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For Thea Kelsey ’20, Henry Isaacson ’22 and Wren Sablich ’22, diving off a three-meter springboard headfirst into a pool is not a foreign concept. All three athletes have been participating in the sport since they were first introduced to it at a young age.
With six Olympians, 22 NCAA championships, and 66 NESCAC titles to its name, Bowdoin’s athletics department certainly has a well-stocked trophy cabinet. However, many at the college don’t know that some of the most decorated athletes on campus aren’t even Bowdoin students.
SZE IT WITH ME First year women’s squash player Ursula Sze ’23 was named NESCAC Player of the Week for her clutch performance against Dickinson last weekend to secure a narrow 5-4 home victory over the Red Devils.
After a 2019 season in which the men’s and women’s track and field teams finished sixth and third, respectively, at NESCAC Championships, both teams have started the 2020 season with a bang. The women’s team jumped out to a fantastic start, coasting to two emphatic first-place finishes under the guidance of new head coach Lara-Jane Que.
The Bowdoin men’s and women’s Nordic ski teams raced to historic finishes last weekend at the Harvard Carnival in Craftsbury, Vt. Elliot Ketchel ’21 finished in sixth place in the 20k classic mass start race on Saturday and led the way for the men’s team, which finished second overall amongst collegiate programs, the highest finish for the Bowdoin men in program history.
After finishing with the program’s worst-ever record of 3-19-2 (2-13-1 NESCAC), making them the only team to miss out on the NESCAC tournament last winter, the Bowdoin women’s varsity ice hockey team has made strides to correct last year’s faults and return to the NESCAC playoffs.
With its record standing at a perfect 17-0 after two resounding wins against rivals Middlebury and Williams last weekend, the Bowdoin women’s basketball team is on the verge of entering the most challenging stretch of its schedule, where it will face six NESCAC opponents starting Saturday.
SCIPION TOP Sophie Barber ’23 and Deven Kanwal ’23 were both named NESCAC Players of the Week for women’s and men’s squash, respectively, following the pair of first-years’ performances against Hamilton and Wesleyan on November 23 and 24.
After a 72-58 non-conference loss to Bates on Thursday, the men’s basketball team stands at 3-4 heading into its final game of the fall semester on Sunday at UMaine Farmington. Ahead of the beginning of conference play after winter break, the challenge for the team will be gaining momentum to start strong once it returns.
The men’s and women’s swim and dive teams opened their respective seasons with a joint meet against Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) (Women 6-5, Men 3-6) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (Women 4-1, Men 4-1) on November 23.
For the past two years, the women’s basketball team made it to the NCAA Division III championship game. The fact that both appearances resulted in losses should not overshadow the magnitude of what the team has accomplished: to be one of two teams standing after 424 others have fallen is itself a historic achievement.
This season was one of highs and lows for Bowdoin volleyball. Coming hot off the heels of a run to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen and a NESCAC Championship in 2018, the Polar Bears started the season slowly, sinking to a 4-6 record near the end of September.
On June 24, 1995, what is likely the most iconic image in rugby history was captured in Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg. Then-President of South Africa Nelson Mandela stood proudly on the podium congratulating then-Springboks captain Francois Pienaar, an Afrikaaner man, before handing him the Webb Ellis Rugby World Cup trophy.
Bowdoin volleyball’s postseason run ended on Thursday night after suffering a 3-0 loss to Carthage College in the NCAA Division III Volleyball Championship tournament quarterfinal in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The loss ended the Polar Bears’ dramatic season, which saw them overcome a shaky start in conference play to advance to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament for the second time in program history and the first time since 2015.
Reflecting on the kick-off of the squash season this past weekend, captain Drew Clark ’20 said, “It’s a great time to be a squash player.” Both the women’s and men’s squash teams hosted two successful home matches versus Bates (1-1) and Vassar (4-5).
In the first quarter of Sunday’s 27-5 victory over the University of New England (UNE) (2-6) at Mignone Field at Harvard University in Allston, Mass., the women’s rugby team did exactly what it needed to do to clinch its first Division III National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) championship game: go down by a try after the first possession.
