The Dartmouth women's tennis team and the men's and women's track and field teams enjoyed success against difficult opponents this weekend, while the Big Green swimming teams fell short to Ivy League foe Columbia University.
The tennis team (2-3) played a close matchup and won, 4-3, against Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (2-4), while the track and field teams experienced several standout individual performances at the Valentine Invitational. The women's swim team (9-6, 2-4 Ivy) lost by 40 points to Columbia (5-4, 3-4 Ivy), while the men's team (5-5, 1-5 Ivy) did not fare much better, losing 162-138, to the Lions (6-4, 4-3 Ivy).
WOMEN'S TENNIS
The 64th-ranked Big Green recorded a home-court win at the Boss Tennis Center Friday with Melissa Matsuoka '14 and Sabrina Stewart '14 posting big wins in both singles and doubles. Matsuoka teamed with Molly Scott '11 for an 8-5 win at the number one doubles position, while Stewart and Jeri Reichel '13 won, 9-8, (10-8) in the number three position to help secure the doubles point for Dartmouth.
The Big Green also performed well in the singles competition. Sarah Leonard '13 beat senior Holly Johnson, while Stewart and Matsuoka also had wins at the number five and number two positions, respectively.
"It was a really great win for us," Leonard said.
Although Scott Dartmouth's number one singles player lost to senior Yasmin Hamza, 6-4, 6-1, Matsuoka brought the win home by rebounding to defeat Hokies junior Martha Blakely 6-4, 6-4. Matsuoka won after trailing 3-4 in both sets.
The Big Green plays next at the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Winter Championship at Princeton University this weekend.
SWIMMING & DIVING
The swimming and diving teams competed against Columbia on Saturday at Karl Michael Pool. It was the last home meet for seven seniors on the women's and men's teams Lindsay Wahl '11, captains Maddie Steiner '11 and Virginia Selden '11, Michael Brown '11, Dan Hochman '11 and co-captains Marco Chu '11 and Billy Haley '11 who were honored in Senior Day celebrations.
The women's team performed well overall against its opponent, with the Big Green freshmen registering particularly strong performances. Christine Kerr '14 won the 200-yard freestyle event in 1:51.36 and broke the Dartmouth record previously set by Steiner in the process.
"My main focus was just to win, but to win and break the record was just like icing on the cake," Kerr said.
Steiner said she was happy Kerr managed to beat her time.
"It was time for that record to come down," Steiner said. "I can't wait to see how fast she goes in two weeks."
Kerr also set a personal record in the 500-yard freestyle event with a time of 4:59.83 and finished second in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 52.65.
Danielle Kerr '14 also performed well, winning the 200-yard butterfly event in 2:03.21, and taking the top spot in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:09.41. Danielle Kerr's butterfly time was only two-tenths of a second off the Dartmouth record.
Katy Feng '14 won both the three-meter and one-meter diving events, and Meredith Sweeney '14 finished first in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:06.02.
The men's team also had several standout performances, including three by Nejc Zupan '14. Zupan won the 100-yard breaststroke, the 200-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard individual medley.
Michael Ahern '12 won the 100-yard backstroke in 51.13 seconds and the 200-yard backstroke in 1:51.83, while Dylan Gabel '14 took first in the 1,000-yard freestyle event with a time of 9:35.27.
This was Dartmouth's final meet before the Ivy Championships. The women's team will travel to Princeton, N.J., for the Championships in late February, and the men's team will travel to Cambridge, Mass., for the event in early March.
TRACK AND FIELD
The men's and women's track and field teams competed at Boston University for the Invitational on Friday and Saturday, where individuals on both teams registered impressive performances.
Connor Reilly '13 and Ethan Shaw '12 both won their events to lead the men's team. Reilly ran a 6.90 second time in the 60-meter dash, while Shaw won the 5,000-meter run with a time of 14:10.24. Phil Royer '13 placed second in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:08.00, losing by less than a second to North Carolina State senior Adam Henken. Several other men's team members also placed highly in their respective events.
Women's team members also performed well individually, setting a new Dartmouth record in the process. Monica Adler '14 beat the previous mark set by Jessie Allen-Young '03 in the 1,000-meter event, finishing in 2:49.41. Allen-Young had previously run the event in 2:49.56.
Several other members of the women's team came within striking distance of Dartmouth records. Chrissy Supino '12 ran the second fastest 800-meter time in Big Green history in 2:08.05, and Janae Dunchack '14 recorded the eighth fastest time in the 200-meter event in 25.87 seconds. The women's team also placed first in the distance medley relay event.
Big Green throwers traveled to a separate weekend meet at the University of New Hampshire. Tri-captain David Irving '11 won the weight throw event with a distance of 19.03 meters. Dartmouth swept the women's shot put event, as Amanda Spoto '14, Christina Alexander '11 and Corinne Kominkiewicz '14 took places one through three, respectively.
