January 15, 2024

Nordic Skiing Opens 2024 Carnival Season with Five Top-10's at UVM

The Colby Nordic Ski team opened the 2024 EISA Carnival season at UVM, posting several top finishes. The men's team earned third place in the 11-team field in both races, topping the host Catamounts each day and narrowly missing a second place finish in Saturday's Skate. The women's team, led by Gretta Scholz with a 10th place finish both days, skied their way to sixth place in the Skate and seventh place in the Sprint.

After finishing 13th in Friday's Sprint, Jack Young collected a career-best when he finished fourth in the Skate.

Men's Top-30 Finishers:

• Young: 4th Skate, 13th Sprint
• Zach Nemeth: 9th Skate
• Taiga Moore: 10th Sprint
• Andrew Defor: 14th Skate, 17th Sprint
• Victor Sparks: 20th Skate
• Benjamin Lewis: 26th Skate

Keeping pace with Scholz, Maddie Hooker earned 14th and 24th place finishes in the Skate and Sprint respectively, and Isabel Seay popped into 23rd in the Skate.

"The entire men's and women's teams raced really well under challenging warm and wet conditions," said Head Nordic Ski Coach Tracey Cote. "We also had a couple key first-years (Hooker and Defor) step up and score for us in their very first carnival weekend."

The Mules are back in action this coming weekend hosting the Colby Carnival at Quarry Road. After their first competition of the season got bumped due to snow conditions, the Alpine team opens up at Sugarloaf.

Colby Defeats Middlebury on the Road

For their first NESCAC event of the new year, the Colby Swimming & Diving teams took on Middlebury with the women winning 161-138 as well as the Men 155.5-143.5.

Men’s Event Winners:

• 200 Medley Relay - Brandon Xiong, Alexander MacLennan, Neil Mortimer, Allen Zhu
• 200 Freestyle Relay - Xiong, Ethan Chang, Mortimer, Zhu
• Xiong - 50 & 100 Backstroke
• Mortimer - 50 & 100 Butterfly
• Carson Rehkopf - 100 Freestyle
• MacLennan - 100 IM
• Ivan Knoepflmacher - One Meter Dive

Women’s Event Winners:

• 200 Medley Relay - Sarah Michael, Kellen Mottl, Gabriella Landau, Lily Moy
• 200 Freestyle Relay - Emma Cheung, Moy, Alex Mayo, Landau
• Tahila Crowley - 50 Backstroke
• Michael - 100 Backstroke
• Mottl - 50 & 100 Breaststroke, 100 IM
• Moy - 50 & 100 Freestyle
• Avery Rappaport - One Meter Dive
• Eleanor McGrath - Three Meter Dive

The 3-1 men’s team and 2-2 women’s team are back in action Monday on Mayflower Hill at 2:00pm taking on Conn. College.

Women’s Basketball Takes on Williams and Middlebury

After last weekend's victory in their NESCAC opener, the Mules looked to improve on their 1-0 conference start on the road against the Ephs and Panthers.

Against Williams Friday Colby took a 19-point halftime deficit and narrowed the gap to four. Despite scoring the most points in a game against the Ephs since 2011, the hosts nailed their free throws down the stretch to take the victory. Mordarski led the team netting a season-high 19 points followed by Hanscom with 15 points to go along with four assists, two steals and a block.

The name of the game Saturday in Middlebury was defense, with both teams combining for 22 total steals in the low scoring affair. An eight point halftime lead was all the Panthers would need despite the Mules playing even in the second half. Kate Olenik and Chelsea Ibenegbu both played well as Olenik netted 10 points, nine rebounds and four steals while Ibenegbu tallied seven points and five steals. Olenik remains fourth in the NESCAC with a 18.8 ppg while leading the conference in steals with 42.

The 9-6 Mules (1-2 NESCAC record, good for 8th place) will stay on the road to face Husson Wednesday in their last non-conference game of the season.

Squash Posts Victories in Busy Five Match Week

Taking on Hamilton, Hobart (men’s only), Middlebury, Tufts, Williams and William Smith (women’s only), the Colby Squash team had a full week of action with limited time off.

Of their five matches the men’s team pulled away with victories from three, defeating Hobart and Hamilton 8-1 as well as Middlebury 6-3. Despite the two team losses against #11 Williams and #12 Tufts, both Inwoo Lee and Seif Ashraf were able to go undefeated on the week (5-0) in the one and two spots. On the women’s side of competition, the Mules dominated Hamilton in a 9-0 sweep as all the individual matchups ended with 3-0 score lines.

Now both men’s (5-3 overall, 2-3 conference) and women’s (2-4 overall, 1-3 conference) squash will have plenty of time to rest before facing Amherst and St. Lawrence at home this weekend.

Men’s Basketball Battles Williams and Middlebury

Colby's Men's Basketball team hosted the Ephs and Panthers this weekend in search of their first NESCAC win.

Friday against Williams, the Mules played tough defense in the first half, allowing the Ephs 26 points in the first 20 minutes of play. The Williams defense was equally impressive, holding Colby to 19 at the break. Colby narrowed the deficit to seven following back to back Max Poulton layups with 14 minutes remaining but the visitors pulled away down the stretch to stay undefeated in conference play. Colby scorers were held out of double-digits for the first time this year with Lucas Green, Max Poulton and Jack Lawson all tied for the team lead with eight.

On Saturday against Middlebury, Colby had a better time finding the bottom of the net with 46 first half points and putting the Mules up by two at the halftime break. The Panthers were able to leap ahead in the second half and finish down the stretch to take a 90-78 victory back to Vermont. Lawson led the way in scoring, netting 22 points with Poulton right behind with 20 points. The duo is currently ranked 5th and 6th in total points in the NESCAC, with Lawson also sitting in 5th in total rebounds. Off the bench Marcos Montiel contributed 16 points.

Men’s Basketball is now 7-9 on the season and will look to find a non-conference victory Tuesday hosting Husson.