Mules Well Represented at World University Games
Appearing in the United States for the first time since 1972, the World University Games is an Olympic-style series pitting the best university-age students against each other. Held every two years in countries around the world, academic and athletic commitments make it challenging for athletes to attend. The fact that this year’s series was held in the north east (Lake Placid, N.Y.) during Jan Plan allowed Colby to be well represented.
Recent graduate Erin Bianco '22 competed in the Cross Country events for team USA. She advanced to the final heat in the Sprint Free, finishing as the top American in fourth place overall. Bianco also placed fourth in the 15k Freestyle, only 27 seconds off the winner in the 15-minute race.
Carissa Cassidy, Charlotte Mauer, and Ella Spear (photo right) competed in the Alpine events. Cassidy was the second American in the Slalom in 14th place, and raced for the US in the Team Parallel. Spear finished as the first American in the Giant Slalom in 21st. Mauer did not finish her second run of the same event, sitting in 43rd after the first.
Klara Jandusikova skated for the Czech Republic in their first-ever appearance in Women's Ice Hockey. The team defeated Slovakia in the Bronze medal game.
Mules Sweep Middlebury, Williams
Finishing off the second half of the home-and-home series with Middlebury and Williams, the Men's Ice Hockey team returned to the O'Neil | O'Donnell Forum this weekend. Earning two conference victories, Colby topped the Panthers 5-0 Friday and the Ephs 4-2 Saturday to jump back within striking distance of the top of the NESCAC.
Falling one goal short of the season-high tally from December 9th against Conn., the Mules found the back of the net five times against Middlebury. John McElaney scored twice, and Andy Beran turned away all Panther shots en route to his second shutout of the season.
McElaney scored twice more on Saturday against Williams. Both goals came in the first frame, making it four goals in as many periods for the junior captain.
Colby is now 9-6-1, ranked fourth in the NESCAC.
Men’s Basketball Tops Husson, Sweeps Rival Bowdoin
The Mules headed to Bangor Tuesday for a non-conference matchup against Husson. Colby led from start to finish, picking up the win 82-72. The team’s 25 points off turnovers and 50% shooting in the second half were big contributions in the victory. Max Poulton led the way with 19 points, followed by Cooper Wirkala with 15 and Kyle Butler with a season-high of 12.
In the conference matchup against Bowdoin, the Mules came out hot from behind the arc, building a 22 point halftime lead. Although the Polar Bears won the second half 38-32, it was not enough to overcome Colby's first half, and the Mules held on for a 78-62 win. Overall, Colby shot 46.7% from the field. Will King dropped 17 points while picking up five rebounds and five assists. Max Poulton recorded 15 points, Lucas Green netted 13 with five assists, and Noah Tyson added 10 for his 14th double-digit performance of the year.
Colby improved to 14-5 on the season, and picked up their first conference victory.
Women's Ice Hockey Splits With Williams
The Women's Ice Hockey team has been battle tested over the last few weeks, facing opponents ranked in the nation's top-7 in Hamilton and Middlebury. This weekend the faced off against a Williams team that is also having a great season, receiving votes for the top-15 rankings posted by USHCO.com.
Friday night the Mules and Ephs went toe-to-toe, and after a scoreless first period Colby rang the bell twice. The first goal came off the stick of first-year Breanna Studley, and the second came from NESCAC's leading scorer Meg Rittenhouse. Behind Paige Bolyard's second shutout of the season, Colby topped Williams 2-0.
In Saturday's matchup, Alex Thomas put Colby in the lead halfway through the first period, assisted by Tate Senden and Jo Tattersall. The Ephs were able to execute power plays to tie the match in the first period and take the lead in the second, earning a 3-1 victory down the stretch.
Colby is currently 9-5-0, good for 6th in the NESCAC.
Nemeth and Young Earn Top-5 at Saint Michael's Carnival
After seeing two skiers earn top-10 results in the first Carnival weekend of the 2023 season, the Nordic Ski team added two more names to the list. In Friday's Sprint, Jack Young skated to 5th place overall, his top result in his collegiate career. In Saturday's Classic race, teammate Zach Nemeth skied his way to his own career-best, placing 4th overall. Gretta Scholz followed last week's 7th place with another top-10, finishing 9th in the Classic.
The Men's team tied its season-best result in Saturday's Classic, tying Dartmouth College for fourth place.
Men's Individual Top-30 Results:
- Nemeth - 4th Classic
- Young - 5th Sprint, 21st Classic
- Victor Sparks - 22nd Classic, 25th Sprint
- Cooper Anderson - 28th Classic
The Women's team followed up last weekend's 2nd place result by placing 5th in Saturday's Classic race.
Women's Individual Top-30 Results:
- Scholz - 9th Classic
- Maggie McGee - 22nd Classic
- Isabel Seay - 23rd Classic
- Natalie O'Brien - 30th Classic
Colby is back in action this coming weekend in Jackson, N.H. for the UNH Carnival.
Colby Battles MIT and In-State Rival Bowdoin
The Women’s Basketball team started the week at home Tuesday for a non-conference matchup against MIT. The Mules and Engineers battled close the whole first half, however, late into the third MIT started to pull away, extending its lead for a 65-52 victory. Mordarski finished with 18 points followed by Lily Nagy with nine. Mackenzie Younker and Carter McGloon each contributed seven points and seven boards.
