Emily Griffin '17

Athlete of the Week: Kate Winingham '14

Women's Tennis

Kate Winingham ’14 has led a women’s tennis team that is on a tear as of late, winning seven matches in a row and opening undefeated in conference play. With five first years on a team of ten women, Winingham has been challenged this year acclimating the new players to the culture of the team.
“How we behave on the court, how we act before matches, after matches—it’s about keeping those standards,” she said, “We’re known as a respectful team.”
Leading by example seems to be her style. Winingham currently holds the No. 1 singles spot and the number No. 2 doubles spot with Samantha Stalder ’17. She has split the No. 1 singles billing with Tiffany Cheng ’16 at points this season. During the spring season, Winingham is 11-4 in singles play and 10-2 in doubles play. She has paired well with Stalder so far this season.
“I’m more of a baseliner,” said Winingham. “I try to set up a shot so she can poach. She has good instincts about when to poach and when to fake.”
Winingham’s capable net play differentiates her from most women’s tennis players and her propensity for approaches has shaped her doubles play, where the points are shorter.
“She tries to get to the net as fast as possible,” Stalder said, “If she sees that they’re on their back foot, she’ll creep in. She puts a lot of points away.”
Emma Chow ’15 also notes that Winingham is a quick starter, which benefits her in doubles because those matches are a race to eight games.
Head Coach Paul “Hobie” Holbach and Winingham now joke that she lacked a definitive game when she first arrived on campus. Holbach noted that Winingham was the last recruit he chose that year, choosing her over another player because of her competitive drive and experience with team sports. Winingham said she dedicated more time to playing soccer than tennis before Bowdoin, although she did win All-State honors for tennis in Indiana during high school. Additionally, her brother, Kent Winingham ’12 was a member of the men’s tennis team at the time.
“She was a good athlete—that was about it,” Holbach recalled. “She didn’t have the tennis background, but I figured I could help her with the tennis part.”
Chow noted that even though Holbach likes to keep the team small, he always adds a few “project players” that he works on developing. More often than not, those players go on to contribute meaningfully to the team.
But even now, Holbach goes out of his way to praise Winingham’s intangibles.
“For the first three years, she was stubborn—not always in the best graces of the coach,” Holback said with a laugh. “But stubbornness is a good thing; it’s just about using it in a positive way. Every year she’s grown.”
“She’s been a terrific captain,” he continued, “better than I could have hoped. I don’t just make seniors captain. I only pick them if I think they can do the job.”
Winingham has become a more aggressive player as her career has progressed. As an all-court player, she can take advantage of her uncommon net game to counter against players with better groundstrokes. A balanced repertoire and above-average athleticism have given her an advantage in many of her singles matches.
She said that she feels more pressure as her career has progressed because now—playing at No. 1 singles and representing the team as captain—she has higher expectations for herself.Holbach said he believes she likes the pressure.
“If she’s not playing well, she can still compete and fight through it,” he said. “I can put her down in a match and I don’t have to worry about whether or not she can be there that day. A lot of girls have the strokes. Big deal. Are you a player who wants the ball?”
“I’m proud that she’s become a very good leader,” Holbach said, “I try to teach all my girls to become good leaders. I’m proud of her journey.”
Winingham will graduate with a degree in sociology. She is a member of Peer Health and will go to nursing school after Bowdoin.
The sports editor of the Orient chooses the Athlete of the Week based on exemplary performance.

Athlete of the Week: Ana Leon '16

Ultimate Frisbee

Playing Chaos Theory this year has been a disaster for most opposing teams. The women’s ultimate Frisbee team has earned its third consecutive bid to the D-III national championship, and will be the favorite to win for the second year in a row. What had been labeled a “rebuilding year” by some has become a shot at the national title in part because of Ana Leon ’16, appropriately nicknamed Calamity.
Friends on her high school basketball team convinced Leon, an Atlanta native, to try the game during her freshman year. She was already familiar with the sport, saying it is “something you played on the playground [in Atlanta] instead of football.” She stuck with the game, finding that a lot of the skills she developed through 11 years of basketball translated. By her senior year, her high school coach invited her to try out for the U-19 women’s team he would coach at the world championships in Ireland. She made the team as a defensive specialist, and it went on to finish second in the world.
At Bowdoin, Leon is able to offer advice to newer players—captain Clare Stansberry ’14 calls her a “baby captain”—because she knows the rules better than most other players. This is important in a game whose players are responsible for refereeing themselves. She also came to Bowdoin with a passion for the fundamentals of defense already ingrained. Mik Cooper ’14 noted that defense takes much longer for new players to learn than offense.
Leon was already familiar with Bowdoin and Chaos Theory when she began her college search. Her sister, Liz Leon ’12, captained the team during the first year it qualified for nationals. Leon acknowledges that meeting members of the team during a visit, compounded by her desire to go to college far from home, influenced her decision to come to Bowdoin.
Ultimate players generally play one of two loosely defined positions: handler and cutter. Handlers are responsible for most of the throwing while cutters attempt to free themselves from the defense and advance the disk. Leon, technically a cutter, excels at throwing the disk as well, providing her with the versatility to keep the offense flowing.
“Ana is usually a cutter, but she’s easily one of the best throwers on the team,” said Kate Powers ’17. “It’s not too common. It’s something that most people aspire to be. Few have as impressive handling skills.”
Powers also said that Leon is better at adjusting her throws under windy conditions than many other players.
Leon explained that her goal as a player is to become more versatile, and that she models her game after Phoebe Aron ’13, who, among other skills, was known for her ability to throw the disk far upfield.
Teams without cutters who can throw typically accompany long gains with underneath backwards passes to allow the handlers to regain control of the disk. Cutters such as Leon who can look upfield put increased pressure on defenses and allow their team to move the disk more quickly.
Leon’s teammates often describe her uncanny ability to get open regardless of the coverage. “Honestly I don’t know how she does it,” said Hannah LeBlanc ’16. “It’s pretty incredible. If I knew how to do it, I would be doing it myself.”
“It’s a lot about setting up your cuts,” Leon said. “You’re trying to get your girl to move her hips so you can swivel around her.”
Leon employs a similar technique on defense, staying on her girl’s hip and denying her the disk.
She explains how ultimate teams play a lot of “man” defense, while individual defenders prioritize taking a side of the field away from their girl when she gets the frisbee. This makes the next throw more predictable for an anticipatory defense. “Man” defense aims to keep the disk away from the offensive player but also to prevent them from getting into open space on the uncovered side of the opposing handler.
“You can watch her play and see that it’s just so intuitive for her—where to move, where to be—in a way that it isn’t for everyone else on the field,” LeBlanc said. “People can watch our games, not know anything about them and say ‘I just know that Ana’s dominating out there.’”
The sports editor of the Orient chooses the Athlete of the Week based on exemplary performance.

