Although the weather right now would seem to indicate otherwise, Dartmouth's spring sports teams are already gearing up for their respective seasons. Here's a brief look at the expectations and outlooks for each team:
Men's lightweight crew had perhaps one of the best seasons of all of Dartmouth's spring teams a year ago. The team's first boat won the Eastern Sprints Championship in mid-May, edging out favorite Cornell by less than two seconds to give the Big Green its first Eastern Sprints title since 1994.
Dartmouth then fell just short of a national title when it finished fourth at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association championship two weeks later. The crew was, however, extended an invitation to the historic Henley Regatta in England following the conclusion of the season.
This year, the lightweights return five of the eight rowers from last year's boat, as well as coxswain Joe Politi '08. But even with experienced rowers on the water, there is no guarantee that this season's crew will be able to duplicate last year's results.
"Rowing is a sport where it doesn't matter how good your best guy is. You can change one person and the boat might not row the same at all," Emerson Curry '08 said.
According to Curry, the team looked strong during the winter training period, when much of crew practice is held indoors. However, the team says it will not take anything for granted despite last season's success. Dartmouth is now gearing up for its first meet against Delaware and Holy Cross on May 12 in Worcester, Mass.
The men's heavyweight crew and women's crew seek to join the lightweights in the championship winner's circle.
Last spring, the heavyweights continued to work hard to bring the program back up to a top-tier level. The first boat finished in fourth place in the third final at Eastern Sprints; the last time the crew medaled at Sprints was in 2003. In each of the cup meets during the 2007 regular season, Dartmouth did not finish higher than second place.
Captain Jamie Tansey '08 leads a large group of sophomores and juniors as the team gears up for the annual spring break training excursion to Oak Ridge, Tenn. If the Big Green can find the right combination of rowers on the water, the crew could make a run at some of its conference competitors. Dartmouth hits the water against Holy Cross on Sunday, April 6 in Worcester, Mass.
The women's team will look to rebound after losing national team rower Anne Kennedy '07. The first eight garnered an at-large bid to the NCAA championship after making the Eastern Athletic Women's Rowing Championship grand final. The Big Green placed second in the NCAA petite final after Minnesota edged Dartmouth by half a second.
The Big Green women kick off the season against Northeastern and Boston College on Saturday, April 5 in Boston.
Softball was one of the surprise teams of the spring of 2007. Led by do-everything catcher Kelly Fry '07, the Big Green rebounded from a tough opening stretch in Ivy League play and came within one game of winning the Northern Division and securing a place in the Ivy championship game. The squad finished 16-24 overall and 11-9 in the conference.
The good news this season is that the Big Green lost only one senior " Fry " to graduation. However, Fry had led the team in batting average, hits, doubles, slugging percentage and on-base percentage, and was also tied for the team lead in runs scored, was second in runs batted in. Fry finished her career as Dartmouth's all-time home run leader.
Players like Alyssa Parker '10, who paced the Big Green in 2007 with 24 runs batted in and batted .306, and Katie Chifcian '09, with a team-high 24 runs scored last season, will need to continue to contribute to keep runs on the board and maintain the pressure on opposing pitching staffs.
Although only four freshmen have joined the squad, in contrast to the eight players from the class of 2010, rookie pitcher Devin Lindsay '11 could provide some immediate assistance. Last season Dartmouth leaned almost exclusively on the combination of Stephanie Trudeau '09 and Angela Megaw '08. The two pitched over 145 innings in 45 appearances for a combined record of 16-19.
Dartmouth softball will play in three preseason tournaments in Tennessee, Florida and New York before kicking off regular season play on March 26 with a doubleheader against the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in Amherst, Mass.
While softball was on the rise last season, Dartmouth baseball struggled to regain the strong form of its 2006 season, when the Big Green fell just shy of an Ivy League championship game berth with a heartbreaking loss to Harvard in the last week of the season. In 2007, the squad finished 8-29-1, with a 5-15 mark in Ivy play.
