CENTENNIAL CHAMPIONS!
With wins over Ursinus College on Friday and then Dickinson College on Saturday, Swarthmore Men's Basketball won its first ever Centennial Championship and its first league championship since 1951. The Garnet trailed by 11 points in the second half against Dickinson but stormed back for an unforgettable comeback. By winning the conference championship, Swarthmore earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever. In Monday's selection show, the Garnet found out that they would be hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
Baseball kicked off the 2017 campaign with doubleheaders against Arcadia and Elizabethtown. The young Garnet squad, which has 19 freshmen, were clipped in both series, but several underclassmen showed promise.
Sophomore Charles Levitt (right), batted 6-for-15 over the weekend with three doubles. Classmate Conor Elliot went 4-for-11 with three RBIs, and freshman Cole Beeker batted 6-for-11 with four RBIs.
Softball, another up-and-coming, young team, opened the season on Sunday with a doubleheader against Wesley. The Garnet dropped the season openers, but saw plenty of bright spots. One standout was the power hitting of freshmen Kennedy Kings (left), Emile Morse and Kalli Segel. All three had extra base hits including Kings' home run in game two.
At Saturday and Sunday's Indoor Track & Field Championships, the Garnet added plenty of hardware to their collection.
The men finished in third, the team's best finish since 1997. Swarthmore won two golds, a silver and six bronzes. Daniel Belkin won a gold, silver and bronze in the jumping events and Benjamin Hejna took home a gold and a bronze.
The women finished in seventh overall with 42.5 points. Headlining the women's results were Maggie O'Neil, winning gold in the shot put, the 4x800 team winning the silver, and the DMR team earning bronze.
Badminton competed in the Mainline Doubles tournament over the weekend. Hriju Adhikari (right) and Aayushi Dangol (left) finished second in the rookie division and Hailie Xie and May Htet finished second in the division A bracket.
Women's Tennis began the 2017 portion of the schedule with an indoor match against No. 30 NYU. Freshman Emma Kassan (left) made her first appearance as the Garnet's representative in first singles.
Fellow first-year Vivien Fernandez was a double winner, earning victories in the top doubles match and third singles.
Men's Lacrosse dispatched Widener 15-13 in the home opener on Saturday. Cam Marsh (left) had a hand in seven of Swarthmore's goals, scoring three of them and assisting four others. Three players scored twice, and six more players had a single goal as well.
Stephen Ducey had a strong performance on the draw, winning 18-of-23 faceoffs.
Upcoming Home Events
- Fri., March 3 @ 4:30 PM >> Women's Lacrosse vs. DeSales
- Fri., March 3 @ 8:00 PM >> Men's Basketball vs. Staten Island
- Sat. March 4 @ 3:00 PM >> Men's Lacrosse vs. Vassar
- Sat., March 4 @ 7:00 PM >> Men's Basketball (Round of 32)
Credits:
Brandon Hodnett