The Dartmouth Sports Weekly 5/8/17

05.08.17

Senior Spring: pitcher Michael Danielak ’16 p. 8 Trevor Johnson ’20 continues family’s Big Green legacy p. 6 Master of the draw with Kathryn Giroux ’19 p. 3 Just a Bit Outside with Sam Stockton ’19 p. 7 One-on-one with Matt Rube ’19 p. 2 The Weekend Roundup p. 7

Late start, strong finish Spencer Furey ’17’s transition from competitive tennis to captain of the men’s heavyweight rowing team p. 4-5

By Evan Morgan and Chris Shim

KATE HERRINGTON/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

SW 2

ONE ON ONE

with Matt Rube ’19

By SAMANTHA HUSSEY The Dartmouth Staff

Matt Rube ’19, co-founder of the Dartmouth Climbing Club, was one of two climbers who represented the Big Green at the 2017 Collegiate National Rock Climbing Championships in San Diego, California. Rube advanced to the Speed Finals, finishing in sixth place, and helped secure Dartmouth’s ninth-place team finish.

How did you get involved in climbing and climbing competitively?

MR: I started climbing competitively when I was 11 — so it’s been awhile.

I come from a very athletic and sporty family, and my parents always encouraged me to try out different sports and be active. I enjoyed playing sports and being active, but I was never really good at one sport — there was something missing with every sport that I tried.

I went to sleepaway camp between elementary and middle school, and my parents on a visiting day, just noticed that I had somehow gotten recruited to join the camp’s climbing team. I don’t even remember this, but apparently they were told by the director of the camp that I was doing really well, and they thought to themselves, “Huh, I wonder if there’s a way to push this into something productive.” They did a little bit of research and found that there was a rock climbing team half an hour from my house that operated out of a climbing gym by me, so I went and tried out and got on, and I stayed on that team throughout middle and high school, so about seven or eight years. It was fantastic — I couldn’t love it more.

What are the different types of climbing, and what specifically do you do? What attracted you to that specific type of climbing?

MR: In competition climbing, there are three different types. Bouldering is low climbing, and it doesn’t go any higher than 15 to 20 feet with no ropes but pads on the ground.

You have to follow taped or colored holes, and you’re only allowed to use the holes with that kind of tape or a specifically colored hole and that is called a route. Because it is in a gym, you can change the holes up and make it more or less difficult. Essentially the harder the route, the more points it is worth getting to the top of it. Speed does not matter, but in higher level competitions, like Nationals, there is a time limit. At Nationals, you will have four boulder problems that you will have to do, and you will have four minutes in total to try and get as high as possible on each. Another type of climbing called sport climbing uses a very similar format where again, at local competitions it’s if you get to the top whereas at Nationals, it is however high you get, but it’s the climbing most people are familiar with — with ropes, it’s high up. The third type is speed climbing which is on a standardized route — it’s an international standard. It is 15 meters high on a very, specifically grid-like pattern that never changes, and it is [based on] how fast you can get up it.

When I was back on my team in high school, I would train for all three.

For bouldering, in a local competition you have somewhere between six to 10 problems that are all brand new that you get to try and figure out. There’s a huge problem-solving aspect, where there’s a new puzzle that you have to solve. You have to go through and figure out exactly where your hands go and the body positioning, and it

Ray Lu ’18 Editor-in-Chief

Philip Rasansky ’18 Publisher

Kourtney Kawano ’18 Executive Editor

05.08.17 Vol. CLXXIV No. 76

Evan Morgan ’19 Chris Shim ’18 Sports Editors

Nathan Albrinck ’20

Associate Sports Editor Eliza McDonough ’18 Hollye Swinehart ’18 Tiffany Zhai ’18 Photography Editors Jaclyn Eagle ’19 Templating Editor

can get really crazy with some of the harder problems. You’ll be at Nationals, having never seen the Finals problems, and you’ll turn around, because you’re not allowed to look at the problems before you start and see the problem. There have been instances where I’ve just started laughing because it was so crazy how they make you go upside down on some of them or how they have you jump from one hole to another hole. You get much less of that technical excitement from sport climbing. And then speed climbing is like climbing’s version of racing but vertically. I find it very exciting, but it is undervalued because you have less problem solving. It’s a standardized route, so you always know how you’re going to do it, and you train on it, which is a limiting factor for how diverse and weird it can get. That’s why many climbers don’t tend toward it as much, but I love it just because I think it is a lot of fun.

When coming to Dartmouth, what was the community like here prior to the formation of the Dartmouth Climbing Team? Why did you and Kayla [Lieuw ’19] choose to start the team in 2015?

