Sports Round-Up
Baseball
Junior Nick Sussman was the catalyst for a Kenyon offense that batted a combined .298 and averaged nearly five runs per game. Throughout the season, Sussman, the Lords' third baseman and leadoff hitter, recorded an individual .421 batting average, which was Kenyon's best single-season average since Jim Pierce hit .424 in the 1978 season.
Sussman, who was selected to the All-North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) second team, led the Lords with eleven doubles and twenty-eight runs scored. Unfortunately, his numbers alone weren't enough to carry the team. Kenyon struggled with a lack of pitching depth and finished the 2004 season with a 13-23 record.
Senior hurler Chris Lynn did his best to mend the team's pitching problems, as he began the season with a 5-0 record and a 3.07 earned run average. He was even named the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association national "Pitcher of the Week," but as the season progressed, Lynn tired and was unable to keep pace with his early- season success.
The Lords, who had just five pitchers on their roster, hit a seven-game slide and had no arms left to pull them out of trouble. Sussman and senior Greg Carr tried to keep the team in games with their offense. Carr wound up hitting .369 and led the Lords with twenty-three runs batted in and twelve stolen bases. He was named to the All-NCAC second team and went on to become a member of the Academic All-District Team as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
Lynn wound up leading the conference with ninety-eight innings pitched and ranked second with eighty-two strikeouts. He earned an All-NCAC honorable mention for his efforts. Senior outfielder Trey Blair was the recipient of an honorable mention after he hit .347 with forty-two hits, twenty-two runs batted in, and thirteen runs scored.
Golf
First-year student-athlete Will O'Keefe stepped right into a leadership role this season as he found himself among the best scorers on the Lords' golf team. In fact, O'Keefe finished off his first season at Kenyon with a team-best 81.7 scoring average.
The Lords participated in six weekend tournaments and concluded the 2004 season with a seventh-place team finish at the NCAC tournament, which was hosted by Ohio Wesleyan University. Kenyon's team total of 664 was just five strokes behind sixth-place Wooster and just six strokes behind fifth-place Wabash. Individually, O'Keefe set the pace for the Lords as he carded rounds of 80 and 82. His two-day total of 162 put him in a tie for eighteenth place among the forty-five tournament golfers.
As a team, the Lords' best finish occurred in a tournament they hosted at Apple Valley Golf Course. The team shot a one-day total of 326 at the rain-shortened Kenyon Classic and earned a sixth-place spot.
Juniors Greg Bristol and Jon Sessions were also key contributors throughout the season as they finished with scoring averages of 83.8 and 84.4, respectively.
Men's Lacrosse
A season of transition did not flow as smoothly as the Lords lacrosse team would have liked. Adjusting to new coaches, new game plans, a new home field, and new opponents were all contributing factors to the Lords' final 5-10 record.
New head coach Brendan McWilliams accepted the awkward position of taking over a lacrosse program that was entrenched in the ways of former head coach Bill Heiser, who was at the helm for thirty-four years. McWilliams and his staff implemented their own style of play, which took some time for the players to grow accustomed to early in the season.
The Lords also beefed up their schedule with road games against the likes of Amherst and Hamilton colleges, powerhouse clubs that finished the season with a combined twenty wins. Even at home, the Lords faced the challenge of playing their games on a practice field because of the renovations taking place at McBride Field.
Despite the difficulties, the Lords moved forward and produced some respectable results. Sophomore Sean O'Neill led the team and ranked fifth among all players in the conference with forty-three points on nineteen goals and twenty-four assists. Senior Jason McCaw scored a team-best twenty-eight goals, a total that was fourth-best in the conference. He was selected to the All-NCAC first team, while O'Neill received an honorable mention.
At the defensive end, David Deal was the Lords' leader. He scored two goals, led all Kenyon players with forty-four groundballs, and was named to the All-NCAC first team for the second straight season. The NCAC also recognized senior defender Jeremy Martinich, junior goalkeeper Dave Neiman, and first-year attack Luke Larson with honorable mentions. Martinich was later awarded a position on the Academic All-District Team as well.
Women's Lacrosse
For the second straight season, the women's lacrosse team cruised through the early portion of its schedule and produced remarkable results. The Ladies played a handful of very close contests but came away victorious in six of their first eight games.
Leading the charge on the offensive front were sophomore Kaley Bell and senior Anne Huntoon. Bell led not only the Ladies but the entire conference with forty-six goals and an average of 4.23 points per game. Her total of forty-six goals was the best output from a Kenyon player since Ali Lacavaro '99 recorded sixty-six goals in the 1998 season. Huntoon followed up Bell's numbers with twenty-eight goals and thirty-one points of her own. At season's end, Bell and Huntoon were selected to the All-NCAC first team.
As the season wore on, teams figured out how to defend the Kenyon attack, and the Ladies struggled to close out the year on the upswing. The Ladies dropped three of their last four games but still managed to earn a spot in the postseason NCAC tournament. Although they were eliminated in the first round of the tournament, they did finish the season with a winning 7-6 final record.
Weronika Kowalczyk and Caitlin Wells also earned spots on the all-conference team as members of the second team. Kowalczyk had twenty goals and eight assists, while Wells was the Ladies top defender with thirty-nine ground balls and forty-seven caused turnovers. Wells's average of 3.62 caused turn-overs per game ranked as the sixth best in all of Division III. The Ladies defense was further recognized with the selection of Jess Little and Kate-Robin Shuart to the All-NCAC honorable mention team.
