04.29.19
Men’s rugby team finds success, builds legacy as a club sport p. 5 Sports Cui-sine: NBA Conference Semifinals Predictions p. 7 Tuck offers business training program for retired Olympians p. 8
Women’s lacrosse secures share of first Ivy League title since 2011 p. 4 JOHN AND MATT RISLEY/COURTESY OF THE DARTMOUTH ATHLETICS DEPARTMENT
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MONDAY, APRIL 29, 2019
THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY
The weekend Roundup
Baseball
Compiled by Elijah czysz and eric Vaughn
Sailing This weekend, the sailing team competed at the NEISA championships at Bowdoin College, qualifying for nationals with its third-place finish. The Big Green’s Division A boat placed in the top five teams in 10 out of 14 races, claiming two first-place finishes and four second-place finishes. The
Division B boat added on four top-five finishes, including one first-place finish and one secondplace finish. Following the races, Rebecca McElvain ’19 and Christopher Williford ’19 were named to the All-NEISA First Team, while Jack McGraw ’20 and Alyssa Berger ’19 earned Second Team honors.
W lacrosse In its final game of the regular season, the women’s lacrosse team annihilated Yale University 23-9 to clinch a share of the Ivy League title for the first time since 2011. Michelle Yu ’21 and Kierra Sweeney ’19 led the Big Green with five goals apiece, and Elizabeth Mastrio ’19 recorded three goals of her own to move into 15th overall on the
Dartmouth scoring list. The Big Green looks to continue its strong play against the University of Pennsylvania on Friday in the Ivy League semifinal at Columbia Univer sity. A win Friday would send Dartmouth to the Ivy League championship game next Sunday. Dartmouth finishes the regular season 11-4 overall and 6-1 in Ivy play.
ELSA ERICKSEN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
The baseball team went 1-2 against Yale this weekend. It will play its final series of the season next weekend.
In its final road game, the Big Green had a great bounce back win against Siena College on Wednesday, taking it 6-4. Dartmouth recorded 10 hits, including a four-run fourth inning to power them to victory. Nate Ostmo ’19 led the Big Green with 3 RBIs, including a homer in the first inning. Dartmouth had a thrilling comeback win on Senior Day against Yale University on Friday, taking the first game of the series 7-5. After trailing 5-3 heading into the sixth inning, the Big Green answered back with three runs in the seventh and held on to the lead through the ninth. The Big Green seniors — Matt Feinstein ’19, Steffen Torgesen ’19, Sean Sullivan ’19 and Ostmo —
combined for 10 of the 14 hits, and fellow senior Cole O’Connor ’19 pitched eight full innings. The Big Green dropped both games on Sunday, losing 7-4 and 4-0. In the earlier game, Dartmouth was down 7-0 heading into the bottom of the ninth and despite rallying back for four runs and bringing the tying run to the plate, the Big Green simply didn’t have enough left in the tank. The Bulldogs’ pitching overwhelmed Dartmouth in the final game of the series, recording nine strikeouts and allowing just two hits. The Big Green is now 14-23 overall and 7-11 in Ivy play. The team looks to bounce back against the University of Maine on Wednesday.
Track and field
Zachary ZacharyBenjamin Benjamin’19 ’19 Debora Hyemin Han ’20 Editor-in-Chief Editor-in-Chief
Editor-in-Chief
Hanting Hanting Guo Guo ’19 ’19 Aidan Sheinberg ’20 Publisher Publisher
Publisher
Ioana IoanaSolomon Solomon’19 ’19
04.29.19 Vol.CLXXV CLXXVI No. 4.30.18 4.23.18 Vol. Vol. CLXXV No. No. 27 2126
Amanda AmandaZhou Zhou ’19 Alex Fredman ’20 ’19 Executive Editors Executive Editors Executive Editor
Luke Gitter ’21 Mark Cui ’19 Justin Kramer ’21 Justin Kramer ’21 Samantha Hussey Lili Stern ’22 ’20 Associate Sports Editor Sports Editors Sports Editors Divya DivyaKopalle Kopalle Kopalle’21 ’21 ’21 Divya Michael MichaelLin Lin Lin’21 ’21 ’21 Michael Photography PhotographyEditors Editors Editors Photography Jaclyn Jaclyn Eagle Eagle ’19 ’19 Hattie Newton ’21 Templating TemplatingEditor Editor Editor Templating
Men’s and women’s track sent a combined 29 athletes to the University of New Hampshire PreConference Invitational as a final tune-up before the Ivy League Heptagonal Championship. Freshmen Myles Schreck ’22 and Andrew Palermo ’22 had strong outings, taking first and third, respectively, in the hammer throw, while teammate Lucas Ribeiro ’20 placed first in the discus. Big Green freshmen also saw impressive performances from Thomas Lingard ’22 who won the 800m run and Isaac Weber ’22 who took fourth
in the 1500m. Will Marx ’22 placed third in the long jump. For the women, Brook Brunet ’21 took first in the pole vault and Diana Vizza ’20 placed fourth in the 1500m run. Lily Lockhart ’21 took fourth in shot put and third in discus while Rachel Donner ’22 took fifth in both events. Amelia Ali ’19 and Alexandra Collins ’19 took first and second place, respectively, in hammer throw. Track and field will compete in Ivy League Hepts next weekend at Princeton University.
