Mules Stun #10 Williams, Fall to Hamilton in Championship
The sixth seed Colby Men’s Basketball team continued their playoff push for a NESCAC title Saturday taking on top-seed Williams College for a semifinals matchup. The Mules dug in defensively from the jump, holding their opponent to only 18 first half points as Colby gathered a massive 21 point halftime advantage. The Ephs rallied in the second putting up 33 points over the Mules 27, but it was clearly not enough after Colby’s best defensive half of the season. The Mules took the win 66-51 led by Will King’s 17 points. Jack Lawson and Max Poulton also netted double-digit points with 12 and 11 respectively.
Colby looked to complete the one (Williams), two (Hamilton), three (Wesleyan) sweep in the championship game Saturday taking on the second seeded Hamilton Continentals Sunday. The Mules battled hard in the first half to build a 32-21 lead heading into the half. In the second frame Hamilton tallied 50 points and held Colby at bay, taking the conference crown for themselves and denying Colby its first ever NESCAC title. King led the Mules again tallying 22 points as Lucas Green shot 6 of 7 from the field for 15 points. Noah Tyson gathered nine rebounds while contributing eight points.
This concludes the season for Men’s Basketball as they finish with a 20-7 season record. King finishes 2nd in the NESCAC for total assists with 156, one behind first place. Noah Tyson ended his career as Colby's 18th leading scorer on the all-time list with 1,240 career points.
Women's Ice Hockey Wins in 2OT, Advances to Semifinals
Entering the NESCAC tournament as the 3rd seed, Colby hosted Trinity College Saturday afternoon for a quarterfinal matchup. The Mules swept the Bantams in a two-game set just weeks before.
Goals were tough to come by, as the two opponents entered the third period tied 0-0. In the 48th minute, Trinity was able to deflect a shot past the Colby goaltender to take the lead. The Mules tallied the equalizer minutes later as Beth Sinson scored her second of the season, eventually sending the match into overtime.
The stellar play in net continued through the first overtime and into the second when Meg Rittenhouse scored her 17th goal of the season, sending the O'Neil | O'Donnell Forum into an uproar. The Mules controlled possession for most of the game, winning 68% of the faceoffs and peppering the Trinity goaltender with 55 shots on goal. Rittenhouse earned her third NESCAC Player of the Week honor as the Mules set a program record with 17 wins on the season, advancing to the conference semifinals.
Colby is 17-6 on the season and is set to face off against Hamilton next weekend. As the top remaining seed, Amherst will host the remainder of the tournament.
Men's Ice Hockey Rallies for Three Unanswered Goals, Win in OT
Colby entered Saturday's NESCAC quarterfinal matchup with a season split with the Continentals, but the last time the Mules defeated Hamilton in Clinton was during the 2015-16 season.
The hosts jumped out to a 2-0 lead, scoring once in the first frame and adding another goal early in the second. Colby's defense, led by All-Americans Jack Sullivan (Defense) and Andy Beran (Goalkeeper), stiffened for the remainder, giving the Mules a chance to claw their way back in.
Before the second period was complete, Colby had collected goals from Tyler Crist and Alex Bourhas to knot the game at two goals apiece. A scoreless third period sent the match into overtime where first-year Dan Juzych tallied the game-winner, sending the Mules to the conference semifinals. Beran made 33 stops on the afternoon.
Colby improves to 13-10-2 and will face off against Bowdoin next weekend. As the top remaining seed, Amherst will host the remainder of the tournament.
Men's and Women's Indoor Track Impressive at DIII New England Meet
Colby brought the intensity over the weekend competing in the Division III New England Championships, as the Men took 8th out of 25 teams, the Women grabbed 9th out of 27 total teams. Overall, the Mules brought home multiple top 10 results including six podium finishes and a New England Champion in Hayden Bailey with a time of 2:28.88 in the 1000m.
Women's Top-10 Finishes:
- High Jump - Isabel Llach 2nd
- 600m - Anna Mackey 2nd
- 400m - Fiona Mejico 2nd
- 4 x 200m - 5th (Lottie Franck, Olivia Doherty, Mejico, Kristina Pizzi)
- 4 x 400m - 7th (Olivia Tomlin, Doherty, Charlotte Freniere, Pizzi)
- DMR - 8th (Margo Kenyon, Freniere, Abby Steffler, Claire Beebe)
- 4 x 800m - 9th (Steffler, Kenyon, Haley Wims, Mackey)
- 60m Hurdles - Erin Daugherty 9th
- 3000m - Beebe 10th
Men's Top-10 Finishes:
- 1000m - Hayden Bailey 1st
- Pole Vault - Peter Martel 2nd (Colby Record), Logan Lehnert 8th
- 400m - Ren Zanze 2nd
- 4 x 400m - 4th (Martel, Jackson Coelho, Zanze, Raghav Kadambi)
- DMR - 8th (Bailey, Matt Long, Simon Goldstein, Gordon Doore)
- Triple Jump - Kevin Yan 9th
- 5000m - Ben Mellor 10th
The Mules will find out this coming Sunday who reached the qualifying marks for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Riddell Podiums in Lake Placid, Alpine to Send Three to NCAA Championships
Entering the final weekend of the EISA Carnival circuit, the Mules had three events (two Giant Slalom, one Slalom) remaining. St. Lawrence University was tabbed to take the heavy lift as hosts, and Colby skiers hit the slopes at Whiteface intent on moving up in the NCAA qualifier rankings.
