Cross-Country
By Alex Pijanowski
Men’s and women’s cross-country concluded their seasons over the weekend at the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional Championships, held in Wilmington, Ohio. The Lords placed 21st out of 37 teams (652 team points) and the Ladies were 19th out of 35 (528 points).
As usual, the men’s team’s leading runners were Sam Lagasse ’16 and Nat Fox ’16, with times of 24:59.6 and 25:06.1, respectively, on an eight-kilometer course. Lagasse finished in 19th, Fox in 26th, and both were accorded All-Region Honors for their efforts. Additionally, Lagasse and Fox were both fast enough that they nearly qualified for individual bids to the NCAA national meet. Andres Herrera ’16 had a season-best result of 28:01.7, and was the Lords’ third-best runner.
For the Ladies, Samantha White ’16 also had a career day on the 6k course, crossing the finish line in a 90th-place time of 23:46.1. Molly Hunt ’18 finished 94th with a time of 23:48.0, and Susannah Davies ’18 was not far behind in 97th place (23:51.6). Hunt and Davies have been consistently among the team’s top runners for all of their first collegiate seasons.
“It was a good culmination,” Fox said. “Sam and I, we ran really well, and our hard work during the season paid off. We were close enough to the guys who made nationals as individuals that I feel like I had more or less accomplished my goals.”
This was a somewhat trying season for both teams. Both struggled with low numbers and injuries over the course of the season. Fox believes, however, that the team persevered in spite of it all.
“[My teammates] really put in an effort that was something they should be proud of,” Fox said.
Thankfully for these teams, there should be a good deal of continuity next season. The Lords will only graduate two members this year, and the Ladies will lose only four seniors.
Women’s Basketball
By Rebecca Dann
The women’s basketball team began their season this past weekend with a close 58-56 loss to Washington and Jefferson College (Washington, Pa.) on Saturday in the Penn State-Behrend College Tournament in Erie, Pa. The Ladies were able to redeem themselves in the tournament the following day against the hosts, winning 57-39.
The Ladies appeared to be evenly matched against Washington and Jefferson College until the last 11 seconds of play. Kenyon was down 57-53 in the last 30 seconds of the game, but Sarah Hobbs ’15 managed to close the gap between the scores, making a three-pointer with just 11 seconds left in the game to bring the score to 57-56. Washington and Jefferson were rewarded a foul shot a second later to pull another point ahead of the Ladies, who were unable to retaliate.
“It was a tough loss for this first game, but we haven’t really gone over late-game situations as much, so we’re probably going to be working on that,” Hobbs said.
Ifeoma Archimalo ’18 led the team with 14 points, while Hobbs was close behind with a total of 13 points. Sidney Cera ’17 also had an impressive game, scoring nine points.
The following day the Ladies dominated against Penn State-Behrend to earn their first win of the season. Lauren Kriete ’15 had an impressive game, leading the team with 20 points, twice the total of the next-highest scorer.
“I think people gained some confidence this weekend because we have a small team so every single person at any point needs to be ready to step up and produce on offense and defense,” Hobbs said. “So everyone scored and everyone got a chance to show what they can do.”
Last night, the team traveled to Ada, Ohio to take on Ohio Northern University. “Tomorrow is going to be a tough game,” Hobbs said before the game. “It’s on the road and Ohio Northern is really athletic and really aggressive, more so than the teams we played this weekend. So I think its going to be an adjustment. We just need to out-hustle them.”
The Ladies were unable to grab the win and lost to Ohio Northern 66-46*.
*This score appeared as “46-66” in the print edition. It has been reversed to comply with the Collegian‘s sports reporting standards.