Colby traveled to Brunswick Saturday to take on the Polar Bears of Bowdoin College. The Mules got off to a good start neck and neck with the hosts, leading to a 26-27 halftime deficit. To start the second half, the Polar Bears went on a 14-2 run and held control for the remainder. Caroline Smith finished with 12 points while Mordarski netted 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Colby is now 6-10 overall, while placing 8th in the NESCAC.
Track Tops Wheaton, 3-0 to Start the Season
The Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track & Field team headed to Norton, Mass. for their third meet of the season in the Lyon-Mule Duel. Both teams claimed victory over Wheaton, totaling ten individual gold medals and a score of 72-68 for the women and 77-76 for the men.
The women swept the podium in the 800m (Abby Steffler, Anna Mackey, and Haley Wims) and the 3000m (Claire Beebe, Jillian Dowling, and Lindsay Michels)
Women’s Event Winners:
- Abby Steffler - 800m
- Claire Beebe - 3000m
- Erin Daugherty - 60 Hurdles
- Isabel Llach - High Jump
- Alison Angley - Triple Jump
- 4 x 400m Relay - Tally Zeller, Olivia Doherty, Fiona Mejico, Kristina Pizzi
The men swept the podium in the 400m (Ren Zanze, Raghav Kadambi, and Jackson Coelho).
Men’s Event Winners:
- Peter Martel - 60m
- Zanze - 400m
- Kevin Yan - Triple Jump
- 4 x 400m Relay - Martel, Coelho, Zanze, Kadambi
Mules Triumph Wesleyan in Senior Meet, Come Up Short to Conn.
The Colby Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving team competed in two meets on the week. First they matched up against Conn. College in New London, Conn. where both teams narrowly fell to the hosts.
Women's Event Winners:
- Ellie Mackle - 100 Backstroke
- Ann Tolan - 50 & 100 Freestyle
- Avery Rappaport - One Meter & Three Meter (Colby Record) Diving
- 200 Freestyle - Gabriella Landau, Lily Moy, Ellie Bailey, Tolan
Men's Event Winners:
- Brandon Xiong - 100 Backstroke
- Spencer Cohen - 200 Backstroke
- Neil Mortimer - 100 Butterfly
- Ben Spragg - 200 Individual Medley
- 200 Freestyle - Niels Wu, Shaun Kronenwetter, Mortimer, Allen Zhu
On Saturday the Mules hosted Wesleyan in their senior meet. In celebration of the seniors (Rayna Hata, Michelle Kennedy, Melissa Lomas, Monet Meyer, Ann Tolan, Caleb Bitting, Nate Cordick, Shaun Kronenwetter, and Jackson Rocket) both squads pulled away with dominant victories.
Women's Event Winners:
- Mottl - 100 & 200 Breaststroke
- Tolan - 50 Freestyle
- Moy - 100 Freestyle
- Lomas - 1000 Freestyle
- Avery Rappaport - One Meter & Three Meter Diving
- 200 Medley Relay - Laurel Skorina, Kellen Mottl, Gabriella Landau, Tolan
- 400 Freestyle Relay - Lily Moy, Ruby Venturelli, Mottl, Tolan
Men's Event Winners:
- Spencer Cohen - 100 & 200 Backstroke
- MacLennan - 100 Breaststroke
- Ben Spragg - 200 Breaststroke, 400 Individual Medley
- Kronenwetter - 50 Freestyle
- Rehkopf - 100 Freestyle
- Carson Rehkopf - 200 Freestyle
- Cordick - 1000 Freestyle
- Mortimer - 100 Butterfly
- 200 Medley Relay - Brandon Xiong, Alexander MacLennan, Neil Mortimer, Kronenwetter
Squash Tops Brown and Mount Holyoke, Falls to Amherst
The Women’s Squash team took on Mount Holyoke in a mid-week matchup at home leading to a 8-0 sweep for the Mules and the second time on the season where all Colby players went 3-0 in their matches. Winners included; Andrea Lee, Clara Lehv, Amanda Miller, India Spencer, Mehak Dey-Kohil, Greta Drefke, Adelaide Cline, and Brigid Woelfel.
Over the weekend, the Mules traveled to battle against a strong NESCAC opponent in Amherst with both teams coming up short (Men 3-6, Women 1-8). The four individual victories for Colby came from both 1-seeds Youssef Mostafa and Andrea Lee, as well as the men's 2-seed Dylan Tymkiw and 7-seed Sebastian Campos.
Colby ended the week with a road win over Brown University on Sunday as the men won 8-1 and the women 7-2. Victories on the men’s side include Mostafa, Tymkiw, Jonathan Sosa Uranga, Sen Subramaniam, Syed Kashef, Campos, Kit Illick, and Rintaro Yamamoto. Victories on the women’s side include Lee, Aileen Dominguez, Miller, Spencer, Dey-Kohil, and Juliette Love.
Women’s Squash is now 5-8 overall, 3-4 in the NESCAC
Men’s Squash is now 6-6 overall, 4-3 in the NESCAC
Special thank you to the photographers who helped make this production possible: Cole Burkhart '24, Steve Cheney P25, Nancy Dauphinais '25, Paula Dauphinais '25, Jamie Fiedorek '25, Michael Garrett P23, Peter Li '26, Michael Maher, Ellie Sawyer P25, Isadora Wells '26, Ansley White '26