1.23.17 Men’s hockey power play improves p. 4-5 Frank Zarnowski named to USATF Hall of Fame p. 8 Tearing Up the Playbook with Sam Stockton ’19 p. 6 Squash players explain their game p. 7 The Weekend Roundup p. 2-3
Fanni Szabo ’17 leads women’s basketball team p. 8
By Alex Leibowitz
SAPHFIRE BROWN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY
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The weekend Roundup Compiled by JONATHAN KATZMAN AND MATT YUEN
WOmen’s HOCKEY The women’s ice hockey team struggled on Friday, succumbing to Yale University, who is now 6-11-3 and 4-8-1 in the ECAC, 3-0 at Ingalls Rink. Goaltender Robyn Chemago ’17 kept the Big Green in the game all evening, registering 29 saves in the contest as the Bulldogs kept the Dartmouth defensive unit on its heels all evening. Despite being shut out, the Big Green’s offensive unit had its chances, as Tess Bracken ’19 had five shotson-net, and Cecilia Lopez ’20 had three. Dartmouth also nearly got on the board in the first, but a Morgan Turner ’18 breakaway opportunity was turned away by Yale goalie Kyra O’Brien. Both the Big Green and Bulldogs struggled on the power play, going 0-4 and 0-3, respectively. Yale used goals from Mallory Souliotis in the first, and Eden Murray and Jordan Chancellor in the third to seal the victory. The women also fell to Brown
University 1-0 at Meehan Auditorium on Saturday. The Big Green fell to 5-15-0 overall and 3-11-0 in ECAC hockey play, while the Bears improved to 5-16-0 and 3-11-0. “We need to find a way to bury pucks,” head coach Laura Schuler said after the game. “We can’t win games without scoring goals, so our goal going forward is to work on creating offense.” The lone goal of the game occurred when Brown’s Sarah Migliori collected her own rebound and buried one past Chemago 14:33 into the game. Chemago, however, was outstanding in the period, registering 13 saves. Despite quality chances from Lopez, Alyssa Baker ’19 and Kate Landers ’19 in the second and third periods. Brown netminder Monica Elvin was there to shut the door for all 19 Dartmouth shots. Chemago finished with 30 saves in the contest. Brown outshot Dartmouth 31-19, and both squads finished 0-4 on the power play.
MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2017
BASKETBAll
The Dartmouth men’s basketball team fell to Harvard University on Saturday afternoon at Lavietes Pavilion, 82-68, bumping Dartmouth to a 3-12 overall record and a 0-2 Ivy League record. Harvard now has a 10-5 overall record and a 2-0 Ivy record. Although Dartmouth ended the first half with a 35-34 lead, the Crimson sunk 13 3-pointers total and shot 53.3 percent from the floor in the second half to snag the win against the Big Green. Dartmouth’s Guilien Smith ’19 and Evan Boudreaux ’19 scored close to half of Dartmouth’s points with 18 and 15 points respectively. Wesley Dickinson ’17 and Brendan Barry ’20 also scored in double figures, with 12 and 10 points respectively. Miles Wright ’18 dominated the boards with a team-leading
seven rebounds. In a game that truly came down to the wire, the women’s basketball team fell to Harvard 70-61, pushing Dartmouth down to 5-10 overall and 0-2 in the Ivy League. The Crimson improved to 14-1 overall and 2-0 in the Ivies. Isalys Quiñones ’19 and Olivia Smith ’18 were the stars of the game on the Big Green side of the court. Quiñones set a new career-high with a team high 18 points, while also securing 11 rebounds for her fourth career double-double. Smith also finished the game in double-digits, securing a whopping 14 points. On the other side of the floor, Crimson freshman Katie Benzan spearheaded the Harvard offense with a resounding 17 points and six rebounds.