The cold, winter weather is upon us, which means Bowdoin hockey is back. The men’s hockey team claimed an impressive 6-4 opening day victory over Middlebury on Friday, but failed to sweep the weekend, falling 5-1 to Williams the next day.
On a chilly Saturday morning last weekend, three Polar Bears earned their bid to Nationals at the New England DIII Cross Country Championships. Caroline Shipley ’20 finished the women’s 6K in seventh place with a time of 21:38.5, with Delaney Bullock ’22 close behind her in 13th.
The Bowdoin football season ended much like it began: badly. After carrying a 14-point lead into the fourth quarter against Colby, the Polar Bears allowed 27-unanswered points in the final period, falling 47-34 to cap off the team’s third winless season in four years.
GOING ONCE, GOING TWICE, SOLD Following a run to the NESCAC final, the volleyball team earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. The Polar Bears are one of 32 teams in the nation to qualify for the Division III Championships.
Last year, the women’s ice hockey team had a disappointing season, finishing with a record of 3-19-2 (NESCAC 2-13-1) and missing out on the NESCAC playoffs for the first time since 2001. This year, however, the team is looking to turn last season’s disappointments around.
It is no coincidence that many of my earliest memories involve the game I fell in love with as a child. At three years old, I was watching my dad coach youth soccer. By the age of four, I was kicking a ball around with no other motive other than the pure, unbridled joy of it.
After winning a tight playoff game against Norwich University this past weekend, the women’s rugby team turns its attention to this weekend, when it will face the University of New England (UNE) in the National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) Division III championship game, hosted by Harvard University.
The following interactive visuals represent data from the Bowdoin fall athletics season. Data was compiled from the NESCAC and Bowdoin Athletics. The varsity teams represented below in the “record” categories are men’s and women’s soccer, football, volleyball, field hockey and women’s rugby.
Imagine that your car won’t start, so you open the hood, take a peek around and decide that the battery is dead. You grab your jumper pack, fire it up, but still, the ignition won’t turn over.
NIRA, FAR, WHEREVER YOU ARE The women’s rugby team will host Norwich University in the NIRA semifinal on Saturday at 11 a.m.. After starting off the league campaign with a 38-8 loss to first-place Colby Sawyer, the Polar Bears bounced back with two key wins to secure the second playoff seed.
The Bowdoin men’s soccer team finished its season with two losses against Williams and Tufts, putting the Polar Bears out of the running for the NESCAC championship. The team finished the season tied for ninth place in the NESCAC, finishing only ahead of Trinity, which failed to win a single game against any NESCAC opponent.
At the culminating event of the NESCAC cross-country season last weekend, both the men’s and women’s cross-country teams posted promising results, which bode well for next weekend’s NCAA regional meet. Hosted by Williams, the 2019 NESCAC Cross-Country Championships brought together 11 different schools, 22 separate squads and several hundred runners.
After limited interest and budgeting worries that forced the Bowdoin club equestrian team to restructure dramatically last year, a rejuvenated leadership team and greater participation this past fall has ushered in a renaissance for the team, which recently competed in the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) for the first time in three years.
After a hesitant start to its season, the Bowdoin volleyball team is hitting its stride at the right time. A sweep of Bates and Colby last weekend extended the team’s winning streak to 12 games and secured the third NESCAC tournament seed.
A PACHYDERMAGICAL MOMENT The field hockey team secured the number two NESCAC playoff seed in dramatic fashion with a 2-1 overtime victory away at Tufts on Wednesday. After an early Jumbos goal, Peyton Jackson ’21 equalized in the third quarter to send the game into overtime.
The Bowdoin men’s Rugby Team (2-3) concluded its 50th season last weekend, beating Bates (2-3) 32-17 to claim the Lindbergh Cup. The cup is named after a late Bowdoin alumnus Greg Lindbergh ’91 and is given annually to the winner of the Bowdoin-Bates game.
I’m not a tennis fan, nor do I proclaim to be. But I do have a mother who is absolutely crazy about the sport. I have become numb to the late night and early morning shrills that come around tournament season.
DO OR DO NOT, THERE IS NO TRY The women’s rugby team fell to Vassar 32-24 on Saturday, snapping a four-game winning streak. The Polar Bears jumped out to an early start, carrying a narrow 12-10 lead into half.