MR: There was a huge climbing community here. We have the largest, oldest Outing Club in the country. We are under an hour away from some of the best outdoor rock climbing in the country, and you’ll get vans and trips running through every single weekend.

There are always trips to Nevada, just expedition trips with people going to crazy places. You get some of that crunchy, outdoorsy rock climbers, which is awesome, because most of the people there, aside from one, had never heard of competition rock climbing as a thing. I came in with a friend who also competed in high school, and we knew each other through competitions and we put forward the idea to the climbing community for a competitive team. People were super receptive from a really early point. It was a really cool thing to come into a preexisting climbing community and be so welcomed.

Because we operate mainly out of the climbing gym in the basement of [Maxwell Hall], we like to invite others with the idea of, if you want to get better in your technique and climbing skills, come practice with us because we do it three days a week — it’s impossible not to get better.

When we started, we briefly considered becoming a club sport to gain legitimacy of being a club sport, but we get more openness, funding and crowdsourcing of interested people through being in the Dartmouth Outing Club. We decided to do what the Woodsmen’s team did with Cabin and Trail but with the Dartmouth

MONDAY, MAY 8, 2017

COURTESY OF MATT RUBE

Dartmouth’s competitive climbing team has fun at the climbing gym.

Mountaineering Club. We just wanted to get it off the ground as soon as possible, and we’re still getting our training wheels under us — we’re getting jerseys for people, figuring out how to send people to Nationals, funding, officers, by-laws and all of that kind of stuff. It’s a slow process, but we have a lot of talented people who enjoy it and are dedicated to it, and I’ll be working on this all over the summer.

What do your practices look like?

MR: We switch off what we want to train. Because I have been on a competitive team with a really good coach, I remember a lot of the different stuff that we did that I train with and that my coach gave to me.

Alex [Waterhouse ’20], came in third at Nationals the other weekend and is one of the best rock climbers in the world — he knows a lot of stuff and has experience coaching his old team back in England. Kayla helped me start the team and has also been training and climbing almost her whole life and knows a lot about climbing technique.

So what we do is we trade off who runs the practices, and each practice we focus on a different thing, whether it be footwork or other techniques.

We are also responsible for creating a structured practice that everyone can participate in at all different levels of ability. One power and strength training drill is called “Four by Four,” where you do four climbs four times each, and you don’t stop. It’s a boulder exercise, so you do one climb four times, then you go to the next one four times, then the next one four times and the last one four times. It’s a rapid-fire and you have to go, go, go. For people who have been climbing with our team for a few weeks, they have the strength to do this exercise, it just depends on what climbs they do it.

What did you think of the team’s performance and your own performance at Nationals?

MR: I was pretty happy with how I did. I was surprised I made it to the finals for bouldering as well as speed, which I didn’t expect to do. Because you have to choose I only did speed because I am better at it overall and the

bouldering competition is incredibly strong and difficult. You do the speed wall twice and keep the better of your two runs. On my first run, I did something like 10.13 seconds, which is not my best, but also okay because I haven’t been training on the wall pretty often. I was fairly happy with it; it felt clean, and I didn’t feel like I missed a bunch of feet. My second run my foot slipped a couple of times, I missed a foothole going the speed I was going at, and it just didn’t feel as good, and because of that I was an extra 0.7 seconds slower. It wasn’t the end of the world, but I felt like on my second run that was my opportunity to be a little less careful, be a little bit more aggressive and maybe cut that 10 seconds speed time down to somewhere in the nine second range, and I didn’t get the opportunity to because I had made a couple of mistakes. Overall, I was very happy with how I did — coming in sixth is not bad.

Alex killed it. It was so much fun to watch. Bouldering finals are so much fun to watch because the lights are off and the spotlight is on the climbs. He just nailed it. He got to the first one basically on his first try and just one after the other made these difficult problems look relatively easy. He’ll tell you he could have climbed better, but he did a great job.

What is the most challenging aspect of climbing?

MR: I’d say the most challenging aspect would be maintaining the physical ability. It’s a sport where if you take off a week or two you will feel the difference on how efficiently you climb or how easily you get up the wall. It’s the most difficult parts but also the most rewarding parts because you feel as you get better. If you put in the time, and I don’t mind putting in the time, I love putting in the time, then you feel yourself get better. If you want to be competitive, just show up — it’s great, but it can be hard for college kids.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.

MONDAY, MAY 8, 2017

SW 3

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

Master of the Draw

By EVAN MORGAN

Kathryn Giroux ’19, newly minted Ivy League single-season draw control record-holder, explains how to win the battle in the circle

The Dartmouth Senior Staff

This season, the Big Green women’s lacrosse team got 229 draw controls to its opponents’ 159. Draw specialist Kathryn Giroux ’19 had 108 of those, a mark which was eighth in the nation and beat the previous conference record by four. Giroux sat down with The Dartmouth to break down some of her seven draw controls in the season finale, a 12-8 triumph over Brown University.