SQUASH
Skiing
On Saturday at the St. Lawrence Carnival, the Dartmouth Nordic skiing teams secured five of the six podium steps in the freestyle races, while the alpine teams took two more podium spots, accumulating 961 points overall to beat the University of Vermont, who finished in second place with 830. Although all the teams performed well, the men’s cross country team performed exceptionally well. Callan DeLine ’18 cruised through the men’s 10-kilometer freestyle in 26:59.6. The two other skiers who broke 28 minutes skied for the Big Green as well: in second
place was Fabian Stocek ’17 with a time of 27:16.3, while Luke Brown ’18 finished in third with a time of 27:55.9. Brian McLaughlin ’18 took first in the men’s slalom in 43.55 seconds. The Dartmouth women also emerged victorious in both Nordic and alpine events, with the Nordic team taking four of the top five slots and the alpine team winning three of their events. Lydia Blanchet ’19 finished in first place in the women’s 5-kilometer freestyle by more than two seconds. Alexa Dlouhy ’19 and Kelly Moore ’18 finished one-two in the slalom.
Rachel DeChiara ’17 Publisher
Ray Lu ’18 Editor-in-Chief
Kourtney Kawano ’18 Executive Editor
01.23.17 Vol. CLXXIV No. 13
Mark Cui ’19 Evan Morgan ’19 Sports Editors
Nathan Albrinck ’20 Assistant Sports Editor Saphfire Brown ’18 Paula Mendoza ’19 Photography Editors Jaclyn Eagle ’19 Templating Editor
Photo by SAPHFIRE BROWN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF The men’s and women’s squash teams defeated Middlebury College on Sunday.
Alvin Heumann ’17 was named Harrow Sports Squash Player of the Week for the first time in his career after his spectacular 4-3 win over Princeton University’s Adhitya Raghavan last Saturday. On Sunday, Dartmouth men’s squash dominated
Middlebury College 9-0. The women’s squash team also took down No. 14 Middlebury on Sunday afternoon with a 9-0 win. Janel Gaube ’18 started the day with a three-set win, and the Big Green never looked back.
Track & Field On Friday afternoon, the men’s track and field team bested Ivy League rivals Columbia University and Yale University to win the tri-meet. Dartmouth finished the day with 89 points, while the Bulldogs finished in second with 70 and the Lions in third with 22 points. Dartmouth secured the majority of its points through the middle-distance and distance events. Miles Irish ’18, with a time of 4:10.09, finished just ahead of teammates Dominic Carrese ’19, who finished in 4:10.22, and Quinn Cooney ’19, who clocked in at 4:10.96, for the top spot in the mile. The one-two-three finish added 10 points to the team’s meet total.
Henry Raymond ’20 won the 1000-meter run with 2:25.89, besting the runner-up by just four-hundredths of a second. Sean Laverty ’20 claimed first in the 3000-meter run in 8:29.91. The women’s track and field team also took home the victory with 96 points over Columbia’s 45 points and Yale’s 39 points. Once again, Cha’Mia Rothwell ’20 won the events, taking the 60-meter dash in 7.45 and the 60-meter hurdles in 8.54, securing a total of 10 points for the team. Only a month-anda-half into her Dartmouth career, the rookie set a school record with her run in the finals of the 60m dash.
MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2017
THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY
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MEN’s HOCKEY On Friday, the Dartmouth men’s hockey team fell 7-0 to visiting Yale University, who improved to 8-7-3 and 4-5-2 in the ECAC, in a tired effort at Thompson Arena. With the win, Yale moved into a tie for seventh place with Dartmouth in the ECAC Hockey standings. By the end of the weekend, however, the Big Green dropped to the eighth spot in the conference. “They [Yale] were better than us in every facet of the game,” head coach Bob Gaudet ’81 said. “We played like a tired team tonight, and it was just one of those games where the other team was just better than we were.” The Bulldogs used a career night from sophomore Charlie Curti, who recorded two goals and two assists on the night. Patrick Spano made 22 saves to record his second shutout of the season. Dartmouth’s Adrian Clark ’20 made 18 stops in his second collegiate start before
being replaced by classmate Dean Shatzer ’20 for the last 15:02. Shatzer surrendered one goal on seven shots. Dartmouth was 0-3 on the power play, marking the first time in nine games that the Big Green has failed to score a goal on man-advantage opportunities. Yale finished 1-3 in extra-man situations. On Saturday, Andrew Doane’s goal 2:34 into overtime gave visiting Brown University, who improved to 4-14-1 and 3-9-0 in the ECAC, a 4-3 victory over Dartmouth, now 7-10-3 and 4-7-2 in the ECAC. Dartmouth came back to tie the game with 1:33 left in regulation on Troy Crema ’17‘s blast from the left circle but was unable to break through in the extra period. Ryan Blankemeier ’20 got Dartmouth on the board with 6:44 gone by in the first period for his second tally of the year. Blankemeier’s goal was followed by Crema’s power-play marker with 2:59 remaining in
the first. The Bears responded, however, by peppering Big Green goaltender Devin Buffalo ’18 with 13 shots in the second period and goals from Davey Middleton and Max Willman. “They [Brown] were better than us in the second and made us pay for it,” Gaudet said. “There has to be a better level of pushback when that happens.” Bren Beaudoin gave Brown the lead just 44 seconds into the final stanza, and the game did not see any goals until Crema’s 12th of the season down the stretch. Buffalo finished with 30 saves, while his counterpart Gavin Nieto recorded 28 stops to earn the victory. Brown held a 34-31 advantage in shots, yet went scoreless on four power play opportunities. Dartmouth finished 1-3 on man-advantages and has now scored power-play goals in nine of its last ten games.