The Bowdoin crew team stroked their way to the top at this past weekend’s Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, with the men’s first varsity boat placing fourth out of 41 boats in the men’s collegiate 4+ event and the women’s first varsity boat coming in 13th in the women’s college 4+ out of a field of 36 crews.
Nate Richam-Odoi ’20 was a latecomer to football. Instead of putting on a helmet at age six, he had to wait until he turned seven. Chalk it up to the rules. In Richam-Odoi’s hometown of West Hartford, Connecticut, the local pee-wee football league mandated that players be either seven years old or in the third grade before they padded up.
After an 0-4-1 start to its season, the Bowdoin women’s soccer team has turned a corner, successfully winning six out of their last eight games. With a 2-0 victory over Bates (2-10-1, 0-8-0 NESCAC) on Sunday, the team has improved to 6-6-1 overall (2-5-1 in NESCAC) and put itself in a position to make a run for the conference playoffs.
Bowdoin football suffered its first shutout loss of the season on Saturday, falling to Tufts (3-3) 49-0 in Medford, Massachusetts. The Polar Bears drop to 0-6 with the loss and are tied with Bates (0-6) and Colby (0-6) for last place in the NESCAC.
When Head Volleyball Coach Erin Cady watched Caroline Flaharty ’20 play for the first time during the recruiting process, she knew she wanted Flaharty on the team. “I think my notes were ‘yes, yes please,’” Cady said.
Between 1946 and 1949, it was hard to find an edition of the Orient in which the name Matthew D. Branche ’49 did not appear. His athletic dominance earned him a great deal of notoriety throughout the state of Maine.
With packed trailers and full hearts, the Bowdoin crew team departed Friday morning for the Head of the Charles Regatta (HOCR) in Boston. The regatta, one of the largest and most prestigious in the world, marks the climax of the team’s fall racing season, which has thus far been defined by early-season success at both the novice and varsity levels.
On Monday, September 30, California governor Gavin Newsom signed the Fair Pay to Play Act, or Senate Bill 206 (SB 206), which allows college athletes in the state, beginning January 1, 2023, to profit off of their names, images and likenesses (NIL) through sponsorships and endorsement deals.
The technological era of sports is fully upon us. For years, pro sports teams have had access to tools providing them with advanced metrics and film breakdowns. However, these computational and quantitative tools are no longer exclusively used by professional teams.
Bowdoin water polo is lacing up its caps in preparation for the North Atlantic Division championship tournament, which will take place this weekend at Bowdoin’s Greason Pool. Bowdoin will compete against teams from Bates, Colby and the University of Vermont in a round-robin style tournament for a berth in the Division III Collegiate Club Championship, slated for October 26-27 at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
BECAUSE OF WIND-DIXIE The women’s sailing team competed in two separate regattas last weekend, posting strong performances in both and qualifying for Match Race Nationals in the process. At the Women’s Showcase B Finals hosted by St.
After an impressive 2018-2019 campaign, the men’s varsity tennis team entered its fall season facing serious personnel question marks after graduating key seniors. Even so, the team has recorded promising results in each of its first two fall tournaments.
Bowdoin football has had a historically bad start to its season. Not just a bad start—a historically bad start. And history has not been kind to Bowdoin football. So get out your record book and some Wite-Out, because it’s time for an update.
GIVING THEIR OPPONENTS A HELSINKING FEELING Men’s lacrosse alumnus Brett Kujala ’18 made history last week at the World Indoor Lacrosse Championship, leading Finland to an all-time best sixth place finish. Kujala put up impressive offensive numbers all tournament, averaging 9.0 points per game during the group stages and 5.3 points per game in the playoffs.
Bowdoin women’s volleyball (6-6, NESCAC 1-2) entered last Saturday’s matchup against national number-five ranked Johnson and Wales (11-3) having lost four of their last five games—including two straight-set losses to conference rivals Wesleyan (10-2) and Tufts (12-0)—and with three times as many losses in the past month as it had accumulated across all of last season.
After an undefeated 2018 season, the junior varsity (JV) soccer team (2-1) welcomed two new members to its team— female athletes Lauren Hickey ’20 and Gabrielle Maffezzoli ’20. Hickey and Maffezzoli have played soccer their whole lives.
