In every sports season there are both successes and defeats. For Yale, the winter season proved to be a trying time as marquee sports such as basketball and hockey were not able to live up to expectations. However, in the midst of disappointment some Bulldog teams came together for great seasons and brought home Ivy League titles. These teams should be congratulated for their hard work and their success. The men's and women's fencing teams, the women's swimming team, and the gymnastics team stand as models of what Yale sports should try to achieve. They are winners in every sense of the word.
The men's and women's fencing teams continued their winning traditions this year with both squads earning Ivy titles for the first time in several years. The women's team won the title outright while the men's team shares the title with Columbia. The combined team won the first ever co-ed version of the Intercollegiate Fencing Association Championships. Key fencers for the team were captain Angie Rodel, SM '96, Sharon Katz, MC '98, and Katie Zuckerman, JE '99. Katz finished 11th in NCAAs in the epee and Zuckerman finished ninth in the foil. The top women's performer at NCAAs was Alison Calabia, TD '98, who finished eighth.
This year's men's team looked to many different fencers for big performances. At the NCAAs, Taka Sudo, PC '97, and Dave Weeks, DC '97, stepped to the top, finishing seventh in sabre and 10th in foil, respectively. George Raine, JE '96, and Tim Webster, SM '97, also had very productive seasons. The combined team finished fifth in the country at the NCAA tournament which was held at Yale. Coach Henry Harutunian was named the national coach of the year.
The women's gymnastics team claimed their second straight Ivy League title, crushing all opponents in the Ancient Eight. Captain Heather Simpson, TD '96, led the team all year and it was no surprise when she notched a 9.6 on the vault to win at Ivies. Senior Anna Mitescu, SM '96, came back from a serious elbow injury to finish third on the bars. Sophomores Meghan Imrie, TC '98, and Elise White, PC '98, took first and second, respectively. The team combined for 184.725 points while the Penn Quakers ended up in second. The future looks just as promising for the gymnasts with returning sophomores and freshmen Stacey Johnson, TC '99, and Sarah Van Wart, ES '99.
The women's swimming team became Ivy League co-champions behind the strength of senior Missy Dalrymple, ES '96. Dalrymple finished the season perfect in three events, the 100 and 200 backstroke and the 200 individual medley, and qualified for the NCAAs in the 100 backstroke, although she has chosen not to compete for academic reasons. The team relied heavily on senior leadership from Dalrymple and for Caroline Ivers, BK '96. Despite losing these strong seniors to graduation, the swimmers will look to take another Ivy League title next season and continue their winning ways.
The future of Yale athletics is still very much up in the air. Athletic Director Tom Beckett's efforts to bring back the Bulldogs' winning tradition have been met with limited success. If Yale wants to return to Ivy League dominance, the majority of the programs will need to look to the success of these four teams. The winning tradition is alive and well at Yale; it needs only to be spread to all of the athletic programs.
In honor of the outstanding efforts by this winter's Bulldog teams, the Yale Herald is proud to present our...
DiMaggio and Williams, Magic and Bird, Dalrymple and Heizer...every superior athlete has a counterpart with whom a rivalry brings out the best in both.
The tremendous tandem of Missy Dalrymple, ES Ô96, and Suzanne Heizer, BR '96, made this year's Yale women's swimming team the best in school history.
The dynamic duo led a talented swimming squad to an 11-1 overall record and a share of the Ivy League title for the second consecutive year. Over their careers, Dalrymple and Heizer have won three Ivy titles in four years. "This year has been very exciting. I entered a strong swimming program, and the program has gotten stronger since. It is has been great being a part of a team that does well," Dalrymple said.
Their domination was never more evident than at the Eastern Championships, which marked the end of their collegiate careers. The duo led Yale to a second place finish at the Eastern Championships behind Brown. Dalrymple set a meet record in the 100-meter backstroke to cap off a terrific showing. She also went undefeated in the 200-meter individual medley this season. "Being able to go undefeated this season was the most rewarding of my career because I had never done that before, and it was very satisfying," Dalrymple said. Heizer won an unprecedented fourth consecutive 500-meter freestyle championship. Dalrymple was named Most Outstanding Swimmer at Easterns while Heizer finished second in the voting by the coaches.
The two athletes do not worry about who garners which accolades, however. "My relationship with Suzanne has been great; we even room together on the road. We support each other because we understand the demands and goals that are placed on each of us to meet," Dalrymple said.
-Michael May
Like HBO, Laurie Belliveau, TD '98, is "simply the best."
