The Lure of Spring Term Sports

By C. J. Ryan | Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Like the spring weather in Hanover, the spring outlook for the more traditional Indian sports might appear grim, with a chance of getting grimmer. Fortunately, Dartmouth has a team to rally behind in the Greco-Roman athletes of the Track and Field team.

After a disappointing seventh place finish to conclude the indoor season, the team has rebounded to crush opposition from the northeast region including much of the Ivy competition. Dominating in the sprints, Brian Evans, Tim Edmonds, and Charlie Stoebe have crushed the field in the short distances, and in hurdles Pete Pidermann has worked the northeast hurdle circuit as a freshman.

But perhaps Dartmouth is deepest in its middle and long distance talent, routing Ivy League and northeast region schools in the most recent Princeton meet, and taking on the likes of the PAC-10 in the same weekend, with Ben True and Harry Norton posting a stunning 4:02.61 and 4:09.99 respectively in the one mile race, and Trevor Middleton smoking out a 1:53.86 in the 800 meter race at the Sun Devil Invitational at Arizona State University.

In the field, Rob Kerris, has finished in the top pack of the spring meets on account of his discus and shot-put prowess while Randy McKnight and freshman Ted Lesher have beat out some top northeast competition in the jumping events. The boys of the Track and Field team are in prime position to do big things at HEPS, the Ivy Championship, and hopefully beyond, at New Englands, the area championship.

The boys on the diamond, however, hold the worst record (2-8 Ivy, 5-19 overall) to date in the Red Rolfe Division, the equivalent of the MLB’s National League in the Ivy League. Rolfe, class of 1931, for whom the home field is named, an all-time third baseman for the Bronx Bombers, playing with the likes of Gehrig and Dimaggio, was a long time Athletic Director at the College. Knowledge.

The hard times Dartmouth Baseball has found itself in this season might be the effect of Will Bashelor leaving for the majors, but just a season after posting the second best ERA in the conference, Dartmouth has allowed ten runs in their last two losses despite the return of three-fourths of their rotation from last season.

While starting pitchers Russell Young, who earned the Most Improved Player award last year pitching 49 innings at a 3.44 ERA, Jeff Wilkerson, an All-Ivy selection last season, and Chase Carpenter have pitched to key wins thus far, the Dartmouth rotation must tighten up the screws against Ivy League competition in order to salvage the season going into the post-season.

This will prove to be quite an arduous task without sustained and consistent relief support, though Miller Aldrich and starter Robert Young, both hailing from the Lone Star State, have made some brilliant freshmen efforts on the mound.

Just as important to the pitching staff, the offense of the team in Ray Allen, Erik Bell, Jason Blydell, Jason McManis, Jack Monahan, Nick Santamauro and Damon Wright, a 2nd Team All-Ivy Leaguer, have amassed fourteen runs over University of Massachusetts and eight runs over University of Cincinnati and Columbia, but need to swing their bats down the home stretch to put Dartmouth in contention in the Rolfe Division.

The field has many solid gloves and should look to hone their defensive style of play in order to ensure buffer of error down the home stretch of the season.

That brings us to lacrosse. In my days at the preparatory school, the fellows who played this sport were generally referred to as “field fairies”; these gentlemen are anything but. However, costly one point losses to both the infamous Duke University team as well as Ivy foe Penn, as well as a three goal drops to Fairfield University and Yale, make the difference between what should be an 8-3 overall record, 3-1 Ivy, and the reality of their record: 4-6 overall, 1-3 Ivy.

Despite these unfortunate losses, these boys in green legitimately stand to stage quite a comeback in the League. But this won’t be accomplished without consistent defense. Let’s give the freshman Michael Novosel a break, he’s done a damn fine job going up against number-one-in-the-nation Cornell and saving an inhuman 12 shots in 53 minutes.

The gentlemen to look for on the field: attack ace Nick Bonacci, who has posted a high number of goals each game including four and three in the losses to Duke and Yale respectively, and freshman Ari Sussman, who has buried several in the opponent net this season. Keep your eye out for Chad Gaudet, a two-sport specimen of a man who is bound to do big things on the lacrosse field this spring and the football field this fall.

I’m getting ahead of myself. If I could impart anything to you, reader, it would be this: please hang out. Support the pea-greens this spring. Stop talking about what you did last night on the mating ground known as first-floor Berry, and view a sporting event. It is good for you.

The Lure of Spring Term Sports

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