Another Successful Year for Smith Athletic Teams
When they're not studying or in the classroom, many Smith students are competing on the field, in the gym or on the water as part of the athletic teams. Several hundred students compete either as members of the school's intercollegiate athletic teams or on club sport teams.
Smith's field hockey and other teams will benefit from the installation this summer of a new artificial playing surface applied to the athletic field. The new surface, which will be ready for the fall season, will comply with NCAA size regulations for lacrosse and field hockey while increasing the amount of time athletes can use the field.
The crew team won the NEWMAC championship for the second year in a row and the fifth time in eight years. The team is competing this week at the ECAC National Invitational
Championships in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Basketball had their best season in the last 15 years, finishing 14-10, good for fifth place in the NEWMAC, including a key win over Springfield College (64-51), the first in 11 years, on February 17. Berit Schelde '10, of Holstebro, Denmark, became the ninth basketball player in Smith history to score 1,000 points in her career; her total 1,065 points places her sixth on the list. Schelde was selected to the NEWMAC All-Conference second team.
Pioneers lacrosse was awarded the NEWMAC Sportsmanship Award this week, given to the team that embodies consideration for fairness, ethics and respect. It's the team's second straight time winning the award.
Kaitlyn Murdough '10 was selected to the NEWMAC All-Conference second team. Carolyn Whiting '10 and Alexandra Page '12 were named to the NEWMAC All-Conference academic team.
In track and field, Etta Grover-Silva '10 qualified for NCAA championship competition in the pole vault event for the seventh straight time. Etta&339;s personal best vault is 12 feet 6 inches.
Skier Emma Coffin '12 finished sixth in the combined slalom events held in March, earning second-team All-American and first-team Academic All-American honors.
Fencing coach Scott Tundermann was named Women's Team Coach of the Year by the Northeast Fencing Conference, which includes 24 teams. Tundermann has coached the Smith team for 15 years. Smith fencers placed fourth out of 28 squads in the national sabre competition this year.
Rugby has improved its competitiveness, moving up to Division II. The team received the college's Outstanding Community Service Award this spring for student leadership, with team members volunteering more than 40 hours at the Red Gate Farm Education Center in Buckland, Massachusetts, as well as the Prison Book Project.
The Synchronized Swim Club, also known as the "Lifeguards," is one of the oldest club sports programs at Smith. The club recently attended national competition, beating large university clubs such as Pennsylvania State University and Miami University of Ohio. The Lifeguards presented their annual show as part of the Commencement 2010 festivities in the Dalton Pool in Ainsworth.
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