Sports Highlights
Men's Cross Country
The senior duo of Michael Baird and Ben Hildebrand led the Lords cross country team through another successful season. In the team's first six events, the two seniors never had an individual finish lower than twelfth place and never let the Lords finish lower than fourth as a team.
In the early part of the season, Hildebrand finished seventh and Baird finished eighth as the team took a second-place finish in the Great Lakes Colleges Association Championship. One week later, Hildebrand took second among 364 runners in the prestigious Midwest Collegiate Championship. Baird took individual twelfth place in that race, and the Lords placed fourth among thirty-two of the nation's top teams.
On October 11, Kenyon took a third-place finish at the All-Ohio Championships, and Hildebrand claimed his second straight individual All-Ohio title. Baird turned the tables two weeks later as he outran Hildebrand in the North Coast Athletic Conference Championship. He clocked in at 25:10 to win the race, four seconds ahead of Hildebrand, the defending champion.
The two seniors, however, couldn't help the Lords capture their fourth straight cross country crown. Allegheny College slipped past Kenyon and won the conference crown, edging the Lords by two points.
Women's Cross Country
The 2002 Ladies cross country team had its usual strong performances from some of the team's more experienced runners, but the team also had a pleasant surprise from Christina McNamara, a first-year student who was always the first Kenyon runner to cross the finish line.
McNamara started out the season with an individual third-place finish among 135 runners in the Great Lakes Colleges Association Championship. She followed up by finishing twenty-fourth out of 344 runners at the Midwest Collegiate Championship, one of the top national events of the season. She then topped those runs off with an individual third-place finish at the All-Ohio Championship, the best finish ever by a Kenyon first-year runner, male or female.
More recently, McNamara placed second overall in the North Coast Athletic Conference, guiding the Ladies to a team third-place finish. Senior Megan Biddle took thirteenth place at the NCAC, while Heather McMillan and Laura Koss followed closely in sixteenth and eighteenth, respectively.
As a team, the Kenyon women also placed third at the GLCA Championship and third at the All-Ohio Championship.
Field Hockey
Playing in the North Coast Athletic Conference has its advantages, but for the Kenyon field hockey team the difficult schedule proved costly. The Ladies went 3-1 in non-conference games but managed just a 3-9 record in conference games.
The Kenyon women started out the season with a 3-3 record but then lost six straight as they went through the heart of their NCAC schedule. The Ladies, however, did not let their 2002 season close out on a bad note. The team rallied to win three of its last four contests, including a 3-2 upset victory over Denison University in the season finale. That win prevented Denison from claiming a share of the conference regular-season title.
On an individual basis, sophomores Liz Aragona and Maggie Rosen led the team with four goals and one assist apiece. Tai Chiappa, Sarah Evans, Maggie Hill, and Molly Mickinak all had two goals on the season.
In front of the Ladies' cage, junior Tamar Chalker posted three shutout wins and had a 1.65 goals-against average. Her .868 saves percentage was the third best among all conference goalkeepers.
Football
With the odds stacked against them from the word go, Kenyon's football team struggled through its schedule and produced a 1-9 record. For most of the season the team had fewer than thirty active players on the roster, making depth a problem and forcing players into positions they had never played before.
Because the team lacked a true running back, the Lords used several different players in the backfield before settling on sophomore Calvin Hatfield, a linebacker who ranked second on the team in tackles at the time. Hatfield made the transition, took over the running duties in week five, and went on to average nearly 142 rushing yards per game over the second half of the season.
In the team's lone win, over Hiram College, Hatfield set a College record with 46 rushing attempts. He ran for 220 yards and two touchdowns as Kenyon defeated the Terriers 22-10.
Junior quarterback Brad Noojin completed 48 percent of his passes for 1,147 yards and four touchdowns, while first-year student Brendan McNamara led the team with 47 receptions for 375 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
On the defensive side of the ball, sophomore linebacker Casey McConnell led the team in tackles for the second straight season. His total of 148 tackles also ranked among the top five in all of NCAA Division III football.
Men's Soccer
A young Kenyon men's soccer team absorbed some lumps early in the season but never tossed in the towel. The team made some adjustments, matured, and overcame a 1-6 start to salvage a 6-13-0 record.
The turning point of the season occurred on October 8, when the Lords squashed Hiram College 3-1. Four days later, Kenyon pulled off its biggest win of the season by upsetting conference rival Denison University, 2-1, in double overtime. That game was followed up by a 1-0 win over Oberlin College.
Although the winning stopped there, the improvement did not. The Lords had to finish off the regular season with road games against the College of Wooster and Ohio Wesleyan University, both nationally ranked teams. Kenyon had undefeated Wooster on the ropes, but two late goals allowed the Fighting Scots to escape with a 2-1 win. In the season finale, the Lords traded blows with number twenty-three ranked Ohio Wesleyan before falling 1-0.
Junior Andrew Sheridan closed out the season leading the team with five goals, three assists, and thirteen points. Senior Tyler Perfect scored three goals and had three assists, while freshman Henry Costas recorded three goals and two assists.
The Lords finished in seventh place in the North Coast Athletic Conference with a 3-6-0 record.
Women's Soccer
A consistently strong defense and a more powerful offense were key elements in the Kenyon College women's soccer team's game plan for the 2002 season.
The Ladies' strategy paid off, and results became apparent on the field and on paper. The combined 27 goals scored in their 18-game schedule were the most by a Kenyon team since the 1998 season. On an individual basis, sophomore Heather Preston netted nine goals, the best single-season output for a Kenyon player since 1999.
The Ladies defense managed to do its job as well, turning in four shutout wins and allowing opponents an average of just 1.5 goals per game.
When the season came to a conclusion, the Ladies had an overall record of 7-10-1 and a 4-4-0 record in North Coast Athletic Conference action.
Preston led the team with nine goals and 18 points. Senior Melissa Blum and sophomore Kathryn Salter each had four goals, and senior Kari Vandenburgh led the team with four assists.
At the back end of a strong defense was the senior goalkeeping tandem of Maureen Collins and Becca Palacios. The two combined to make 113 saves and recorded a 1.59 goals-against average.
Volleyball
During the 2001 volleyball season it took the Ladies volleyball team 18 games to pick up their first two wins. This past season, however, the 2002 Ladies needed just three games to achieve the same result.
The Ladies went on to post a 14-22 overall record and finished tied for sixth in the North Coast Athletic Conference with a 3-5 mark. Although the team couldn't quite reach the .500 mark, its fourteen wins were a huge improvement over the three victories the 2001 Kenyon squad managed.
The about-face was directed by first-year head coach Karen Seremet and a pair of talented seniors in Cori Arnold and Lauren Camp. The seniors, along with junior Sarah Wild, were the only returning players from the 2001 season.
Arnold led the team with 478 kills, a single-season College record. She improved her career total to 1,166 kills, which ranked her third among all Kenyon players. By the end of the season, she also led the Ladies with 168 blocks and a .227 hitting percentage.
Camp was also busy rewriting the Kenyon record book. She set the College's single-season record for digs with 627 and also set the career standard at 1,727. During the season, Camp led the team with 66 service aces and ranked second only to Arnold with 407 kills.
Wild contributed 338 kills, 62 blocks and 45 aces, while newcomer Jessica Russell led the team with 1,088 assists.
The Ladies did earn a spot in the conference tournament but were bounced in the first round after falling to Denison University.
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