Along Middle Path
As NEH Professors, Rutkoff and Scott study "Great Migrations"
W illiam Scott is a son of the South, a Charleston, South Carolina, native whose voice still carries a whisper of a Southern drawl. Peter Rutkoff grew up in New York City during the 1950s, making frequent pilgrimages to Ebbets Field, the Polo Grounds, and Yankee Stadium to worship glorious acts of athleticism by such baseball luminaries as Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, and Mickey Mantle.So it may seem odd that two men of such dissimilar beginnings would find their careers interwoven while teaching history at a small rural college in central Ohio. But such has been the case for more than twenty years, a period marked by frequent collaborations between Rutkoff and Scott in Kenyon's classrooms, on research projects, and on two books, New School: A History of The New School for Social Research, published in 1986, and the forthcoming New York Modern: The Making of the Modern Arts in New York City.
Now it's on to another collaborative project, one that will take Rutkoff and Scott back to their roots in pursuit of answers to questions raised by their earlier research. Announced this past spring, a study by the two historians and their students will examine the "Great Migrations" of African-Americans from the southern to northern United States from 1915 to 1955. Entitled "The African-American Urban History Project," the study will be conducted over the next three years. During that time, the College's National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Distinguished Teaching Professorship will be held jointly by Rutkoff and Scott.
"Peter Rutkoff and Will Scott are to be congratulated for their development of a compelling project plan--and for their success in being named to the NEH professorship," said Provost Katherine Haley Will. "Among the many high-quality proposals submitted to us, theirs was distinctive for its clear focus not only on their project topic but also on innovative ways in which to teach about it."
The "Great Migrations" project will center around an examination of three pairs of American cities. In the project's first year, the cities will be Rutkoff's and Scott's hometowns of New York City and Charleston. Under consideration for the final two years of the study are an exploration of the links between Memphis, Tennessee, and Chicago, Illinois, and Birmingham, Alabama, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Students and faculty members will travel to the cities as part of their study of the migrations' impacts on the cities' histories and cultures.
"We will not simply read about Charleston's incomparable Meeting Street Piggly Wiggly or Harlem's Apollo Theater," write Rutkoff and Scott in their project outline. "We will go there."
The matching of the cities to be studied reflects the migration patterns of southern African-Americans to the North. For example, New York was the primary destination of African-Americans from the Atlantic seaboard, especially those from the Charleston area. African-Americans of the Mississippi Delta region made their way north to Memphis and, finally, to Chicago.
The Great Migrations were profoundly influential in shaping twentieth-century American urban culture, especially in the areas of art, literature, and music, note Scott and Rutkoff. More than three million African-Americans migrated to the North from the start of World War I to the end of World War II, the largest internal migration in the nation's history. Although forced to build their own walled-off communities because of de facto segregation in Northern cities, those African-Americans established a rich culture whose appeal cut across traditional racial, class, and national boundaries.
"Modern American culture cannot be understood apart from modern African-American culture, apart from the Great Migrations," write Scott and Rutkoff in their outline for "The African-American Urban History Project."
The two reached that conclusion while conducting research for their books on the New School and the modern arts scene in New York City. "With New York Modern, we saw how Harlem was linked to the rest of the city and the New York art scene in the twentieth century," explains Scott, a doctoral graduate of the University of Wisconsin, a specialist in American culture and intellectual history, and a member of the faculty since 1973. "It was a discovery for us, and it heightened our interest in Harlem and black urban culture. We saw things in a new way--that there was a black America here and a white America there, but that they were intimately connected."
"We keep finding connections," adds Rutkoff, who holds a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. "It will be fun for the students to start seeing these links, too." A member of the faculty since 1971, Rutkoff has long worked in the field of American history and culture after initially focusing on European history.
Each of the three, year-long student seminars in the project will be built around four methodological approaches: artifactual analysis, documentary photography, oral history, and electronic information and networking via the World Wide Web. The highlight of each year's seminar will be two week-long field trips to the cities being studied. Students will mix scholarly research with explorations of each community's culture during their visits. Each seminar will conclude with a public presentation by class members, possibly in venues in some of the cities being studied.
