Weekend Update

by Aidan Larned

Crew handles rigorous competition at New England Rowing Championships

This weekend, the Colby College crew team had a great outing at the New England Championships. Entering the weekend, the women’s team was ranked 14th in the nation for DIII women’s rowing.

The First Varsity Eight team assembled early in the day and finished third in their heat, enough to qualify for the Petite Final later on in the day. In the final, they placed third, pushing them to ninth overall on the day for their pool. They finished ahead of UVM, Trinity and Mt. Holyoke, all of which are strong programs.

The Second Varsity Eight had a great day as well, placing third in their morning heat — advancing them to the Petite Final. They placed second in their Petite Final, making them eighth on the day and edging out Coast Guard, Amherst, UVM and Trinity.

The Third Varsity Eight team placed ninth in the morning time trial and qualified for the Petite Final as well, where they finished second to secure eighth place overall on the day.

The Men’s Crew team also competed in the race. The Third Men’s Varsity Eight completed the 1600 meter time trial with a time good enough to secure them a spot in the Grand Final race, where they placed fifth.

The Second Varsity Eight finished second in their first heat, putting them in the Grand Final where they finished with a strong sixth place on the day.

The First Varsity Eight placed 12th overall on the day after a fourth-place finish in the first heat and a sixth-place finish in the second heat.

The Mules are looking strong with their five top 10 finishes this weekend at a big race. They will race in Worcester, MA again next Sunday at the National Invitational Rowing Championships.

Track and Field has four top five finishes, one victory at DIII Regional Championships

Both the men’s and women’s track and field teams competed at the Division III Outdoor Championships this past weekend at Williams College. Teams from all leagues across the region attended, and MIT eventually emerged with a victory.

Sage Bailin ’20, who has had a tremendous season, continued to impress with a huge win in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 53.52 seconds. Bailin also finished 10th in the 110 meter hurdles event.

Following the meet, Bailin spoke to the Echo about what it felt like to win the 400 meter hurdle event at the New England DIII Championships.

“It was a great feeling to finally win the 400 hurdles at New England DIIIs,” he said. “My freshman year, I was fourth at the meet, and last year I didn’t run the hurdles there because we were focusing on the relays, so this was my first chance in a while to officially get the New England DIII title in my signature event. The t-shirts were also really nice this year, which was an added bonus!”

Tanner Burton ’21 had a strong sprint showing, finishing third in the event with a time of 15.16 seconds. Reeve Maddux ’19 also finished 15th in the 5000-meter race with an extremely fast time of 15:30.41. Benjamin Smith ’21 placed 17th in the 200 meter final with a time of 22.61.

The women’s track and field team also had many impressive performances over the weekend. Sophie Stokes Cerkvenik ’19 placed second in the 100 meter hurdles and set a season personal record (PR). She also placed fourth in the 400 meter hurdles, while Annah Rossvall ’22 set an impressive PR in this event. Rachel Leonard ’19 placed fifth in the 400 meter finals with an impressive PR as well, with a time of 1:05.65. Furthermore, Sharde Johnson ’22 placed seventh in the high jump and 11th in the triple jump.

Colby will compete this weekend at the New England Championships, which includes participants across all divisions in college athletics. The event will be taking place next weekend — Friday and Saturday — at Southern Connecticut State University