MONDAY, APRIL 29, 2019
THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY
m lacrosse
ELSA ERICKSEN/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
The men’s lacrosse team’s loss to Brown signified the end of another season without a conference win for the Big Green.
Men’s lacrosse was bested by Brown University this weekend 11-7 on Senior Day. The Big Green put up a strong first half, leading 5-3 going into halftime, but four consecutive unanswered goals secured the lead for Brown going in to the fourth quarter. This marks the 29th consecutive loss for the Big Green against an Ivy League opponent. Dartmouth had almost as many shots on goal as Brown and half as many turnovers, but the Big Green struggled in its matchups, winning just nine
percent of faceoffs and 36 percent of groundballs. Four unanswered goals in the fourth quarter sealed the deal for the Big Green. Matt Paul ’21 posted two goals while teammate Peter Rizzotti ’22 netted the final Dartmouth goal of the game to end the Bears’ scoring run. After the game, head coach Brenden Callahan said, “I am appreciative of our seniors’ efforts. They taught us what it means to work hard and enjoy every day.”
softball The Big Green fell to Boston University 9-1 on Thursday. The Terriers jumped out to a 7-0 lead through the first three innings and never looked back. Morgan Martinelli ’19 was the only bright spot for Dartmouth, going 3-3 at the plate and homering in the fourth. Dartmouth split the first tow games of its series against Brown University taking the first 3-1 and dropping the second 6-4. The Big Green came out swinging in the first game, recording all three of its runs in the first inning. Shelby Wilkison ’21 dominated on the mound through five innings, allowing just one
earned run on three hits. In the second game, it was Brown who had the hot start, scoring six runs in the first two innings. The Big Green rallied for four runs in the final innings but came up just short. On Sunday, the Big Green shut out the Bears 2-0 behind a dominant pitching performance by Heather Turner ’21. Turner went for five innings, allowing just three hits. Brooke Plonka ’22 closed with three strikeouts through the final two innings. Taylor Ward ’19 homered and singled to score both runs. Softball plays its final non-conference game of the year against Boston College on Wednesday.
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rowing Lightweight rowing traveled to Ithaca, NY this weekend to compete for the Baggaley Bowl, where the Big Green was swept by Cornell University. The First Varsity 8 was bested by a 13-second margin while Dartmouth’s Second Varsity boats fell to both Cornell’s Second and Third Varsity boats. Men’s heavyweight rowing competed against Brown for the Atalanta Cup in Fairlee, VT, and at Syracuse University for the Packard Cup this weekend. The Big Green split with Brown Univer sity with each team winning two races. The Big Green’s First and Second Varsity boats were edged out by five seconds and nine seconds, respectively, while Dartmouth’s Third Varsity boat beat out Brown by a seven-second margin. The Fourth Varsity 8 won by four seconds. The race was meant to be held at home on the Connecticut River, but dangerously fast currents forced the two teams to relocate the race to Lake Morey, 20 minutes north of Hanover.
The heavyweight team won three out of races at Syracuse. The First Varsity 8 tallied the Dartmouth’s only loss of the day when the Orange made a late comeback to edge out the Big Green by less than one second. Dartmouth’s Second, Third and Fourth Varsity 8 all won within a less than ten second margin, with the Third Varsity 8 crossing the finish line just .4 seconds before the home team. Women’s rowing traveled to New York to compete against Cornell in the Parents Cup, with Syracuse rowing as a guest. The Big Green clinched the Cup with its First Varsity 8 victory over the Big Red, finishing in 6:56.99 to Cornell’s 7:01.76. Dartmouth finished ahead of Cornell in all races except the Second Varsity 8. The lightweight, heavyweight and women’s teams will all travel to Worcester, MA for the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges Sprints Regatta — the women’s team next weekend and the lightweight and heavyweight teams on May 19.
m tennis In the final game of its regular season — one that had serious NCAA Tournament implications — Dartmouth rose to the occasion against No. 34 Harvard University, winning 4-1. Dartmouth took the No. 2 and 3 doubles spots to take an early lead heading into singles. Dan Martin ’21, Charlie Broom ’20 and Peter Conklin ’21 all had huge wins in
singles play, winning at the No. 1, 2 and 4 spots, respectively. The No. 41 Big Green finish the regular season 15-8 overall and 4-3 in the Ivy League as it looks to continue their strong play in NCAA regionals. Dartmouth will find out who its opponent for the first round will be during the NCAA selection show today at 6 p.m.