SWIMMING AND DIVING
Photo by HOLDEN HARRIS/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams defeated the University of Massachusetts Amherst to win the Dartmouth Invitational this past weekend.
In the swimming pool, the men’s swimming team raced ahead to a 177-159 victory over the University of Massachusetts Amherst to win the two-day, three-session Dartmouth Invitational. Dartmouth began the first day with a second place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:27.22. The A relay, consisting of Henry Patrick ’19, Tang-e Tan ’20, John Hall ’20 and Will Belmont ’20 , finished just over
Photo by HOLDEN HARRIS/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF Along with the diving competition, this year’s Dartmouth Invitational also featured a strong performance by AnnClaire MacArt ’18, who broke the record for the 1,650-yard freestyle.
two seconds behind the first place finisher. In the 400-yard individual medley, the Big Green claimed the top three spots with Josh Hendell ’20 first in 4:08.66, Henry Senkfor ’18 second in 4:10.87 and Delaney Hall ’19 third in 4:11.19. David Harmon ’17 won the 100-yard butterfly in 50.96 seconds, while Belmont finished second in 51.85. On the other side, the Big Green’s women’s swimming
and diving team won the same Dartmouth Invitational by defeating the UMass Amherst 202-133. The highlight of this invitational was AnnClaire MacArt ’18, who broke the pool record in the 1,650-yard freestyle by 13 seconds with a time of 17:14.95. The previous record of 17:27:68 was set by Gret Duckworth ’00 in 1998 and was Dartmouth’s longest-standing pool record.
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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY
MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2017
Unfazed by early-season power play struggles,
By Jonatha
FLOATER TITLE
EVAN MORGAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
EVAN MORGAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
EVAN MORGAN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
In the first half of the 20162 0 1 7 m e n’s h o c k ey s e a s o n , Dartmouth did not capitalize on its man advantages. After going 0-for-5 on the power play against the University of Michigan, and 0-for-6 against Cornell University, registering just four shots on the man-advantage and surrendering a short-handed goal to the Big Red, it was evident that something was not right. Even an astonishing eight power-play opportunities was not enough for Dartmouth against Colgate University, despite defeating the visiting Red Raiders 2-0. For the first seven games of the season, the Big Green powerplay unit yielded a flurry of incomplete passes, turnovers and a surprisingly low number of quality scoring chances. Up until the Big Green’s eighth game of the season at Robert Morris University on Saturday, Nov. 26, 2016 — during which Dartmouth netted its first and second power-play goals of the season — the Big Green was an astonishing 0-for-42 on man-up opportunities. Though Dartmouth players and coaches were well aware of the dismal special teams performances, there was little worry about the failure to convert on the man-advantage. After the team’s victory against Colgate, head coach Bob Gaudet ’81 seemed unfazed by the statistically poor performances on power-play opportunities. “I would not say that it’s a concern right now,” Gaudet said. “It is just something that may take some time. What is going to happen is that in one of the upcoming games, we will score a few goals on the power play and hopefully that gives us some more confidence. It is something that is just going to get better with time.” Perhaps Gaudet has not been given enough credit for his work with a young squad featuring 11 freshmen, and Dartmouth fans should not have expected the chemistry to click right away, particularly on the power play. The Big Green lineup features line
combinations of b upperclassmen on and it would be fo freshman with lim in the Dartmo become immedia to his older team styles. This is part for creating a su play unit, which passing and puck well as movemen puck as the team the perfect scorin It was against in late November finally found its
We just figu what we hav on the powe and that is m simple plays executing go and getting front. We kn once we got floodgates w open.