Step 1: the set-up

Step 2: the wait

Step 3: the dig

“You can position your feet however you want.

Sometimes I’m standing horizontal — I feel like I’m more stable if I’m going to pull it back. If you stagger your feet, one in front of the other, it sometimes helps if you want to get a running start right after the draw.”

“Some people watch the [referee] when they blow the whistle; some people wait until they hear it. I like to watch the [referee], so when they’re backing out of the circle, I’ll watch them, and then right when they’re about to blow the whistle, I’ll go.”

“You want to scoop the ball. The ball is resting between you and your opponent’s stick, so with your top hand right when you hear the whistle, you want to scoop it out.”

“My bottom hand is at the very bottom, top hand near or close to the top. I have a wide stance, a wide grip. With my bottom hand, I’m going to pull, and with my top hand, I’m going to dig.”

“We practice quick-whistles, with and without the ball, just digging in response to the whistle.”

“You can either push or pull. I pull. The goal is really to dig in with your stick as fast as you can when you hear the whistle. Whoever can dig in the hardest and fastest will most likely be able to get the ball going where they want.”

Step 4: the control

“[Where I go with the ball] depends on where my teammates are and where the opponents are. If they’re matching up with the two circle girls on our team, I’ll typically try to go to myself. I basically just want to put it wherever the opponent is not. If the opponent has two in front of me, we’ll have one of my teammates there so I can pull back.”

Photos by ISHAAN JAJODIA/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

SW 4

MONDAY, MAY 8, 2017

Late start, s

How Spencer Furey ’17 transitioned from a competitive tenn

By Evan Morgan

COURTESY OF SPENCER FUREY

Before coming to Dartmouth, Spencer Furey ’17 was a competitive tennis player, qualifying for the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association singles tournament.

If men’s heavyweight rowing captain Spencer Furey ’17 had his wish as a high school senior, he’d be spending his weekends on the tennis court instead of on the water.

Furey was a prep tennis standout at the Delbarton School in New Jersey. A natural athlete, Furey played football and basketball in his youth. When he broke his collarbone during his freshman year playing football, the right-handed Furey spent the following summer learning to play tennis left-handed.

He committed to tennis full-time, and by his senior year, he was a standout on a Delbarton team that was one of the best squads in the tri-state area. In 2012, he went 32-0 at Delbarton’s No. 2 spot and made it to the quarterfinals of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association singles tournament.

Despite performing well in the sport, Furey still felt like he was behind his peers.

“Tennis is a sport where you acquire the skills over a long period of time, and college recruiting begins pretty early on so I had trouble catching up with other kids that had been playing the sport longer than I had,”

he said. had taken a year off to hone my skills and To follow his dream of playing in the I had come up short,” he said. “That was Ivy League, Furey took a gap year to focus something that haunted me for those first exclusively on tennis. He moved to south couple weeks of school.”

Florida, where he trained at the Saviano T he tur n to rowing happened by Tennis Academy and tried chance. Furey recalls seeing again to get recruited. a rowing poster that said “no T h o u g h h e w a s n o t “I wasn’t going to let experience required.” He recruited to Dartmouth for the opportunity to met then-freshman coach tennis, Furey was admitted Andrew Hilton ’99 at an and accepted a spot in the go to Dartmouth slip informational meeting, and Class of 2017.

Hilton took an interest in by just because of “I wasn’t going to let him during the first several tennis.” the opportunity to go to practices.

Dartmouth slip by just “The rest is history,” Furey because of tennis,” he said. -SPENCER FUREY ’17 says.

Furey was determined As it turns out, Furey to fight for a walk-on spot was built for rowing. He’s on the team. But when he got the physical tools, a arrived, he found the men’s 6-foot-4-inch frame and an tennis team was full with abundance of raw power recruits. No roster spots on the ergometer. After were left for walk-on players. just a year of rowing, he was approaching It was a disappointing end to Furey’s tennis an impressive erg score of six minutes for career.

2,000 meters. More importantly, Furey has “I felt that I had spent all this time — I a rower’s mentality, a self-described obsessive

personality.

“Our sport is about enduring discomfort for extended periods of time,” men’s heavyweight rowing head coach Wyatt Allen said. “Our training is a lot of long, intense intervals on the rowing machine or on the water.”

In short, much of rowing is not fun. Not everyone can stand so many early mornings and so many miles, six days a week and two seasons a year. But the aspects that turn many away from rowing made it an attractive sport to Furey.

“It’s a competitive sport, it’s a sport where you can always keep getting better, it’s a sport that relies on toughness and those were the things that drew me to it,” he said.