Although nearly 40 percent of Bowdoin students are members of varsity sports teams, athletic offerings on campus range in level of competition and commitment. A variety of intramural leagues help students find the right balance of fun and competition in multiple sports, from badminton to hockey.
After losing three conference games, the Bowdoin women’s soccer team (2-4-1, NESCAC 0-3-1) has had an underwhelming start to its season. Though the team lost only two seniors last spring, preseason expectations were high for the core of returning starters.
Bowdoin football (0-2, 0-2 NESCAC) suffered one of the most lopsided losses in program history on Saturday, falling to Trinity (1-1, NESCAC 1-1) 61-7. The 54-point margin of defeat is the third largest in the team’s history during the modern record era, which began in 1921.
Despite the facts that the tournament was the first under a new head coach and the roster featured only six players, the Bowdoin women’s tennis team started strong last weekend, with all three doubles teams placing in the top four at the Wallach Doubles Invitational at Bates.
SEVENTH HEAVEN After a string of three straight ties, the men’s soccer team (3-1-3, 0-1-3 NESCAC) got back to its winning ways with an emphatic 6-1 win at home over the University of Southern Maine (0-7-2).
After finishing the last season with both teams in the top 10 at the NCAA Division III New England Regional Competition, the Bowdoin women’s and men’s cross-country teams kicked off a fresh season with a strong performance at the first Bowdoin Invitational last weekend.
If you haven’t heard the story of Iran’s “Blue Girl,” it’s not your fault. It has been a blip in a news cycle dominated by Brexit, Antonio Brown and the Global Climate Strike that many within the Bowdoin community participated in.
Portland is known for its hip food scene, proximity to nature and historical port, but one of the city’s greatest hidden gems is a national-championship caliber professional sports team with an empowering story and a fan base that’s growing larger every year.
Bowdoin football’s season-opening loss to Hamilton was a game of almosts. The offense almost clicked. The defense almost kept the game within reach. The Polar Bears almost came out on top. But almost is still almost, and the Polar Bears still fell, 37-24, in their first game under the direction of head coach BJ Hammer and his staff.
Although Bowdoin athletics is most visible on game day, the department stretches well beyond the courts and fields. With a student-athlete advisory committee and a faculty representative to the NCAA, the department is incorporating voices outside the administration.
OFFENSE IS THE BEST DEFENSE The field hockey team cruised to a dominant victory at the University of Southern Maine on Tuesday. The entire Bowdoin defense put up a career day, not allowing a single shot over all four quarters.
Bowdoin volleyball began its season last weekend with a hiccup, dropping two of three matches at the Wesleyan Invitational. The team opened its home schedule on Tuesday, beating the University of Southern Maine three sets to one to bring its record even at 2-2.
When Logan Russell ’22 stepped onto the soccer pitch on Monday evening, it wasn’t at Pickard Field. In fact, it wasn’t even in the U.S.. Rather, Russell strode out of the tunnel in front of thousands of fans at Thomas Robinson Stadium in Nassau, the Bahamas, to make his debut for the Bahamian men’s national soccer team.
BEARS, BEATS, BOBCAT-TLESTAR GALACTICA The field hockey team held on to a 1-0 victory over Bates this past Wednesday, improving to 2-0 in NESCAC play. On a stormy afternoon, the Polar Bears dealt with poor conditions and sloshed through a rain-soaked turf field all game.
On September 7, the Bowdoin varsity women’s rugby team opened their season with an emphatic 76-0 thumping of Roger Williams University. For the team, one of the College’s most successful teams over the past few decades, these landslide victories have been somewhat commonplace.
Coming off the best season in program history last spring, the sailing team rode its momentum into the opening weekend of its fall season last week, sailing in five regattas. One team placed third in the Harmon Trophy at Maine Maritime Academy, earning qualifying spots for the Match Race Championships and the Penobscot Bay Open.
August marked three years since Colin Kaepernick chose to take a stand by taking a knee against racial injustice. As is the case with most matters of race in this country, few were willing to take him to task on the issues that he intended to bring to light.
POLAR BEARS WEATHER THE STORM The field hockey team opened its campaign with a win against the University of New England (UNE) in Biddeford this past Wednesday. Emma Stevens ’20 opened her scoring account with two goals against the Nor’easters, and Elle Brine ’20 added two assists in a convincing 4-0 victory.