-SHANE SELLA
rhythm on the po its last ten games has been spectacu advantage. In 3 opportunities, beg team’s victory ov University of N Dartmouth has con with the extra ma percent. The manamong the nation’ during this time pe statistic in persp University leads t category with a of 28.6 percent season . The team up performance h Green stat sheet. has five of the tea play tallies, which
MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2017
THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY
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men’s hockey unleashes a second-half barrage
an Katzman
both under- and n a nightly basis, oolish to expect a mited experience uth system to tely accustomed mmates’ playing ticularly relevant uccessful powerh requires crisp k movement, as nt away from the m tries to line up ng opportunity. t Robert Morris that Dartmouth s much-needed
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AR ’20
ower-play, and in s, the Big Green ular on the man34 power-play ginning with the ver in-state rival New Hampshire, nverted ten times an, a rate of 29.4 -up unit has been ’s top performers eriod. To put this pective, Harvard the nation in this conversion rate thus far in the m’s recent manhas lit up the Big Troy Crema ’17 am’s 10 powerh places him in a
Dartmouth began its recent power play tear with a man-up goal against the University of New Hampshire on Dec. 10, 2016. Here’s how it worked.
tie for sixth in the nation and third among ECAC players. Assistant captain Grant Opperman ’17 and Corey Kalk ’18 trail Crema with two powerplay goals apiece. It was also on a man-advantage that Clay Han ’20 recorded his second collegiate goal in a 7-4 loss to University of Massachusetts Lowell in the Ledyard Classic final. So, what has been the difference maker for Dartmouth? Has it been better chemistry, better passing and shot selection or better rhythm as the season progressed? According to first-year forward Shane Sellar ’20, the recent success on the power play has been a combination of a few factors. “I do not think it is a chemistry thing,” Sellar said. “We just figured out what we have to do on the power play, and that is make simple plays. We are executing good passes and getting people in front. We knew that once we got one the floodgates would open.” Emphasis on simple plays is key. But simple does not mean that the Big Green’s unit has been any less fun to watch. In the past few games, we have seen Crema and Opperman unload canisters from the bottom of the left circle, nifty passing from Alex Jasiek ’19 and more shots on target from Cam Roth ’19, Han and Connor Yau ’19. Off-puck movement has become more noticeable, and most importantly, the movement appears coordinated and has kept opposing penalty-kill units off balance. While it had become frustrating for many to witness the confusion of the Big Green power-play unit early in the season, it has clearly turned a corner. Perhaps it was just time, as Gaudet and Sellar believe. There is no doubt, however, that it would have taken the nine freshman skaters more time to become acclimated to the speed of college hockey, Dartmouth’s system and their teammates’ style of play. What is most apparent is that Dartmouth’s power-play struggles have subsided.
With the collapse of the UNH defense, Crema is an outlet for Opperman and can shoot or pass to a teammate. Crema leads the team in power play goals with 5.
Sellar’s position near the top of the circle allows him to shoot if he has space or continue to help move around the puck to set up Opperman.
In the ideal scheme, Opperman has a few options. He can fire away from the bottom of the circle, feed Crema up top, or pass to Yau across the ice. In this play, the UNH defense did not close in on Opperman, and he shot and scored.
Kilistoff’s main goal is to get in front of the net to be a potential outlet for Opperman. He creates a screen in front of the UNH goaltender and tries to corral any rebound opportunities.
If Yau has the puck in the corner, he can pass to Sellar up top, feed Opperman across the ice, or even create an angle and shoot. When Opperman shoots, Yau crashes the far post to knock home any rebound.
