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The Weekend Roundup p. 2-3 Dartmouth Ultimate Frisbee: A closer look at the four teams of Dartmouth Ultimate Frisbee p. 4-5 Senior Spring: Kristina Mathis ’18, a powerhouse for the Big Green all four years p. 6-7 Honorable Mention: Three Up, Three Down p. 7
Two Big Green players, Colin Boit ’18 and Jack Heneghan ’18, get calls to the NFL p. 8
COURTESY OF JACK HENEGHAN
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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY
The weekend Roundup COMPILED BY SABENA ALLEN & SABA NEJAD
TRACK & FIELD Dartmouth’s men’s track and field team placed fourth overall in the Ivy League Heptagonal O u t d o o r Tr a c k & F i e l d Championship at the University of Pennsylvania’s Franklin Field. After the first day, Dartmouth ranked seventh with 15 points. In the first round, Dartmouth did well in javelin, with Ben Colello ’18 scoring eight points for the team with his 60.54-meter throw to place second. Alec Eschholz ’19 and Benjamin Ose ’19 ranked fifth and sixth in the event, respectively, and scored a combined three points for the team. Colin Minor ’18 scored four points for the team with a fourth-place finish in hammer throw. On the second day, the Big Green scored a total of 59 points to climb up to fourth place overall, behind Cornell University at third, Penn at second and Princeton University at first. Max Frye ’21, Parker Johnson ’19 and Eschloz came in second, third and fourth respectively in the 400m hurdles, earning the team 18 points. For men’s decathlon, Ose came in first scoring 10 points, Ben Colello ’18 placed second scoring eight points and Matthew Sindelar ’18 scored two points in fifth place. Ethan Ruh ’20 placed fourth in shot put and scored four points for the Big Green. Marco Pompilj ’19 secured third in the 3000m steeplechase and scored six points. On May 11 and 12, Dartmouth will host the 2018
New England Championship at Memorial Field. There is a strong possibility that many members of the team will qualify for the NCAA East Regional Meet near the end of the month. Women’s track and field finished sixth at the 2018 Ivy League Championship Sunday at Franklin Field. Penn finished in first place with 177 points, Harvard Univer sity second with 114 points, Princeton University third with 90, Cornell University fourth with 87.5, Columbia University fifth with 83, Dartmouth sixth with 62.5, Brown University seventh with 54 and Yale University last with only 14 points. The Big Green finished second after a strong day one performance, but was unable to match its strong start in day two, falling to sixth place. Cha’Mia Rothwell ’20 won the 100-meter hurdles with an Ivy League meet record of 13.25 seconds, earning an All-Ivy League honor. It was her second team honor of the weekend, as she also won second-team recognition in the long jump on Saturday. Rothwell has now won six conference championships in her Dartmouth career across both indoor and outdoor seasons. Julia Valenti ’20 earned All-Ivy Second Team in the pole vault after finishing in second in the event. Next, the Big Green will host the 2018 New England Championship Meet on May 11 and 12 at Memorial Field.
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4.30.18 4.23.18Vol. 5.7.18 Vol. Vol.CLXXV CLXXV CLXXVNo. No. No.31 27 21
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MONDAY, MAY 7, 2018
BASEBALL This weekend was a big weekend for the Big Green as Dartmouth baseball secured three dominating wins against Princeton University. On Saturday, the team’s offense claimed a total of 30 runs, winning the two games 14-3 and 16-1. Dustin Shirley ’18 and Kyle Holbrook ’18 made their Senior Days memorable ones, each forcing seven runs. Holbrook also recorded his first career grand slam in the eigth inning of the second game, the first grand slam by the Big Green in four years. Prior to these two games, no player on the current Dartmouth roster had even more than three RBIs in a game, but three players — Michael Calamari ’20, Holbrook and Shirley — did on Saturday. On defense, Jack Fossand ’18 was dominant in the second game,
pitching 7.2 innings without giving up a run and recording eight strikeouts. The Big Green secured their third win of the weekend against Princeton 6-2 on Sunday, May 6. Clay Chatham ’18 only allowed one run after pitching six innings and Nate Ostmo ’19 matched his career high of three hits, including a home run. With a record of 11-6 in the Ivy League, the Big Green is only behind Yale University in the league standings. After hosting Middlebury College on Wednesday, the team will face Harvard University in a three-game series next weekend to close out the regular season. Dartmouth is still able to host the Ivy League Championship Series if the team wins all three at Harvard and if Yale is swept by the University of Pennsylvania.