The Bowdoin College Department of Athletics is beginning the fall season with a wide array of fresh faces on the coaching staff of 11 teams. In an email to the Orient, Ashmead White Director of Athletics Tim Ryan conveyed his excitement about what the new hires could contribute to the Department.
Football has returned to Brunswick, and that means only one thing. It’s Hammer Time. Let’s all get up to speed. After using the first three quarters of last season to extend its losing streak to a record-setting 24 games, J.B.
This Saturday, the men’s soccer team will face its longtime Achilles’ heel, Amherst. Bowdoin has not beaten Amherst since 2014, when the Polar Bears beat the Mammoths in penalty kicks in the NESCAC championship. Before this, Bowdoin’s last win against Amherst was in 2010.
This past weekend, the women’s tennis team (13-4, NESCAC 7-2) wrapped up a successful regular season with a win over Williams (6-9, NESCAC 3-5). The Polar Bears will meet the Ephs again this afternoon at 4:30 p.m.
After picking up two more NESCAC wins last weekend, the third-ranked men’s tennis team (15-3, 7-2 NESCAC) is heading to Middlebury today to kick off the NESCAC Championship against Williams (8-7, NESCAC 5-3). As the Polar Bears prepare for tournament play, captain Grant Urken ’19 said the championship is more of a race than the regular season, changing the team’s mentality.
The Bowdoin Cycling Club is launching a new initiative to add mountain biking trips to its weekly offerings, but members are still working to come up with the funds to buy mountain bikes they will need to grow.
Last Saturday, the women’s lacrosse team (9-7, NESCAC 5-5) fell to Amherst (12-4, NESCAC 6-4) in the quarterfinals of the NESCAC tournament, by a score of 12-9. However, the team hopes its winning season overall will be enough to win an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
With so many festivities planned for Ivies Weekend, it is easy for sporting events to fall through the cracks. But because of the baseball diamond’s proximity to Farley Field House, it has become a tradition for students to frequent the team’s games between headliner acts.
Despite being one of the smallest varsity sports teams at Bowdoin, softball (23-10, 5-4 NESCAC) has continued to gain momentum over its spring season as players look forward to this Saturday’s home game at Pickard Field and the NESCAC championships, beginning the first weekend in May.
On Saturday, May 4, more than a hundred triathletes will gather at Farley Field House for the Polar Bear Triathlon. An annual event, the triathlon attracts both experienced athletes and newcomers to the sport. Head Swim Coach Brad Burnham helped design the race 17 years ago.
At a glance, Maurice Butler ’74 and Amir Parker ’19 have much in common. It was a passion for the sport that drew both athletes to walk onto the College’s football program. But the team Butler encountered, with just one African American player, was another world compared to Parker’s experience 40 years later.
Every week, over 150 elementary school students descend on Farley Field House to jump in the Greason Pool as part of the Harpswell Community School program. The program focuses on teaching students from Harpswell to swim and preparing them for potential careers as lobstermen.
After an indoor season riddled with injuries, the track and field teams found their momentum last weekend in the Silfen Invitational at Connecticut College. The men’s team placed fourth out of 24 teams, while the women’s team came in an impressive second out of 20 teams.
The women’s rugby team (4-1) will host its seventh annual Polar Bear 7s tournament tomorrow. Earlier this month, the team competed in the NEC 7s tournament where they defeated UNH (34-10), University of Maine (19-15) and Wesleyan (32-15).
Anyone who follows Bowdoin football’s social media account has probably asked some variation of this question in the past few months. Even a cursory glance over the team’s Instagram page makes it clear that the Polar Bears’ new coaching staff, led by Head Coach B.J.
The Bowdoin women’s tennis team (9-2, 4-1 NESCAC) had not beaten Amherst in a record 13 years until a 5-4 victory over the third-ranked Mammoths last weekend ended the streak. The win comes in the middle of a successful season thus far, including some come-from-behind victories on the four, five and six courts.
Nearing the home stretch of its regular season, the men’s lacrosse team (6-6, 2-5 NESCAC) sits at .500, but has struggled in the NESCAC, where it is currently in ninth place. All is not lost, though—the team sits just one game behind the final NESCAC playoff seed with three conference games left to play.