At the expiration of the NEH professorship, Rutkoff and Scott intend to write a book, North by South, a cultural history of the Great Migrations. It will be yet another collaborative effort--one in which their students will be heavily involved. "Even more than in our past efforts, North by South will truly be a 'Kenyon book,' in authorship and as an expression of communal learning," state Rutkoff and Scott, those sons of the North and South whose scholarly paths keep crossing in the Midwest.
Jonathan Moodey's maze delights Gambier's kids
S ome boys immerse themselves in computer games. Others become obsessed with hitting a baseball. A few even get hooked on reading tales about Greek gods or Norsemen. For Jonathan C. Moodey '98, however, mazes--those puzzling networks of walled pathways--were what stoked his imagination as a child."I've always been fascinated with mazes," says the history major from Wilmot, New Hampshire. "I drew a lot of them when I was little, and I built some, too, letting my gerbils and mice run through them. A maze is a little world within a world--a private space to operate in, to think in. It's good for stirring the imagination."
So it wasn't surprising last fall when Moodey unleashed his imagination in an "Architecture as Art" course and it carried him back to his childhood days when he was a maestro of mazes. Two classmates, Gregory T. McCarthy '98 from Mills, Massachusetts, and Paul J. Neufeld '00 of Greensboro, North Carolina, found Moodey's youthful recollections intriguing, as did their instructor, Visiting Assistant Professor of Art K. Read Baldwin '84. The four began discussing the idea of designing a life-size maze for the Gazebo School Park, an early-childhood education center in Gambier. Several months of hard work later, the maze was erected at the center's playground, much to the delight of the Gazebo preschoolers who immediately embarked on their own fanciful adventures through the maze's mysterious passageways.
"In class, we were working with childhood memories and spaces, and they decided to extend Jon's ideas to the playground," says Baldwin, a skilled building contractor who oversaw construction of the maze. "Everybody loved the idea of creating a maze for the school. It's been a lot of fun, and the kids seem really to like it."
The builders installed a sand box, benches, fort, and slide within the wooden labyrinth. "The idea is for the kids to work their way through the maze to the middle, climb up a ladder to a platform, and then slide their way out," explains Baldwin. "It's a circular adventure."
The walls of the maze are a work in progress. The original plan called for approximately thirty Kenyon students to paint scenes of fantasy worlds that would "captivate and feed the children's imaginations," according to Moodey. However, foul weather and scheduling problems prevented that from happening before the academic year ended in mid-May. But, never fear, the preschoolers picked up paint brushes and began creating their own murals on the maze's panels.
"Of course, the children have their own ideas about what should happen with it," says Lia Thompson-Clark, director of the Gazebo School Park. One pint-sized artist painted a map of the maze, and Thompson-Clark says she won't be surprised to see some Star Wars-like designs as the work evolves. "I'm not sure how it will turn out," she chuckles, "but watching them paint is so great. It's as if they have their own little private space to work in. It's been wonderful."
Moodey agrees, saying he is grateful for the community'ssupport of the project (approximately $800 was donated to pay for building materials) and for the children's enthusiastic reaction to it. "This is the work I enjoy doing the most," he adds.
Seniors win prestigious Mellon Fellowships for graduate study
D reams really do come true. Sarah J. Heidt '97 and William H. King '97 can attest to that after winning Andrew W. Mellon Fellowships in Humanistic Studies this past spring."Receiving a Mellon Fellowship has been a dream of mine since my first year at Kenyon," said Heidt, who graduated in May after earning highest honors in a double major of classics and English. "I saw a Mellon poster and thought, 'That could be me.'"
For King, the fellowship is the latest step in a scholarly trek that began when he was a young boy smitten with classic tales of ancient Rome and Greece. "I've always been interested in ancient history," says King. "My parents [Cynthia and William J. King] are classicists and professors at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, so I grew up with it."
He and Heidt, both summa cum laude graduates of Kenyon, are among eighty-five college seniors and recent graduates to win Mellon Fellowships, which provide a stipend of $13,750, plus tuition and fees, for the 1997-98 academic year. Presented to students of "outstanding promise," according to Mellon Foundation officials, the fellowships support the program's objective of encouraging and assisting students to join the humanities faculties of America's colleges and universities.