W LACROSSE The Dartmouth women’s lacrosse team (11-5) lost to the University of Pennsylvania (13-3) in the Ivy Semifinal on Friday, May 4. It was a fight until the end, with the Big Green trailing by as many as eight in the latter half. Dartmouth scored seven of the last eight goals, but eventually ran out of time and fell 16-14 to the Quakers. Dartmouth had an advantage over the Quakers 41-31 in shot attempts. Michelle
Yu ’20 recorded a score in each half. Ellie Carson ’20, who had a team-leading 50 goals this season, was injured in the first few minutes and did not return to the game. Kathryn Giroux ’19 dominated draw controls, recording an alltime Ivy Tournament record of 16. She now has 258 career draws, which is the second-best in conference history. Dartmouth has not been in the Ivy League Tournament since 2013.
EQUESTRIAN Olivia Champ ’19 from the Dartmouth Equestrian team competed in the 2018 Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) National Championship on Thursday, May 3. Champ took fourth in individual open fences. In her first round, she ranked first with a score of 87 out of 100. The top four riders performed again for a “test,” which challenged the riders with a series of assessments. This course was
shorter than the first. Champ rode well, but her draw, Skidmore College’s Crosby, stopped in front of the second fence, which lowered her score and ultimately resulted in her taking fourth. The IHSA competition included over 500 riders, selected through Regionals and Zone Championships from the 10,000 in the organization. This was Dartmouth’s final competition of this season.
SOFTBALL Softball had a great weekend against Brown University, with a doubleheader on Saturday and a close win on Sunday. They won the first game on Saturday 9-1 and managed to come back to win 8-7 after briefly losing the lead in the sixth inning of the second game. The Big Green’s defense had a clear advantage with pitcher Breanna Ethridge ’18 recording a career-high 11 strikeouts, allowing only two hits and one run the entire game. The game on Sunday was much closer but
the Big Green managed to secure a 7-6 win against Brown to finish off the regular season. This was thanks to the Big Green’s defense and pitcher Heather Turner ’21’s performance. Turner earned her third save of the season after striking out two of the final batters from Brown. With the wins over the weekend, the team is now 16-5 in the Ivy League and will have home field advantage for the Ivy League Championship Series next weekend.
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Dartmouth Ult
A closer look at the four teams of Dartmouth Ultimate Frisbee: Pr
BY CAITLYN MCGOVERN
The Dartm
COURTESY OF CAROLINE SERNETT
Last year, the women’s ultimate frisbee A team earned the title of USA Ultimate College Division I champions after defeating the University of Texas 15-9.
Since 1977, the Dartmouth Ultimate Frisbee Team has been one-upping the rest of us by tossing around a disc on the Green. Players with various experience join one of the College’s four teams every year: the DI women’s Princess Layout or Princess B-Ride or the DIII men’s Pain Train or Disco Trolley. While they aren’t considered a varsity sport, the athleticism of these players and the competition of the game is by no means lesser.
