For Release: March 3, 2008

MEN’S SWIM TEAM WITH IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCE AT NESCAC’s

The Middlebury College men’s swimming and diving teams looked solid this past weekend when they hosted the 2008 NESCAC Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships. Williams won the event, followed by Tufts, Amherst and Middlebury. The Panthers won four individual titles and broke 10 school records over the three day event.

Junior Kevin O’Rourke (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) won two NESCAC titles, capturing the 200 free (1:41) and the 500 free (4:32.76), both setting new school records. Sophomore John Dillon (Wellesley, Mass.) won the NESCAC crown in the 100 fly, setting a new school record with a time of 49.58. The third Panther to win an event was sophomore Schuyler Beeman (Guilford, Conn.), who set a new school record with his win in the 50 free (20.56).

O’Rourke in the 500 free, Dillon in the 100 and 200 fly, along with the 200 medley relay team (2^nd) comprised of O’Rourke, Beeman, Dillon and senior Peter Bell (Deerfield, Mass.) all made NCAA “A” cuts, while the 200 team set a new school record.

Middlebury also had some impressive second place finishes, including a pair by both Dillon and first-year swimmer Ryan Marklewitz (Charlotte, N.C.). Dillon placed second in the 50 back (24.04-school record) and the 200 fly (1:50.15-school record), while Marklewitz came in second in the 1,000 free (9:24.92) and the 1,650 free (15:54.67), both school records.

Junior Zach Woods (Monroe, N.Y.) earned a second place finish in the 200 back (1:53.91), while the 400 medley relay team (Woods, Bell, Dillon, Bell) set a new school record with a time of 3:25.06, placing second overall.

At the conclusion of the event, Middlebury coach Peter Solomon was named the NESCAC Men’s Coach of the Year by his peers.
• Men’s swimmers host NESCAC’s
• Up next: 3/13-15 @ NCAA Championships – women at Miami Univ. (Oxford, Ohio)

MEN’S BASKETBALL MAKES NCAA TOURNEY

The Panther men’s basketball team will make its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance on Friday, March 7th at the University of Rochester. Middlebury will take on the host school, while Farmingdale State meets Penn St.-Behrend in the other contest. The winners will meet in a regional final on Saturday.

In the NESCAC semifinals, Trinity closed the game on a 15-3 run as the Bantams picked up a 72-63 win in a game played at Amherst.

Trinity came out strong, jumping to an 11-2 lead in the game’s first 3:18 of play. Senior Andrew Harris (Waterbury Center, Vt.) answered with a three for Middlebury, before the Panthers cut the lead to four at 15-11 on a pair of free throws from junior Ben Rudin (Scarsdale, N.Y.). A 5-0 spurt would give Trinity a 27-17 lead with 7:51 left to play in the first half. The lead grew to as many as 11, with a hoop from senior Mike Walsh (Needham, Mass.) cutting the advantage to 37-30 with 51 seconds remaining in the half. Russ Martin scored on a put-back as time expired to give the Bantams a 39-30 halftime lead.

Trinity maintained the lead early in the second half, with a three from Harris cutting the lead to 43-37 with 13:53 left to play. Harris stuck another three later in the half to bring the Panthers within one at 49-48 at the 8:10 mark. Two possessions later, Harris gave Middlebury its first lead of the game at 52-51, by converting a four-point play with a three from deep in the corner. With the game tied at 54, Rudin ran off Middlebury’s next six points, including a nice reverse lay-up to give the Panthers a 60-57 lead with 3:16 remaining.

Unfortunately for Middlebury, they would go 1-7 in the game’s final 2:35, turning the ball over once and going 0-3 from the free throw line. Trinity’s decisive 15-3 run saw them go 4-4 from the floor and 6-8 from the charity stripe.