Softball
Head coach JoAnne Ferguson directed the Ladies softball team through a banner season that included multiple team and individual records, as well as a berth in the NCAC tournament. With a 17-15 final record, Ferguson's 2004 team was the first in the program's seven-year history to finish with a winning record.
The season started slowly as the Ladies went 5-6 in their first eleven games, but things quickly improved during a midseason stretch in which the team won seven of eight games. The Ladies then focused on making the conference tournament. They reached that goal when first-year catcher Sara Schoenhoft blasted a dramatic walk-off, seventh-inning home run against the College of Wooster in the Ladies' final regular-season game of the year.
The Ladies failed to win a tournament game, but that did not detract from the strides the team made throughout the season. They set College single-season records for batting average (.298), slugging percentage (.394), doubles (49), fewest hits allowed (206), and fewest losses (15). On an individual basis, first-year player Ashley Morrison set the College record for doubles in one season (16).
Morrison also led a long list of Ladies who were selected to the All-NCAC team. Conference coaches voted her to the first team and also named her the "Newcomer of the Year." In addition to hitting .343, Morrison posted a 9-8 pitching record with a 2.37 earned run average and 67 strikeouts. Schoenhoft and junior Dana Halicki, who led the conference in batting average (.412) for the second straight season, joined Morrison on the first team.
Sophomore outfielder Jenny Glaeser was named to the All-NCAC second team, while classmate Olivia Tucci and pitcher Sarah Eisner received honorable mentions. Ferguson capped off the list of honors by being named the NCAC "Coach of the Year." In four seasons with the Kenyon softball program, Ferguson has notched an overall record of 59-73-1.
Men's Tennis
For the third straight season and for the eighth time overall, the men's tennis team captured the NCAC crown and advanced to national competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III championship tournament. The Lords, however, did not make it past the first round of national competition and settled for a final season record of 15-4.
The Kalamazoo College Hornets earned a measure of revenge as they ousted the Lords from the NCAA Championship by a 4-1 count. One year earlier, it was Kenyon that eliminated Kalamazoo in the first round by a 5-0 final score. Only Kenyon junior Borko Tesic was able to score a point for Kenyon this season, as he won the number one singles match over Michael Malvitz 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.
Tesic's win, along with a stellar regular-season singles record of 19-5, led to his individual invitation to play in the NCAA Division III singles tournament. Although he was ousted in the first round by the eventual national runner-up, Tesic's appearance on the national singles stage was the first by a Kenyon male tennis player since Alain Hunter '98 was invited to play during his senior season.
Tesic and classmate Mike Herrick, who was 16-3 in his singles matches, were named to the All-NCAC first team, with Tesic getting the nod as the conference "Player of the Year." Junior Brian Taubman joined the Kenyon duo on the All-NCAC slate as an honorable mention selection. He was 10-4 in singles play.
Women's Tennis
The Ladies tennis team put together a late rally in its final contest of the season and overcame the Wittenberg University Tigers to claim third place in the year-end conference tournament. Trailing 3-1, the Ladies collected pivotal singles-match victories from seniors Claire Larson and Erin Brady to defeat the Tigers, 5-3.
As the Ladies began their rally, Stephanie Cohn captured victory at number five singles and Stephanie Paras followed up with another win at number six that knotted up the overall team score at 3-3. Larson then claimed Kenyon's decisive fourth point by besting Emma Robinow at number four singles with 7-5, 6-2 win. Finally, at number three singles, Brady clinched the match for Kenyon by defeating Kristyn Russell 6-0, 6-4. The big wins for Larson and Brady in their final matches at Kenyon improved their individual records to 10-2 and 10-5, respectively.
Larson and Brady were selected for All-NCAC honorable mentions at the conclusion of the season. Joining the senior duo on the honorable mention team were sophomore Melissa Harwin and junior Emily King. Harwin had just a 4-9 record in singles play, but she made the sacrifice of playing at number one singles for most of the year while taking on opponents' top players. King played a couple of matches at number one singles as well, but the majority of her matches were at number three, where she went 5-1. She finished the year with a final 7-7 mark.
As a team, the Kenyon Ladies finished the season with a 9-8 overall record.
Men's and Women's Track and Field
Senior Aaron Emig and sophomore Katie Walker highlighted a Kenyon track and field season that included some record times and an NCAA qualifier. Emig alone accounted for three College records, while Walker was the one Kenyon athlete to make it to the national championship meet.
Throughout the season, Emig showed constant improvement in 1,500-meter races. Midway through the schedule, he broke the College record in the event and then rewrote the record again two weeks later with a time of 3:58.71 at the College of Wooster Classic. That wasn't good enough for Emig, though. One week later, he went on to reset the record one more time with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 3:54.47 at the Baldwin-Wallace Twilight Meet. Unfortunately, Emig's time did not hold up for entry into the national championship, as the NCAA set the cutoff point at 3:53.64.
On the other hand, Walker's performance in the long jump warranted a berth in the women's NCAA Championship. Her best showing of the year came at the All-Ohio Championship, where she successfully defended her title with a leap that measured 18' 4 1/2". That jump, while not the best of her career, was good enough to rank as the seventeenth-best among all Division III athletes this season. Walker then went on to place tenth at the national championship
competition with a long jump that measured 18' 5".
Walker, who finished fifth in the nation last year with a championship leap of 18' 103/4", also became a two-time NCAC champion in the long jump this past season. She joined classmate Christina McNamara on the All-NCAC women's team, while Emig earned a spot on the All-NCAC men's team along with junior Tyler Newman.
The Ladies finished eighth at the NCAC championship and the Lords finished ninth.
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