Lydia Riddell gave Colby their second podium in as many weekends, taking third in Thursday's Giant Slalom. She followed it up with a fifth place result Friday, solidifying her spot as a qualifier for the NCAA Championships. Cassie Lieblien was Colby's top female finisher in Saturday's Slalom, placing 17th and netting two top-20 finishes in the carnival circuits final two days. Tucker Strauch was the top performer for the men's team on the weekend, finishing 17th in Thursday's GS and 21st in Saturday's Slalom.
Individual Top-30 Results:
- Riddell - 3rd GS1, 5th GS2, 20th SL
- Ella Spear - 7th GS1, 21st SL, 26th GS2
- Lieblein - 16th GS2, 17th SL, 28th GS1
- Strauch - 17th GS1, 21st SL
- Chauncey Morgan - 22nd SL
- Patrick Coughlin - 23rd SL, 28th GS1
- Brooks Reed - 24th GS1
- Molly Mueller - 25th GS2
- Hannah Soria - 26th SL
- Topher Davenport - 28th SL
- Cam Owens - 30th SL
Spear and Morgan will join Riddell back in Lake Placid for the NCAA Championships, hosted by St. Lawrence University March 8-11.
Nordic Caps EISA Season, Sending Three to NCAA Championships
Entering the final weekend of the EISA Carnival season, the Mules had several skiers eyeing top results to potentially qualify for the NCAA Championships.
Gretta Scholz capped off a great season to follow up her 2022 NCAA qualification with another bid to the championship. She was the top female skier for the Mules both days at Mt. Van Hoevenberg (Lake Placid, N.Y.) this past weekend. The final race of the circuit is identified as the Eastern Collegiate Championships. Jack Young and Zach Nemeth took turns leading the men's team, with Nemeth placing 7th in the Classic and Young earning 10th place in the Freestyle. Both skiers will advance to the NCAA Championship hosted back in Lake Placid in a little over a week.
Individual Top-30 Results:
- Nemeth - 7th Classic, 18th Freestyle
- Young - 10th Freestyle, 22nd Classic
- Scholz - 18th Classic, 20th Freestyle
- Cooper Anderson - 18th Classic
- Lili Baer - 21st Classic, 24th Freestyle
- Andy Rightmire - 24th Freestyle
- Maggie McGee - 25th Freestyle
- Isabel Seay - 29th Classic
The NCAA Championship is scheduled to run March 8-11. The NCAA Championships will see the best racing across the country at any level, full of Division I scholarship athletes, World Cup ski racers, and the best amateur racers all in one place.
Men's Squash Battles at CSA Team Championships
After competing for the Conroy Cup in the D-Division last year, Colby went 7-11 on the season advancing them to the C-Division and going after the Summer's Cup this year.
In the first match of the weekend the Mules came up short falling to Amherst 4-5 (wins coming from Dylan Tymkiw, Youssef Mostafa, Sebastian Campos, and Syed Kashef) placing them in the consolation bracket were again Colby would come up just short falling 4-5 to Bates. Winners against the Bobcats include Mostafa, Jonathan Sosa Uranga, Kashef, and Kit Illick.
To finish the tournament, the Mules played Hamilton for another NESCAC matchup, this time sweeping the Continentals 9-0. Tymkiw, Mostafa, Uranga, Sen Subramaniam, Kashef, and Illick all won their matches 3-0 while Adrian Castillo, Campos, and Rintaro Yamamoto grabbed 3-1 victories.
Next weekend, the Men’s and Women’s Squash teams will head to Philadelphia for the CSA Individual Championships March 3rd-5th.
Mules Compete at Diving Regionals, Sending Seven Swimmers to NCAA Championships
The Women’s Swimming & Diving team had two Mules, junior Eleanor McGrath and senior Monet Meyer, travel for the NCAA Diving Regionals hosted by NYU. In the first event, the three meter, McGrath grabbed a 15th place finish with a total of 373.15 points while Meyer took 22nd with a score of 348.75 points. The next day in the one meter, Meyer finished 12th totaling 372 points as McGrath placed 18th with a score of 354.25 points.
With all regional competition complete, the Mules will have seven athletes competing in the NCAA Championships beginning March 15. Qualifiers:
- Shaun Kronenwetter
- Gabriella Landau
- Alexander MacLennan
- Neil Mortimer
- Ann Tolan
- Brandon Xiong
- Allen Zhu
Special thank you to the photographers who helped make this production possible: Cole Burkhart '24, Steve Cheney P25, Stephen R. Clouthier, Nancy Dauphinais '25, Paula Dauphinais '25, Jamie Fiedorek '25, Steve Fuller @flyingpoint, Michael Garrett P23, Peter Li '26, Michael Maher, Joshua McKee, Ellie Sawyer P25, Isadora Wells '26, Ansley White '26