Johnson All-American at NCAA Indoor Championships
Sharde Johnson leapt her way to 4th place in the High Jump at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Winston-Salem, N.C. and earned her third career All-American distinction. The reigning outdoor National Champion in the event, Johnson also earned All-American honors for qualifying for the 2020 Indoor Championship meet.
Sadé Greenidge and Tyler Morris joined Johnson in North Carolina representing the Mules. Morris, an NCAA Cross Country All-American, finished 10th in the 5000m on Friday, narrowly missing another national honor (top-8). Greenidge was a member of Colby's 4x100 Relay team that earned All-American last spring. For the Indoor Championships she was running solo, finishing 17th in the preliminaries for the 200m.
All-Region Team Announced
When the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) released their All-Region teams, Colby had plenty of names to celebrate. Five men, eight women, and Assistant Coach Troy Irvine were all honored.
- Tanner Burton (4x400 Relay)
- Ren Zanze (4x400 Relay)
- Tyler Morris (3000m, 5000m)
- Raghav Kadambi (4x400 Relay)
- John Silberman (4x400 Relay)
- Charlotte Freniere (4x400 Relay)
- Sadé Greenidge (60m, 200m)
- Lily Matson (Triple Jump)
- Fiona Mejico (4x400 Relay)
- Sharde Johnson (High Jump)
- Katie-Marie Roy (4x400 Relay)
- Christina Speliakos (Triple Jump, 60m Hurdles)
- Kristina Pizzi (400m, 4x400 Relay)
- Troy Irvine (Women's Assistant Coach of the Year)
Colby Skiing 15th at NCAA Championship, 2nd in Division III
Racing against the best collegiate skiers in the country, the Alpine and Nordic teams combined to place 15th at the NCAA Skiing Championships hosted by the University of Utah. With seven Division I schools and six Division II institutions ahead of the Mules, Colby finished second for Division III schools behind only Middlebury.
Marking the first time in program history that three women qualified in the same year for the Nordic squad, the trio raced to a 9th place team finish in each Nordic event. Senior Erin Bianco (photo left) led the way for the Mules with a 13th place finish in the Freestyle and an 18th place finish in the Classic.
Rose Clayton and Gretta Scholz each scored (top-30) in the Classic event, finishing 24th and 26th respectively.
Alpine skier Chauncey Morgan got on the board in each alpine event, finishing 24th in the Slalom and 25th in the Giant Slalom. Teammate Ella Spear had a stellar carnival season, but was unable to finish either race in Park City.
The Alpine team will return home to close out their season at the U.S. Alpine Championships, hosted at their home mountain, Sugarloaf.
Women's Ice Hockey Falls in OT at NCAA Round of Eight
For the first time in program history, the Women's Ice Hockey Team was selected for the NCAA Division III Tournament, and set off for New York to take on #2 Plattsburgh State. The host Cardinals have been arguably the most potent offensive team across the country this season. Averaging almost 50 shots per game, and almost six goals per game, Plattsburgh State has won five of the last six titles played (the tournament was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19). The Cardinals have an amazing 36% conversion rate on power plays, and their top scorer, Annie Katonka, entered the playoff game leading the country with 32 goals across 24 games played.
The Cardinals jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first and scored their second halfway through the second period. Colby struck back with a Meg Rittenhouse goal with two minutes to play in the second frame, and Lexi Cafiero's goal with seven minutes to play in the third period knotted the score at two. With time expiring, Colby took the reigning champs to overtime.
On the season, Plattsburgh State was 1-2-1 in overtime matches, while the Mules were 2-1-1, meaning this game was anybody's to win. Three minutes into the extra frame, Katonka forced a turnover deep in Colby's end, split the defenders to the goal, and put on a brilliant move around the Mule goalie for the game-winner.
Colby ends the season 16-6-1, but the Mules reset the standard in many areas for this program. Colby's 16 wins marks the most in program history. The Mules placed four members on the All-NESCAC team for the first time, including the program's first Rookie of the Year (Rittenhouse). The tournament birth was also a first time for the Women's Ice Hockey team, earning a first-round bye that placed them directly into the Elite Eight.
Women's Lacrosse Splits the Week
Hot off an opening season upset over then-#2 Tufts, the Women's Lacrosse team launched into the top-10 of the IWLCA rankings in 9th place. The Mules hosted Roger Williams University on Wednesday. The Hawks jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first quarter, but the Mules battled back for the duration, and had a two-score deficit with three minutes to play. Despite the effort, RWU was able to score one more goal and maintain possession for a 13-10 win.
After Saturday's contest against Williams College was postponed to April due to weather, the Mules traveled to Plymouth State Sunday for their first road contest of the 2022 season. Behind four goals apiece by Julia Jardina, Annie Eddy, and Cami McDonald, Colby downed the Panthers 19-5.
Goaltender Emily Podgorni earned NESCAC Player of the Week last week for her opening day game against Tufts, holding the Jumbos to four goals and collecting a career-high 16 saves. Days later, the IWLCA also recognized her as the National Division III Defensive Player of the Week.
Colby is now 2-1 on the year.
Men's Lacrosse Tops MMA at Home Opener
The Men's Lacrosse team took on the Mariners of Maine Maritime Academy Tuesday night in their 2022 home opener on Seaverns Field. Controlling the tempo from the onset, the Mules cruised to a 15-0 lead at the half on their way to a 21-5 victory, their first of the season.
Jack Rickards and Matt Stein each netted four goals in the game, while Max Solmssen led the way with five assists, followed closely by Jake Surette with four.
Colby is now 1-1 on the year.
Women's Tennis Opens the Season with Wins at Wellesley, Brandeis
The Women's Tennis team opened their spring play on the road in Massachusetts. Saturday the 32nd-ranked Mules defeated #27 Wellesley by a score of 5-4 after falling behind 2-1 in doubles. In singles action, Colby was able to get victories in the 1-4 seeds to top The Blue.
Sunday, the Mules stayed in the Bay State for a match at Brandeis. After sweeping doubles play, the Mules won two of their first three singles matches before play was stopped. The 5-1 victory has Colby 2-0 to start the spring.
Sophomores Sam Riordan and Sydney Landau teamed up to win both of their doubles matches on the weekend. Both Mules also went 2-0 from the 2nd and 3rd seeds respectively.
Men's Tennis Opens Play with MIT, Brandeis
The Men's Tennis team opened their spring season traveling to MIT and Brandeis over the weekend. The Mules played each of their opponents close, but fell to the Engineers 6-3 Saturday, and dropped to the Judges Sunday by the same score.
First-year Jake Cohen won both of his matches on the weekend, defeating his MIT opponent 7-6, 3-6, 6-0 Saturday, and cruising to a 6-3, 6-2 victory Sunday. Each of the doubles tandems went 1-1 on the weekend.
Special thank you to the photographers who helped make this production possible: Tom Bartol, Joe Bianco P22, Cole Burkhart '24, Steve Cheney P25, Nancy Dauphinais '25, Paula Dauphinais '25, Gabe Dickens, Jamie Fiedorek '25, Steve Fuller @flyingpoint, Michael Garrett P23, Michael Maher, Anna Patten '23, Dustin Satloff '15, Ellie Sawyer P25, Aicha Thiero '24, Ben Wheeler