Thoroughbreds near semester break
Emily Przsyinda ’16
It was the final week of competition of the semester for two Skidmore winter sports, as swimming and diving participated at the Liberty League championships and ice hockey hosted two conference opponents. Women’s and men’s basketball both had a tough week, suffering incredibly close losses against top non-conference opponents.
Swimming and diving competed at the Liberty League championships in the teams’ final event of the semester, with both the men’s and women’s teams finishing eighth. Nick Sauerbrunn ’15 highlighted the weekend, placing third in the 500 free and the 1650 free and eighth in the 200 free. He teamed with Ramzy Kahhale ’15, Gabriel Salitan-Alvarez ’17 and Mario Hyman ’16 for sixth in the 400 free relay and seventh in the 200 free relay. Salitan-Alvarez added two top-10 finishes, touching eighth in the 1650 free and 10th in the 200 fly. The team of Hyman, Kahhale, Robert Fulton ’15 and Bailey Best ’17 chipped in a seventh-place finish in the 200 medley relay.
Emily Przsyinda ’15 had the best finish of the weekend for the women’s team, coming in fourth in the 1650 free. Catherine King ’15, last year’s Liberty League champion in the 50 free, placed sixth in this year’s event and Erin Donovan ’17 was seventh in the 100 back and ninth in the 200 back. The Thoroughbreds’ 200 free relay team of King, Yookee Roh ’16, Monica Abdul-Chani ’17 and Kate Lambos ’15 and the 400 medley relay team of King, Roh, Donovan and Caroline Tuttle ’17 both finished seventh.
Women’s basketball was held off by No. 11 Williams before dropping an overtime contest at Middlebury. The team nearly erased a 13-point second-half deficit against the unbeaten Ephs, but Williams hit its free throws down the stretch to hang on for the 50-45 win. The Thoroughbreds (1-4) held the Ephs to a season-low 50 points on 16-of-58 shooting. Angela Botiba ’15 had her second straight double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds, Amber Holgate ’16 added 13 points in her first start of the season and Molly McLaughlin ’15 had 12 points. The team took a 13-point lead into halftime against Middelbury, but the Panthers rallied in the second half to force overtime, eventually earning a 66-63 win. Kelly Donnelly ’18 had her first career double-double with 14 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Botiba chipped in with her third double-double of the year of 13 points and 13 rebounds, Holgate tallied 12 points and Lindsey Davis ’15 had 11 points. The team hosts Green Mountain at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 10, in its final game of the semester
Connor Pelkey ’18
Men’s basketball dropped another tightly contested contest against undefeated Middlebury College, 57-56. The Thoroughbreds (3-4) led with under two seconds remaining, but the Panthers converted on their final possession, stealing the win. Erik Sanders ’16 recorded his first double-double of the season with 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds, Connor Merrill ’15 had a team-high 15 points, and Aldin Medunjanin ’16 finished with six points, eight rebounds and five assists. The team goes on the road to take on Potsdam at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 9.
Ice hockey suffered setbacks against No. 2 Norwich and Saint Michael’s. The Thoroughbreds (2-8-1) staged a late comeback after trailing 4-1 in the third period, but couldn’t find the equalizing goal, falling 5-4. Connor Pelkey ’18 netted his first career hat trick, including two goals in the third period. Ondrej Krajnak ’15, Anthony Bird ’17 and Marc Cibelli ’17 all had a pair of assists. Goaltender Jack McDonald ’17 turned away 30 shots, including 16 in the second period after stopping 28 shots against Norwich on Saturday. The team is off until a Friday, Jan. 2, 2015, non-conference contest at Salve Regina. ~ By Dan St.-Jacques