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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY
MONDAY, APRIL 29, 2019
Women’s lacrosse secures share of first Ivy League title since 2011 B y ADDISON DICK
The Dartmouth Staff
The women’s lacrosse team won the regular season Ivy League championship after scoring a seasonhigh 23 goals in Saturday’s victory over Yale University. Entering the game against the Bulldogs, the Big Green needed a win to earn a share of the Ivy League title. With Princeton University’s win over Cornell University, Dartmouth will share the championship with the Tigers. The Big Green allowed the first goal of the day to Yale but proceeded to find its groove offensively. Attacker Kierra Sweeney ’19 opened the scoring for Dartmouth with the 150th point of her career. She finished the game with five goals, giving her a team-high 52 goals this season. Sweeney said the team had great ball movement, which allowed the Big Green to score easily. Fellow attacker Michelle Yu ’21 also found the back of the net a career-high five times against Yale and her sister Vanessa, who is a midfielder for the Bulldogs. Dartmouth took a seven-goal lead into halftime, but Yale continued to battle in the second half, cutting the lead to five goals with under 14 minutes remaining. The Big Green, however, pulled away by scoring nine unanswered goals to finish the game on top by a score of 23-9. Sweeney and Yu were not the only Big Green players to reach milestones on Saturday. Attacker Kellen D’Alleva ’19 had four assists and is the new leader in program history for assists in a single season with 41. Midfielder Kathryn Giroux ’19 continued to be dominant in draw control, winning 10 draws in the game. She now has a program-record 137 draws this season and is 12th in NCAA history with 395 wins on the draw. Midfielder Emma Lesko ’21 described Saturday’s win as a complete team effort. “We had so many people on offense contribute, and I love how our defense played,” she said. “We played the way we’ve been playing all season.” As the final minutes ticked down in New Haven, head coach Danielle
Spencer substituted all of her senior players into the game. Sweeney described the last moments of the game as “electric.” “There was a timeout with three minutes left, and we all looked up at the scoreboard and knew we put destiny in our own hands,” she said. “It made it unquestionable that we were going to win.” Saturday’s victory gave the Big Green its 12th Ivy League championship in program history. The team won seven of nine Ivy titles from 1997 to 2005, and this year’s championship is the team’s first since 2011. This season is Spencer’s first Ivy League championship in her third season with the Big Green. Amy Patton, who coached the Big Green from 1993 until Spencer took over in 2017, also won her first Ivy League championship in her third season with Dartmouth. Lesko said winning the Ivy League championship feels surreal. “People have talked about doing this for so many years,” Lesko said. “We were all in awe yesterday because we had such a dominating win. It is so exciting because we had such a hard fall and January putting in the work, and all the little things we’ve done made it so much more worth it and is really awesome. We battled through so many of the Ivy League games and knowing that we’d actually done it was absolutely thrilling.” Winning a conference championship was one of the main goals for the senior class, and Sweeney said it felt amazing to accomplish. “For my class especially, it’s been four years in the making,” Sweeney said. “It’s been our goal the whole time. To finally achieve it senior year, there are very few words I could use to adequately describe it.” The Big Green does not have much time to celebrate, as the Ivy League Tournament semifinals take place Friday at Columbia University. Princeton, the No. 1 seed, will take on Cornell for the second straight weekend, while Dartmouth and the University of Pennsylvania will play in a rematch of last year’s semifinal, in which the Quakers came out on top. “We’re really excited to play them,
TIFFANY ZHAI/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
The women’s lacrosse team defeated Yale 23-9 this weekend to close out a successful regular season.