holding an ultimate disc inside of it. The team competes in numerous tournaments throughout the year, from a Massachusetts Institute of Technology tournament in the fall to the Queen City Tune Up in the winter and Nationals in the spring. The team is captained by Mae Hardebeck ’18, Jaclyn Verzuh ’19 and Werffeli and coached by Eugene Yum. Tri-captain Verzuh hails from Seattle, Washington, home to a vibrant Ultimate community, and started her ultimate career at 11 P R I N C E S S years old. Verzuh knew L AYO U T & that she wanted to play “I think that the ways PRINCESSB-RIDE frisbee in college and T h e w o m e n’s that my teammate have that Dartmouth was ultimate frisbee team challenged me and the right place to go. is a force to be reckoned “I actually knew with. Last year, the A supported me to grow as a some of the other team earned the title of person has been the biggest players on the team USA Ultimate College from other playing effect on me as a player, Division I champions experiences before after defeating the because when I get on the coming here, and so U n i v e r s i t y o f field I’m playing for them, playing ultimate was Texas 15-9 in their actually something first ever national and I think that challenges that factored into championship. Angela me to be my best self and my college decision, Zhu ’17 received I think is not find new ways to define what which the USA Ultimate very common,” she Callahan Award, an it means to be my best self.” said. “But given that honor given to the best Dartmouth in the player in the country. past had been a team This year, tri-captain -JACLYN VERZUH ’19, WOMEN’S that made Nationals a Julianna Werffeli ’18 ULTIMATE FRISBEE A TEAM TRIcouple times, or was has been nominated sort of near at least CAPTAIN by the team for the making Nationals, was award. something that I was To commemorate interested in coming the team’s win, the official ice sculpture for this to college.” year’s Winter Carnival was a “D” with a hand Verzuh, a cutter, was named to the U23
Worlds roster in late 2014, standing out as the I think that that challenges me to be my best self only high school student selected among a sea and find new ways to define what it means to be of well-seasoned collegiate and club players. This my best self.” accomplishment speaks to Verzuh’s dominance Claire Trop ’21 also grew up in Seattle, as a player from the start of her career. She was Washington, and started playing frisbee in the also named to the USA fourth grade. While U24 Women’s Team for “You’re with your team she played both the 2018 World U24 soccer and frisbee Ultimate Championships, and everyone’s sleeping on competitively in which took home the air mattresses and you’re high school and championship title in on the varsity together like 24/7, and then was Perth, Australia this past soccer team in the you play a whole bunch of January. fall, Trop ultimately Last year, Verzuh was frisbee games, like seven or decided to focus on named the Women’s frisbee and play as College Player of the eighth in two days, and it is a cutter. Year by Ultiworld.com, pretty devastating to come “I think for me, “the premier news media I guess I just love back to school afterwards site dedicated to the sport the game,” Trop of ultimate frisbee,” which because you’re in the little said. “I think proclaimed her as “the best frisbee bubble.” it’s a fantastic player in college ultimate, way to spend an period. While this award afternoon; it’s so is typically bestowed upon -CLAIRE TROP ’21, WOMEN’S fun. I find [that] I seniors, Verzuh won it as a really fit in well with ULTIMATE FRISBEE A-TEAM sophomore. the community Despite starting her PLAYER and the people and Dartmouth career already the kind of people dominating the Ultimate circuit, Verzuh has seen that play frisbee. It’s a community I feel very herself grow as a player over the past three seasons comfortable in, very welcoming, so I love my with the team. teammates and I love the game.” “I think that I would say that I’ve grown a She remarked that her favorite part of the lot as a person, and that that influences me as a season are by far tournament weekends. player a lot in that being on this team has been a “You’re with your team and everyone’s really incredible experience,” Verzuh said. “I think sleeping on air mattresses and you’re together that the ways that my teammates have challenged like 24/7, and then you play a whole bunch of me and supported me to grow as a person has frisbee games, like seven or eight in two days, and been the biggest effect on me as a player, because it is pretty devastating to come back to school when I get on the field I’m playing for them, and afterwards because you’re in the little frisbee
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timate Frisbee
rincess Layout, Princess B-Ride, Pain Train and Discomfort Trolley
N AND JAKE PHILHOWER
mouth Staff
COURTESY OF AVERY FEINGOLD
The men’s A team, nicknamed the Pain Train, has won Sectionals for the last 10 years and made it to Nationals in both 2013 and 2014, but has yet to win the National title.
