MIDDLEBURY, Vt. ––Following the impressive day the pentathletes had yesterday, the Ephs performed well on Day 2 of the Middlebury Invitational on Saturday.

 

The Ephs finished in second place, of six teams, falling to Middlebury. Middlebury finished with 165 points, Williams had 150, and St. Lawrence came in third with 115.5 points. 

 

The distance squad set the team off to a strong start. In the mile, Abby Scott started the team off quick with a finish of 5:19, a time good enough for 4th place. In her first collegiate meet, after coming back from an injury, Mount Greylock graduate Lilly Wells also had a great race. She finished in 12th place with a 5:45 mile. In the 3,000 meter race, the Ephs had quite a few women that were running longer than their usual schedule. Jaylan Fraser-Mines led the pack, finishing the race in 10:44 and in 5th place. In her first track meet of the collegiate career, Lindsay Klickstein finished in sixth place with 10:58.

 

In the sprinting events, the Ephs had five of the nine places in the 60 meters finals. Kiara Tan won the event, clocking in a time of 7.84 seconds. Kennedy Green finished right behind her teammate with a solid time of 7.94. Finalist Davis Collison’s success carried over into the 200 meter race where she came in 2nd place with a time of 26.57 seconds.

 

The jump squad also showed their talents today. Although small, the three women who competed in both horizontal and vertical jumps impressed. In the midst of competing in pole vault, Kelsie Hao ran over to the long jump pit to take just one jump. In the jump, she marked a distance of 5.22 meters winning the meet. Despite being ill, Maria Chapman finished in third place with a jump of 4.79 meters. Hao also impressed in the pole vault, breaking the meet record. She won the meet with a giant height of 3.60 meters. Maggie Murphy also had a solid jump of 3.50 meters, coming in second place. 

 

The Ephs are continuing to train hard in anticipation of DIII New Englands, less than a month away. The women will travel next to Boston to compete at Tufts University on Saturday, Feb. 2.

 

Women's Hockey

AMHERST, Mass. -- Meghan Halloran scored a pair of goals Saturday to lead Willamms to a 5-2 win over Amherst.

 

Chloe Heiting stopped 24 shots for the Ephs (13-4-1, 8-4 NESCAC), who go to Trinity on Friday.

 

Men's Hockey

NEW LONDON, Conn. -- Marcus Mollica scored twice to lead Williams to a 5-0 win over Conn College.

 

Michael Pinios stopped 15 shots for Williams (13-4-1, 9-2-1), which goes to Trinity on Friday.

 

Men's Squash

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - Williams competed in the Little Three Championship against Wesleyan University and Amherst College at the Simon Squash Center.

 

The men started the tournament by playing Wesleyan at on a five-court system. The Ephs rested regular starters Wyatt Khosrowshahi, Jacob Bassil, and Krish Bhavnani. Williams got off to a 4-0 lead with strong three game victories from Co-Captain Ben Eisenberg (#6), A.J. Solecki (#4), and Carl Shuck (#2). Oscar Merino (#8) dropped the second game but regained form and prevailed in four games. The second round was similar with Anand Butler (#7), David Pincus (#5), and William Means (#3) clinically finishing their opponents in three games. Will Ruggiero (#9) and Co-Captain John Fitzgerald (#1) both got up to 2-0 leads and lost a tie-breaker third game before winning in four games.

 

The Ephs returned at 3:00pm to the Simon Squash Center to play Amherst for the final of the Little Three Championship. Amherst improved their lineup from last year adding talented recruits. The Ephs continued their momentum and climbed to a 3-0 lead in the opening round with impressive wins from Co-Captain Ben Eisenberg (#9), Krish Bhavnani (#6), and Carl Shuck  (#2). Eisenberg and Bhavnani edged out three game victories whiel Carl was in the driver seat up 2-0 before a temporary lapse, regaining focus to pull out a 3-1 victory. David Pincus (#8), Jacob Bassil (#5), and Wyatt Khosrowshahi (#3) played terrific squash, controlling all parts of the court, and earned three game wins. At 6-0 Ephs, A.J. Solecki (#7) showed why he was a force again by blanking his opponent 3-0. Co-Captain John Fitzgerald (#1) did the same giving the Ephs an 8-0 lead. William Means (#4) was the last match to conclude. Down 2-1 to a skilled opponent, Means fought off match balls in teh fourth game to rally to a five-game win.

 

Wrestling

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- The Williams College wrestling team traveled to Western New England University  to take on the Hunter College Hawks and the Western New England University Golden Bears in a series of duals. 

 

The Ephs entered today's competition after a successful prior weekend at the New England Wrestling Association Duals which were cut short due to inclement weather at the time. Of the three matches Williams competed in they managed to find success in two of them. With the post season fast approaching, all remaining matches have heightened importance for both ranked individuals and the team as a whole.

 

Williams swept WNEU and Hunter on Saturday.

 

"The best thing about today was watching these guys perform for one another," Williams coach Scott Honecker said. "Take a look at the bonus points, we got pins in the matches we won and didn't give them up in the matches we lost. That indicates to me how much these guys care about one another. They're not satisfied to go out and do their best. When they're getting the better of it they want to pile on the points and get falls. When they're falling behind they fight to the bitter end and refuse to go away."

 

Men's Swimming

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. -- Williams traveled to Vermont for their last dual meet of the season, facing off against Middlebury and Hamilton. The Ephs won both of their head-to-heads, defeating Middlebury 164-110 and Hamilton 175-80.

 

Jamie Lovette won the first individual event of the afternoon, posting a 9:33.19 to take the 1000 freestyle, taking over the top spot in the NESCAC. His distance training partner, Jackson Karofsky, followed up the 1000 with a win of his own in the 200 freestyle, where his 1:44.28 narrowly out touched teammates David Pearcy and John Gaffney.  The sophomores had a strong meet overall; Pearcy returned in the shorter freestyle race, the 100, taking another win there as the only finisher under 48 seconds, and Henry Marquardt finished first in the 100 backstroke.  

Freshman  Zeb Hart had a pair of statement swims on the day as well, taking a victory in the 50 backstroke in a time of 24.57 and, later, followed it up with a 50 fly win, touching in 23.16. The 50 fly was a race of centimeters, as Brennan Lee '21 touched in 23.17, a mere .01 behind Hart.

 

The freshmen kept the momentum moving, as Sam Gollob claimed a win of his own, touching first in the 50 breaststroke and a season best time. Melnick and Morikawa followed him into the wall.

 

In the 500 freestyle, Andrew Trunsky knocked his season best down by almost 4 seconds, touching 4:39.81 and dipping under 4:40 for the first time this year.  

 

The final individual event of the night was the 100 yard IM. Tan claimed his second win of the day, leading the field in 53.79, and another first year, Aaron Stanton, followed shortly after in 54.00.

 

The Ephs return to competition next week, returning to Middlebury for the beginning of championship season for the Middlebury Invitational.