The Bowdoin Orient

Wins against Colby and Middlebury propelled the women’s tennis team to regain its footing after losing three matches in a row to Amherst, Williams and Emory. 

In March the Polar Bears’ Spring Break trip to California catapulted them to an unscathed 8-0 record. But they had yet to face their NESCAC foes that typically cluster near the top of the national rankings. 

After the three-game skid, the Polar Bears rebounded last week with a 9-0 victory over Colby, and then solidified their momentum by toppling perennial rival Middlebury. The decisive match came down to a third set between Tiffany Cheng ’16 against Middlebury’s Leah Kepping. 

The women’s track and field team placed sixth out of 25 teams at last weekend’s New England Division III Championships.

As the sixth seed, Bowdoin made no leaps to increase their final position, but did match its rank by providing several personal best performances.

Addison Carvajal ’16 took fourth in the pentathlon—a personal best—as did Katherine Harmon ’14 in the weight throw with a distance of 15.49 meters.

The women’s track and field team captured its fifth-consecutive Maine State Meet victory last Friday. The Polar Bears accumulated 203.6 points, enough to handily top Bates (185.6), Colby (183.8), Southern Maine (110), St. Joseph’s (15), and Husson (3). In the sprints, Samantha Copland ’14 broke her own school record in the 60-meter dash (8.06), while captain Michele Kaufman ’13 won the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.20.

With two double-winners and several personal bests, the women’s track team made the most of the non-scoring Wesleyan invitational last weekend. Captain Michele Kaufman ’13 won both the 60m hurdles (9.35) and the long jump (5.08m), while Samantha Copland ’14 raced to victories in both the 60m (8.13) and the 200m (27.21). The Polar Bears also managed to capture the top spots in each of the three relays. Lucy Skinner ’16 won the mile in 5:26.82 to close out Bowdoin’s impressive slew of victories on the track. In the field events, the Polar Bears dominated the scoreboard. Erin Silva ’15, Stevie Lane ’15 and Emily Lambdin ’16 swept the pole vault podium. The long jumpers also led their field. Behind Kaufman, Addison Carvajal ’16 and Katharine Krupp ’16 took second and third respectively.

The women’s track team opened the season with a commanding victory on December 8, scoring 185 points to defeat the University of Southern Maine (USM) (126), Colby (19), St. Joseph’s (16) and the University of Maine-Farmington (4).

After graduating some of its strongest individual performers last year, the women’s track and field team will rely on the developing strength of a younger team this season.

Bowdoin’s field hockey team handled NESCAC rival Wesleyan 3-1 in Saturday's season opener.

Bowdoin’s next matchup is against non-conference Wellesley College on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Last season, the Polar Bears won the NESCAC championship and posted a 19-1 record; the lone loss accrued during the NCAA Final Four against NESCAC foe Middlebury.

The coed sailing team failed to secure a win at the Fowle Trophy last weekend at MIT, ending 0-8 overall against the top teams in New England. Bowdoin went 0-5 in the qualification round against Tufts, Yale, Brown, Connecticut College, and MIT. Then in the consolation round, the Polar Bears fell to Boston University, the University of Vermont, and Connecticut College. The Polar Bears finished in 12th place.

The coed and women's sailing teams hit the road this weekend, traveling to Harvard and the Coast Guard Academy, respectively. The coed team took 14th in the New England Championship regatta, which Coach Frank Pizzo said was a learning experience filled with "trying moments." Pizzo said he believed part of the challenge was the depth of the competition.

The women's sailing team climbed to a program-best No. 11 national ranking after a strong third-place finish at Boston University's President's Trophy. The boat of Kaylee Schwitzer '15 and Ayaka Okawa '14 led the way for Bowdoin, winning the 13-team A division ahead of Yale and Brown for the sailors' first divisional victory. Schwitzer and Okawa were named the NEISA Women's Sailors of the Week following their accomplishment.

The sailing team traversed New England this past weekend, sending crews to three different regattas. The women visited Brown University for the Dellenbaugh Trophy, where they took eighth of 18 top teams. Skippers Kaylee Schwitzer '15 and Lizzy Hamilton '15 were joined by crews Kim Dempsey '14, Ayaka Okawa '14 and Isabel Low '13. They are now ranked No. 11 in the country, the highest in program history.

Three weeks into its spring season, the sailing team is looking like a national-caliber squad. The Polar Bears finished 10th at the Navy Women's Regatta, featuring 20 of the nation's most competitive teams, on March 10. Kaylee Schwitzer '15 sailed with Ayaka Okawa '14, Emily McNeil '14, and Isabel Low '13 to take second place in the B division.

Ten school records fell on the way to the men's swimming and diving team's fifth-place finish at the NESCAC championships last weekend at Williams, marking the team's best ever performance in the 12-year history of the meet. Captain Mac Routh '12 posted the best Polar Bear finish by winning the 50 butterfly, while taking second in the 50 backstroke and fourth in the 100 fly. He set new Bowdoin records in all three events.

A 6 a.m. departure and a 4-hour-long drive were not enough to stop the men's swim team from defeating two strong NESCAC foes last weekend. The team outscored Wesleyan 222-68 and Trinity 211-86 in Hartford.

The men's swim team notched victories on both January 20 against Bates (198.5-101.5) and raced January 21 against the University of Maine-Orono in a non-scoring meet.

Weeks of an intensified training regimen proved valuable over the long winter break for the women's swim team, which prevailed in back-to-back meets January 20 and 21.

At the MIT Invitational, a two-day event that left the swimming and diving teams more fatigued than usual, both the men and women finished fifth. The men collected 324.5 points, well behind national powerhouse MIT, who won the meet with 1,397.5 points.

After seven winless overtime matches, women's soccer finally experienced the other side. The Polar Bears beat Trinity last Saturday in a 3-2 overtime thriller. Although Bowdoin was outshot 21-11, the team managed to secure the crucial victory.

The women's soccer team has played more than its fair share this season, having gone into overtime in six of its 10 games. On October 1, Bowdoin traveled to Connecticut College for one such stalemate battle. Captain Ellery Gould '12 tied the Bowdoin scoring record when she tied up the game in regulation—though the Polar Bears eventually lost to the Camels 2-1.