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MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2017
THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY
Tearing Up the Playbook Sam Stockton ‘19 Let’s be honest, the New England Patriots are pretty cool I think I have to preface this by saying that by no means do I consider myself a New England Patriots fan. I repeat, I am not a Patriots fan. That being said, I am a football fan, and as a football fan, it is impossible to deny that the Patriots are an impeccable organization. The thing about the Patriots is that if you overlook the hate and jealousy that fans of just about every other franchise have, you will realize that the Pats are and always will be the coolest franchise in the National Football League. Allow me to explain. Fro m a p u re l y a n a l y t i c a l perspective, the Patriots play
the most interesting game in the league. Its schemes on offense and defense are intricate and fascinating. Its willingness to deploy one player at a number of different positions is unparalleled. The cast of characters, even excluding the obvious Tom Brady, head coach Bill Belichick and Rob Gronkowski, is fascinating. Take wide receiver Julian Edelman, for example, a former community college quarterback who took his first ever snap at receiver in the NFL. Edelman’s story is a captivating one, from cutting his teeth in the NFL as a special teams player before emerging as a devastatingly quick receiving threat and Brady’s favorite target. As if that weren’t enough, he played cornerback for the Patriots for a while when injuries thinned out the secondary. Take Matt Patricia as another example. You might not recognize the name, but I’m sure you’ve seen him patrolling the Patriots’ sideline with his thick beard, backwards ball cap and pencil behind his ear. Patricia is New England’s defensive coordinator, but his background is a degree in aeronautical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Overall, the characters that make up this team are the perfect blend of overachieving underdogs like Edelman and bona fide legends
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like Brady. They will have this feel for as long as Brady and Belichick stick around. Of course, eventually both of those men will move on. To some, this may seem like a let down, and on some level it will be, but that doesn’t mean the Patriots won’t remain a fascinating team to watch. Once either Belichick or Brady retires, it will be interesting to see exactly how the other fares without him, and how the team will fare without both. Granted, this mystery will only last for so long, but again, it won’t be the end of the allure of the Patriots. At this point, once Belichick’s and Brady’s impact are no longer directly felt on the team, the Patriots will have built up quite the tradition — a tradition that includes a coach and star player rising out of nowhere to become the best to ever, as Belichick puts it, do their jobs. On top of that, for football fans of my generation, this meteoric rise occurred right before our very eyes. I was born in 1997. Belichick was hired in 2000. Brady was drafted the same year. New England won its first Super Bowl in February 2002. Over the course of my lifetime, the Patriots grew from a good but not great team to the most dominant dynasty the league has ever seen. I’m not sure there is another fan base in the world that can say
that they witnessed this kind of rise, but every football fan my age can say they watched it happen in New England. Musings of the Week: 1. I love Theo Epstein, and, if you don’t recognize that he is a baseball mastermind, I’m not quite sure what you’re looking at. At this point, you may well be saying “That’s nice, but why are you thinking about it now?” Well, this week, it came to my attention, via a fascinating interview on David Axelrod’s podcast, that Epstein’s grandfather and great-uncle wrote the screenplay to “Casablanca.” How wild is that? Epstein is not only a living baseball legend and perhaps the greatest executive in all of sports but also the descendent of the writers of one of the most iconic films in history. I don’t know what the Epstein family is doing to raise their kids, but I know they’re doing it well. 2. One of the challenges of having a Monday column during NFL season is that I have to turn in my articles before I know what happened in the week’s games. The point being, I have no idea what happened on championship Sunday as of press time. Regardless of the outcome of the games, I believe that the Patriots should only play Gronkowski for two games a year:
the American Football Conference title game and Super Bowl. I get that this sounds crazy, but let’s just state facts. Fact one: Gronkowski is the league’s most dominant player when he’s healthy, but the way he plays puts his body at tremendous risk. Fact two: the Patriots are a pretty safe bet to get to the AFC title game every year, as long as Brady and Belichick are together. Based on that, why not keep Gronk healthy so that for the two biggest games of the year, the best player in the league is on your side. 3. Again, I don’t know what happened in the game at this point, but I still don’t think Aaron Rodgers is as confident in this team as he has been in he has been in past Green Bay Packers squads. What is my evidence for this, you might ask? Well, a confident Rodgers believes so firmly in his team that he is willing to grow out that goofy handlebar mustache. That mustache sends a message. If you have such a ridiculous ’stache, you are going to be lampooned if you lose, but if you win it’s awesome. Ergo, Rodgers would only grow out that ’stache if he had no doubt that the Packers were going to win every game it played. Bearded Rodgers thinks the Packers can beat anyone; mustached Rodgers knows that the Packers should beat anyone.
THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY
MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2017
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Squash players explain the strategy behind their sport By SABENA ALLEN The Dartmouth
If chess were a sport, how would it be played? According to Annie Blasberg ’20, it might look a little like “tennis in a box” — or as it’s commonly known, squash. Squash originated at Harrow School, an elite English boarding school, in the 1830s as a faster, more varied version of racquetball. Originally played on racquetball courts, the new sport gained traction, and official squash courts appeared at Harrow in the 1860s. The sport gained national recognition by the 1890s, and the first professional championship took place in England in 1920. The United States Squash Racquet Association was founded in 1907 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and now organizes tournaments on a national level. Today, squash is an international sport especially popular in Egypt and its country of origin, England. For decades, it was a gentleman’s sport confined to the white elite. But through recent outreach efforts such as after-school programs like New York City’s CitySquash and Philadelphia’s SquashSmarts, squash is moving begun to push squash beyond its country club stereotype. Squash is a racquet sport played with a small ball about 1.5 inches in diameter. As in tennis, the goal is to get one’s
opponent to miss the ball or to arrive at the ball after it bounces twice. Unlike tennis, however, the court is bounded by four walls. In order to continue a rally, a player hits the ball before it bounces twice on the floor. That hit must strike the front wall and stay within bounds. A legal shot can take many forms: a drive or rail, which goes straight down the court and hits the front wall; a drop shot, which is a short, slow shot played in the first two quarters of the court; a cross-court, which is hit across the court; a boast, which hits the side or back wall before hitting the front wall; a lob, which is high and slow when it hits the front wall and bounces to the back of the court; or a nick, which hits the intersection of any sidewall with the floor and allows the ball to roll parallel to the floor, ending the rally with one shot. Players aim to play from the center of the court — called “controlling the T.” The player controlling the point plays from the center and aims to hit the ball to the corners, forcing his or her opponent to retrieve the ball from the furthest possible point. Squash is highly strategic. Players practice tactics to position their opponent in the court and to decide on the most appropriate shots to take. Talented athletes can make a very mentally and physically taxing game look effortless. “It’s a combination of
SAPHFIRE BROWN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
Squash is a highly strategic game that originated in the 1830s at Harrow School, an elite boarding school in England.
athleticism and technique,” Leyton Johnston ’20 said. “Squash is a huge mental game. You could be the most physically gifted and most technically gifted squash player in the world, but if you don’t know how to approach the game properly, what shots to hit, you won’t win.” Squash players often find themselves explaining the intensity of the game to many people. The biggest advantage a
squash player can have is “[The] ability to be on the court for a while and be in shape really helps,” Julia Potter ’20 said. “You can learn how to hit a specific shot, but if you’re not able to fight and stay out there,” it will be difficult to compete. Hailing from Boston, Blasberg picked up squash with her family at a young age and continued to play throughout high school. But playing for Dartmouth has been a completely new experience. “Playing on the team [at Dartmouth] is a lot different than junior squash because it’s like a team rather than playing individually,” Blasberg said. “It’s nice taking an individual sport and adding the team component and playing against different schools where it’s not just about you, it’s about playing for the school.” Dartmouth’s squash team is small, with 14 players on the men’s team and 15 on the women’s side. Every year, the team recruits about three athletes and takes several walk-ons. During the November to March season, players
train six days a week with additional morning practices. Because squash is not recognized by the NCAA, schools with varsity teams are not separated into divisions. Instead, National Championships are held each year, with the top eight teams in the College Squash Association rankings facing off in a tournament for the national title. Regular season and postseason matches are conducted head-to-head, with nine to 10 players from each school facing off. A school must take five out of the nine matches to win. Since the Ivy League Scrimmages in November, Dartmouth — currently No. 9 on both the men’s and women’s sides — has been striving to improve its ranking in order to make the cut for nationals. The team’s next home game will be on Saturday, Feb. 4 against Cornell University, Sunday, Feb. 5 against Columbia University, and on Wednesday, Feb. 8 against Williams College.
