Michigan St., Connecticut, Villanova, North Carolina Make Up NCAA Final Four
After a week and a half of March Madness, the regional champions have been decided. The 2009 NCAA Final Four consists of Michigan State, Connecticut, Villanova, and North Carolina – here’s a summary of how they got here.
The Tech’s Athlete of the Week:Igor Kopylov ’09
For the second year in a row senior Igor Kopylov was the lone Division III recipient of the Georges L. Cointe Award, which is given to a fencer who excels in high-level competition with excellence in sportsmanship. He is MIT’s third consecutive winner of this award and fourth overall as Trevor T. Chang ’07 was honored during his senior campaign and Guy P. Pommares ’71 was chosen in 1970.
Skating Club Holds Exhibition
On Saturday, March 14th, 2009, the MIT Figure Skating Club (FSC) held its annual club exhibition at the Johnson Ice Rink. This show was coordinated by group lesson instructor Susan Alpert; Esther Horwich ’77 was the show’s emcee. This year’s show featured many group, solo, and duet performances by club and local skaters and had an audience of around 200 people.
Strong Doubles Play Sets Tone as Women’s Tennis Sweeps Colby
MIT Women’s Tennis defeated Colby this past Saturday, winning 9-0. The warm day allowed the players to compete outside, which also allowed the many fans to see the action better. Among the fans was Kat Pick, a former assistant coach who came out to support the team. With the support of the fans, the team headed out to play doubles.
Brackets Unveiled: UConn Chosen Over Memphis as West’s Top Seed
In the <i>Tech</i> office, the sportswriters anxiously await the results of Selection Sunday. One of the editors is from Connecticut (<i>Editor’s Note</i>: was). I am from Memphis. We’ve been talking smack all season. Finally, the brackets have been revealed, and we learned the teams’ seeding for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Connecticut (27-4) is the number one seed is the West region and Memphis (31-3) is the number two seed — also in the West region.
Sports Shorts
A seventh-place finish by Robin S. Shin ’12 at Sunday’s NCAA Northeast Regional earned her a spot at the NCAA Fencing National Championship to be held at Pennsylvania State University from March 19-22. She will be the first sabre competitor to make the trip since Caroline Purcell ’02 and Jennifer A. Mckeehan ’02 represented the Engineers in 2002. The qualification also continues a family tradition of national appearances, as older sister Stephanie S. Shim ’10 finished 20th in epee last season while their father Robert Shim ’77 received a spot in the sabre field.
MIT Sport Taekwondo Captures First at West Point Tournament
It has been four months since the last Ivy Northeast Collegiate Taekwondo League tournament (now called the Eastern Collegiate Taekwondo Conference, or ECTC), but the MIT Sport Taekwondo team seized the training period as an opportunity to train hard and forcefully capture first place at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on Saturday, Feb. 28. The team, coached by head instructor Dan Chuang and led by captains Corinna Hui ’09 and Christopher J. Han ’09, showed outstanding spirit and talent on all levels: from forms to sparring, passionate beginners to experienced veterans. At the end of the day, MIT captured first place out of 22 schools, inching out rival Cornell University by a narrow, but decisive, margin of twelve points.
The Tech’s Athlete of the Week: Joseph B. Silverman ’10
This past weekend, MIT junior Joseph B. Silverman placed seventh in the 197-pound weight class in the Division III National Wrestling Tournament, held at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. His stellar performance in the tournament earned him All-American status, and Joe is the second MIT wrestler to earn this distinction in the last two years. Glenn J. Geesman ’09 also qualified for and competed in the national tournament.
Engineers Come Back to Beat Rhode Island College in OT, 73-68
MIT freshman William E. “Billy” Bender’s legacy as a clutch performer continues to grow. The rookie knocked down four free throws in the final minute to send Friday’s NCAA Tournament First Round game to overtime before coming up with a steal, a key offensive rebound, and two more free throws in the extra session as MIT stunned nationally-ranked No. 17 Rhode Island College, 73-68, in RIC’s Murray Center.
Men’s Basketball Plays in First-Ever NCAA Tourney
Farmingdale State advanced to the NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Tournament Sectional Round for the first time in the program’s history on Saturday, defeating MIT, 67-61, at The Murray Center on the campus of Rhode Island College. Senior guard Damien Santana scored 20 of his team-high 23 points in the first half to lead the Rams’ attack.
GAME OF THE WEEK MIT Men’s Basketball Captures First NEWMAC Championship
The MIT men’s basketball team made history on Sunday, March 1, defeating Springfield College 76-50 to claim the first New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) championship in over a century of MIT basketball. This game capped a stellar season in which the team, led by senior tri-captains James M. “Jimmy” Bartolotta ’09, Willard J. “Billy” Johnson ’09 and Bradley H. Gampel ’09, cultivated a 20-8 record (8-4 NEWMAC) and broke Institute records for single-game points, career points, single-season assists, single-game and single-season steals, and three-point shots. The conference championship earns the Engineers’ their first-ever spot in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Tournament.
Men’s Swimming and Diving Wins NEWMAC Championship by 245
After finishing second in the last two NEWMAC Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships, three times proved to be a charm as the Engineers delivered one of the most commanding victories in the history of the meet on Sunday at Wheaton College’s Balfour Auditorium. Scoring 1,030 points to outpace the runner-up, U.S. Coast Guard Academy, by nearly 300 points, MIT secured its first NEWMAC title since 2003 and fourth overall. Following the competition, Rastislav Racz ’10 was named NEWMAC Swimmer of the Year, while Timothy J. Stumbaugh ’12 earned Rookie of the Year honors.