Sports Round-Up

Baseball

Record: 20-19 overall, 8-8 NCAC
Recap: The Lords constructed their fourth straight winning season and earned a berth in the conference playoffs for the second time in three years. Junior first baseman Will Smith was named an all-region player after batting .447 and establishing a new College single-season record for runs batted in (48). Junior pitcher Tom Boucher went 8-2 with a 3.64 earned run average and was voted the NCAC newcomer of the year. Additionally, senior Chris Yorlano gained a position on the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District team.

Golf

Record: Finished eighth in NCAC standings
Recap: Despite fluctuation in the team's roster, the Lords managed to duplicate their placement in the conference standings from one season ago. Junior Dan Direnfeld led the team through two fall tournaments with a 79.0 scoring average. Senior Tyler Williams took over from there and posted a team-best 85.5 average for the spring season.

Men's lacrosse

Record: 10-4 overall, 3-2 NCAC
Recap: New head coach Doug Misarti would not allow transition to be an excuse in 2008. His new-look Lords followed him to a national ranking as high as number 19 and to a second NCAA tournament berth in the past three years. The team's journey included thrilling upsets against Roanoke College and Ohio Wesleyan University. Junior Devin Catlin was named an Inside Lacrosse national player of the week, and at season's end senior Nate Pritchard was awarded a spot in the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association's North/ South Senior All-Star game.

Women's lacrosse

Record: 9-5 overall, 3-3 NCAC
Recap: First-year head coach Meredith Buzzi and the Kenyon women stormed out to a red-hot 6-0 start, the program's best in twenty-five years. At midseason, however, the team lost steam and finished its final games with a 3-5 mark. One of those final three wins snapped an eighteen-game losing streak to rival Denison University. Sophomore Caely Melford, who was named an all-region player, set a new College record for points in a game (12), while senior Amanda Drummond concluded her career ranked second all-time at Kenyon in goals scored (164).

Softball

Record: 16-16 overall, 7-7 NCAC
Recap: In the struggle for a final playoff spot, an extremely young Kenyon club showed some fight before bowing out of the conference race. One of the team's two senior leaders, Stephanie Hemmingson, had a brilliant final season that included a .418 batting average and a 3.40 earned run average. She was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District team and exited the program as the all-time career leader in earned run average (2.62), wins (40), appearances (106), and innings pitched (490).

Men's tennis

Record: 25-2, 6-0 NCAC
Recap: In simplest terms, the Lords coined their best season ever. Sophomore Michael Greenberg capped it off by taking the NCAA singles tournament title. He had a 33-2 individual record, earned All-America status, and collected several national awards. He also helped lift the Lords to a defense of their conference title and a berth in the NCAA tournament, where they advanced to the quarterfinals. Greenberg, along with freshman Jeremy Polster, also gained a spot in the NCAA doubles tournament, while head coach Scott Thielke was tabbed the ITA Central Region coach of the year.

Women's tennis

Record: 16-6 overall, 5-1 NCAC
Recap: The Ladies just missed out on capturing their sixteenth conference crown, but their
season did not end there. The Kenyon women got a second life when they received an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament, where they won their first-round game before losing to eighth- ranked DePauw University in the next round. Senior Paige MacDonald posted a 16-9 season record and completed her Kenyon tenure with a 63-20 career record. She was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District team.

Men's track & field

Record: Placed ninth at the NCAC Championship
Recap: Senior Brandon Balthrop played a role in all four Kenyon points scored at the conference championship meet. He earned one point for placing eighth in the 110-meter hurdles and then helped garner the other points in relay events. Earlier in the season, sophomore Matt Riley won the All-Ohio championship in the 10,000-meter race. The Lords were named an All-Academic team after posting a combined 3.360 grade point average--the seventh-best average among all Division III teams.

Women's track & field

Record: Placed eighth at the NCAC Championship
Recap: Like the Lords, the Ladies were named an All-Academic team by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. On the oval, the Kenyon women scored a total of 12 points at the conference championship meet. First-year students Chrissy Ostrowski and Alice Adebiyi accounted for eight of those points with fifth-place finishes in the 10,000-meter run and the triple jump, respectively.

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