The Swami's Winter Forecast

The Swami, a good friend of the Oracle at Delphi, predicts how the 12 residential colleges will finish....

(1) Saybrook: Look for Saybrook to rebound in the winter to take their place at the top again. Kevin "The Nurr" Irwin '99 already claims that a bowling repeat is inevitable with the return of seniors Nate Bohn, Scott Yaecker, John Whipple, and Ben McGrath. McGrath and Behi Rabbani '99 return to lead the fearsome ice hockey team which finished undefeated last year. For the 8-3 B-hoops team, starters Josh Mancell '00, Dan Classen '00, Powell Jose '01, and Jeremy Rissi '99 return along with new addition Chris Conway '99, and Mike "no sleeves" Reeves '01, to take another shot at the shirts. Natasha Bloom '00, Cortney Golub '00, Robyn Harris '99, Shari Rogal '01, Elena Saxonhouse '99, Alice Liu '01, and Kristen Gengaro '00 look to avenge last year's defeat to Silliman in women's hoops. Men's and women's squash look to be contenders with Glenn Hurowitz '00 and Liese Fritze '01 leading the way. With Paul Sohn '99 returning from JV to captain A-hoops, Saybrook will be very difficult to beat this winter.

(2) Timothy Dwight: The winter has rarely been kind to those making the trek to and from Temple Street, though it is virtually certain that they will improve on last year's 11th place finish in the winter. One of the few TD winning teams from last year, men's squash also remains intact with freshman counselors Josh Panas '99 and Andrew Gerber '99, along with Rohit Malik '00.

The return of Marlon Lutfiyya '97 as a fellow along with Bobby Winslow '00 should certainly help TD's A-hoops program. Junior ex-IM secretaries Courtney Noble and Gates Hurand should also help, but it will still be interesting to see how TD finishes this winter. With a strong spring, which includes a baseball team led by Joe Walland '00, TD can certainly keep it close....

(3) Berkeley: Winter has always been BK's strength. Seniors Sarah Overfield, Barrie Koegel, Jenny Bottomly, and Vicki Fung have won two straight women's volleyball championships and haven't lost a game in the winter when they all play together.

BK squash still retains its top two undefeated IM squash players: juniors Hank Chong and Andy Woglom, though they may finally be vulnerable after the loss of Evan Hughes '98 and Andrew Gurman '98 to graduation. Anne Taylor '00 has joined Yale women's squash, but seniors Dawn Hirokawa and Laura Kimberley, winners of shirts two of the last three years, look to contend again. Seniors Mao-Mei Liu and Andrea Guerra lead a perennially strong swimming and water polo team. Women's basketball had a strong performance last year after a shaky start with the inside-outside attack of Gina Constantine '00 and Overfield at work. A weak A-Hoops team, however, won't help BK's cause.

(4) Ezra Stiles: Being next to the gym may be a big advantage for Stiles. Jon Griswold '99 leads Peter Reidhead '00 and Nik Slywka '99 as well as the rest of a talented squash team, to another chance at the shirts. Women's hoops proved their talent last year and looks to do so again in an expanded 11-game season. Grant Chavin '01 and Josh Frank '01 hope to have the same success in rebuilding A-hoops as they did with the tennis team. The ice hockey squad will also be strong, with few losses to graduation. Perhaps Stiles can make a run reminiscent of Tragoutt Lawler's dynasties in the early '90s....

(5) Calhoun: One would have thought that the loss of last year's seniors--Matt Morgado, Sherlock Grigsby, Adrian Thomas, and Zach Altschuler--would have set the 'Houn back quite a bit. On the contrary, the fall campaign finished surprisingly well, and the winter, well...

Rasika and Jake look to lead B-hoops and men's volleyball to successful campaigns while Aubrey Jennings '01 and Jess Ip '00 look to do the same with women's volleyball. Seniors Sarah Black and Ossa Fredrickson look to lead a perennially strong women's squash team, and don't be surprised to see Master Sledge in an inner tube making a few waves during a game. Unfortunately, Calhoun has numerous weaknesses (especially swimming, men's squash, and ice hockey) to work out if they wish to seriously contend in the upcoming spring campaign.

(6) Branford: The Jedi and roommate Patrick Bareiss '99 took on a difficult task in their efforts to rebuild BFA intramurals, and the fall did not treat them too well. In the winter, however, seniors Vorkink, Bareiss, Collins Mba-Jonas, Mihira Jayasekera, and Loren Stewart return for another go at those men's volleyball shirts. Women's volleyball, led by Martha Bagnall '00, will be strong as always. Mike Smith '99 claims his water polo team will make some major waves in the pool, and Jake Fuller '99, Vorkink, John Foster-Keddie '01, Dan Balzora '01, and others look for continued success in A-hoops. Squash also will be strong with Matt Rothman '00, Dan Brodhead '01, Mike Vermylen '99, and Josh Olken '01 leading the way.

