#10 Golf impresses at NESCACs
Athletes and test-takers often speak of "the zone," a point in time when nothing can go wrong. The men's and women's golf teams were unquestionably in the zone at the NESCAC Invitational the weekend of Sept. 29-30.
In their season-best performance, the men's golf team took their drivers to Taconic Golf Course, the home turf of NESCAC rival Williams College, and managed a strong second place finish with their team score of 623.
Captain Mike Blaisdell '02 paced the Jeffs with a team-best score of 152, good enough for third place overall. His teammate Jude Volek '03 was also hot, hitting for a score of 155 and placing sixth overall. Todd Ballaban '03 was also a key player in the Jeffs' strong day with a 156, good for seventh place overall.
"We were actually expecting to play better, but we were impressed by the improvement over last weekend," said Ballaban. "There are still some things we need to work on, but we played better the first day than the second."
Blaisdell received first team All-NESCAC accolades for his strong effort. Volek and Ballaban were honored with second team All-NESCAC honors.
Not to be outdone, the women's golf team was equally impressive at the NESCAC Tournament. Jeannie Limpert '03 finished first overall in the NESCAC Individual Women's Golf Tournament, which was also held at Williams. She finished with a combined score of 180, just one stroke ahead of fellow Jeff Kasarin Chakkaphak '03, who shot a 181 to finish second.
The other members of the women's team didn't get the week off but played at Mount Holyoke Invitational, where they finished an impressive fourth out of 20 teams, only 19 strokes from the leader.
Captain Jamie Ratner '02 led the way with a team-best two-day score of 165, finishing fifth overall. She was followed by Meg Sullivan '05 and Kathryn Kuchefski '04, who both shot total scores of 172, tying for 20th place.
This weekend was even more important for the Jeffs, as it turned out to be the turning point of their season. The men's golf team produced two top 10 finishes afterward and the women even won a tournament, the Williams Tri-Match.
#9 Bayer takes home NCAA title
The Jeffs headed to the State University of New York at Buffalo and competed tooth and nail against the best swimmers and divers in the nation at the NCAA Division III Women's Swimming and Diving Championships on Mar. 8-10. Their superb effort saw the Jeffs finish 11th out of 50 teams present.
Perhaps more importantly, the squad edged out its conference rival, Middlebury College. The Panthers finished right behind the Jeffs in 12th place.
The story at Nationals was unquestionably Morgan Bayer, who scored the only Amherst win at the Championships. Her win in the 200-yard butterfly was her second straight national title in this event.
"It was cool because all the New England teams got behind her. It was pretty loud and fun. We were confident she would win during the race. It was close until the 125[-yard mark], but then she pulled away," said co-captain Hillary Jones '01.
Bayer's extraordinary performance in the 200 fly was not the only impressive finish she had. Coming off a great NESCAC Championships meet, Bayer also placed 15th in the 500-yard freestyle and 11th in the 400-yard individual medley.
Jones was also an integral part of the Amherst attack. She finished eighth in the 50-yard freestyle and followed her great swim in the 50-yard with a good performance in the 100-yard freestyle, finishing 16th.
The Jeffs were also competitive in the diving events with the duo of Amanda Muir '01 and Cathy Poor '02 performing solidly, despite heavy competition. In the first diving event, the 1-meter springboard, the Jeffs finished back-to-back. Muir finished 16th, one spot ahead of Poor.
The final Amherst swimming and diving event of the season was the 3-meter springboard. In this event, Poor turned the tables on Muir, finishing 13th while Muir finished 15th.
The teamwork and camaraderie of the Jeff women could really be seen in the relay events. In the final event of the first day, the 400-yard medley relay, the Amherst team of Ali Abate '04, Bayer, Allison Martin '02 and Jones finished in ninth place.
The Jeffs would continue their momentum the next day in the 200-yard medley relay, where the Amherst team of Abate, Tiffany Johnston '01, Martin and Jones finished 12th. In the final swimming event of the season, the 800-yard freestyle relay, Amherst finished 11th with the Jeff team of Bayer, Abate, Johnston and Martin.