Heidt, whose academic focus is on nineteenth-century British literature, will pursue a Ph.D. in English language at Cornell University. King will begin work on a master's degree at Indiana University's Department of Central Eurasian Studies.
Heidt began to focus on nineteenth-century British literature during her junior year, which she spent at the University of Exeter in England. There, Heidt says she became "intensely interested" in the connection between historical phenomena and literature, a subject she will continue to pursue in her graduate studies at Cornell. Heidt hopes to study a broad range of topics, including the work of novelist Henry James, the connections between American and British romanticism, and perhaps even Icelandic studies.
"My interests are all over the place," she says. "I'm excited about being able to go to a place where a lot of those interests can play out."
Cornell, notes Heidt, appears to have a lot in common with Kenyon. Both are small, engaging places of higher learning where students can closely connect with their professors. "It's important for me to be not just a face in the classroom," she says. "I want to be seen as a scholar who is a person as well."
At Kenyon, Heidt considers Professor of Classics William McCulloh, her advisor for Greek, to be one of her best friends, and she adds, "[Associate Professor of English] Deborah Laycock has been like a mother to me." Heidt also appreciates the mentorship of Associate Professor of English James Carson, who was the advisor for her senior thesis. She adds she hopes to follow in her mentors' footsteps and teach at a college like Kenyon.
McCulloh is also an advisor to and a role model for King. "He's a gem," says King of McCulloh. "He was the main reason I came to Kenyon. He has been so helpful and wonderfully patient. He's also been my toughest critic."
King's research on Eurasia started when he began seeing the area as the key link between the ancient civilizations of Europe and Asia. "Eurasia is the center of it all," he explains. "Much contact between cultures has taken place in that area. It also has a rich history of its own that shouldn't be ignored. Eurasian studies are on the cutting edge of the academic world because of the interaction of the different cultures."
This past spring, King completed work on a synoptic major in West Asian studies (for which he earned highest honors), with a theme of the complexity of cultures in that region and the importance of intercultural relations in Eurasia as a whole. He also delivered the public lecture "The Parthian Empire in the History of Eurasia," a topic covered in his senior thesis. Such a presentation was familiar ground for King, who gave a paper at an Association of Ancient Historians' conference while still in high school. He has also presented papers to members of the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations.
Depending on how his scholarly interests evolve, King may pursue a Ph.D. after completing work on his master's degree. Teaching history at the college level is a serious consideration. "I'd like to teach at a place like Kenyon," says King. "I love this environment."
Beth Belanger exhibit examines small-town life in Mount Vernon
F or those who deal in stereotypes, the small town--that revered American institution--is full of possibilities. Champions of small-town life paint it as a shining example of our country at its best, a Norman Rockwell painting come to life. Naysayers cast it in a different light, one that illuminates the small-mindedness and stagnation depicted in Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio.However, Elizabeth "Beth" Belanger '97 has discovered that small-town life cannot be categorized neatly, that it's not a simple black-and-white proposition. Instead, she has found that a shade of gray colors small-town life, in which the divergent worlds envisioned by Rockwell and Anderson co-exist. The result, adds Belanger, is a place where people can connect to one another.
Her discoveries are chronicled in "Mount Vernon Revisited," an exhibition that was displayed in the Olin Library atrium this spring and will be shown at the Knox County Historical Society Museum this fall and the Public Library of Mount Vernon and Knox County in the spring of 1998. The exhibit explores the connection between the townscape of Mount Vernon, Gambier's neighbor to the west, and small-town life and values. "The project examines the relationships among architecture, community, and notions of small-town life in Mount Vernon," explains Belanger, who recently graduated after completing work in a synoptic major in American studies.
A native of Wellesley, Massachusetts, Belanger recalls she was drawn to Kenyon by her desire to be part of the nation's best Division III swimming program and her attraction to the rolling hills, farmland, and small towns of Knox County. "I conceived 'Mount Vernon Revisited' after a year-long study of Mount Vernon's history and its current challenges," she explains. "I was intrigued by recent debates about historic preservation, economic viability, and traffic in the downtown. So I decided to investigate these issues from the perspectives of community members."