but we have a long week ahead of us,” Lesko said. “We’re going to focus on ourselves for the beginning of the week and see where we can improve. Once it gets closer to the game, we’ll focus on how we can beat them and what worked and didn’t work in April. We’re excited to see them again because we know it’s going to be another really good game.” Starting goaltender Kiera Vrindten ’20 is confident that the Big Green will have a good week of practice and be prepared for Friday’s showdown. “It’s important to focus on our fundamentals and getting better with every practice,” Vrindten said. “We’ll reassess on Monday and create a game plan, not only to make sure that we improve as a team but also prepare well against our opponent.” Last year’s loss to Penn will be on the minds of the Big Green players. The Quakers ended Dartmouth’s season in the Ivy League semifinals with a two-goal win. The Big Green avenged the loss with its win over Penn in the regular season, but the stakes are higher with postseason implications on the line. Vrindten described last’s year loss to Penn in the tournament as “heartbreaking” and is looking forward to Friday’s game. “I think it’s going to be a great
opportunity to prove that our program is capable of beating them more than once this season, but also getting revenge for losing to them last year and getting to the Ivy championship, which has been one of our team goals since I was a freshman,” she said. Vrindten believes the loss last season provided the team with the experience necessary to come out on top this year. “I think it’s going to motivate us,” she said. “Returning again this year, we were all left with a bitter taste in our mouth, and we’re all really excited to see what happens because we know that our team can prevail in the end. Now it’s our time to show everybody that our program is as good as we say we are.” The Ivy League Tournament will be a crucial moment in the Big Green’s season, as the team is fighting to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament. The winner in New York City this weekend will earn an automatic bid to the field of 26 teams. US Lacrosse Magazine projected the Big Green as one of the final teams in the field in its latest bracket prediction, released last Wednesday. The Big Green should be safely in the field with a win on Friday, but a loss to Penn could leave the team unsure of its postseason fate when the NCAA bracket is revealed
next Sunday. The game against the Quakers should be a tight contest. The most recent Inside Lacrosse poll ranked Dartmouth 12th, one spot ahead of Penn. The regular season contest, played in Philadelphia, saw the Big Green come out on top 15-11. The Big Green has high expectations for this weekend, especially with the chance to continue its season by earning a berth in the NCAA Tournament. “At the end of the weekend, we want to win an Ivy championship,” Vrindten said. “That’s pretty clear-cut. We want to bring our program back to the top, as it was so many years ago. We’re hopeful that if we do play well and prove ourselves in the tournament, then that can get us a bid into the NCAA Tournament.” The Big Green will take on the Penn in the first semifinal on Friday at 2 p.m. in New York City. The second semifinal between Princeton and Cornell takes place at 5 p.m. The winners of the two semifinals will meet in the Ivy League Championship on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. with. The Selection Show for the NCAA Tournament will take place later Sunday at 9 p.m., with tournament play beginning on May 7.
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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY
MONDAY, APRIL 29, 2019
Men’s rugby team find success, builds strong legacy as a club sport B y Osezele okoruwa The Dartmouth
With a national championship win this fall, the Dartmouth women’s rugby team secured its spot as a powerhouse in the sport. However, many forget that there is a men’s team that competes at a high level year-round. The Dartmouth Men’s Rugby Football Club, although not an official varsity sport like the women’s team, has a legacy of success in the Ivy League and across the nation. With 23 Ivy League cup championships over 47 years, seven straight Ivy League Sevens championships since 2012, two USA Sevens Collegiate Rugby championships in 2011 and 2012, five National XV Final Fours, two National XV Championship Runner-Ups and one D1AA XV Championship Runner-Up finish, it is undeniable that the DRFC has been able to sustain success over time. Most teams that compete at the level of the DRFC have their funding fully taken care of by their school. However, since the DRFC is not a varsity team, funding must come from other sources. “A lot of it has to do with the way that we fundraise, as well as
the duration of our season. We have games in all three terms, which would not be allowed if we were varsity,” said Struan Coleman ’19, the rugby team’s captain. The alumni of the team provide them with the funding necessary to compete year-round, said Kyle Burcin ’19, the treasurer for the team. “We have the freedom to use our money as we wish. We have a very supportive alumni base and strong cash flow coming in,” Burcin further broke down what the funding goes toward, explaining that while in the fall, the team mainly stays in the Ivy League, in the winter and spring, it may travel much further — including a trip to Florida during this spring break. He added that travel expenses, as well as clubhouse upkeep and coaches pay are funded from alumni donations. While the team cannot recruit by scouting out high school players, the DRFC does employ a tried-andtrue method. “It’s basically word of mouth,” Coleman said. “We set up a booth at the club sports fair in the fall. We’ll do sweeps and go to freshmen floor meetings. For kids who are on the team already, if you have any friends who have a lot of free
time and are looking for something competitive but also fun and are somewhat athletic, bring ’em out.” Although this does not always result in a large pool of players, the method does have the effect of drawing out those who are already connected with the sport. “Every year we get one or two kids who played rugby at a high level in high school beforehand,” Coleman said. “They are kind of like the cornerstone of our team. We love to get the recently retired varsity athletes as well. Whether that happens their senior year, the end of their last season or if at some point they decide that the time commitment of a varsity sport at Dartmouth is too much ... they still wanna play.” For Cam Guage ’22, his first experience with Dartmouth rugby came from seeing the team at a distance. “When I was in high school and played rugby, I watched the 7s tournament in Las Vegas on TV, and I remember seeing Dartmouth was competing for the championship one year,” Guage said. He added that he was able to start playing with the team during the preseason as soon as he got to campus in the fall.
