In addition to being NCAA tourney season, May is the time of year when leagues acknowledge outstanding athletes for the hard work they put into their sports. A number of Dartmouth students received recognition in recent days. For some, the awards were long overdue.
Fatih Stanley '06, who became the first Dartmouth runner to win both the 100- and 200-meter dash at the Heptagonal Championships, was finally able to realize his dreams this year.
"I have been envisioning winning for a long time," Stanley said. "I had wanted to win ever since I came to Dartmouth, but due to a very long couple of years of plaguing injuries, I simply could not do what I was capable of."
Stanley set new school records in both of the 100- and 200-meter dashes this season.
Ben True '08 joins Stanley on the first All-Ivy team after a first-place finish in the 1500-meter run at the Heptagonals, the Ivy league championship meet.
True was named second team All-Ivy in the 5,000-meter run, while teammate Robert Kerris '07 made the second-team list in part on the strength of runner-up finishes in both the shot put and the discus throw at Heps.
Melanie Schorr '06 finished first in the 5000-meter run at Heps and earned a place on the first-team All-Ivy list. The senior was also named an NCAA Postgraduate Scholar and became one of only 12 Ivy League recipients of the honor in the past three years.
Jamila Smith '06 and Kelsey Wiegmann '06 made the first-team list with wins in the shot put and javelin at Heps, respectively. Wiegmann also received second-team honors for the heptathlon after finishing second at the league meet.
Dartmouth baseball fought hard all season and finished one game out of first place in the Red Rolfe division.
Pitcher Josh Faiola '06 and outfielder Will Bashelor '07 were named first team All-Ivy. Catcher Damon Wright '08 made the second team, while pitcher Jeff Wilkerson '07 made honorable mention All-Ivy.
"It's an honor to be on the first team for the second time in my career. It was even better to see that we had multiple players on the all-Ivy lists; they deserved it," Faiola said. "But since I had been on the list before, I thought that I would be selected. However, it is still always a surprise and an honor."
Women's tennis had its share of injuries and disappointments this season, and suffered tough losses to some of the top programs in the nation. Still, two members of the team were recognized for their success.
"I think our team improved a lot over the course of the season," Megan Zebroski '08 said. "We had a lot of close matches against very good teams, and while some of them may not have gone our way, we definitely competed hard in all of our matches.
"I think we can take a lot of positive things away from this year, which will help our performance next year."
Zebroski is a second-team All-Ivy pick in both singles and doubles. Her classmate and doubles partner, Natalie O'Rouke '08, shares the doubles honor with her.
"It is an honor to be selected to the All-Ivy second team," Zebroski said. "We work very hard all year, and it is really nice to be recognized by the league."
"While I am very proud to be selected second team in singles, I have to say that it is especially satisfying to be recognized in doubles with Nat," Zebroski said. "I love playing doubles and I think Nat and I competed well this season against some pretty tough teams."
The softball team's campaign was marred by poor weather and unfortunate injuries, but the team finished the year on a high note, taking both ends of its season-ending doubleheader against Harvard. The team finished third in the Ivy League, one of the better finishes in the history of the young program.
Katie Chifician '09 was the first Big Green freshman since 2000 to be named to the first All-Ivy team. In addition, Chifician became the eighth Dartmouth softball player to be named to the first team in the program's history.
"I was really surprised that I was picked," Chifcian said. "I didn't think that I did a great job this year. But I feel really honored to be selected to All-Ivy first team. But all of the things that I did this season would not have been possible without my teammates, so I feel like we all should share this award."
The honorable mention list included Stephanie Trudeau '09, Alicia Petryk '06 and Kelly Fry '07. The honor is Petryk's second at Dartmouth and Trudeau's first.
Fry, in addition to earning an honorable mention on the All-Ivy list, also garnered CoSIDA Academic All-America district second-team honors. Fry has been named to All-Ivy teams twice before.
Dartmouth men's lacrosse, although unable to capture an NCAA tournament bid this spring, finished strong with a triple overtime win over Harvard in the season finale.
"Obviously, I would have liked to have to have won the Ivies and made the NCAA tournament," Jamie Coffin '06 said. "But I couldn't be more proud and happy about the group of guys that I played with this year. We won and lost with dignity and battled together until the end."
But the season is not without disappointments.
"I think that we could have gone undefeated this season. Any team with the talent and heart that our team has has that capability," Coffin said. "Some things just didn't go our way when we needed them to and we ended up not doing as well as we expected."
Nick Bonacci '07, who led the league in points per game, is a first-team All-Ivy pick. Teammates Coffin and Brad Heritage '06 joined Bonacci on the first team.
"It feels great to be selected All-Ivy," Coffin said. "It is a great honor and I am amongst a group of great players."
"I was surprised that more of my team wasn't selected," Coffin said. "I feel that kids like Ryan Danehy ['06], Ryan O'Connor ['07], Ned Hillenbrand ['07], Tim Daniels ['08], Alec Hufnagel ['06], Brian Koch ['09] and many others deserved recognition that they didn't get."
Some players feel that snagging an All-Ivy honor helped sooth the pain after a less than storybook senior season.
"It feels great to be selected," Heritage, whose four-year lacrosse career came to an end this month, said. "I owe a lot of the award to my teammates who get me the ball in good positions."
"I was somewhat surprised, but obviously very happy. Becoming first-team All-Ivy is something that I have been striving for since I arrived here as freshman," Heritage added.
Men's lacrosse player Ben Lovejoy '06 garnered second-team All-Ivy honors this year.
Steve McGaughey '07 and David Waslen '07 were honorable-mention All-Ivy picks in men's doubles tennis.