bubble,” Trop said. the last 10 years. The team made it to Nationals While the team has been successful, they do in both 2013 and 2014, but have yet to win the still face their challenges. National title. “I think something that’s both really awesome While the team fell during the regional finals and sometimes challenging is that we have such this past weekend in Amherst, Massachusetts, a wide range of sports and frisbee experience on and will no longer be continuing on to Nationals, the team,” Verzuh said. “Every year we bring in the future looks promising. With few players players who have never played before as well as graduating and plenty of young talent, the Pain players who have never even Train is showing no sign of played competitive sports “Given the team slowing down. before, and then we have culture, I see us being “Given the team some players on the team culture, I see us being DI who have played on national DI contenders in the contenders in the future,” teams for ultimate frisbee.” future.” Moder said. “We’re For Verzuh, trying to graduating a net of one create a cohesive unit where person. We’re a really young everybody feels like this is -DAN MODER ’18, MEN’S team, and it’s only getting their team is the “most fun ULTIMATE FRISBEE better from here on out.” challenge about [the] team.” Andrew Binder As of Apr. 25, the A-TEAM TRI-CAPTAIN ’21, a cutter on Pain Train, team is ranked first in the grew up playing soccer and country ahead of Stanford lacrosse. He started playing University, the University of California, San Ultimate Frisbee when he came to Dartmouth Diego and the University of British Columbia. last fall. Princess Layout will compete at Nationals “My dad played and he said it was a lot of fun, from May 25 through May 28 in Milwaukee, and I kind of was burnt out a little bit from the Wisconsin, representing the New England region regular team sports and so I was kind of interested along with Tufts University. in a new sport,” Binder said. “I looked on the website, the Dartmouth PAIN TRAIN Ultimate Pain Train Pain Train is the “Everyone was wearing website, and there were men’s A team, captained weird stuff and there were all these headshots of by Eric Greenlee ’18, everyone on the team Spencer Heim ’18 and like funny descriptions and it seemed really Dan Moder ’18. The and so I thought it would goofy, like none of them team comes together were serious. Everyone be a cool sport that was to practice, lift and was wearing weird stuff train four or five days a definitely competitive and and there were like week, according to their athletic, but also relaxed, funny descriptions, and official website. Similar so I thought it would be to Princess Layout and and you know, funny and a cool sport that was like Princess B-Ride, the men weird at the same time.” definitely competitive travel throughout the and athletic but also year to compete against relaxed and, you know, other teams. Their -ANDREW BINDER ’21, MEN’S funny and weird at the record is impressive, ULTIMATE FRISBEE A-TEAM same time.” having won Sectionals B i n d e r ’s b i o for the last 10 years and is equally as goofy, played during the Sunday game at the New reading that his major is “being a freshman” and England Regional Championships nine times in featuring the question-answer duo of “Lax bro?:
COURTESY OF JUSTIN KRAMER
Named the Discomfort Trolley, the men’s B team provides the opportunity for development of younger or less experienced players while also maintaining the competition and camaraderie.
Confirmed.” The highlight of Binder’s season was travelling with the team to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina during the winter for a tournament. “The whole team flew down on Spirit Airlines and everyone was pretty much wearing all their clothes, which was pretty funny, because you have to pay for carry-ons and everything,” Binder said. “We had this cool house near the beach and we played really well and it was warm. We went to the beach and, you know, it was like, a lot of fun ultimate-wise, but it was also a lot of fun to get to know everyone better outside of the Dartmouth setting.” DISCOMFORT TROLLEY Discomfort Trolley, or “Disco Troll,” is the Men’s B team, led by captain Avery Feingold ’17. The team is filled with players who want to be a part of the Ultimate community, but can’t necessarily take on the commitment of Pain Train. Disco Troll is also a great opportunity for the development of younger or less experienced
players. Members of Disco Troll have varying levels of experience in ultimate. “I played frisbee in high school,” Craig Wilcox ’21 said. “I figured I’d continue that and then I started just going to all the practices, realized that the community was great, so I stuck with it.” The team played in several various tournaments over the course of the year, sometimes travelling far distances to play other talented B teams in the area. These tournaments are very competitive and feature a lot of good young talent, but Disco Troll never lets that prevent them from having a good time playing. The team has a very similar culture of goofiness that makes them very easy to root for. When asked about his favorite part of the season, Wilcox did not hesitate at all. “Definitely the tournaments that we go to,” he said. “We’ve been to a tournament in Pittsburgh, one in Delaware, one at Brown and one near Princeton. You can hang out with the other frisbee dudes, get some good food, play some disc. It’s a good time.”
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Senior Spring: Kristina Mathis ’18, a powerhouse for the Big Green all four years By MARK CUI
The Dartmouth Senior Staff
On Apr. 22, the Dartmouth tennis tam concluded its regular season after falling to Princeton University, finishing with a 4-3 mark in the Ivy League to tie for third in the Ivies. The match also marked the approaching end of Kristina Mathis ’18’s illustrative four-year tennis career at Dartmouth, as she has just one final NCAA Championship singles appearance remaining. Mathis began playing tennis at age five. Her father had been around tennis all his life, and both of her parents served as her coaches prior to college. She began playing competitively shortly after, eventually ranking 23rd on TennisRecruiting.net. As Mathis explored options for college, family friends introduced her to Dartmouth. After visiting, she thought the community was the perfect fit. “I really loved the school, the size of the school and, most of all, the team and my coach Bob [Dallis],” Mathis said. “I thought the community was a really good fit for me.”