SAPHFIRE BROWN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
Since the 1830s, squash has emerged as a popular sport in England, Egypt and the U.S.
THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY
MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2017
SPORTS
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Fanni Szabo ’17 discusses leadership role as lone senior on team By ALEX LEIBOWITZ The Dartmouth
The women’s basketball team has an unusually young roster with just one senior, Fanni Szabo ’17, and six freshmen. As a result, Szabo has been thrust into a leadership role both on and off the court. In the team’s game two weeks ago against Harvard University, a 70-65 loss on the road, Szabo demonstrated her leadership and integral role on the team as she led the Big Green in scoring with 16 points, while playing all 40 minutes. Szabo, who is originally from Budapest,Hungaryandhasrepresented her home country on the national stage, was not the only recruited player in her class. However, for a variety of reasons, the other players are no longer on the varsity team. “Since I am the only senior, I am
the one all of the underclassmen come to for help and advice,” Szabo said. “I definitely had to step into this role more.” For Szabo, having her teammates look up to her and helping them along the way is rewarding, independent of their play on the court. “It’s really easy to play with this team,” Szabo said. “I feel like we have a really great team this year. We started to play together really well, and now we are playing for each other.” Head coach Belle Koclanes has coached Szabo throughout her four years at Dartmouth. According to Koclanes, Szabo’s college basketball decision came down to Dartmouth and Ohio State University. “[Szabo] was recruited by the previous staff, but when we were hired she hadn’t made her final decision yet,” Koclanes said. “So it was down to
Dartmouth and Ohio State, so we came in on the tail end of that process, and [Szabo] decided to attend Dartmouth.” Szabo has spent some time at the College dealing with injuries, partially as a result of playing the full year with both Dartmouth and Hungarian national teams. Despite her injuries, Szabo continues to be an offensive force for the Big Green. “[Szabo] has grown and developed her game on both ends of the floor from freshman year to senior year,” Koclanes said. “She came in with a really strong offensive game, and we’ve focused tremendously on [Szabo’s] defensive side of the game.” Szabo is still one of Dartmouth’s leading scoring options, averaging 8.9 points per game this season,but she has expanded her game to focus on passing and defense. This season, she is second on the team in both assists and steals.
While her play on the court speaks for itself, she is just as important to her teammates off the court. “She is an awesome teammate, she cares about everyone, she’s there for everyone,” Koclanes said. “She’s soft spoken. Her leadership is through her actions.” On a team with just one senior, Isalys Quiñones ’19 has also seen her role expand greatly from last season in which she had very limited playing time. “It was definitely a challenge in the beginning.” Quiñones said. “I think that I am starting to grow into it and have more of a place even as a sophomore. Our juniors are also starting to pick up on that because they are getting more minutes than they have before.” Quiñones and other teammates recognize the tough position Szabo has
been put in as the only senior leader on the team. “Going into this year without another classmate has been difficult for her, but she has been doing a really good job with managing what she’s been able to do,” Quiñones said. “I think it is a little bit tough, but it’s not impossible, and she’s doing a great job right now.” Moving forward, with Szabo’s leadership, the team hopes to finish within the top four schools in the Ivy League conference since those four teams will be invited to the first ever conference tournament at the University of Pennsylvania. Currently, Dartmouth is 0-2 in conference play and ranked seventh, with both losses coming against Harvard. The Big Green next plays at home versus Columbia University on Friday, Jan. 17 at 7 p.m.