This untraditional recruitment method results in a group that is less homogenous when experience is considered, but this is made up for by a strong team culture and coaching, according to Burcin. “One of the mantras of the DRFC is that it is a student-led team first and foremost,” Burcin said. “While we have one of the [best], if not the best coaching staff in the country, they emphasize that it is really us that drive the team and where we want to go with it.” As a club and athletic team, there is a breadth of leadership in order to address both the athletic and fundraising needs of the organization. Included is a captain and either one or two co-captains, an alumni chair, a treasurer, match secretaries who plan for the team’s travel and a tour director who plans the DRFC’s spring tour, which requires a significant logistical effort for a student-run organziation. “When you think about what that means logistically, it’s a twoweek trip sometimes to a foreign country,” Coleman said. “If it’s within the United States, it’s to somewhere warm and far away from Hanover. [The planning involves] flights, hotels transportation, meals, practices, games. It’s a lot of work
and its really student-led. It’s a very time-consuming but rewarding thing to be a part of.” As a fairly large time commitment, many would have reservations about playing a year-round sport while in college — but for others, the sport extends to all aspects of life in the best possible way. “It’s probably the best decision that I have made in my time here at Dartmouth, to dedicate a lot of time, effort and emotional energy to this group,” Coleman said. “It’s a really special place and you get out of it what you put in, which isn’t always true of thins at this school or of life in general. To go out there every day and play the sport that I love with my best friends has been amazing.” For Burcin, the best part of the team is the welcoming and inclusive attitude. “No matter who you are — if you’re a high-level athlete who just quit a varsity sport and wants to get back to competing against the highest level of athletes, we have a place for you, if you’re a guy who wants to come out and learn the game of rugby, we have a place for you and if you just want to come and meet a great group of guys — we have a place for you.” Burcin said.
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Pucks in Deep
with Sam Stockton ’19 Pucks in Deep: One-on-One with Ailish Forfar ’16 For this week’s Pucks in Deep, we have an exclusive interview with Dartmouth’s own Ailish Forfar ’16. After graduating from the College, Forfar went on to attend Ryerson University in Toronto. There, she studied sports media and played two more seasons of hockey. After her eligibility ran out last year, she spent the 2018-19 season playing alongside Laura Stacey ’16 for the Canadian Women’s Hockey League’s Markham Thunder. After the CWHL announced its folding earlier this spring, Forfar focused on her budding career in media. She recently began working for Yahoo! Sports Canada, covering hockey. In this interview, we discussed her work at Ryerson, getting an opportunity in the CWHL, her reaction to the league’s folding and life in hockey media. This column is the first of two parts of the interview; see next week’s column for the second half. After leaving Dartmouth, you went to Ryerson. Can you tell me about the balance between playing hockey and studying and where you saw yourself heading after graduating from Dartmouth? AF: Basically, after I graduated, I still had that one year that I redshirted when I played for the Big Green (Forfar took a medical redshirt during her sophomore year in Hanover). So in terms of my hockey career, I knew that if I moved back to Canada, I could
THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY
MONDAY, APRIL 29, 2019
use that one year of eligibility to but I told him about myself, about go to a Canadian university, and my community service, and the they actually have five years of things I’m interested in in media. eligibility up here, so you could Markham was really interested in add another one. Being able to what I could bring that wasn’t just play two more years of college being a hockey player, on the media hockey was definitely something I side and in the community. It was a really cool was interested in, so honor, and I I looked into that. “Markham was really didn’t expect During my junior them to do spring, I worked at interested in what that. They’re TSN — that’s the I could bring that m o s t l y big media network l o o k i n g in Canada. I did wasn’t just being a at NCAA a six-month stint hockey player, on the p l a ye r s, s o there, which was media side and in me coming when I realized I out of the really wanted to be the community ... It NCAA and involved in this. I worked out perfectly.” then going to didn’t want to be the U Sports away from home, league, I and I’m from the -AILISH FORFAR ’16 thought I Toronto area, so might get Ryerson was a really overlooked. good fit. Ever since I’m not naive. t h e n , I ’ve b e e n lucky to pursue my career in It worked out perfectly. Toronto because it’s such a great market for up-and-coming media At Ryerson, you produced a professionals. Everyone wants to show called CWHL All-Access. be involved, and everyone wants Can you tell me about how that to create content in this city, so it’s came about and what it took a really great place to work and go to put together? to school because you get