Joining the Dartmouth tennis team was a significant transition. Mathis had been homeschooled and had never formally been a member of a team, instead spending her junior years playing in singles individual tournaments. She explained that being on a team gave her “a whole new fondness for tennis” and made her understand that tennis was much more than just the final outcome. “Being on a team made me realize that it’s not just about the results; it’s about how you support one another, the team community that we have, just how much we care about each other, and just the love of the game,” Mathis said. “All of these are so important. That led me to play for everyone else and for Dartmouth, and just be freer on the court.” Mathis had an immediate impact her freshman year, finishing 14-6 at the No. 3 singles position and 13-6 at the No. 1 doubles position. She was named All-Ivy First Team for doubles and the Most Improved on the team. She was awarded the All-Ivy First Team in doubles again her sophomore and junior years, and ended up becoming part of the first Big Green duo, along with
partner Taylor Ng ’17, to qualify for the NCAA Doubles Tournament. During her junior year, she helped lead the team to a share of the Ivy League Title, the Big Green’s first since 2011. As a senior, Mathis has taken on a more care free approach for each of her matches. “[This year] I just kind of told myself to go out there and enjoy my last year playing for Dartmouth,” Mathis said. “It’s been such a fun time, and I’ve just been trying to play for fun. I’ve seen some good results without even thinking about that.” With this new mindset, Mathis’s final season was arguably her best. As a stalwart at the No. 1 singles position, she went 23-13 overall and 12-7 in dual matches. She went 6-1 in Ivy League play, including a tough four-match winning streak to end the regular season. Finishing the year ranked 107, her stellar singles play allowed her to qualify for the 2018 NCAA Singles Championship, which will be held from May 23 to May 28 at Wake Forest University. In addition to singles, Mathis also played at the No. 2 doubles position with teammate Racquel Lyn ’20 for
most of the year. of the air,” Dallis said. “When she As a result of her impressive first came to school as a freshman, play throughout the season, she was she didn’t really volley or hit many named the Ivy League Player of the overheads, and she was able to Year as a unanimous selection and improve in those areas a great deal.” earned a spot on the first singles In addition to her stellar play team. this season, Mathis has also grown “I’m extremely proud of her in her role as one of the team’s and so happy for her,” Lyn said. captains. “She’s done so many great things “She’s done a great job on this year, and and off the court it’s really great supporting us,” “She’s done a great to see her hard Lyn said. “She’s work paying off. job on and off the very good at [The team] will court supporting us.” c o m mu n i c at i n g truly miss her, with our head but I’m glad coach, in terms she was able - RACQUEL LYN ’20, of what he says to t o l e ave h e r her to us. She’s just WOMEN’S TENNIS mark.” always there and A key to her PLAYER knows what to say jump this final at the right time.” year was the As Mathis wraps culmination of up her career on her continual improvement on the Dartmouth tennis team, Dallis the tennis court. Head coach Bob explained that he will always Dallis noted that it was very easy remember Mathis for her overall to coach Mathis and that she was calmness. always willing to further develop “She came to practice [and] her game. From a technique matches with just a really calm standpoint, Mathis has improved attitude every day,” Dallis said. “For significantly in two separate areas. “She really improved her serve SEE MATHIS PAGE 7 and her ability to take the ball out
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Mathis ends her senior season ranked No. 107 in the nation
in these columns?
FROM MATHIS PAGE 6
me as a coach, she was a very easy person to be around. The younger players can look at her and go, ‘Oh this is what it takes to be successful and calm.’” Following college, Mathis will be working full-time next year before applying to medical school the following year. She unfortunately will not have the time to continue playing competitive tennis, but hopes to keep playing tennis for fun. “I’ve been playing since five, so it can only last for so long,” Mathis said. “You have that small window of time you can enjoy, and I have, so I’m happy about that. I have no regrets and I’m happy about where things left off.” Despite leaving tennis professionally, Mathis will always remember Dartmouth tennis for instilling in her a deep passion for the sport. “Dartmouth tennis has helped me develop a love for tennis that made me realize just how amazing the sport is, and [appreciate] the people who have been around me all my life for tennis,” Mathis said. Lyn is a former member of The Dartmouth.
