On Friday, Feb. 24, Saturday, Feb. 25, and Sunday Feb. 26 Colby men’s squash and men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled off campus to compete in tournaments. Men’s squash played in the College Squash Association (CSA) team championships, while men’s and women’s track and field ran at the D3 New England Championships.
At the CSA team championships, men’s squash was consistent with their regular season games, losing again to Amherst and Bates in the first two days of play and later finding victory against Hamilton on the third day of competition.
The Mules traveled to Trinity College to compete in the Summers Cup of the CSA Team Championship. They were seeded fourth in the C group, an improvement from their placement in the D group last year.
Against second seed Amherst, Dylan Tymkiw `23 and Youssif Mostafa `26 scored 3–0 wins at the one and two positions, while Sebastian Campos `26 and Syed Haseeb Kashef `25 won their matches 3–1 at the six and seven positions.
After Campos’ win, the match score was tied at 4–4, and all eyes turned to position five, Sen Subramaniam `26, who would decide the Mules’ future. Down two games to one, Sen was in the heat of a fourth round, down in the score. After a resilient effort, Subramaniam’s comeback fell short, and the Mules were knocked out of the main draw.
In the consolation bracket, the Mules looked to avenge themselves against Bates. The Mules started strong. After dropping the first, they won three consecutive matches. Jonathan Sosa `24, Mostafa, Kit Illick `25 all secured victory.
In response, Bates stormed back to take the next three matches in a row, bringing the overall score to 4–3 in favor of the Bobcats. After the seventh match, Kashef quickly defeated his opponent to tie the score 4–4. Once again, the Mules turned to their freshman to break the tie. Campos was in a tightly contested battle, winning the first and third rounds but dropping the second and fourth ones. Down in the final round, Campos made a valiant effort but lost in fifty-nine minutes of play.
After the loss to Bates, the Mules faced Hamilton in the consolation bracket and handily defeated them 9–0. A highlight of this match was Rintaro Yamamoto `23 who fought well in a forty-one-minute battle to close his collegiate career with a victory.
Kashef, who went undefeated in his CSA matches, discussed the tournament and this year’s season.
“Our team did decently well during the CSA team championships. We had a really close fight with Amherst who went on to win the bracket and Bates. We also played well versus Hamilton and won,” he said.
“We managed to give a tough fight to many top colleges like Franklin and Marshall, no.14 in the country with a score of 5–4, and many more.”
“[For the team] the mental strength was falling short. When it came to decisive matches and crucial points to win games, we were lacking the mental strength needed to close out the games and win.”
Colby Men’s and Women’s Track and Field traveled to Boston, Massachusetts to compete in the D3 New England Championships.
Highlights from the men’s meet were in the Men’s 400 Meters with a second-place finish by Ren Zanze `25 and top-fifteen finishes by Raghav Kadambi `24 and Jackson Coelho `26.
In the Men’s 4×400, the team of Peter Martel `25, Coelho, Zanze, and Kadambi had a joint time of 3:19.97, scoring them a fourth-place finish.
The Men’s Distance Medley Relay team of Hayden Bailey `25, Matt Long `25, Simon Goldstein `26, and Gordon Doore `25 claimed a top-ten finish.
Bailey shined in the Men’s 1000 Meters and had a personal best time of 2:28.88, besting the rest of his competitors to get the first-place finish.
In the field events, Martel achieved a second-place finish in the Men’s Pole Vault. Logan Lehnert `26 and Myles Thornton-Sherman `25 also did well, finishing in the top fifteen.
Kevin Yan’s `24 distance of 13.29 meters resulted in a top-ten finish in the Men’s Triple Jump.
Highlights from the women’s meet included top-ten finishes from all the relay teams including the Women’s 4x200m with Lottie Franck `23, Olivia Doherty `26, Fiona Mejico `25, Kristina Pizzi `25; the Women’s 4x400m with Olivia Tomlin `25, Doherty, Charlotte Freniere `23 and Pizzi; the Women’s 4x800m with Abby Steffler `26, Margo Kenyon `25, Haley Wims `24 and Anna Mackey `26; and the Women’s Distance Medley Relay with Kenyon, Freniere, Steffler, and Claire Beebe `25.
In the Women’s 400-meter, Mejico exploded for a 2nd place finish. Tomlin and Doherty contributed with top fifteen finishes.
In the Women’s 600-meter, Mackey had a career-best to add to her second-place finish.
Steffler joined the personal best club and excelled in the Women’s 1000-meter. Beebe earned another top-ten finish for the Mules.
In the field events, Isabel Llach `25 earned second in the Women’s high jump with a distance of 1.60 meters.
~ Julian Cangieter-Hernandez ’25
Be First to Comment