Furey now laughs at the stark difference between tennis and rowing.

“If you tried to pick two more different sports, I don’t think you could,” he said.

But he attributes much of his mental toughness to what he learned on the court.

“Tennis can’t teach you how to compete — you either have that or you don’t — ­­ but it taught me the virtues of resolve and toughness that rowing prides itself on,” he said.

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

MONDAY, MAY 8, 2017

SW 5

trong finish

nis player to captain of the men’s heavyweight rowing team

n and Chris Shim

COURTESY OF SPENCER FUREY

Despite spending his freshman fall learning how to row, Spencer Furey ’17 competed in the three seat of the varsity eight during his sophomore fall.

Allen came to Dartmouth in 2014 when Furey was a sophomore.

“He’s an athlete, and he’s very aware of his body,” Allen said. “He’s very coachable. You see it in his mental approach and the way he interacts with the team. He’s already been an athlete at a very high level, so he knows what it is to work hard and what it is to be part of an elite training group, so those things that he brought over from tennis have been the most impactful things to our team, as opposed to knowing how to hit a backhand slice.”

Allen — who walked on to the rowing team at the University of Virginia and went on to win two Olympic medals — said Furey’s walk-on-to-standout story is not uncommon.

At the junior level, natural athletes gravitate to more popular sports like football and soccer.

Because rowing requires more physical talent and somewhat less skill than other sports, Allen said, a top athlete from another sport can become a top rower. What often determines a walk-on’s success is whether the athlete warms to the grueling nature of rowing.

“That’s what I see in walk-ons who are really successful — they enjoy the training,

they enjoy the type of work that we do and Tennis professional Jeff Daly, who has they don’t mind being uncomfortable for known Furey since he was 9 years old, saw extended periods,” Allen said. him as a leader from an early age.

Along with the rest of the walk-ons, Furey “He took a lot of the kids that I had that was separated from recruited athletes during were willing to work to other places, and his freshman fall. While the that’s a really neat thing to other athletes competed in back,” Daly said. “You “I could see [Spencer give races, the walk-ons learned see Furey out there playing how to row until the winter, Furey ’17] rowing now, he’s about to graduate when they were brought in the Olympics this college, and he’s out there into the fold. playing with kids who are 10 “The willingness with quadrennium.” or 11 years old and having which the recruited athletes fun with them.” were willing to welcome the F u rey t a k e s a s i m i l a r -WYATT ALLEN, MEN’S walk-on guys and accept approach with his them into this rowing family HEAVYWEIGHT ROWING teammates on the water. is one of the strengths of HEAD COACH “He holds his teammates, the team,” Furey said. his crewmates, to a pretty He showed enough high standard, but he’s promise in his first year that demanding without being he competed in the three a jerk,” Allen said. “For a seat of the varsity eight in lot of them, he’s head and his sophomore fall and part of the spring. The shoulders above in terms of physiology and next year, he rowed with the varsity eight all what he’s doing on the machine, but he doesn’t season. This season, he is the captain of the let it impact how he interacts with the rest team and sits in the stroke seat. of the group and he truly leads by example.”

Despite his success, Furey is quick to point out where he needs to improve. Just as he did in tennis, Furey came late to rowing, so he is not as technically proficient as some of his teammates.

“That’s where you see the fact that he didn’t row in high school show up ­— he’s still a bit green technically, but as I said, every week he gets a little better,” Allen said.

Furey will face tougher competition next year, which he will spend rowing and studying for a masters degree in history at Cambridge University. Then he aims to return to the national team training center in Princeton, New Jersey.

“I could see him rowing in the Olympics this quadrennium,” Allen said.

Furey has come a long way since he tried to walk on to the tennis team.

“If you had told me my first day at Dartmouth that I would be captain of the rowing team, I would have told you you were crazy,” Furey said.

As for tennis, it’s now just a hobby.

“It’s like riding a bike, it comes back,” Furey said. “I’ll play for the rest of my life.”

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

SW 6

MONDAY, MAY 8, 2017

Trevor Johnson ’20 continues family’s Big Green legacy

By HOLLYE SWINEHART

The Dartmouth Senior Staff

Trevor Johnson ’20 has made a name for himself during his first season as the Big Green’s centerfielder. The first year had a stellar rookie campaign, appearing in 39 of Dartmouth’s 40 games during the season, starting 38 of them. He finished the season batting .250, hitting primarily out of the leadoff spot, tallying four home runs and 21 RBIs. His efforts were rewarded with two Ivy League rookie of the week selections and one co-player of the week throughout the season.