a lot of AF: Ryerson is probably the number opportunities with that program. one school for this type of sport I was really lucky to be able to media program. I’m in my third continue playing hockey because year, and you get to pitch your own I wasn’t really ready to give that show. Everything from doing the graphics to the on-air to the audio up yet. to creating the graphics — you do So after two seasons playing the whole thing yourself. Basically, at Ryerson, you go on to the I talked to a few of my classmates CWHL. You’re a pre-draft and said, “I’m playing in a really signee with the Markham cool league that gets no coverage at T h u n d e r. H o w d i d t h a t all. I think it would be awesome to opportunity come together, showcase this league and interview and what was the process of some players.” It was a wide open being a CWHL prospect like? canvas because no one had ever AF: After my eligibility ran out, I was really done anything, so we pitched influenced by another Dartmouth that idea, and everyone was into it. player. I’m sure you know Laura The whole idea was to showcase Stacey. She was my best friend at the stories of the players because Dartmouth, and two years before we don’t really get much coverage, Dartmouth we played together. She and now our league is gone, so I’m had been playing in the CWHL; especially glad that we did it because she’s an Olympian; she’s a big we have something that lives on. deal. She told me I should really consider the CWHL. I reached out To that end, I have argued in to the GMs of the Ontario teams. this column that this was a I basically said I’m interested in huge year for women’s hockey signing up for the draft, I don’t know in terms of becoming a more if you know anything about me, central part of the hockey
conversation. Do you think They just got off a trans-Atlantic that’s a fair assessment? flight, and honestly, it affects them AF: I think if you would have asked the most. I’m playing for fun and me this the day because I want before the closing to further the “Every chance that of the CWHL, I sport; they’re would’ve had no females had to playing for idea at all that represent themselves their careers, this was going to and, for them happen. I thought on TV or talk about to find out that the year went their sport was going that their positively, and we livelihoods are very positively. I felt were getting the in jeopardy — m o s t c ove r a g e like the conversation I felt awful for I’d ever seen for was just starting.” them. They women’s sports. have a world Every chance championship t h a t f e m a l e s -AILISH FORFAR ’16 in front of had to represent them. I haven’t themselves on TV had a chance or to talk about to let it sink in, their sport was going very positively. and they didn’t give us any guidance I felt like the conversation was just on media or what our next steps starting, and I was excited and were, so I thought that was poorly proud of all the work that we’d done performed. in a few years there. Definitely a shock when everything happened, How do you feel about the and it was sad because I think role of the National Hockey you’re right in saying that it was League in all this? It seems, picking up momentum. Maybe from a financial perspective, these conversations will continue the NHL could have stepped and have more of a positive outlook, in and prevented this. Is there but it’s hard to see where things any resentment there or were are now given that we’ve been left you mostly just disappointed with no answers. I do think it was in the CWHL? going well. That’s why I was more AF: It’s a bit of both. It’s easy to be shocked than anything because it disappointed and say, “It could’ve didn’t seem like this was bound to been or should’ve been this.” I truly happen. do think if the CWHL decided to post this kind of announcement So how did you actually find while the season was going, the out that the CWHL was going NHL could have stepped in and to close its doors. It wasn’t just said, “This league is about to fold. on Twitter, was it? They’re having their most successful AF: Luckily not, I would’ve been so year — what can we do to step up upset. The day before it happened, and help make something happen?” our general manger sent us a Instead, they waited until the season note saying there’s going to be a was over, which sucks because at conference call tomorrow. I just this point it’s a decision done. As assumed something good was going players, we’re trying to think about to happen. Like you said, we had what we can do. We can’t control the just had the Clarkson Cup, and financials. I don’t know the budget. everything was going well. I jumped We’re definitely owed money still, on the call the next morning, and and that shows there must be within five minutes, they were like, some financial issues. I think that “This is what it’s about: we’re sorry everything they said is accurate to inform you that there’s not going and true, but I wish that the way to be a league anymore ...” It kind of they dealt with it might have been just went downhill from there. It was a little bit different. tough to find out on the phone and also tough because all the national This interview has been edited for team players are over in Finland. clarity and length.
MONDAY, APRIL 29, 2019
Sports Cui-sine with Mark Cui ’19