If BFA can replace their senior-dominated bowling team, once led by Mike May '98, and pick up more than six ice hockey points, maybe the winter will treat them well...

(7) Morse: Pete Sarantos '00 looks to continue his IM Hoops success as he transfers to A-hoops. Sophomores Colin Pan, Shivan Mehta, Mike Hoevel, and Trygve Bakken look to improve on their 10-1 record and take the men's squash shirts, while Deborah Bauer '01 looks to do the same in women's squash. Teresa Sakash '99 and Sara Perkins '01 hope to turn around last year's women's hoops campaign. Ice hockey, led by Ian McCallister '00, should also be strong contenders for the shirts in addition to Dan Wilderman's '00 and Zak Pines' '00 C-hoops team.

Morse is still left with numerous holes to fill, however, including the virtual absence of both male and female volleyball players. Perhaps if Wilderman can pull off the swimming showing he's been promising, Morse might be able to finish the winter in the top half.

(8) Silliman: They don't have TD's women's soccer team to give them the 110 points they did in the fall, but they still should remain around the double digit mark. Varsity soccer players Dave Boehmer '00 and Phil Harris '00 led the water polo and A-hoops teams to very successful campaigns last year. This looks to continue, especially with the return of Robby Luckett '99 and the ex-varsity star Teddy Miller '99. Andrew Chen '99 leads fellow seniors Joe Pilch and Brett Libresco, along with juniors Ernest Morris and Shane Dizon and sophomores Loren Wengard and Sam Stern to his final campaign for the men's VB shirts. The ice hockey team should remain strong with the a weaker league and the return of Ben White '99 and Caleb Weaver '01. Lilly Wang '99 and Chrissy Anthony '01 should lead women's volleyball and basketball to successful campaigns as well.

(9) Pierson: After a potentially devastating fall, Pierson soccer helped pull the PC ranking out of the cellar. It's certainly nice to go into the winter knowing that you're probably guaranteed the 55 points from the 11 wins which junior football players Hockenbrock, Bennett, Blake, Kelley, and Taylor will doubtless garner in A-hoops. Men's volleyball looks only a shade less deadly with the return of big hitting juniors Tom Lo and Matt Janik along with the discovery of a real setter. Keith Wesolowski '00, who has been talking a lot of smack about IM bowling after last year's defeat at the hands of Saybrook, is doubtless hungry for revenge down at Amity Lanes.

Despite all these strong teams, a number of weak teams will probably prevent Pierson from climbing higher in the rankings--like squash, which died last year. B-hoops graduated and C-hoops has never had much success to start with. A huge jump in the standings seems rather unlikely.

(10) Trumbull: The 'Bull is seriously looking to make a charge, but it may have exhausted most of its potential in the fall. In the winter, undefeated Jenn Ginn '99 returns to women's squash and A-hoops looks to be strong with the outside attack of Justin Sommers '99, Todd Tomich '01, and Vinnie Wilhelm '00. The loss of Clay Allister '98 and Dan McGlaughlin '98, however, will make it difficult for them to contend with some of the bigger teams. Sophomores Gustavo Bagnatti and Nick Fortinatus look to revive volleyball, and Edgar Smith '99 is a scoring machine in C-hoops. In many places, though, Trumbull will be very hard-put to find winning teams.

(11) Jonathan Edwards: It's really not easy to build a dynasty when you're a spider sitting in the basement. A-Hoops looks to be one of the few bright spots in the JE winter as captain Chris Barnard '99, Rob Welhoelter '99, Andrew Krause '00, Jake Borden '00, and Alfredo Maldonado '99 look to take another crack at Pierson's A-Hoops team in an attempt to go one better than their 10 wins last year. Will McGrath '00 returns from a year of club volleyball to head the men's team, and hopefully the usually strong women's hoops team didn't disappear with the graduation of Alissa Pelkola '98.

It would be an achievement for the spiders to elevate out of double digits at the end of the winter, especially with so much rebuilding to be done.

(12) Davenport: After a difficult fall, including being on the losing end of a tiebreaker in the tennis playoffs, a few of Davenport's teams should be strong in the winter. The ice hockey team is led by seniors Coddy Johnson and Eugene Bang, who look to repeat their championship from '97. Swimming is strong as usual, led by seniors Sam Glass, Hugh Murtagh, and other members of the men's water polo team. Rod Mobley '99 also claims that his squash team should be solid with the addition of Amar Drawid '00. Josephine Taverna '99 leads a talented women's volleyball team that can probably beat anyone on the right day.

It is likely, however, that Davenport will face some difficulty in winning in many other sports and it seems like every season, the number of DC dead teams increases.

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