Dartmouth has always been a part of Johnson’s life. Both of his parents were athletes for the Big Green while in college. His father, Mark Johnson ’90, was a two-sport athlete who played football and baseball, and spent eight years playing professional baseball as a first basemen and outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Anaheim Angels and New York Mets. His mother, Jennifer Johnson ’90, competed on the women’s track and field team. As a result, Trevor Johnson grew up visiting Hanover and following Dartmouth sports, and his strong family history played a role in his college selection process. “[My recruiting process] was a little bit different because my dad actually was the first captain for [baseball head coach Bob] Whalen,” Johnson said. “So [Dartmouth] started recruiting

me really early, maybe as early as my freshmen year.”

Trevor Johnson was a highly touted prospect coming out of the Brunswick School in Greenwich, Connecticut, where he was an outfielder and relief pitcher. While at Brunswick, he was named the MSG Varsity Connecticut Player of the Year and was named to the All-Metro First Team, Perfect Game Northeast Region Second Team and twice named to the AllFAA First Team. He played varsity baseball for a year at Rye High School in Rye, New York, before spending his remaining three years at Brunswick.

“I think Whalen did a good job of noticing Trevor early,” Mark Johnson said.

It is easy to see how his parents’ athletic success could place major league expectations on Trevor Johnson. However, Whalen made it clear just how much he values him on an individual level.

“We wanted to treat him like his own man, and we certainly didn’t get involved in the recruiting process with him because his mom and dad went to Dartmouth or because his dad played for me here ... I am always going to have a good relationship with his parents because they were students here when I first came,” Whalen said.

“But we want him to know this is about him and not his parents.”

It seems Dartmouth was the right decision for Trevor Johnson, as he has performed well both academically and athletically. His

COURTESY OF TREVOR JOHNSON

Trevor Johnson ’20 hit four home runs in his rookie campaign.

transition to college baseball has come with notable ease but not without surprises.

“You see constant good pitching and good players [at the college level],” Trevor Johnson said. “But baseball is five to six hours of your day everyday, which I wasn’t expecting.”

Johnson’s innate athletic ability and baseball instincts have helped to ease the move to college ball. “[Trevor Johnson is] an excellent athlete ... but over and beyond that he has what coaches would refer to as a very high baseball IQ ,” Whalen said. “He has a good understanding of situational

baseball, of things that come up that are harder to teach like base running.”

This understanding has come from years of playing baseball.

“He is a student of the game,” Mark Johnson said. “He is a smart player and understands the game and what he is supposed to be doing.”

Trevor Johnson said his parents have played an instrumental role in his development into the player he is today.

“My dad has coached me in every aspect of the game, which I credit him with a lot of my success, as well as my mom who ran track

here,” Trevor Johnson said. “It seemed like I was destined to be here.”

Given his early success and his family pedigree, a natural question is whether professional baseball is in Trevor Johnson’s future. His father, who can speak from experience, believes it is a possibility.

“He has the talent to do it,” Mark Johnson said. “A lot of it comes down to hard work which he is willing to do.”

Destiny aside, Trevor Johnson figures to be a stronghold in the outfield for the Big Green for the next three years.

MONDAY, MAY 8, 2017

Manny Machado Fought the (Unwritten) Law, and Machado Won Last week, I told you about the burgeoning feud between Manny Machado and the Boston Red Sox. Well this week, a four-game set at Fenway Park between the Sox and Machado’s Baltimore Orioles did little to ease the tension between the two ball clubs.

First, a quick refresher on why the series had the potential to explode before it even began. Machado, attempting to avoid a force out at second base on April 21, slid awkwardly into Dustin Pedroia, forcing the Sox second baseman to miss a few games as a result of the dust up. Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes threw a fastball just behind

SW 7

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

Machado’s head. The Sox still felt wronged by Machado, a fugitive of baseball’s unwritten law for his involvement in Pedroia’s injury. The Birds were displeased with Barnes for not only throwing at their superstar third baseman but also for throwing at his head.

Fast forward to May 1 and the beginning of the four-game series. In a word, Machado was magnificent.

He hit a towering home run over the Green Monster, notched two RBIs and made a handful of web gems at third base. Machado looked a bit like the Florida-born, jersey-number13-wearing third baseman who was once the Sox’s greatest enemy and American League East nemesis. He showed the Red Sox all of the tools that have made him one of the biggest stars in baseball: power, speed, a rocket arm and an exceptional glove. Machado rendered Boston powerless, and the Birds took the series opener 5-2. When asked about the feud, Machado said, “It’s been over. We’re just out here to go and try and play baseball.”