When Joan Benoit Samuelson ’79 returned to campus after winning the Boston Marathon the spring of her senior year, she received a standing ovation in Thorne Hall, then the senior center. Sweaty and tired from her 2:35:15 finish, she soon learned that much of campus had watched her on television as she crossed the finish line in a Bowdoin singlet.
This past weekend, the Bowdoin Sailing team competed in the Team Races of New England Championship at Connecticut College, finishing fourth overall. For the first time in program history, the coed team qualified for the Team Race Nationals which will be held in Newport, Rhode Island on May 25-27.
After returning to New England from spring training in California with new players and skills, the fifth-ranked men’s tennis team (8-1, 2-0 NESCAC) defeated the seventh-ranked Wesleyan Cardinals (9-2, 2-1 NESCAC) 6-3 last weekend. In California, the Polar Bears were able to compete against strong teams while solidifying their dynamics and individual roles, ultimately finishing with a 7-1 record and their first NESCAC win of the year against Trinity.
On a humid August night in 1970, Maurice “Moe” Butler ’74 dropped his trunk at the steps of Smith Union as he headed to dinner. A day early for first-year orientation, Butler could not access his dorm and, with $20 left in his pocket, looked for a patch of floor to spend the night.
It’s been a tough first half of the season for the men’s baseball team. The Polar Bears (0-14-1) currently have no wins under their belt and have averaged just 2.67 runs per game. “The start we got out to wasn’t what we expected,” Head Coach Mike Connolly said.
The women’s water polo team is gearing up for a championship tournament at MIT on April 13 and 14 after winning both of its home games last Sunday against Coast Guard Academy and Bates. To prepare for the season, captain Raquel Santizo ’19 said the women’s team scrimmages against men from the fall coed team.
Since opening the season with a decisive 12-7 victory over Connecticut College (3-7, 0-6 NESCAC), the women’s lacrosse team’s season has taken a turn for the indecisive. After dropping four of its next five games, the team has rebounded over the past two weeks, recording three straight victories, including two conference victories against Bates (7-4, 3-3 NESCAC) and Trinity (7-2, 3-2 NESCAC), to enter April with a 5-4 record overall, 3-3 in NESCAC play.
Perfect is the enemy of good. Or, in the case of Bowdoin women’s basketball, of exceptional. It’s difficult to look back on a 31-2 season and feel somehow disappointed. But it’s not impossible. In a sense, we, the fans, are spoiled.
Without the fanfare of other athletic organizations on campus, the curling team has quietly grown into one of the College’s most successful club sports programs. On March 10, the team earned an eighth-place overall finish at the USA College Curling Championship held at Broomstones Curling Club in Wayland, Mass.
Returning from two weeks of intense training in Minneola, Fla., the Bowdoin softball team is ready for spring to travel north with them. After beginning its season in Minneola with five consecutive victories, the team returned to Brunswick with an overall record of 11-5.
Over spring break, All-American Sterling Dixon ’19 competed in the NCAA DIII Swimming & Diving Championship in Greensboro, N.C., where she placed second overall in the 200-yard Butterfly, breaking school and personal records in the event.
When Mitchell Ryan ’19 was a sophomore at East Lyme High School, he didn’t know whether his school had a pool. Six years later, Ryan has been named an All-American diver in the NCAA DIII Swimming and Diving Championships.
The women’s basketball team fell 81-67 to Thomas More (33-0) in the NCAA DIII championship game in Salem, Virginia, Saturday night. It is the second straight year Bowdoin has fallen just short of the title, after the Polar Bears lost to Amherst in the championship game last year.
Six hundred ninety-eight miles from Brunswick, the women’s basketball team is making a home for itself on one of the nation’s largest stages. For the second consecutive year, Bowdoin advanced to the NCAA Division III championship game on Friday evening after finishing off the St.
The men’s swimming and diving team placed fourth last weekend at the NESCAC Championship meet. Scoring a total 1,019.5 points, the team exceeded 1,000 points for the first time in more than 40 years. Despite the team’s record-setting effort, Bowdoin was outpaced by rapidly-improving league competition.