Athlete of the Week

Softball

Alex Vasile

Orient Staff

April 18, 2014

First year Emily Griffin has established herself as a capable member of the Bowdoin softball team. Griffin has started on the mound seven times this season, tied for the team lead with senior Melissa DellaTorre. Last weekend, Griffin held Colby scoreless and limited reiging D-III national champion Tufts to almost two runs below its season average. Typically, first years do not contribute as much to the team, particularly not as pitchers.

“The last time it happened was with Melissa. It really is reminiscent of Melissa,” said captain Hannah Wurgaft ’14. “That being said, it’s not very often.”

Head Coach Ryan Sullivan said he agreed.

“You never like to think that a first year is going to come in and have that kind of an impact,” he said. “It would be almost unfair.”

“I had no idea what to expect,” Griffin said. “I don’t ever assume I’ll get much playing; I figured I’d have to do my time on the bench.”

The first-year pitcher has been part of a very balanced pitching rotation; the four pitchers—DellaTorre, Griffin, Julia Geaumont ’16, and Alana Luzzio ’17—have started seven, seven, six and four games, respectively. Each one offers a different style of pitching. Though Griffin has a vast repertoire of pitches, she can struggle—like many first years—with consistency.

“I came in with an inconsistent drop ball,” Griffin said. “I’ve been working on that in practice. My curveball was stronger. I think it’s actually reversed now.”

She leads the team in at-bats and hits while sporting a .379 batting average. When she is not pitching, Griffin starts in centerfield, and is therefore responsible for communicating with the right and left field.

“In the time that I’ve been here, she’s probably the most diverse player I’ve ever seen,” said Cielle Collins ’15. “And the really crazy thing about it is that she does each thing so well.”

Often at the top of the line-up, Griffin bats as a slap hitter, meaning that she bats left-handed and takes a running start at a bunt, hoping to beat the ball to first base. Her teammates note that although her incredible speed makes her ideal for the role, she is one of the few slap hitters strong enough to power the ball into the outfield. Wurgaft remembered an at-bat where Griffin recorded a triple by turning a potential bunt into a blast over the outfielder’s head. The threat of a long ball into the outfield makes Griffin particularly difficult to defend because defenses cannot slide to cover the bunt.

Griffin’s skill in all three facets of the game has demanded a rigorous practice schedule. She often pitches for 20 to 40 minutes then splits the remaining practice time between hitting and fielding. She has divided her time similarly for double-headers.

“I think it would be exhausting to do what she does each game,” Collins said. “She’ll pitch a game, get four at-bats, and then have to stay focused in center field.”

Before coming to Bowdoin, Griffin had played most of her career on the West Coast, often traveling to California with her team. The Arizona resident lived in Massachusetts until age nine and had always anticipated returning to the Northeast. Her childhood goal was to play for Dartmouth but she was swayed by her talks with Sullivan.

Griffin said that she started playing softball with her town’s youth team because her parents wanted her to make friends. Once she began playing more competitively, she was forced to give up horseback riding, which she had been doing competitively since she was five. She has since rekindled her love of riding, practicing with the equestrian team in the fall when it does not conflict with softball.

Sullivan recalls that he brought Griffin to Bowdoin even though the distance between Maine and Arizona prevented him from seeing her play in person. He described the difficult evaluating process that he and his pitching coach went through when studying footage of her. In the end, he concluded that between the tape, her reputation and her contributions to a high-level club team with a national championship to its name, he could “take a shot at it.”

So far, Griffin has not disappointed.

The sports editor of the Orient chooses the Athlete of the Week based on exemplary performance.

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