In Game 2, the Red Sox turned to its ace, Chris Sale, to find an answer to Machado. When Machado came to the plate in the first inning, boos rained down on him from the Fenway faithful just as they did in every atbat he had in the series. Sale’s first pitch went directly behind the O’s powerful third baseman, prompting the only cheer of the series for any play involving Machado. While Sale

managed to strike him out in the first, to complete his round trip as the Machado launched a second home Sox and its fans could only watch. run over the Green Monster to cut The ball flew 456 feet before coming the Sox lead to one in the top of to rest and left Machado’s bat at a the seventh. The Orioles could not sizzling 113.4 mph. complete the comeback, but once Almost immediately, certain sects again number 13 left no doubt as to of Red Sox Nation and baseball who the best player on the field was purists took issue with Machado’s that warm May evening. prolonged lap of the bases. The third After the game, Machado baseman was unprofessional and verbalized an indignant, 90-second showboating, once again violating rant, colored with baseball’s uses of a particular unwritten rules.

“If you don’t want four-letter word I have news for b e g i n n i n g w i t h [Manny] Machado anyone who didn’t “f.” He expressed to ‘showboat’ after like Machado’s frustration that the lengthy lap of the Red Sox took so long home runs, don’t bases. If you don’t to go back to business let him hit them in want Machado as usual, saying that to “showboat” the first place.” he’d lost respect for after home runs, the Red Sox as an don’t let him hit organization. them in the first In the series’ third place. Machado, game, the Red Sox finally quieted through all of the off-the-field Machado’s bat, winning 4-2 and drama and tension, did nothing but holding Machado without a hit. It his job. The Orioles pay Machado was the only game of the series in to hit home runs and play excellent which Machado did not homer. defense. That is exactly what he In the fourth inning of the series’ did all series. The Red Sox tried fourth and final game, Machado repeatedly to prevent him from doing came to the plate with two on, two that by getting into his head and out, and the game tied at three. throwing at him. Machado blocked Kyle Kendrick delivered a 92-mph out that mess and played baseball. offering that Machado took deep. Five times over the last two weeks, This home run cleared not only the Red Sox tried to settle some the Green Monster but the stadium ethereal score with the Orioles star. entirely, landing on Lansdowne They failed every time. Four times in Street. Machado coasted around his last seven games against the Red the bases, taking nearly 30 seconds Sox, Machado homered.

The weekend Roundup

Compiled by EVAN MORGAN & CHRIS SHIM

EQUESTRIAN With a top-five finish in t h e M c D o n a l d S ch o l a r s h i p Challenge, a top-15 performance in the Cacchione Cup class and two reserve championships, the equestrian team had its best-ever national performances at the Intercollegiate Horse S h ow A s s o c i at i o n N at i o n a l Championships this weekend.

On Thursday, co-captains Meg Rauner ’17 and Claire Bick ’18 were the first Big Green riders to be tested. Bick led off with an athletic ride on Banks, a horse provided by Randolph College, and finished second in the 16-rider intermediate flat class. Rauner drew the same horse as Bick, and after consulting with her teammate, rode Banks to a secondplace finish in novice flat.

As the high point rider for Zone 1 Region 2, Olivia Champ ’19

competed in the Cacchione Cup, the highest class at Nationals.

38 Cacchione Cup competitors represented each of the 38 IHSA zones. Champ finished 14th in fences and made the cut for the flat portion of competition, where her final placing improved to 12th.

To qualify for the McDonald Scholarship Challenge, Erin McCarthy-Keeler ’19 had one of the top 16 scores in the nation on a written test of horse knowledge.

On Sunday, the finalists competed in the practicum phase, where they interacted directly with horses.

McCarthy-Keeler, who finished seventh in last season’s McDonald Scholarship Challenge, took fifth in this season’s competition.

The two reserve championships represent the new high-water mark for Big Green equestrian team in national competition.

It was only a four-game series in May, but the Orioles-Red Sox matchup was playoff-like in its atmosphere. Boston tried to make the series about settling scores.

Machado and the Orioles played baseball. While the teams split the four games, it was the Orioles, led

by Machado who sent a decisive message: Do what you want, we’re just going to play ball and play it well. These Orioles may not garner the national attention that Boston and the New York Yankees do, but they are more ready to win playoff series right now than either of those two teams.

Before wrapping the latest chapter in the Sox versus Machado saga, it is worth mentioning that Machado, like Bryce Harper, is a free agent after next season. Also like Harper, he has repeatedly been linked to none other than the Yankees in free agency. Machado versus the Sox certainly isn’t dead yet, but adding Machado to the Yankees may finally be what brings the Sox-Yankees pairing to national relevance for the first time since the mid-2000s. This is of course only conjecture, and there is plenty to love about Machado, as an Oriole, taking on the best Boston can offer and hammering it over the Green Monster. After all of the highlight reel plays he’s produced and nonsense he’s been subjected to in Boston, let him have his time around the bases.