Beginning the project at the start of her junior year, Belanger conducted research on midwestern architecture and town planning, as well as local history. She also lined up funding for her project from the Ohio Humanities Council, Mount Vernon Community Trust, and the College. Next, she collected oral histories from Mount Vernon residents and examined letters, maps, photographs, and postcards provided by community members. In addition, Belanger took many of the photographs that are part of "Mount Vernon Revisited."
This past spring, she began assembling the exhibit, which consists of nine wooden panels suspended from a support structure of iron pipes and arranged to mirror the town plan in Mount Vernon. "This allows visitors to experience the exhibit as they do the Town Square," says Belanger, adding that the panels explore lives of historic buildings including First-Knox National Bank, Mount Calvary Baptist Church, and the Russell-Cooper House. The exhibit comprises photographs, artifacts, text, and aninterpretive brochure.
Belanger's research led her to conclude that Mount Vernon is "a wonderful place." "It's a community in the truest sense," she says. "People are closely connected." But Belanger's exhibit doesn't dodge Mount Vernon's shortcomings. Her brochure includes conversations with a Jewish woman who once had to reassure members of the WASPish community that she "didn't have any horns," an African-American man who recalled the discrimination he faced while growing up in Mount Vernon in the 1940s and 1950s, and an historic preservationist who cites his frustration with town leaders who allowed the demolition of some beautiful Victorian buildings that once graced the Town Square.
Belanger worked closely on "Mount Vernon Revisited" with Associate Professor of Art History Melissa Dabakis, the project director, and with Professor of History Peter Rutkoff and National Endowment for the Humanities Distinguished Teaching Professor of Sociology Howard Sacks. She was also assisted by Olin Art Gallery Director Ellen Sheffield, Professor of Art Gregory Spaid '68, and Knox County Historical Society Museum Director Daniel Younger.
Such student-faculty collaborations, as well as opportunities to conduct research in the local community, hold special appeal for Belanger. "I feel this is so much a part of a liberal-arts education," she says. "I wanted to move beyond academia, and I discovered there is a whole other world out there. I've enjoyed the experience of making a connection between Kenyon and the community and of developing that bond."
The chore of assembling the exhibit came at a busy time for Belanger--she was also preparing for the national swimming championships. An All-American in the sport, she also excelled academically at the College, graduating summa cum laude with highest honors in her major. In addition, Belanger won the Stuart Rice McGowan Prize in American History in 1996, received the Henry B. Dalton Fellowship in American Studies this past spring, and helped Rutkoff lead a seminar on Chicago last fall. That is quite a resume for any student, let alone one who experiences a form of dyslexia that affects visual memory.
"Academics didn't come as easily to me as to some other people," admits Belanger, "but my parents told me never to set my sights too low. I've had to work hard, but I'm sure some people have had to work even harder."
She now takes that buoyant outlook into the working world, where she is interested in a career that centers around the revitalization of downtown areas and other community planning issues. With that goal in mind, Belanger is spending the summer working as an intern with the Allegheny Heritage Development Corporation in western Pennsylvania. Her duties will include creation of a multimedia exhibit that explores local history. With "Mount Vernon Revisited" already to her credit, Belanger seems well-suited for the assignment.
Lora Ballinger awarded top graduate fellowship in sciences
L ora A. Ballinger '97 is a whiz at making perfect sense of complex mathematical questions that would leave most of us wallowing in a quagmire of confusion. However, explaining her love of mathematics doesn't come quite so easily to her. In fact, she admits her explanation is marked by a contradiction."On one hand, I like mathematics because it's not subjective," says Ballinger. "It's something you can figure out and understand, but there can't be two opinions about the final answer. You can discuss it, but you have to find the right answer instead of just an answer. The contradiction is that in modeling real mathematical systems, there is not a right answer but many answers. Then you have to figure out which one is best."
Ballinger will have time to contemplate such questions over the next six years while she pursues a Ph.D. in math at the University of Utah. She will study there after being awarded a graduate fellowship this spring from the National Physical Science Consortium (NPSC). Ballinger is one of sixteen students nationally to receive NPSC fellowships, which are valued up to $200,000 per fellow depending on the cost of the university attended. The fellowship pays for tuition and fees, provides a stipend for living expenses, and offers two summers of paid research employment.
