Harvard Varsity Club NEWS & VIEWS of Harvard Sports Volume 52 Issue No. 7 www.harvardvarsityclub.org April 8, 2010 National Champions! Harvard’s winter athletes reach new heights by Geoff Rathgeber ’08 Special Assistant of the Harvard Varsity Club After flying through the opening rounds, O’Connor found himself on the center stage for the Championship round against It is a fact; national championships are difficult to win. No. 7 Chase Pami (Cal-Poly). Before a crowd of nearly 16,000 at Every so often, however, Harvard is fortunate enough to have an the sold-out Qwest exceptional athlete or team that achieves the pinnacle of collegiate Center, O’Connor athletic glory: 1989 National Championship Men’s Hockey Team, jumped out to an the 1990 Women’s Lacrosse Team, the 2003 Men’s Heavyweight early lead and never Crew Team, and fencer Tim Hagaman ’07 to name a few. looked back. Despite An outsider might deem some of these victories as a stroke a late attack by Pami, of luck, but there is no doubt that the multiple national champi- O’Connor was able to onships that Harvard’s athletes brought back to Cambridge this prevail, 6-4, capturing winter proves that America’s oldest educational institution has Harvard’s first nation- some of America’s best athletes as well. al title in wrestling Case in point, on the heels of the 2010 women’s squash since Jesse Jantzen undefeated season, team national championship and individual ’04 in 2004 and third national champion Laura Gemmel ’13, two other Crimson athletes overall. (Harvard’s J.P. O’Connor ’10 is the third Harvard wrestler to win made national headlines with individual NCAA titles as well. other national cham- the National Championship. (Courtesy : Tabitha Wilson) From March 18-20, senior co-captain J.P. O’Connor powered pion wrestler was through a formidable set of foes at the 2010 NCAA Wrestling John Harkness ’38.) Championships in Omaha, NE en route to a perfect season at 35-0 A national championship was a fitting way for O’Connor and a national title. to bid farewell to a program on which he has left an indelible O’Connor’s collective performances in the tournament were mark. Not only is he only the second three-time All-American in spectacular. In the first four rounds, O’Connor outscored his op- Harvard history but he is also the only Harvard wrestler ever to ponents 45-6. He took no mercy on his 157-pound competitors, have a perfect match record on the season. In addition, O’Connor, which included No. 5 Steve Fittery (American University) whom the EIWA Wrestler of the Year, finishes his stellar career with an Jay Weiss, the David G. Bunning ’88 Head Coach for Harvard overall record of 132-16, and his total career wins ties him with Wrestling called O’Connor’s toughest potential match-up in the Jantzen for most wins all-time by a Harvard wrestler. tournament. Just a few days after O’Connor’s big win, another Harvard Continued on page 6 Spring Sports Recaps Men’s Heavyweight Crew Women’s Golf (2-0) • The No. 4 Harvard heavyweight crew team opened its 2010 • In Florida for their spring break, the team got its 2010 season off spring season by claiming victory in all five races Saturday on the to a good start as they defeated the Central Florida Golden Knights Cayuga Lake Inlet in the first head-to-head racing against Cornell by 11 shots at the Red Tail Golf Club, 303-314. TheContinued Crimson hadon page 6 since 1961. The varsity eight boat managed to overcome Cornell’s the top three finishers on the day with Katie Sylvan ’13 leading the early lead in the final 500-meters of the race. The boat finished in way with a +1 round. a time of 5:36.9, topping Cornell by nearly five seconds. In per- • On the 6,050-yard Boca Woods course, the Crimson easily de- haps the most interesting race against Cornell, the Big Red edged feated Lynn University in their second head-to-head match-up of the Crimson by two seconds in 5:46.4, but Cornell’s crew was the season. Senior captain Claire Sheldon led all golfers with a par disqualified for interfering with the Harvard boat in the second round of 72. A team event, the Crimson ended up winning 298-326, 500 meters of the course. as the four best scores on the day came from Harvard’s athletes. • Several Harvard rowing alumni partook in the 2010 Xchanging Boat Race Saturday on London’s Thames River. Simon Gawlik Track & Field ’09, Cameron Winklevoss ’04 and Tyler Winklevoss ’04 all raced