Sports Cui-sine: NBA Conference Semifinals Predictions Well, RIP to my first round predictions: I picked five of the eight winners and predicted the correct amount of games played (with the correct winner) in just three of the matchups. Despite a few upsets in the first few games, no lower-seeded team won its series. However, the results from the first round have laid the groundwork for an absolutely riveting second round. Here are my previews and predictions for the next round. Eastern Conference: Milwaukee Bucks (1) vs. Boston Celtics (4) — Bucks in 6 “Bucks in 6” has officially reached peak memedom six years after Brandon Jennings, a Bucks guard at the time, infamously declared his prediction. The No. 8 Bucks were promptly swept by LeBron and the Miami Heat on their way to winning the championship. Last year, when the Bucks faced the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs, Bucks fans again chanted “Bucks in 6” only to watch their team lose in seven games. However, this Bucks team is significantly better than last year’s — coach Mike Budenholzer’s system has proven to be a massive upgrade over that of Jason Kidd, Giannis Antetokounmpo has made the jump from star to superstar and the additions of several critical role players have elevated the team’s
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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY
play. This team wasn’t really tested in the first round by a Detroit team led by a hobbled Blake Griffin, but they should still be ready for their upcoming opponents. While the Bucks have improved, the Celtics are different this year too, as allstars Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward are healthy and playing this year. Perhaps Hayward is finally beginning to return to preinjury form, scoring double-digits in three of the four games against the Pacers while pouring in a cool 20 points on seven-for-nine shooting to close the first round out. Both teams will enter the matchup with injuries to key players — the Bucks without Malcolm Brogdon and the Celtics without Marcus Smart. Smart would have been key to slowing down Khris Middleton, who averaged 19 points per game on 46 percent shooting last round and 45 percent from three. The Celtics certainly have some advantages at key positions, but I simply don’t see anyone stopping Giannis. The Bucks are taking this in six. Toronto Raptors (2) vs. Philadelphia 76ers (3) — Raptors in 6 Kawhi Leonard was an absolute machine in Game 1 for the Raptors, pouring in 45 points on just 23 shots, embarrassing Jimmy Butler, a star player regarded as a top wing defender in the league. Leonard’s partner in crime, Pascal Siakam, was equally efficient, chipping in 29 points on just 15 shots. Down low, Marc Gasol locked down Joel Embiid, as he only scored 16 points on an inefficient 5-18 shooting. Butler and Tobias Harris were unable to pick up the slack on offense, as they made a combined 10 out of 29 shots. With key reserve Mike Scott out for Game 1, 76ers rookies Jonah Bolden and Furkan Korkamz failed to step up in his absence, scoring just eight points between them on 2-12 shooting. Ben Simmons was the lone bright spot for 76ers, who went for 14 points and nine rebounds on 7-8 shooting. The result of this matchup comes down to whether the Raptors can continue their strong play after the 76ers make lineup adjustments. I think they will — the Raptors take
it in six. Western Conference: Golden State Warriors (2) vs. Houston Rockets (4) — Warriors in 7 For the first time in a while, the Warriors looked vulnerable. In what many thought would be an easy sweep for Golden State, the Clippers pushed the matchup to six games. Major credit is due to the Clippers for playing with so much heart and giving the Warriors a run for their money. Meanwhile, the Rockets dominated against the Jazz, dropping just one game. The question is whether Houston superstar James Harden has entered his infamous post-season slump or whether the Jazz’s gimmick defense of pushing him to the right every time actually worked. In the first round, he averaged 27.8 points on an inefficient 36.7 percent from the field after putting up 36.1 points on 44.2 percent shooting in the regular season. That’s still a ton of points per game, but his efficiency leaves much to be desired. The Rockets pushed the Warriors to seven games last year and would’ve perhaps won if they hadn’t missed 27 consecutive 3s in game seven. The Warriors may not have a perfectly healthy Klay Thompson and just lost Demarcus Cousins to a season-ending injury, but the Rockets roster is arguably slightly worse than last year’s. I predict the Rockets push the Warriors to seven again. Denver Nuggets (2) vs. Portland Trailblazers (3) — Nuggets in 6 The Nuggets defeated the Spurs on Saturday following a hard-found seven game series. The Trailblazers just came off an epic buzzer-beater from Damian Lillard and have all the momentum. If Jusuf Nurkić was healthy, I could see the Blazers pulling off the “upset,” but with both Nurkić out and reserve center Enes Kanter playing through a separated shoulder, I have to go with the Nuggets. TLDR: I’m picking all the higher seeds this time.
Wednesday BB vs. Maine, 3:00 p.m. Softball @ Boston College, 4:00 p.m. Friday WLAX vs Penn (Ivy League Semifinal), 2:00 p.m All Weekend WTRACK @ Ivy League Heptagonal Championship MTRACK @ Ivy League Heptagonal Championship Saturday BB vs Cornell, 11:30 a.m. SB vs. Princeton, 12:30 p.m. SB vs. Princeton, 2:30 p.m. BB vs Cornell, 3:00 p.m. Sunday BB vs Cornell, 12:00 p.m. SB vs. Princeton, 12:30 p.m. WLAX @ Ivy League Championship, 1:30 p.m.
