Track and Field
Both the men and women had strong showings at their last track meet. On the women’s team, sophomore Mackenzie Olson had a big start in the 5000-meter and ended with a time of 21:00.76. Senior Stacey Bird won her heat in her first collegiate track race. She ran the mile with a time of 6:28.07. For the men, freshman Jake Meier broke the school’s 600-meter record by three seconds with a time of 1:23.90. The record was set last year by senior Kenny D’Evelyn. Junior Oyintari Aboro ran a 6.67, but was just barely beat at the line, and was unable to make the final round. His time was nevertheless a personal best.
Swimming and Diving
Both men’s and women’s swimming and diving have been resting in preparation for their main end-of-season meet. Liberal Arts, which will be hosted by Principia this weekend, February 18-20, is the largest meet of the season, and the fastest swimmers will advance to nationals. On the men’s side, junior Will Crowley and freshman Andy Furbush have been swimming exceptionally well, and in their last meet swam their fastest relays of the season. For the women, senior Jenny Bailey is once again the top swimmer and is expected to make a very strong showing at Liberal Arts.
Basketball
The season is winding down for men’s and women’s basketball with only two games remaining for each. In last Saturday’s game against Greenville, junior Todd Zimmerman hit the 1,000-point mark and is looking to break the school record by the end of his senior year. Unfortunately, the men were unable to pull out a win. Once again, on Tuesday night Zimmerman asserted his dominance on the court by scoring a career high 31 points in the men’s loss to Webster University. The women played Greenville Saturday in a heartbreakingly close loss. Freshman Sarah Corbitt contributed with her quick drives and three-pointers on the offensive end and managed to get 22 touches on the defensive end. Sophomore Lindsay Sydness continued to rack up the blocks. She is currently the number one shot blocker in the country at the Division III level. On Tuesday, the women suffered another tough loss against highly ranked Webster. Both teams will play their final home game on Saturday, February 20 against Fontbonne.