With only a handful of seniors graduating from 2007, pitcher Chase Carpenter '08 believes that this year's squad will get positive contributions from younger players who saw playing time in 2007. Carpenter also believes that the incoming freshmen have the potential to add Dartmouth's competition in significant ways.
"This year's team is going to have a large amount of experience on the field, and not just from seniors," he said.
Co-captain Russell Young '08 leads the team after going 2-5 last year and leading Dartmouth pitchers in ERA, innings pitched and strikeouts. Senior righthander Carpenter also saw significant time for the Big Green, starting eight games and tossing 46 innings while walking just six batters.
Robert Young '10 carried a significant load as a freshman by starting seven games, going 1-7 and striking out 25 batters, good for third among active pitchers. Kyle Zeis '08, an honorable mention All-Ivy choice in 2007, will continue his role as a key reliever from the bullpen. Four freshmen pitchers will add to the mix on the mound.
Offensively, Dartmouth baseball has a potent outfield with All-Ivy selections Damon Wright '08 and Nick Santomauro '10. Santomauro was a revelation last season in the league, leading the Big Green in batting average, hits, RBIs, slugging, doubles, and triples on his way to making the All-New England all-star squad. Wright, a second-team all-league pick, was third on Dartmouth in batting average and committed just four errors.
The infield will benefit from the recovery of Johnathon Santopadre '09 from an injury which kept the former team rookie of the year sidelined in 2007. Additionally, Ray Allen '09 and Michael Pagliarulo '09 have shown they can be forces at the plate and play solid defense at first base.
The Big Green looks to reclaim some of the magic of 2006 after its spring break trip to Florida when its travels to Quinnipiac for a contest on March 26.
Dartmouth women's lacrosse team, ranked nationally at 17, also experienced ups and downs in its 2007 season. A year after their 2006 appearance in the NCAA championship game against Northwestern, the Big Green ended 2007 with a 9-7 record and no postseason berth.
With a large pool of underclassmen -- 16 of 22 players are freshmen and sophomores -- and a tough schedule, Dartmouth's path back the national playoffs will not be easy.
"Last year was a disappointment, but also a learning experience," co-captain and preseason All-American Kristen Barry '08 said. "We can only go up from there. So this year, being a young team, we need to focus on the very little things, and everything else will fall into place."
Barry thinks that the team's youth will help Dartmouth.
"I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing," Barry said. "The new classes coming are more talented every year, so we have a really talented group of girls [this season]."
Barry and Katherine Chiusano '09 return this season as Dartmouth's leading scorers. They will have to help lead a unit that lost four of its top six scorers and over half of the team's point output with the departure of last year's senior class.
Goalie Julie Wadland '10 led the squad in minutes between the pipes last season and will provide some experience to the defense, which is anchored by Liz Spence '08.
In recent years Dartmouth has played through a challenging non-conference schedule, and this season is no different. The Big Green fell to No. 5 Syracuse 18-5 on Sunday, and will clash with traditional powerhouses Maryland, Stanford and Duke later in the season.
"This is the same schedule we've had every year," Barry said. "For some of the freshmen it might be scary at first. But for those of us that have been through this, we know every team has its weakness."
The men's lacrosse team, ranked 24th in the nation, has a similar makeup to its female counterparts, with a young roster and what some consider is the toughest schedule in the nation.
"We're very, very, very young, but we've got a lot of players who got game experience last year," tri-captain Doug Rendall '09 said.
After finishing last season with a disappointing 5-10 record and finishing in last place with a 1-4 mark in the Ivy League, 13 new recruits could inject some instant talent into the lineup. The Big Green last won the Ivy title in 2003.
The offense brings back familiar faces in Brian Koch '09, a two-year starter, and Ari Sussman '10, the 2007 Ivy League Rookie of the Year. Jon Livadas '09 will switch from midfield to attack to fill the void left by All-Ivy first teamer and All-American Nick Bonacci '07.