"I was really surprised and excited when I learned I had received the fellowship," says Ballinger. "It's one that can be taken to different universities, so I could choose where I wanted to continue my studies. It's great to have this chance to pursue a Ph.D. in my field."
She will enroll in the mathematical biology program at the University of Utah this fall after conducting research this summer at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory near San Francisco, California. Ballinger became interested in the connection between math and biology during another summer-research experience, this one two years ago at the University of Tennessee. There, she helped develop a model of fish movement based on water depth. On her return to Kenyon, Ballinger continued to pursue her interest in mathematical biology, eventually completing her senior exercise with research that included an examination of population models of animals in predator-prey relationships.
Yet another summer experience--this one at a National Science Foundation camp after her sophomore year in high school--sparked Ballinger's interest in math. It was further ignited when she left her home in rural Indiana as a high-school junior to attend the Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities in Muncie. Two years later, Ballinger narrowed her college choices to Kenyon and Williams, finally opting to stay a bit closer to home and enroll at Kenyon.
Ballinger believes she made the right decision, citing the emphasis that her math professors placed on writing and research presentations along with understanding the intricacies of mathematical science. "With such a small math department, youget the personal attention you need," she notes. "The professors are all very approachable, and they prepare you for whatever you want to do after college."
A look at Ballinger's academic accomplishments demonstrates that she took her teachers' lessons to heart. In May, she graduated summa cum laude with highest honors in her major and earned distinction on her senior exercise. Ballinger won numerous academic honors at the College, including induction into Phi Beta Kappa, the national collegiate honor society, and Sigma Xi, a scientific research society. A Kenyon Honor Scholar, she was recognized for her outstanding scholarship in math by being awarded the College's Reginald B. Allen Prize this spring and the Solomon R.S. Kasper Prize in 1995. The recipient of Kenyon's Mastin Scholarship and a National Academy of Science, Space, and Technology Award, she was also named a National Science Scholar and a Kenyon Science Scholar.
"Lora is amazing," says Associate Professor of Mathematics Carol S. Schumacher, who was Ballinger's advisor. "She's a good student, a hard worker, and a terrific person. She certainly is deserving of this impressive fellowship from the NPSC."
Looking ahead, Ballinger says she is interested in teaching college undergraduates, perhaps emulating the methods of Schumacher and her other mentors in the College's math department. Ballinger has no contradictory feelings about her Kenyon experience. "It all worked out so well," she says.
Kenyon leads nation in 1997 NCAA Scholarship honorees
F our Kenyon student-athletes--Beth Belanger, Katie Petrock, Keri Schulte, and Derek Zurn, all members of the Class of 1997--recently became members of an elite class by being named recipients of one of the highest honors bestowed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), a postgraduate scholarship.The NCAA annually awards the $5,000 scholarships to student-athletes who have maintained at least a 3.0 cumulative grade-point average (GPA) on a 4.0 scale, who are in their final year of varsity competition, and who have produced noteworthy results as varsity athletes. This year, 174 postgraduate scholarships were awarded, including 107 to student-athletes in sports other than football and basketball.
With four honorees, the College shared top honors with the University of Georgia for most scholarship recipients in the group of 107. Fourteen other institutions had two honorees each.
"This just tops off what is, by all accounts, the greatest year ever in Kenyon athletic history," says Director of Physical Education and Athletics Robert D. Bunnell. "We had three national championships, a national runner-up, four conference champions, and a record number of individual honors for our student-athletes and coaches. This is a real tribute to our athletic program, in particular to the members of the outstanding 1997 senior class."
Belanger, Petrock, Schulte, and Zurn increase the College's number of NCAA postgraduate scholarship winners to thirty-three, tying the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the top spot among Division III's award leaders. California's Pomona and Pitzer colleges (combined) are third with twenty-four. Since the NCAA began its postgraduate scholarship program in 1970, Kenyon has had at least one honoree in twenty-one of the past twenty-seven years. Since 1985, the College's student-athletes have received $228,000 from the NCAA in postgraduate scholarship awards.
