There are a lot of great athletes at Dartmouth, and they deserve some (more) recognition. Here are the best individual performances of the fall season. For this week, I'm only considering single-game performances, not weekend, weekly, or season-long achievements.
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Nick Schwieger '12 Schwieger's record-setting game against Columbia last week was easily the best athletic performance I've seen at my time at Dartmouth, and one of the greatest individual achievements that the Big Green has seen in a very long time. For those of you who don't know, Schwieger broke the Dartmouth single-game rushing record against the Lions, running for 242 yards at Memorial Field to lead the Big Green to its first victory in almost two years. The single-game rushing record is, in my opinion, one of the most awesome records an athlete can achieve. It shows a kind of pure, absolute, total dominance over the other team, and is an incredible statement of athleticism, consistency, and durability. And not only did Schwieger set the record, but he did it breaking open a 66-yard touchdown run the longest Dartmouth has seen since 1990 that finally sealed that frustrating, elusive win that's been weighing on the school for two years now. He also showed that he can handle a 30-rush load (well, 29 rushes), and had an average of 8.3 yards per carry. Pure dominance. That's the way to do it. Hats off.
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Kelly Hood '12 Hood is another athlete who has had a record-breaking sophomore campaign. Against Brown in late September, Hood set a fairly absurd Ivy League record by scoring five goals. Five. In one game. As I've said before, field hockey is a low-scoring sport. This is less ridiculous than five goals in a soccer game, but it's about on par with five goals in an ice hockey game. If fans throw their hats for a hat trick, what do they throw for nearly doubling a hat trick? It had better be one awesome article of clothing, that's all I'm saying. Hood also decided to set another record this weekend. Against Harvard, she scored her 17th goal of the season, which is not a record, but she did gain her 42nd point of the season doing so, which is a record. She also did so while beating Harvard, who, if you didn't notice, took the Big Green to town in just about every sport imaginable this weekend. So Hood (and the rest of the team) gets extra points for beating up on nerds.
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Lucky Mkosana '12 Oh weird, another sophomore. As I'm writing this, it's hitting me that the Class of 2012 is pretty good at sports. Anyway, Mkosana has been vital to the men's soccer team again this season, playing impressive soccer against just about every poor kid who tries to defend him. One game, however, stands out for me Mkosana's performance against Yale this year. Down 1-0 to the Bulldogs, Mkosana apparently decided that it was about time that the Big Green won and fired a strike in the 63rd minute to tie the score. In overtime, Mkosana apparently decided that playing 100 minutes on the field was plenty, or was bored or had some stuff to do, and proceeded to calmly net the game-winner off of a feed from equally awesome-haired vet Pumi Maqubela '10. One player, two goals, one win for the good guys. Game. Thanks for playing.
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Madeline Baird '12 Seriously, this is getting ridiculous. Even though I'm pretty sick of writing about '12s, I had to add Baird to the list for a particular game against Columbia in early October. Dartmouth won in five sets, and Baird's stat line read: 23 kills, 27 digs. That's really all I have to say, except that that is one heck of a way to get a double-double. Oh, Baird also had 18 kills and 15 digs against Cornell the next night. Probably without breaking a sweat. That is dominance on par with any person on this list.
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Ali Hubbard '10 Finally, a senior. Hubbard could make this list for a lot of reasons she has been one of the most consistent and great athletes at Dartmouth for her four years here. I'm going to choose her game-winner against Princeton in October, though. A defensive midfielder who doesn't get a whole lot of glory in front of the goal, Hubbard took the team and placed it squarely on her shoulders in overtime against the Tigers. She ripped two shots on goal that were both saved. Undeterred, in the 103rd minute, she dropped in the game-winning strike off of a Melisa Krnjaic '11 corner to seal the victory. Way to play like a veteran.
Probably more important than any of these is Morgan Livermore '11's performance in the intramural soccer championships. As the game went into penalty kicks against Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity's team, Livermore saved not one, but two shots to seal the IM victory for Theta Delt. Unfortunately, I'm forced to talk about less significant things like varsity sports. Sometimes there is just no justice.
