virginia McWhorter.
Colby now heads into the final regular season stretch hosting Bates Saturday before heading to Bowdoin Sunday.
Women’s Basketball Faces Challenging Week Against NESCAC Foes
The Mules battled through a difficult two-game stretch this week, taking competitive swings against Amherst and Hamilton but ultimately coming up short in both matchups.
Colby opened the week with a hard-fought home matchup against Amherst, falling 66-59 despite a strong start. The Mules stormed out to a 23-13 first-quarter lead behind efficient shooting and defensive pressure, but the Mammoths slowly chipped away and used a decisive 24-12 fourth quarter to take control late. Kate Olenik led Colby with 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting, while Talia Thompson and Chelsea Ibenegbu each added eight. Amherst’s 51% shooting and late-game execution proved to be the difference. The next day the Mules closed the week with a 52–37 loss to Hamilton, who controlled the game from the opening tip. Colby struggled to find rhythm offensively in the first half before settling in for the next 20 minutes of play. Amelia Hanscom led the scoring with 12 points, while Lauren Cho delivered 10 off the bench in just 13 minutes of play. Despite a stronger fourth quarter, Colby couldn’t overcome the Continentals rebounding advantage and balanced scoring effort.
The 11-8 Mules (2-4 in NESCAC) will close out non-conference action Tuesday night at UMaine-Farmington before facing Williams and Middlebury later in the week.
Special thank you to the photographers who helped make this production possible: Wendy Adam P'27, Bonnie Baker Photography, Phillip Belena Photography, Stephen R. Clouthier, Alexis Coates '28, Ashley Conti, Traigh DeMasi '28, Matthew Freeman '29, Steve Fuller @flyingpoint, Rob Hess, Josie Kim '29, Peter Li '26, Jennifer Maguire P'26, Michael Maher, Logan Marku '28, Jarin Pressman '29, Gregory Rec, Reese Robinson '27, Daryn Slover P'28, Isadora Wells '26, Ansley White '26, and the Colby Communications team.