Honorable Mention with Ray Lu ’18
Honorable Mention: Three Up, Three Down
MICHAEL LIN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
Kristina Mathis ’18 is the second Big Green player ever to qualify for the NCAA DI Women’s Tennis Singles Championship.
Trending Up LeBron James In Year 15, we are all still witnessing LeBron’s greatness. In the span of one short week, he completely turned around the Cleveland Cavaliers’ postseason trajectory and all but ended the one-seed Toronto Raptors’ dreams of making it out of the Eastern Conference. Every game contains a glimmer of opportunity for Toronto, a lead or a strong individual performance, before LeBron emphatically shuts the door with another classic performance. The buzzer-beaters in this series alone will be played over and over again — ESPN’s SportsCenter Top 10 plays segment after Game Three was just 10 different angles of LeBron’s running, one-handed, game-winning, bank-shot floater. To quote the King, “Don’t try it at home.” The GOAT conversation has never been so contentious, and if James drags this limp Cavs supporting cast to another title, history books may need a new chapter. If you’re not watching, you’re missing out. All due respect to an underrated Indiana Pacers team that took Cleveland to seven games. Existentialism Every week, I create a new document to type up my column and receive a stiff reminder of how much time has gone by in my senior spring. It’s the start of week 7. This is not a drill. During my first two years at Dartmouth, my prioritization timeline was measured in years. If I missed out on something one term, there was always next term or even next year. When I was a junior, the timeline shrunk to days. I had to weigh the costs and benefits of, say, a weekend-long camping trip or a day’s journey to play mini-golf versus the equivalent amount of time spent on campus. As a senior, everything is measured in hours, minutes even, and certain activities have shot to the very top of my priority list. While I previously felt as if I had virtually no time to do anything outside of school and extracurricular activities, nowadays I clear everything out of my schedule to attend lectures and my peers’ thesis presentations. I’m holding on to every last bit for dear life. Can you taste the increasing nostalgia
“President Austin” A CBS News video of an adorable four-year-old kid from Birmingham, Alabama has recently been making the rounds. Every week, Austin Perine dons a cape and transforms into his superhero alter ego, “President Austin,” whose superpower is delivering chicken sandwiches to homeless people in the area. Zooming around the streets, Austin enthusiastically greets strangers before offering them food from a large brown bag. According to Austin’s father, Austin was inspired to create the alter ego after learning about homelessness while watching a television show about pandas, specifically how a mother panda abandoned its cub. Once Austin learned that people could be subject to the same circumstances, he asked his parents to divert his allowance and toy money to sandwiches for the homeless. After President Austin delivers a sandwich, he reminds the recipient, “Don’t forget to show love.” We can all take a page out of President Austin’s book. Trending Down The Process Shortly after I submitted my prediction that the Philadelphia 76ers would take down the Boston Celtics in six games, the Sixers were thrashed in a 16 point Game One loss. The Celtics then won the next two games by a combined eight points. Suddenly, “The Process” looks a lot less shiny than it did a week ago. On paper, the Celtics are a higherpowered version of the impressive Pacers team we saw earlier this postseason, with several players capable of stepping up on any given night with solid playmaking and reliable defense. This Boston team is not only more talented than the Pacers — head coach Brad Stevens also seems to be every bit as much the whiz kid he was reputed to be when he was hired away from Butler University. Don’t forget that this team also has superstars Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving on the sideline due to injuries. All things considered, however, it’s impressive that this young 76ers team looks this good this soon. Something tells me that a lot of growth is needed for this squad to be consistently impressive for long periods of time, but hopefully we’ll be seeing them deep into the postseason for years to come. Kanye West In five words: What is up with Kanye? In 10 words: Is “Poop, poop” the greatest rap lyric of all time? In 20 words: I have no sophisticated take on Kanye’s rants, but remember these moments when he inevitably runs for president in 2020. Sunday The Sunday after a darty-filled weekend is never good for campus library spaces or homework morale. See you in the stacks.