for Oxford, while William Rueter ’09 and Moritz Hafner ’09 • Both the men’s and women’s distance runners had strong per- competed in the Isis vs. Goldie race. Complete results for all of formances at the Texas Southern Relays March 19-20. The Crim- the day’s action can be found at www.theboatrace.org/. son women dominated the 3,000 meter run as Harvard runners occupied the top five spots in the race. Claire Richardson ‘11 Softball (11-15, 3-1 Ivy League) captured the event win with a time of 9:59.33 and was followed, in order, by Nicole Cochran ’12, Jeanne Mack ’12, Hilary May • The team’s season began with three major tournaments: the ’11 and Jamie Olson ’11. On the men’s side, Harvard’s distance UCF Invitational, the Amy S. Harrison Classic at UC Riverside runners nearly matched the women’s performance, taking the and the San Diego Classic. The team’s best performances on this top four spots in the 3,000 meter run. Jeremy Gilmour ’13 fin- road swing came at the Harrison Classic where they split their ished first with a time of 8:35.59 and Phil Galebach ’13 was close games, winning two contests over Northern Illinois and falling to behind with a time of 8:35.79. Idaho State and UC Riverside. • Three individuals won events at the UCF Invitational from • League play began on April 2 when the team took on Princ- March 26-27. Olivia Weeks ’13 picked up Harvard’s first win, eton. Stellar pitching gave the Crimson a sweep as sophomore taking the title in the triple jump with a leap of 12.24 meters. Jes- pitcher Rachel Brown tossed a no-hitter in the first game and, sica Fronk ’11 followed suit with a victory in the javelin, posting in game two, senior Margaux Black pitched four strong innings, a mark of 45.79. Lastly, Jack Brady ’10 captured the discus with allowing just one run. his mark of 49.01. • The following day, the Crimson split two contests with defend- • At the Sam Howell Invitational at Princeton University, Me- ing champ Cornell, falling 8-4 in the first game and winning lissa Bellin ‘13 turned in two top performances at the meet, be- 7-6 in the second. Freshman Jess Ferri had three hits in the two ginning with a win in the 400 meter hurdles in a time of 1:02.43. games, including her first career homerun. Bellin earned her second event win of the competition in the • On April 6, the team swept Holy Cross in a doubleheader, 4x400 meter relay, joining Magda Robak ’12, Jasmine Cho ’13 9-6 and 9-3. Ellen Macadam ’11 picked up four doubles in two and Shannon Conway ’12 for a winning time of 3:48.29. The top games, and Brown continued to pitch well, going seven innings men’s performance came courtesy of Steven Geloneck ’12 who and striking out 10 batters. was runner-up in the 100 meter dash with a mark of 10.92. Women’s Lacrosse (4-6, 1-3 Ivy) Men’s Lacrosse (5-3, 1-1 Ivy) • The team’s first big win of the year came in double overtime • In early March, the Crimson faced some stiff non-conference against No. 15 University of New Hampshire. Freshman Jenni- competition. Then-ranked No. 11, the team fell to No. 14 George- fer VanderMeulen led the Crimson with five goals, a collegiate town before recovering against in-state rivals Holy-Cross, 9-7, best for the rookie and Katherine Martino ’10 made 11 saves in and No. 18 Massachusetts, 9-7. the net including one late in the third overtime on a free position • On March 20, the team dropped their Ivy League opener shot to hold off the Wildcats. against No. 17 Brown. Jeff Cohen ’12 and Terry White ’12 each • Melanie Baskind ’12, who scored the game winning goal scored four goals, and Harry Krieger ’13 made nine saves, but against UNH, was featured in Lacrosse Magazine Online this Brown’s offense was too much as they ended upContinued on top, 13-11. on page 6 past month. A 2nd team All-Ivy selection in soccer, Baskind • The following weekend, a late scoring surge enabled Harvard has made a huge impact on the team this year, as she currently to overcome a four-goal deficit and top Dartmouth 13-11. Dean stands second on the team with 21 points (16 goals, 5 assists). Gibbons ’11 scored three goals and assisted on two others. • Freshman superstar in the making VanderMeulen has already • In front of 13,285 fans at Harvard Stadium, the Crimson fell to been named the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week two No. 7 Duke. The attendance fell short of the Massachusetts colle- times (out of five) this season.