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MONDAY, APRIL 29, 2019
THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY
SPORTS
Tuck offers business training program for retired Olympians
B y Anna May mott and kirby Phares The Dartmouth
Cross country skier Kikkan Randall started down the path to the Olympics when she was still in high school — a path that led her, along with teammate Jessie Diggins, to become the first American women to win a medal in cross country skiing when they took gold in the team sprint in 2018. The payoff is spectacular, but such a path requires high-performing athletes to make sacrifices. “To be a skier at that level, I kind of learned the hard way that it’s hard to fit in too much else,” Randall said. “When I was young, I was trying to work a part-time job, go to school and train, and that proved to be too much … So, I decided to take a chance and just focus on training.” After committing so much time and energy to training and competing at an early age, many Olympians like Randall face a daunting transition into the workforce once their athletic careers end. Many of them have planned a future around their chosen sport since adolescence and fear they have fallen behind their peers, who were able to develop professional skills and gain work experience while Olympic athletes trained for world championships. A partnership between the United States Olympic Committee and the Tuck School of Business offers some of these athletes an opportunity to jump-start their new careers. The board of the USOC put together a group in 2012 that has since grown into the Athlete Career Education Program. The ACE program provides current and former athletes with services such as career counseling, tuiton grants and courses in networking and financial literacy for athletes who forewent undergraduate degrees for the sake of training. As ACE continued to look for new ways to help Olympians reintegrate
into the workforce, Tuck was also looking for participants for a developing program now called Next Step. Next Step was originally conceived of as a broad foundational course in business acumen geared toward U.S. veterans, according to Next Step program director Margaux Lohry. However, she explained that the United States Department of Veterans Affairs requires any program seeking funding under the GI bill to have at least onefifth of participants be non-military. According to Lohry, athletes immediately rose to the forefront of potential candidates for the program, and after some deliberation, the partnership between the USOC and Tuck was born. Lohry sees parallels between highperforming athletes and veterans that she said make this match particularly successful. Teamwork, meeting challenges, reacting well under stress: veterans and Olympians share all of these skills, though they develop them under drastically different circumstances for each, per Lohry. “There is also the common thread of representing your country, which is something that’s very special,” Lohry said. “That pride of country and serving a higher purpose than yourself and a set of ideals is something that is also shared between those two groups.” Randall, an alumna of the 2019 program that ended under two weeks ago, initially saw it as an opportunity to develop a portfolio of professional skills and work with a group of high-level athletes like herself. She was unsure of what the integration with veterans would be like and did not consider it in her initial assessment of the course’s appeal. It was not long into the intensive two-week course that she realized her oversight. “Once I arrived and started hearing stories from some of these military veterans, it was quickly apparent how similar our paths are,” Randall said. “We’re so involved in this certain way of
life, this certain career, but ultimately it has a timeline. So, at some point you’re done, but you’re young; you still have this whole life ahead of you. So, then you have to pivot and transition that really unique experience into something new.” The Next Step curriculum helps USOC athletes and veterans alike make their transitions, providing a broad overview of many aspects of business and career building. The two-week program also hosts professionals from around the country for participants to interact with while gaining professional exposure. Among the central goals of the program is to give the “Next Steppers,” as they call themselves, the space and the support to envision their new futures, one outside of the highly-specialized world in which they lived previously. That is not to say that Olympians such as Randall lack skills that are applicable to more conventional professions. Work ethic, dedication and drive are all critical components of success in any field. Another goal of Next Step, according to Randall, is to teach participants how to distill their technical skills, however specialized they may seem, down to their essence; while a record-breaking mile time might not seem relevant to a job at Goldman Sachs, the years of thorough planning and diligence behind that achievement certainly are relevant. Randall realized she and other athletes possess some of these core strengths through a resume workshop they participated in. “I think the advantage that a lot of us have is that we have these really great fundamental skills and qualities that we could come into a business, and [Next Step] could teach us the specific part,” Randall said. “The power of this program is really just to help me describe why I would make a good employee, why I would make a good leader at a company, even though I don’t have even an [undergraduate degree] — I have three-quarters of one.”
COURTESY OF MARGAUX LOHRY
The USOC and Tuck partnered up for this spring’s Next Step program.
According to ACE director Leslie Klein, the proportions of Olympians who finish or start an undergraduate degree varies dramatically from sport to sport. Athletes who play sports that are in the National Collegiate Athletic Association — such as swimming, volleyball or track and field — are usually able to get a scholarship to compete at a university. Kayakers, figure skaters and freestyle skiers, on the other hand, typically do not have the opportunity for recruitment or scholarship. Consequently, many choose to forgo an undergraduate degree in favor of pursuing their sport. Next Step places no specific requirements on education levels for applicants, according to its website. As long as they fit within Next Step’s military or elite-athlete categorizations, Tuck’s priority in choosing participants is simply whether or not they are in a position to get the most out of the program. Additionally, the price of Next Step is underwritten by Tuck and outside donors in the interest of keeping it accessible to veterans and high-level athletes from a variety of backgrounds. An individual participant’s fee is also determined by their adjusted gross income, and financial
aid is available. Alumni of Next Step have gone on to work with Visa, Facebook, JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, with a number of them receiving job offers within six months of completing the program, according to Lohry. Randall herself had already started motivational speaking during her skiing career and was elected to the International Olympic Committee, representing fellow athletes on the athlete commission. The latter position involves a fair amount of management and cross-cultural work, areas of expertise Randall felt she had little exposure to prior to completing Next Step. Randall has also begun selling socks emblazoned with the message “It’s going to be OK!” after she was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. During their “Shark Tank” night in the program, Randall pitched this sock line, and she credits Next Step with providing her with insight and skills that will allow her to develop her business. Since the program ended two weeks ago, Randall said her group chat is still very active and full of excitement over the opportunity athletes and veterans see in their newly envisioned futures.