Harris led all players with 24 points for Middlebury on 8-14 shooting, 5-9 from behind the arc. Rudin added 15, first-year player Ashton Coghlan (New York, N.Y.) scored seven, while Walsh had six points and five boards.
• Men’s basketball record: 19-6
• Up next: 3/7 @ Univ. Rochester – TBA (NCAA Regional), if win – 3/8 – Regional Final - TBA

MEN’S HOCKEY HEADED TO NESCAC FINAL FOUR

The Panther men’s hockey team advanced to the NESCAC semifinals after a 6-0 win over Williams in a quarterfinal game played in Kenyon Arena. The Panthers will meet Amherst next weekend at 4:00 p.m. at Colby, while the host school takes on Trinity at 1:00 p.m. The NESCAC Championship game will be played at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday. Middlebury moves to 17-6-2 overall, while Williams ends its season at 9-12-4.

Williams had a great chance just 30 seconds in, but Ryan Young’s effort in transition was denied with a pad save by senior Ross Cherry (Basking Ridge, N.J.). Neither team scored through a series of penalties, as Middlebury held a 6-2 shots advantage early. The Panthers had a great chance at the 10-minute mark, as senior Casey Ftorek (Wolfeboro, N.H.) just missed on a rebound attempt after a shot from sophomore John Sullivan (Delmar, N.Y.) was saved. Just seconds later, a Ftorek shot was saved, leaving the rebound to first-year player Bryan Curran (Wilmette, Ill.), who buried the goal.

The Panthers made it a 2-0 game with 3:40 left as rookie Ken Suchoski (Bear Creek Township, Pa.) and senior Tom Maldonado (Bronx, N.Y.) worked a nice give-and-go in transition, with Maldonado finishing for the shorthanded goal. Williams took a five-minute major penalty at 17:26 and a minor at 18:15, but Middlebury could not score on the power plays.

Middlebury made it a 3-0 game at 6:12 of the second period, as junior Mason Graddock (Stowe, Vt.) tipped in a shot from senior Leonard Badeau (Marshfield, Vt.) after a feed from sophomore Charlie Townsend (Pennington, N.J.). The Panthers struck again at 11:56 as Townsend scored with a nice move from the slot to give Middlebury a 4-0 lead.

Townsend netted his second of the game 5:45 into the third as he scored from the slot after a nice centering pass from senior Jed McDonald (Hingham, Mass.). Junior Ian Drummond (Del Mar, Calif.) gave the Panthers a 6-0 advantage at 12:23 as he converted a feed from Ftorek on the left side.

Cherry made 14 saves in goal to earn his first shutout of the season and eighth of his career, while Marc Pulde made 32 stops for the Ephs.
• Men’s hockey record: 17-6-2
• Up next: 3/8 vs. Amherst @ Colby (NESCAC semifinals) – 4:00, if win: 3/9 – Championship – 1

SQUASH ATHLETES COMPETE AT NATIONALS

The Middlebury College squash players competed at Nationals last weekend, hosted by the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. On the men’s side, junior J.P Sardi (Pleasantville, N.Y.) lost his first-round match 9-3, 9-6, 9-7 before heading to the consolation brackets. Sardi had some success in that bracket, advancing to the semifinal round with three wins, before falling to the eventual champion.

Junior Sally Hatfield (Barrington, R.I.) and first-year player Virginia Shannon (Hanover, N.H.) competed on the women’s side. Hatfield lost her first-round match, 9-4, 8-10, 10-8, 10-8, while Shannon fell 9-1, 9-0, 9-1. Shannon was defeated in her first consolation match, while Hatfield picked up a pair of wins before falling in the semifinal round.
• end of season

INDOOR TRACK IN ACTION AT OPEN NEW ENGLAND’S

The Panther indoor track teams sent five athletes to Boston University for the Open New England races this past weekend. Junior Alexandra Krieg (Wellesley, Mass.) earned All-New England honors with a third place finish in the 5,000 with a time of 17:14.90. Competing in the finals of the men’s 5,000 race was senior Jimmy Butcher (Garden City, N.Y.), who placed 17^th overall in 15:29.78. Three other Middlebury athletes, senior Jennifer Currie (Milton, Vt.), senior Ian O’Reilly (Meriden, N.H.) and rookie Kaitlyn Saldanha (Scarborough, Maine), had also qualified for the event, but did not compete in the finals.
• Indoor track competes at N.E.’s
• Up next: 3/7-8 – ECAC Championship (Harvard)

MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE SPORTS ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB: www.gomidd.com