Belanger, from Wellesley, Massachusetts, was a six-time All-American for Kenyon's women's swimming and diving team, which won an unprecedented fourteenth consecutive Division III championship in 1997. A tricaptain for the Ladies, Belanger placed eighth in the gruelling 1,650-yard freestyle race at the national championships. She graduated summa cum laude and earned highest honors in a synoptic major in American studies. Belanger, who will enter graduate school in the fall of 1998, plans to obtain her master's degree in American studies.
Petrock, an Ann Arbor, Michigan, native who received her degree in psychology, plans to pursue a master's degree in sport psychology. One of the most outstanding swimmers in the College's history, Petrock was an eighteen-time national champion and earned All-America status twenty-four times. She was named the 1997 Division III Swimmer of the Year after placing first in six events in national competition, setting NCAA records in five. Petrock is also a finalist for the Honda Award, presented annually to the nation's top female athlete in all sports and alldivisions.
Schulte, from St. Cloud, Minnesota, emerged as one of the leading distance runners in Kenyon history. One of only four College runners ever to achieve All-America status in cross country, Schulte advanced to the NCAA title race for three consecutive years. She finished among the top four runners in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) championship race for four straight years and became only the second woman in Kenyon history to receive first-team all-conference honors all four years. Schulte also finished first or second in the NCAA Regional race in 1995 and 1996 and earned All-Ohio honors for three years. A magna cum laude graduate in psychology, she plans to enter medical school in 1998.
Zurn, from Johnson City, New York, graduated cum laude in chemistry in May and will begin studies at the University of Buffalo's School of Dental Medicine in the fall. One of the top divers in the College's history, Zurn placed third on both the one- and three-meter boards at the 1997 national competition to help Kenyon secure an unprecedented eighteenth consecutive Division III championship. He is an eight-time All-America honoree and a four-time NCAC champion.
The efforts of the College's four postgraduate scholarship honorees highlighted an outstanding academic year for Kenyon student-athletes, who compiled a combined 3.11 GPA in twenty-one sports. The women's cross-country team topped the list with a 3.50 GPA, followed by the members of the NCAC champion women's basketball team with a 3.43 GPA. The women's track and field team also finished with a 3.43 GPA, followed by the national champion women's tennis team with a 3.40 GPA. The volleyball team rounded out the top five with a 3.34 GPA. Members of the swimming and diving team had the highest GPA among the men with a 3.27.
Rowland and Denning take Academic All-America honors
K enyon's best year ever in intercollegiate athletic history was complemented in June with the announcement of two more prestigious academic awards for its athletes.Senior Amy Rowland and junior Dan Denning were named to national spring at-large Academic All-America teams, as selected by GTE and the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Rowland, who graduated magna cum laude in psychology in May, was named among the first-team honorees. Denning, a molecular biology major, was named to the second team. Kenyon student-athletes have received twenty-seven Academic All-America honors in the past thirteen years--all of the past five and eleven of the past thirteen--and thirty-one since 1970.
A key player for the 1997 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III national champion women's tennis team, Rowland became the College's first female tennis player to receive first-team All-America honors from GTE/CoSIDA. She is only the sixth woman in Kenyon history to receive the top honor. Rowland was named to GTE's third team in 1996.
The GTE honor is the fourth in two years for Denning, one of the top runners in the College's cross-country and track-and-field history. He is the only Kenyon student-athlete ever to receive national Academic All-America honors in two sports in consecutive years. Denning earned first-team honors earlier this year in cross country and third-team recognition in both cross country and track and field last year.
Rowland accomplished a rare feat this spring for the tennis team by scoring the winning point in match play to give the Ladies the NCAA championship for the second time in three years. She also did it in 1995. Rowland played both singles and doubles, closing the 1997 season with a 24-5 record in doubles and a 20-0 record in doubles with partner Codi Scarbrough, a junior. Off the courts, Rowland carried a 3.65 grade-point average (GPA) in her major.
Denning, who is also the College's first student-athlete to receive four first-team All-District honors, is a six-time All-North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) honoree. He holds Kenyon's indoor-track records in the 1,500-, 3,000-, and 5,000-meter races and the outdoor record in the 10,000-meter run. Denning finished as the 1997 NCAC 1997 indoor champion in the 3,000 and 5,000 races and as the outdoor runner-up in the 10,000. A three-time Merit List honoree, Denning owns a 3.95 GPA in molecular biology.
