BYRD SOARS TO THE TOP
Last Thursday, men’s soccer star Drake Byrd ’21 was named to the All-American Second Team and the All-NESCAC First Team for Division III men’s soccer. En route to his honors, he had a stellar senior campaign, recording five goals and seven assists during the 2021 season.
History repeats itself. On Sunday, November 21, the women’s rugby team completed its undefeated season by capturing its second consecutive National Intercollegiate Rugby League (NIRA) Division III championship. In West Point, New York, the Polar Bears defeated the University of New England (UNE) by a score of 31-12.
Discussion about and attention to mental health have increased significantly among college students in recent years. This uptick has created conversations at the College addressing unique mental health concerns for student-athletes who juggle practices and competitions in addition to their academic and social responsibilities.
RUNNING TO REGIONALS
The men’s and women’s cross-country teams will compete at the NCAA Division III East Regional at Suffolk University in Franklin Park, Massachusetts. Each team will bring eight athletes, seven competitors and one alternate.
SERVING UP THE NESCAC
Tonight, the volleyball team’s hunt for a conference title will begin. After recording a 19-4 overall record and securing the first seed in the 2021 NESCAC Volleyball Championship, the Polar Bears earned the privilege of hosting all rounds of the championship in the Morrell Gymnasium.
I grew up in Orono, Maine. To anybody who’s actually from Maine and has knowledge of the local geography, Orono is in central Maine. That’s the truth. However, I still tell fellow Bowdoin students that I’m from “northern Maine” because people from the West Coast typically think that anywhere north of Augusta is just an outcropping of moose and deer-filled wilderness.
Last Tuesday, Angelina Mayers ’23, the Athletic representative for the Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) and the Athletes of Color Coalition (AOCC) representative to the Bowdoin Student Athlete Advisory Committee (BSAAC), sent an email to the greater student body seeking opinions on the perceived student-athlete divide on campus.
WINTER SPORTS FLURRY
The winter athletic season will be in full swing soon. Competitions begin November 13, headlined by the women’s basketball team facing Nazareth College in the University of New England (UNE) Tip-Off Tournament in Biddeford and the men’s basketball team taking on Thomas College at home.
This semester, the athletic department has engaged in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) education workshops with the Institute for Sport and Social Justice (ISSJ), a Florida-based educational company that couples a passion for athletics with a commitment to social justice.
Following the change in the College’s COVID-19 status level from Yellow to Green, Ashmead White Director of Athletics Tim Ryan announced in an email to all athletes a loosening of masking restrictions for athletes and coaches during indoor athletic events.
Following a forced 18-month hiatus from competition due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the women’s soccer team returned to the pitch this semester, much to the thrill of the players, coaches and fans alike.
Members of the team were excited to return to a competitive environment that encourages them to work together.
FALL-ING INTO WINTER SPORTS
Following two weeks of informal, pre-season practices and training camps, winter sports teams will begin official practices with their coaches and full rosters today. Winter sports teams have not enjoyed a full, uninterrupted season of training and competition since the winter of 2018-2019.
On Saturday, September 26, the men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in their first home meet since the fall of 2019. The Polar Bears hosted the Bowdoin Invitational, recording both individual and team victories against Emmanuel College, Endicott College and Saint Joseph’s College.
WOMEN’S TENNIS PREPARES TO CAUSE A RACKET
This weekend, the women’s tennis team will host the Division III New England International Tennis Association (ITA) tournament at the Pickard Tennis Courts. This event marks the first competition of the season for the women’s team and the team’s first time playing in a tournament since the fall of 2019.
TENNIS TEAM HOPES TO SERVE UP FIRST WIN OF SEASON
This weekend, the men’s tennis team will host the men’s Interscholastic Tennis Association (ITA) regional championship at the College for the first time in over two decades.
Following an 18-month pause of social and athletic activity on campus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the athletic department has noted an increase in the number of spectators at sporting events in comparison to past academic years as the College’s full student body inhabits the campus for the first time since February 2020.
History can be rewritten, as the men’s soccer team proved last weekend. On Saturday, the unranked Polar Bears defeated the second-ranked team in Division III, Amherst College, by a score of 1-0.
Led by a thrilling header from Charles Ward ’22, the Polar Bears beat Amherst in a men’s soccer competition for the first time in 13 years.
ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT PREPARES FOR INDOOR HOME COMPETITION
The College will be hosting its first indoor athletic events of the fall season this weekend as the volleyball team faces Wesleyan College today and Connecticut College tomorrow. The players will be allowed to use their discretion to decide whether they want to wear masks during the game or not, but most of them will likely err on the side of caution and keep the masks on.
MEN’S SOCCER KICKS OFF SEASON
In their first game of the season and the College’s first fall athletic competition, the men’s soccer team defeated the University of New England (UNE) by a score of 3-0. Drake Byrd ’21 netted two goals, and Minseo Bae ’22 added the third.
Supported by a campus community that boasts a vaccination rate of 99% and guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Bowdoin’s athletic department is preparing to return to an unabbreviated schedule of competition for the first time since the fall of 2019.
RETURN TO BUSY COMPETITION SCHEDULE
After an 18-month halt to athletic competition due to COVID-19 restrictions and protocols from the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the College will return to a jam-packed schedule beginning next week.
Unlike most Bowdoin students who are spending the summer with friends and family and making plans to watch the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan from the comfort of their homes, women’s swimmer and rising junior Emilie Grand’Pierre ’23 is training to compete at the Olympics.
Since the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the police last June, athletes, coaches and administrators within the athletic department have been involved in increasing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in athletics through events, team-based DEI programs and a number of new committees.
Following an 18-month hiatus from competition, the women’s soccer team hosted Bates on Sunday, May 2 for a scrimmage with no official box score. The 90-minute competition was played over three 30-minute periods as opposed to the typical two 45-minute periods in order to give players more rest and recovery time.
After serving as the Head Coach of the men’s basketball team for nearly four decades and earning a record-setting 494 wins, Tim Gilbride has announced that he will retire at the end of this academic year.
Following the announcement that Associate Director for Athletics and Assistant Coach Lynn Ruddy will retire at the end of the 2020-21 academic year, the athletic department shared that Assistant Football Coach Kevin Loney has been promoted to the position of assistant athletic director for facilities and event management, effective July 1.
Following the retirement of longtime men’s track and field Head Coach Peter Slovenski, the athletic department announced on March 31 that Lara-Jane (LJ) Que, Head Coach of the women’s track and field program, will be stepping into the role of Head Coach for the men’s program as well this June.
Last June, amidst the turmoil of the COVID-19 pandemic, women’s lacrosse Head Coach Liz Grote was selected as the President of the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches’ Association (IWLCA).
As President of the IWLCA, a nationwide organization that monitors the proceedings of all intercollegiate lacrosse and represents coaches from NCAA Divisions I, II and III, Grote found herself with newfound responsibility.
Suzanne Nossel, free speech advocate and Chief Executive Officer of PEN America, a nationwide organization that strives to protect free expression, virtually visited Bowdoin on Monday evening to participate in the College’s “After the Insurrection: Conversations on Democracy” series that explores the current state and future of the country’s democracy.
Juggling new teams, conference championships and a subpar decade for the football team, Bowdoin’s athletic department faced triumphs, changes and challenges throughout the 1970s.
In 1971, the College’s Board of Trustees and the President at the time, Roger Howell Jr., officially ruled in favor of co-education and accepted Bowdoin’s first class of women.
Buildings and classrooms were closed. Dining halls only offered take-out meals. Common areas around campus, normally overflowing with talking, laughing students, were deserted. “Closed to Visitors” signs were placed across the quad, making it eerily empty and devoid of activity.
Since the majority of upper-class skiers are dispersed across the world and distanced from Bowdoin’s campus, first-year skiers have filled the void this semester with unexpected leadership roles.
“[The first years] have had a lot of ownership and autonomy in planning what the team does,” Head Coach Nathan Alsobrook said.
After graduating from Bowdoin in 2012, Barrett Takesian ’12 founded Portland Community Squash (PCS) an academic, social and athletic program committed to mentoring children and teenagers in the Portland area—opportunities that are typically hard to find.
Unfazed and determined despite having to watch their fellow athletes at other NESCACs returning to campus to practice and play together while they remain physically separated, the Bowdoin women’s basketball team has been training, adapting and staying connected since the summer months, hoping for a traditional season come winter.