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1990s
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In the Scotlight
Following their pattern from prior decades, Men’s Soccer enters the ’90s with a winning streak, claiming the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) championship in 1990 and 1992. Both Men’s and Women’s Soccer are CCC champions in 1993, and Women’s Soccer carries that title in 1994 as well.
Helen Bennett, parents of longtime Chairman of the Board Peter C. Bennett. It wins Athletic Business magazine’s Top Ten New Facilities Award for design and usability. Rhodes Gymnasium eventually becomes Barrington Center for the Arts.
In 1995, Jaimee (Smith) Eldred ’95, Softball, sets the record for 35 RBIs in a season, which marks Smith an “NCAA statistical champ” and remains a Gordon record to this day. Five more men and six more women from the basketball teams join the 1,000-point club. Jim Petty ’95 tops the men’s list with 1,902 points, and Amy (McMechen) Bowen ’97 takes the lead for women with 1,440.
That same year, Field Hockey enters an eight-year streak of CCC Championship appearances— winning the title three times. And in the final academic year of the century, 1998–99, the Fighting Scots claim four CCC Championships: Field Hockey, Men’s and Women’s Cross Country and Women’s Soccer.
In 1996, the Fighting Scots’ new home, the Bennett Athletic Center, opens thanks to the generosity of George and
Pictured this page: Cross country runner in 1991; Women’s Soccer in 1990 Facing page: Men’s Lacrosse players in 2004
Sara (Baker) Lake ’01 For athletes like Sara Lake, sports feel as natural as basic instinct. Athleticism is ingrained in the multisport athlete, who you might have seen performing a goalie dive to catch a softball. Today, Lake is diving to catch her children from falling off bouncy houses instead of fielding a pop fly. As a wife and mother, direction from the formative experience of being a soccer, basketball and softball athlete at Gordon have new outlets. “Athletics gave me a home,” says Lake, recalling the camaraderie of championship victories, spring break tournaments to Myrtle Beach, playing basketball and softball alongside her late sister Juliana (Baker) Elliott ’03 and even spirited professors cancelling class to cheer the extended overtime and penalty kicks of a tournament win on the quad. After graduating, moving to unfamiliar locations then becoming a mom, Lake admits, “It’s easy to feel lost out here in the world.” But recalling the close-knit communities in Gordon Athletics, Lake and her husband, Tom ’01 (a cross country standout), prioritized making connections in the local church and their neighborhood. Lake says, “It was easy to recognize the beauty of those relationships and to want it to be part of it because of my history of being in athletics and feeling close to a group.”
26 STILLPOINT | SPRING 2022