The national Academic All-America honors ended a record year for the College in GTE/CoSIDA academic honors. Kenyon student-athletes won nine Academic All-District awards earlier, topping the previous record of six set during the 1995-96 season. Lords and Ladies have received thirty-three All-District honors since 1989, including twenty in the past three years. The College's student-athletes have been named to the GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-District teams for five consecutive years and seven of the past nine years.
Spring sports in brief: Tennis women take third national title
B aseball(7-28 overall, 2-13 North Coast Athletic Conference [NCAC], eighth place)
A young Lords team played competitively throughout the season, one or two hits away in numerous games from turning losses into victories. Junior Mark Faust paced the team offensively, hitting at a .326 clip, while first-year Lord Mitch Swaggert followed with a .324 batting average. Swaggert led the team in hits with thirty-four. Junior Greg Ferrell and first-year Lord Joe Exner led the team in home runs with three each. Ferrell also led the Lords in triples (three) and tied Faust for the lead in doubles with six each. Faust was the runs-batted-in leader with twenty. Swaggert also emerged as the leading pitcher for Kenyon, producing a 4-5 record with a 5.30 earned-run average.
G olf
(Lords placed fifth in the NCAC championship tournament)
Junior Greg McCarthy carded a final score of 157 and junior Owen Lewis finished with a 159 to pace the Lords to a fifth-place finish in the conference championship tournament at Apple Valley Golf Course. McCarthy led the Lords throughout the season and finished with an 82.0 average. Lewis completed the season with an average of 84.5, while senior Kyle Christiansen followed at 85.2.
All-NCAC honorees: Second team, juniors Greg McCarthy and Owen Lewis.
M en's lacrosse
(10-4 overall, 3-2 NCAC, third place)
With balanced scoring and alert defensive play, the Lords produced their third consecutive season with ten or more victories Kenyon also finished third in the NCAC, for the team's best showing since 1989. The Lords closed the season with a four-game winning streak, including 7-6 and 12-3 victories over arch rival College of Wooster. It was Kenyon's first sweep in the history of the series. Junior Chip Unruh led the Lords' scoring with forty-seven points, including a team-leading thirty-four assists. Unruh, whose assist total ranks fourth among Kenyon's best single-season efforts, ranked seventh among the NCAC's leading scorers. First-year Lord Evan Bliss led the team in goals with twenty-four, followed by another first-year Lord, Kurt Cross, with nineteen. Senior Geoff Hazard finished the season with 171 saves in fourteen games. He allowed only seventy-seven goals and ranked as the top goalie in the NCAC. He finished his career with 562 saves, ranking him fourth in Kenyon history.
All-NCAC honorees: First team, junior Mike Collins; second team, seniors Ryan Weber, Tim Cook, and Geoff Hazard; honorable mention, junior Chip Unruh, sophomore Cory Munsterteiger, and first-year Lord Kurt Cross.
NCAC Co-Coach of the Year: Bill Heiser.
W omen's lacrosse
(7-11 overall, 3-4 NCAC, fourth place)
An 11-6 victory over the College of Wooster in the first round of the NCAC tournament highlighted the season for the Ladies, who dropped an 8-7 game to the Lady Scots earlier in the season in Wooster. The team finished fourth overall in the conference, Kenyon's best effort since 1994. Junior Genessa Keith paced the Ladies' scoring attack with thirty-nine points, followed by sophomore Lesley Keiner with thirty-eight. Keith led the team in goals (thirty) and tied Keiner for the lead in assists (nine each). First-year Lady Erika Prahl, in front of the goal for Kenyon, finished with 188 saves.
All-NCAC honorees: Second team, senior Krissy Surovjak and junior Genessa Keith; honorable mention, senior Vuoch Tan and sophomore Ali Lacavaro.
