Sports Highlights
Baseball
Through a soggy spring season, the Kenyon baseball team managed to post the program's best winning percentage since 1998. The Lords won four of their last five games and just missed the .500 mark as they finished off the 2002 campaign with a 14-15 overall record and a 4-7 record in the North Coast Athletic Conference.
Junior Jesse Gregory tied the College's single-season record with seven home runs and set the career standard at fourteen. He also was named a first team member on the Verizon Academic All-District Team.
Golf
Although the team's results were not always eye-popping, the Kenyon golf team made significant strides in improving the quality of the program. The Lords wrapped up the 2002 season with a sixth-place spot in the NCAC Championship after recording a team score of 665, a total that was 43 strokes better than last year's.
First-year student Greg Bristol led the squad throughout the season and finished tied for ninth at the NCAC Championship. His two-day total of 161 also placed him on the All-NCAC Second Team. Bristol was the low scorer in three of the Lords' six tournaments and he finished the season with a team-best 82.2 scoring average.
Softball
For the first time in the program's five-year history, the Ladies' softball team earned a berth in the North Coast Athletic Conference postseason tournament. Unfortunately, the tournament trail lasted just two games, but the Ladies did finish the season with an overall record of 15-16-1 and an NCAC record of 7-6.
Junior Carrie Robertson led the team with a .391 batting average and tied her own College single-season record with eight home runs. Senior Erin O'Neill wrapped up her four-year career with a .352 batting average and became just the second softball player in the history of the conference to be named All-NCAC for four consecutive seasons.
Men's Lacrosse
The Kenyon men's lacrosse team posted a 10-4 record this season, making it the fourth straight time and the seventh time in the last eight years that the team has had ten wins or more. The Lords also put together a 3-2 record in the NCAC and finished in third place.
Senior Justin Martinich led the Lords in assists (25) and total points (53). He also took possession of the College career records for assists (112) and points (238). Fellow senior Greg Tate added a team-best 37 goals, a total that ranked second among all conference players. Blaire Modic, a senior defender who led the team with 66 ground balls, was named to the STX / United States Inter-collegiate Lacrosse Association All-America Team as an Honorable Mention selection.
Women's Lacrosse
Another successful season came to a close for the Ladies' lacrosse team in the North Coast Athletic Conference postseason tournament. The Ladies finished off Oberlin College in the first round of the tournament but then fell
in the semifinal round for the sixth straight season. The Ladies finished with a 7-6 overall record and a 3-4 record in the NCAC.
Junior Melissa Blum led the team with 35 goals and ranked second in the conference with a goals-per-game average of 2.69. Senior goalkeeper Ruth Crowell made 135 saves and ranked third in the conference with a .529 saves percentage.
Men's Tennis
By defeating Denison University in the NCAC tournament final, the Kenyon men's tennis team earned its first conference title since the 1995 season.
The Lords (18-4) went on to compete in the NCAA Championship, where they defeated Coe College in the first round, 4-2. The run was halted in round two, however, as second-ranked Gustavus Adolphus College cruised to a 4-0 win, ending the College's eleven-match win streak and ousting the Lords from the tournament.
At the conclusion of the season, first-year students Joe Freeman and Mike Herrick, as well as juniors Scott Schoenberger and Keenan Hughes, earned spots on the All-NCAC team. Coach Scott Thielke was named the conference's "Coach of the Year" and Herrick was tabbed "Newcomer of the Year."
Women's Tennis
The Ladies' tennis team enjoyed another successful season as it made its sixteenth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Championship. Unfortunately, the trip was a short one, as the team was defeated 8-1 in the first round by the number nine Washington University Bears.
The Kenyon women concluded the season with an overall record of 18-7, a number twelve national ranking, and a second-place finish in the conference tournament. Number one singles player Brooke Roeper earned the North Coast Athletic Conference's "Player of the Year," while Lisa Beauchamp, Katy Tucker, and Elly Sherman also pulled in All-NCAC honors.
Women's Track
The Ladies finished off their 2002 track season with a ninth-place finish in the NCAC Championship. Ansley Scott took second place in the high jump and Katherine Kapo claimed third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
Kapo, a senior, dominated the steeplechase event all season. On April 20, she won the event at the All-Ohio Championship and set the College record with a time of 11:22.75. Her time also was an All-Ohio record and met the NCAA Championship provisional qualifying standard. She was awarded the NCAC's "Runner of the Week" award for her efforts.
Men's Track
Michael Baird, Ben Hildebrand, and Cary Snyder led the Lords' track team through another record-breaking season. The trio of distance runners posted three College records and led the team to a sixth-place finish at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championship.
Baird and Hildebrand, both juniors, set records in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and the 10,000-meter race, respectively. Baird made his mark by breaking his own steeplechase record at the All-Ohio Championship. His winning time of 9:16.15 shaved off more than six seconds from his old record. Hildebrand then went a step further and reset the record at 9:13.97, a time that was good enough to qualify him for the NCAA Division III Championship. Hildebrand also set the College record of 31:30.73 in the 10,000-meter race and went on to claim thirteenth place in the steeplechase event at the national meet.
Snyder, a senior who already owns the College's indoor record in the 1,500-meter race, set the outdoor record in the 1,500 at 3:59.83 during Otterbein College's Bud Yoest Invitational. His time, like Baird's, hit the NCAA provisional qualifying mark, but wasn't quick enough to get him to the national meet.
Do you have feedback on this page?