Track & Field

The men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled to Yale University to compete at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championships on Saturday and Sunday. This championship meet is the culmination of months of preparation for both teams and is arguably the team’s most important meet of the outdoor season.

The women’s and men’s teams both finished in fifth overall in the team standings.

The Big Green women put three in the top four in the javelin throw. Olivia Wiener ’19 won the event with a 43.43m/142-6ft throw. Bridget Douglas ’18 was second in 42.45m/138-7ft, while Moriah Morton ’17 was fourth in 41.53m/136-3ft. Cha’Mia Rothwell ’20 emerged as the champion in the 100-meter hurdles, clocking 13.39 seconds in the final. Rothwell was also third in the long jump with a 5.95m/19-6.25ft leap and fifth in the 200-meter dash, with a time of 23.88s.

In the hammer throw, Amelia Ali ’19 scored one point with her sixth-place finish in the hammer throw.

On Sunday, reigning Indoor Heps mile champion Helen Schlachtenhaufen ’17 placed second in the 1500-meter run with a time of 4:29.97. Maria Garman ’19 and Miranda Lawson ’17 wrapped up the second day of the heptathlon on Sunday to finish fifth (4,828 points) and sixth (4,624 points), respectively.

Claire Dougherty ’20 was sixth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:09.53. Olivia Lantz ’19 was fifth in the 5,000-meter run in 16:39.67. The 4x800meter relay team of Dougherty, Bridget O’Neill ’18, Schlachtenhaufen and Bridget Flynn ’18 was fourth in 8:45.70. The 4x400-meter relay team of Marissa Evans ’18, Kayla Gilding ’19, Abby Livingston ’18 and Katy Sprout ’17 was sixth in 3:50.60.

Harvard ran away with first place, racking up 164 points. With 60 points, the Big Green barely edged

Cornell University for fifth, finishing just 0.5 points ahead of the Big Red. Corey Muggler ’17 placed second with a 7.83m/258.25ft leap, smashing the school record in the long jump of 7.66m/25-1.75ft set by Lane Burks ’97. Muggler was also sixth in the triple jump on Sunday with a 15.36m/50-4.75ft leap.

Julian Heninger ’17 was third in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 14:17.33. Alec Eschholz ’19 placed third in the 400-meter hurdles in 52.91s and Parker Johnson ’19 was sixth in 53.36s. In the men’s hammer throw, the Big Green received points from Colin Minor ’18 and Tim Brennan ’17 with fifth and sixth place finishes, respectively. Minor threw 61.84m/202-11ft, while Brennan threw 60.06m/197-0ft. In the javelin, Ben Colello ’18 placed fourth with a 59.18m/194-2ft throw, while Parker Whims ’19 placed sixth with a 58.71m/192-7ft throw. Lucas Ribeiro ’19 was fourth in the discus throw with a 49.56m/162-7ft throw.

Shawn Ohazuruike ’20 and Alex Frye ’17 placed fifth (14.56s) and sixth (14.59s), respectively, in the 110-meter hurdles. Amos Cariati ’18 placed sixth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.39s. The men’s 4x800m relay team of Trevor Colby ’19, Michael Thurston ’20, Reed Horton ’19 and Pat Gregory ’18 was fifth in 7:32.27. The 4x400m relay team of Myles Holt ’20, Zach Plante ’18, Phil Gomez ’17 and Cariati was fifth in 3:13.38. Dartmouth’s best showing came in the decathlon, where Nico Robinson ’17, Ben Ose ’19 and Colello went 1-2-4, contributing 22 points to the team total.

Perennial heavyweight Princeton University scored 156 points to take the Outdoor Heps title back from Cornell, who finished second. Dartmouth finished in fifth with 63 points, a single point ahead of Yale.

SW 8

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

SPORTS

MONDAY, MAY 8, 2017

TODAY’S LINEUP

No athletic events scheduled

Senior Spring: pitcher Michael Danielak ’16 looks to keep fanning hitters in the major leagues Danielak said. “I wanted to have a great academic experience and The Dartmouth Staff felt like if I was good enough, Dominant. The one word that scouts would find me anywhere. pops into every baseball fanatic’s Dartmouth had a small campus mind upon hearing names like where the baseball and workout Sandy Koufax, Nolan Ryan, Roger facilities were very close to each Clemens and Mariano Rivera. other, which meant the optimal Had you seen Michael Danielak opportunity to grow as a baseball ’16 pitch for Dartmouth this past player as well as a student.” season, you would describe him While highly touted upon his with the same word. arrival in Hanover, Danielak knew Danielak’s fifth year began that he had to grow as a player in flawlessly when he tossed five order to fulfill his aspiration of scoreless innings of two-hit ball in playing in the big leagues. a 13-1 win over St. Bonaventure “I did not come in throwing University in Port Charlotte, 90-plus, and I knew that I needed Florida. Seven scoreless innings to increase my velocity in order to in a 5-0 win over then-No. 17 get to the next level,” Danielak University of Miami were key said. “[Baseball head coach Bob] to helping the Big Green take Whalen was very influential in my two of three games over the development, but my body also powerhouse Hurricanes. After needed time to mature. I spent a another standout showing, this lot of time not just in the weight time in a win over then-No. 26 room but also working on my University of Central Florida, mechanics and learning how to be Danielak brought his four-pitch in sync with my body and getting arsenal to Ivy League play. more efficient.”