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TODAY’S LINEUP
NO EVENTS SCHEDULED
Two Big Green players, Colin Boit ’18 and Jack Heneghan ’18, get calls to the NFL BY SAMANTHA HUSSEY
The Dartmouth Senior Staff
On Apr. 30, Dartmouth Football announced that tri-captain and quarterback Jack Heneghan ’18 and safety Colin Boit ’18 were on their way from the Ivy League to the National Football League. It was later confirmed that Heneghan had signed an undrafted free-agent contract with the San Francisco 49ers, while Boit had been invited to the Pittsburgh Steelers rookie mini camp this upcoming weekend in hopes of earning a contract with the team. It is an exciting time for Dartmouth Football, which adds two prospects, as well as most-recently drafted Ryder Stone ’18, who was selected on Friday, May 4 as the 38th overall pick to the Montreal Alouettes in the Canadian Football League, to the professional sports realm. For Boit and Heneghan, playing at the next level was always a dream for them growing up. “I didn’t necessarily know that I would have the opportunity at it, but it was definitely always a huge dream growing up that I wanted to play [professional] football,” Boit said. Heneghan said that professional football wasn’t something that he seriously considered while at Dartmouth. “I was pretty focused on what we were doing [at Dartmouth], but once the season had ended in November, I had the idea that getting a professional shot, either in the NFL or CFL, might be a possibility, so I stayed in shape and kept training,” Heneghan said. To Coach Buddy Teevens ’79, Heneghan and Boit were both recruits who upon first impression were likeable, made good decisions and excelled at all aspects of the game. Boit, a recruit from Eastside Catholic School in Sammamish, Washington, recorded no playing time with the varsity team his first year with the Big Green; however, he stepped up his sophomore year, playing in all ten games while recording seven total tackles and one interception. The following year, Boit played in all but two games and recorded 44 total tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack and one interception. In his final season with the Big Green, Boit played in all 10 games and totaled 55 tackles, one fumble recovered and one interception. Heneghan, a recruit from Menlo School in Atherton, California,
recorded no playing time his first year with the Big Green either and played in only two of 10 games his sophomore year, where he threw for a total of 39 yards and completed five of 10 attempts. With the graduation of then-quarterback and former tricaptain Dalyn Williams ’16, Heneghan stepped up as the Big Green’s newest starting quarterback. In his junior season, Heneghan started all 10 games and threw for 2,725 yards, completing 247 of 414 throws for a 59.7 percent completion rate. He also recorded 14 touchdowns, 11 passing and three rushing, and 14 interceptions. The following year, Heneghan threw for 2,136 yards, achieving a 63.1 percent completion rate and recording 18 touchdowns and six interceptions. Within the next few years under Teevens and his coaching staff, Boit and Heneghan grew both in terms of physical maturity and confidence. Teevens specifically noted improvement in Boit’s speed and the velocity of Heneghan’s throws. “They are both dedicated workers in the weight room and both in speed and strength, [and are] both students of the game,” Teevens said. “It’s nice to work with guys who are so consistent. They are always prepared to play and are great examples to a lot of our younger players.” The recruitment process, for most players, starts in the spring before their senior season. Schools host what is referred to as Junior Day, in which the draft-eligible players for the following year take part in a workout where scouts measures the players’ height, weight, hand size, reach and 40-meter dash times. The scouts also have the players take the Wonderlic test, a standardized test used to assess the aptitude of prospective employees for learning and problem-solving. Scouts also often view film, background information and injury history for each player. Sometime between the start of their junior season and the end of their senior seasons, players also often sign with an agent who will reach out to teams, talk to scouts and coaches on the player’s behalf and help players market themselves. All of this is in preparation for Pro Day, which, much like Junior Day, is when NFL scouts come to Dartmouth and run various tests on players. Boit said that depending on how a player does on this day and if scouts like his game tape from the season, players can get invited to a local workout with