Belliveau has already established herself as one of Yale's finest athletes after only two seasons. Last year, she became the only freshman ever to be awarded a Player of the Year Award in the Ivy League. This year, it was deja vu all over again for the Eli netminder as she was honored as the league's best player for the second consecutive year.
As a freshman, Belliveau stopped 51 or more shots on six different occasions while recording a 4.81 goals against average. She set a Yale record for saves in a single game with 78 versus Providence. Belliveau was a three-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week selection, a first-team All Ivy pick, a second-team ECAC All-Star, and a member of the New England Hockey Writers' All-Star Team.
Showing no signs of a "sophomore slump," Belliveau compiled a .906 save percentage on the year while turning away an average of 45 shots per game. She set Yale and ECAC records this season for saves in an ECAC season (772) and saves overall (1,034).
Always a team player, Belliveau noted her goal is "for the team to succeed." Surely, a goal of all the women's hockey players is to win an ECAC game and move up in the conference standings. This should be made easier, and the recruiting process enhanced by the spotlight and recognition Belliveau has brought to Yale women's ice hockey. On an individual level, Belliveau would like to "produce on a national level."
With such a bright future this hockey star seems destined to shine for years to come. "I would love to play on the Olympic team, but we will have to wait and see. I just want to stay involved in hockey on the national level for as long as possible," Belliveau said.
-Marty Wayne
* * *
It wasn't the best season ever for the Yale men's baskeball team. It wasn't even close. There were no Ivy titles, no tournament showings, and only three league wins. The bright spots were few and far between.
But there was one bright spot that shone throughout the season: junior forward Dan Okonkwo, BR '97. He was consistent throughout the entire year, averaging 11 points and almost nine rebounds per game. Okonkwo, in fact, finished second in the league in rebounds, behind only Harvard's Kyle Snowden.
Okonkwo also had nine double-doubles, the only Eli player to record any double-doubles, and was the emotional leader for the Bulldogs on the floor all season. To culminate his fantastic season, Okonkwo was named second-team All-Ivy.
Okonkwo was not just a offensive monster. He also made an impact on the other end of the floor. He averaged nearly two steals per game, putting him on pace to possibly break the Yale record for career assists by a men's basketball player. In fact, Okonkwo did set the record for assists in a single season.
But, the stats sheet is not the only place this junior forward's impact was felt. He always hustled on the floor, consistently had a smile on his face, and helped keep the rest of the team in good humor during some of the more difficult points during the season. He also leads by example-his work ethic is among the best on the team. Yale head coach Dick Kuchen said, "Dan has got that wisdom to take what you give to him and try to work at it and apply it to his game."
Okonkwo's season was a breakout one for him, and the good news for Eli fans is that it will not be his last. He will return to the Bulldogs next year, as a senior, to attempt to lead the team to a more successful season. If this year is any indication, Okonkwo is certainly up to the task.
-Warren Giddings
Basketball is a game of choreographed chaos, with the movement of the players and the direction of the ball comforming to a designed pattern. The key to the dance, the player that keeps everyone else in step, is the point guard. However, if the point guard is the lead, then the anchor, the solid grounding that serves as a focus for the swirl of action, is the center. Winning requires both parts to be solid, functioning as a single axis as much as possible.
Kathleen Offer, MC '96, has been the master of the dance at Yale for the past four years. She has guided the steps of her fellow performers to the tune of 550 assists. Offer is the consummate point guard, helping make Mary Kalich, CC '95, the leading scorer in Yale history, and Jodi Brandt, BK '96, the leading three-point shooter in Yale history. During her final season Offer made her final contributions to Yale count, making sure that Katy Grubbs, SM '99, had the ball where she needed it to become the Ivy League Rookie of the Year, and complete the axis a team needs to win. Offer and Grubbs combined in 1995-96 to be as potent an inside-outside force the Ivies have seen.
Offer, the team's captain, will leave Yale as the school's all-time leader in both steals and assists. Offer is also the Ivy League's all-time leader in assists. Grubbs, a 6'3" monster on the inside, emerged this past season to be Yale's leading scorer and rebounder. Averaging almost 14 points per game and nearly seven boards, Grubbs earned Rookie of the Week honors four times. While superfrosh Grubbs will not have the sublime Offer to feed her the ball next year, she should prove to be a major factor in Ivy play. The floor general has had her day, leaving as the very best ever, and Yale hopes that a towering presence will maintain the stature of the shorter player whose shoes she has to fill.
-Wayne Tolleson
Copyright 1996, The Yale Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
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