Despite making hitters look The payoff was immediate, as foolish all season, Danielak’s Danielak’s fastball speed increased jour ney was five mph in just never as easy a single month as he made it “I loved the game i n Fe b r u a r y look. growing up and knew b e f o r e t h e Growing up season began. that I might have in the suburbs But patellar o f C h i c a g o the potential to play tendinitis and playing on at the next level.

— typically yo u t h t e a m s an injury coached by his I wanted to have that afflicts father, Danielak a great academic basketball fell in love players — experience and felt with baseball. flared up during With the goal like if I was good his freshman of receiving a enough, scouts would fall and dogged top education him throughout and playing the find me anywhere.” the next few h i g h e s t l eve l years. Though o f c o l l e g i at e Danielak made -MICHAEL DANIELAK ’16 baseball, along meaningful with persistent contributions prodding to the team by thenas the set-up Dartmouth man during his assistant coach freshman year, N i c h o l a s the tendinitis Enriquez, c o n t i nu e d t o Danielak came to Hanover with limit his productivity as he made the intent to make Dartmouth his the transition into a full-time pit stop on the way to the pros. starter.

“I loved the game growing up “It was just a nagging injury,” and knew that I might have the Danielak said. “I pitched fine potential to play at the next level,” freshman year, but it really caught

By JONATHAN KATZMAN

HOLLYE SWINEHART/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

The Pittsburgh Pirates drafted Michael Danielak ’16 in 2016, but he chose to return to Dartmouth to pitch in his final season.

up to me sophomore year.”

The tendinitis kept Danielak’s velocity down and caused consistent discomfort. He elected to have surgery that summer, but by the fall, the pain had not improved. Danielak had another surgery and wound up a medical redshirt during his third year in Hanover.

Still without a season during which he was fully healthy, Danielak was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 28th round of the 2016 Major League Baseball Draft. Though intrigued by the Pirates’ offer, Danielak decided to return to Dartmouth a fifth year to get stronger and play a complete college season.

“I just did not think the timing was right,” Danielak said.

“Jumping right to the pros would have also been very risky. I knew that I was not yet at the top of my game and if you do not produce in the pros, that’s it.”

Healthy at last, Danielak saved his best for his final season. Named Collegiate Baseball’s Preseason Ivy League Player to Watch, he had a chance to be a full-time starter for the first time in his college career.

“I had been a starter my whole life, and that was my aspiration in college,” Danielak said. “It was actually a big transition to start in the bullpen when I got to college because the situations you face are just different — often you just need time to find your rhythm and your stuff for that game, which you cannot afford coming out of the bullpen.”

A two-run, complete-game perfor mance at Columbia University in Dartmouth’s first Ivy League game of the season showed that Danielak’s hot start against Miami and UCF wasn’t about to fizzle out. In nine starts, Danielak went 7-2 with a 2.64 ERA, which placed him fourth among pitchers in the Ivy League this past season. He also fanned hitters 55 times, good for third in the Ivy League, over the course of 58 innings.

After putting together an impressive and pain-free season, Danielak will likely be selected again by a big league team in this year’s draft — perhaps in a higher round.

“Teams know that I have been drafted already, which should help

a lot,” Danielak said. “The goal is ultimately to have a career as a professional baseball player. A few teams have expressed interest already, but you never know how things will turn out.”

Danielak’s likely shot at the pros brings to mind the name of another former Dartmouth pitcher: Chicago Cubs World S e r i e s g a m e 7 s t a r t e r Ky l e Hendricks ’12.

“He’s a great guy,” said Danielak of Hendricks, a fellow change-up thrower. “He’s gotten me tickets to some Cubs games when he pitches.

I spoke with him more before he made it to the big leagues, but I hope to speak with him again, particularly about his change-up grip.”

With this year’s MLB Draft approaching in June, Danielak will be soaking up his senior spring in order to enjoy his final moments on campus. An athlete with professional aspirations, however, cannot afford to take days off.

Danielak still throws and trains daily as he embarks on his dream of playing in the big leagues.

Given his track record, he will keep working until he gets there.