M en's tennis
(19-7 overall, 5-2 NCAC, second place)
Another standout season was capped in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Midwest Regional at DePauw University, where the Lords bounced the College of Wooster, 4-0, before falling 4-0 to perennial power Kalamazoo College. The team's nineteen victories overall represented the second highest total in Kenyon history. The Lords also finished among the top sixteen teams in the nation for the second consecutive year. Sophomore Ted Finn produced an outstanding 21-4 record for the Lords in singles, including a 20-3 mark at the third position. Juniors Alain Hunter and J.C. Bigornia paced the team in doubles with a 15-5 record.
All-NCAC honorees: First team, senior Brian McCormick (singles and doubles) and sophomore Ted Finn (doubles); second team, junior Alain Hunter (singles), first-year Lord Tim Bearman (doubles), and Finn (singles and doubles); honorable mention, Bearman (singles).
W omen's tennis
(26-4 overall, 3-2 NCAC, first place; NCAA Division III national champions)
Kenyon rolled to its third NCAA Division III national championship in the last five years by finishing undefeated in the national tournament held at Claremont, California. The Ladies opened with an 8-1 victory over Williams College, followed with a 6-3 decision over Washington and Lee University, and then pulled out a 6-3 win over Trinity University of Texas in the championship match. In individual tournament competition, the doubles team of junior Ali St. Vincent and sophomore Erin Hockman advanced to the championship match before falling. They both earned All-America honors, as did first-year Lady Caryn Cuthbert, who advanced to the semifinals in singles competition.
All-NCAC honorees: First team, juniors Ali St. Vincent (singles and doubles) and Renee Brown (doubles), sophomore Erin Hockman (singles and doubles), and first-year Lady Caryn Cuthbert (singles and doubles); second team, senior Amy Rowland (singles and doubles), juniors Codi Scarbrough (doubles) and Brown(singles), and sophomore Aki Ohata (singles).
NCAC Newcomer of the Year: Caryn Cuthbert.
NCAC Player of the Year: Caryn Cuthbert.
Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA)/Midwest Rookie of the Year: Caryn Cuthbert.
ITA/National Rookie of the Year: Caryn Cuthbert.
ITA/Midwest Region Coach of the Year: Paul Wardlaw.
GTE/CoSIDA First-Team Academic All-America: Amy Rowland.
M en's outdoor track and field
(Lords placed seventh in the NCAC championship meet)
Senior Mickey Mominee, junior Dan Denning, and sophomores John Jordan and Crosby Wood turned in outstanding efforts in the conference championship meet for the Lords. Wood finished second in the 5,000-meter run (15:31.97), Denning was second in the 10,000 (32:42.80), and Mominee was runner-up in the 800 (1:58.17). Jordan finished third in the 800 (1:58.17). Overall, the Lords scored forty-eight points. Denning set the only record of the season, in the 10,000-meter run.
All-NCAC honorees: Senior Mickey Mominee, junior Dan Denning, and sophomores John Jordan and Crosby Wood.
W omen's outdoor track and field
(Ladies placed third in the NCAC championship meet)
Sparked by a strong group of newcomers and leaders in the distances races, the Ladies jumped and ran to their highest finish ever in the conference championship meet. Overall, Kenyon scored a College-record 114 points and trailed runner-up Wittenberg University by only twenty points. The Ladies claimed a record nine All-NCAC efforts, led by senior Gretchen Baker in the 5,000- and 10,000-meter races and sophomore Katie Varda in the high jump and 100 hurdles. Baker emerged as the NCAC champion in the 10,000 (39:36.50) and finished as runner-up in the 5,000 (19:01.00), in which senior teammate Keri Schulte was the champion (19:00.01). Varda was the runner-up in both the 100 hurdles (16.55) and the high jump (5-3.75). Other runner-up finishers for Kenyon were senior Kim Graf in the javelin (109-6), sophomore Christine Breiner in the 3,000 steeplechase (12:09.80), and first-year Lady Laura Shults in the 800 (2:23.26). First-year Lady Maraleen Shields placed third in the triple jump (33-7.5). The Ladies set three records during the season--in the steeplechase, pole vault, and 10,000-meter run.
All-NCAC honorees: Seniors Gretchen Baker, Kim Graf, and Keri Schulte; sophomores Christine Breiner and Katie Varda; first-year Ladies Laura Shults and Maraleen Shields.
Do you have feedback on this page?