Middie Rhett Miller '11 is expected to see significant playing time. SCasey Hingtgen '10 and Andy Gagel '10 will anchor the defense after starting as long pole defensemen last year. Goalie Mike Novosel '10 took his lickings last season after starting the majority of the games in net, but he gives Dartmouth a veteran in goal to quarterback the defense.
The Big Green downed Hartford 10-6 on Saturday afternoon to open the season. Dartmouth will tangle with five pre-season top ten teams this season, starting with a neutral site showdown against No. 10 Notre Dame on March 15 in Atlanta. The team faces Duke, Cornell and Virginia on the road and Princeton in Hanover.
Rendall noted that last year the team held tough against the nation's top programs and Dartmouth proved it could be on the field with those team.
"The important thing about looking at any schedule is taking it one game at a time," Rendall said. "If we play the way we know we can play, and if we play to our ability, then every game is winnable."
For men's and women's track and field, the spring provides a change of scenery and the addition of several events that do not take place during the winter season.
The javelin throw, discus and steeplechase are added to the schedule at spring races, while the decathlon replaces the heptathlon. Dartmouth's men's team is especially strong in these additional events and the extra points could help the Big Green defeat Ivy rivals Cornell and Princeton.
After the winter Heptagonal Ivy League championship meet next week, both squads will intensify their training regime during a spring break excursion to Arizona to prepare for the spring season. This contrasts to the tapering the athletes are currently experiencing to rest up before Heps.
"You definitely have a quick change in the way you train. I think of it as two separate seasons," sprinter Charlie Stoebe '08 said of the transition from indoor to outdoor competition.
The middle distance duo of Harry Norton '08 and Mike Carmody '08 is one of the best in the nation and will lead the squad. Both are gunning for a spot in the NCAA championship meets following the spring Heps in early May.
Natalie Todd-Zebell '09, the 2007 New England pole vault champion, isalso looks to repeat last year's appearance at NCAAs.
Still, the athletes are setting their sights on collective Ivy League success above all.
"We definitely train to try to win Heps as a team," Stoebe said. "Individual stuff is great, but it's all about how you do at the Ivy League championships"
Dartmouth's men and women's tennis teams come into the spring with something to prove. In years past, the squads have posted impressive records during the winter, only to falter against Ivy League competition. Neither team had a single conference win last season.
After winter playthe men's squad is 3-2 and the women's side is 7-0. But despite these victories, the players must execute during conference matches.
"The spring is the main focus of the year," women's co-captain Megan Zebroski '08 said. "We want to build on the performance in the winter and do as well in the Ivy League."
Mark Brodie '07, Robbie Lim '08 and Jeffrey Schechtman'08 provide veteran experience for the men's team. Sophomores Dan Freeman '10 and Justin Zhou '10 return after seeing substantial time in the singles lineup last year.
For the women's team, Molly Scott '11 has played at the No. 1 singles spot during the team's undefeated run, while classmate Georgiana Smyser '11 has chipped in by playing both singles and doubles.
Ivy League matches for both tennis squads will begin in early April after spring break trips to the West Coast and Florida.
Sailing was ranked as high as No. 16 this past fall and placed sixth in the Atlantic Coast Dingy Tournament to close out the season. According to Ben Sampson '08, the team expects to qualify for both the coed and women's nationals at Brown in the spring. Last spring, the Big Green was second at coed nationals, fifth at team racing nationals and 12th at women's nationals.
The squad lost four All-Americans to graduation, including Erik Storck '07, a sailor of the year finalist. The women's team returns its entire lineup from 2007, and five seniors -- Sampson, Betsy Bryant '08, Adele Wilhelm '08, Andrew Geffken '08 and Luke Hathaway '08 -- will guide the coed and women's boats through the spring races.
Finally, Dartmouth's equestrian team enters the spring coming off last year's exciting All-Ivy Invitational victory at Morton Farms. The team finished fall competition on a three-show win streak. Although the squad lost standout rider Tim Malone '07, Daisy Freund '08 and a large senior class return this year with their eyes (and hooves) set on another Ivy League championship.