their hometown team. “I went to the [Seattle] Seahawks workout — this was a couple of weeks before the draft,” he said. “And then about a week and a half before the draft you will start to get calls from teams saying, ‘Hey, we’re interested. Be ready for a call if it works out.’” Heneghan added that most people attribute the bulk of the NFL recruitment process to the Combine, where 250 players are invited to Indianapolis for a week-long showcase. However, many players are not invited to this; it’s usually just the highly-rated prospects that are invited. “Players who aren’t invited will usually have worked out at local pro days,” Heneghan said. “I went to a Local Pro Day with the 49ers. Those are workouts open to players that went to high school or college in the vicinity of a team. That was one of the steps in the process and particularly helpful in meeting some of the coaches and staff at the 49ers.” Boit and Heneghan both note that going to a smaller school like Dartmouth in a smaller league makes getting drafted much more difficult, so the main expectation is to either get signed or invited to a rookie mini camp to hopefully earn a contract there. “I was pretty realistic and had a pretty good idea that I wouldn’t be drafted,” Heneghan said. “I understood that going into the draft and knew that my best kind of path was going to be through something that happened after the draft, so I was prepared to start going through the process once the draft was over. [I felt] really fortunate that things worked out the way they did because there is always some uncertainty in this kind of thing, and I was certainly feeling that as the draft was winding down.” Boit echoed the sentiment. “I heard a couple teams saying, ‘Maybe in the later rounds,’ but coming from a smaller school, it’s pretty typical that you’ll be called after the draft,” Boit said. “Saturday, after the draft, is when the nerves start to hit because you are just sitting by your phone, and then when an unknown number calls is the only time when it is a good feeling. The moments after that call were so satisfying, thinking about all of the work that I put it and it culminating into one moment for that opportunity.” Throughout the whole process, Boit and Heneghan noted how supportive their coaches, teammates, family and friends were of them, and how excited
COURTESY OF JACK HENEGHAN
Jack Heneghan ’18 was invited to Local Pro Day with the San Francisco 49ers, whom he later signed an undrafted free-agent contract with.
and somewhat surprised they all were to hear about each respective offer. “I think some of them were surprised and that was exciting to see, and most of them were just really happy for me and really excited to share the moment with me, so that made it really special,” Heneghan said. “It vindicated a lot of the support teammates, family and friends had put into my career at Dartmouth and prior to Dartmouth, so to see those people who cared about me excited about it made the moment really special.” Boit and Heneghan both found former Big Green players Folarin Orimolade ’17 and Charlie Miller ’17, who signed as undrafted free agents last year with the Los Angeles Rams and Jacksonville Jaguars, respectively, to be useful mentors throughout the process. “They have helped keep my eye on the ball and determine what is important and what to disregard throughout the process,” Boit said. Additionally, Heneghan has sought out advice from coach Kevin Daft, who is the offensive coordinator and quarterback coach. “He played in the NFL for a number of years out of college as a quarterback and had some really helpful advice throughout the training [and recruiting] process,” Heneghan said. “The advice is a little bit of what you would expect. Everyone has preached the value of hard work and preparation, and the same kind of things are expected as a Dartmouth football player, but at a higher level given the stiffer competition. I think they have encouraged me to go in as prepared as I can and to enjoy the process and not
get stressed out by it.” As for preparing for their respective rookie mini camps, Boit and Heneghan both hope to go in and show the coaches just what they are made of. “I’m just hoping to keep learning and improving,” Heneghan said. “To play at the NFL level, I understand that I need to get better in almost every facet of my game, and so I’m excited for this weekend to be the first step in that process.” Teevens added that intelligence will provide the greater edge in terms of evaluation for both Boit and Heneghan. “As I told the pro guys that we spoke with, [Boit and Heneghan] will both learn their schemes and playbooks more rapidly than anyone else around,” Teevens said. “They have a natural feel for it, it makes sense spatially. In terms of seeing a broad picture, they are very capable of doing that. Just on the academic side, they are not averse to sitting down, concentrating and studying for an extended period and digesting some of the things that are so important in an NFL camp.” While the odds have certainly been in Boit and Heneghan’s favor thus far, nothing is guaranteed quite yet. For Boit, the goal will be to earn a contract with the Steelers throughout the mini camp, and if that doesn’t work out, to sign with another team. If signing with another team doesn’t work out, he has a job offer to start in September as a programming manager at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington. Likewise, for Heneghan, if professional football were to not work out, he plans to work in private equity at an investment firm he interned with in San Francisco.