One-on-one with Frank Zarnowski: decathlon expert, professor By DANIELLE OKONTA The Dartmouth
Most students and faculty know Frank Zarnowski as an economics professor, but few know that he has been a decathlon expert for nearly 50 years. He has written eight books on the subject and produced more than 900 decathlon newsletters. For his contributions to the decathlon event as a public address announcer, author, Olympic television commentator, coach and meet director, he was elected to the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2016. What is your first memory of the decathlon? FZ: I remember seeing the decathlon on television at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, Italy. This was an era where there was no satellite communication so ABC televised the Games, taped them and sent them to New York via plane every single day. I remember seeing the last couple of minutes of the decathlon. I thought it was really neat. I didn’t know what it was, but I was excited to see that an American won. The two men that won gold and silver were actually college teammates at the University of California, Los Angeles.
into nationals. Before there was NCAA Division I, II and III there were two divisions. There was a College Division for smaller schools and a University Division for larger schools. They had their championships one week apart. I went to both of them. I noticed that there was no announcer for the decathlon — just a microphone at the press box. I grabbed some heat sheets and decided to tell the crowd what was going on. I did this for two days and people seemed to like it, so they invited me back to each year to do that. This year will be my 48th year announcing the decathlon for the NCAA. Why is the decathlon so compelling to you?
How did you get into public announcing?
FZ: Many coaches and meet officials deem the event an illegitimate stepson of the real track and field meet; they like to get the decathlon out of the way before the “real meet” starts. After each event, every athlete needs to rest for 30 minutes before he competes in another event, and many people did not have the time and patience to be an announcer for an event that is drawn out like that. I like the decathlon as an event, and I thought it needed as much promotion as the rest of the track meet. One of my internal goals was to make people understand how important it was and how good the athletes were.
FZ: It was by accident. In 1970, the NCAA finally included the decathlon
What do you consider the best meet you announced for?
FZ: I would probably say the Olympic Trials in 2012 in Eugene, Oregon. The decathlon was won by Ashton Eaton, and that year he broke the world record. I was the referee for the existing meet record set in 2001 by Roman Šebrle. Eaton had a great meet. He had a chance to break that record, and I had a chance to be a part of the record. I believed my role was to get the crowd engaged to help him break the record. In the final event, he needed to run a huge personal record in the 1500-meter run to get the record. I made sure that all 22,000 people in the stadium understood that and were willing to help. People were screaming, pounding on the boards and leaning over and screaming at him. I thought that was pretty interesting because the energy that filled the stadium allowed him to break the record.
of the event in preparation for the meets you announce?
How do you balance being a college professor and a decathlon announcer?
FZ: You try not to be emotional and get attached to certain athletes and give more preference than others. Except in Eugene, if there is an Oregon athlete like Ashton Eaton then they don’t mind that. Sometimes I have to practice commemorating athletes who may be having their last meets, and as an announcer I have to introduce them. I have to tell myself “You will not be emotional; you have to do this in a professional way.” Very soon I am going to have to commemorate Eaton for his career and have to make sure I remain composed. I am going to write it out in a week and half in advance and practice
FZ: I tried to make sure that they do not overlap. Up until the time of the Hall of Fame announcement last October, no one in my department had any clue as to my track and field role. I prefer it that way because I only want to be known as an economist that teaches Economics 1 at Dartmouth. I only teach at Dartmouth in the fall. I don’t like to teach in the spring and summer because those are my track seasons. How do you garner all the history
FZ: The amount of preparation necessary to announce a decathlon or heptathlon is weeks in advance. I put together little books for the meets and they are composed of backgrounds of the athletes, records, schedules and all the possible information that would be useful in announcing the meet. It is a very time-consuming task. I go through the results of every decathlon in the country and analyze the results. I memorize many PRs before I go in so that I can recognize when someone has set a new PR or lifetime best, and I can announce it and share that excitement with spectators. Howdoyoucontrolyouremotions about the sport?
so that I don’t get emotional.
How did you feel about being inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame? FZ: I was surprised! I had no idea I was on the ballot. I am one of the people who vote for people for the Hall of Fame. There are three votes for current athletes, so I voted in that category and there is a new category every other year called “The Contributor.” My name was one of the five names on the ballot. I voted for myself and said “At least I got one vote for the Hall of Fame.” I didn’t think anything of it after that. Two weeks later, I got a voicemail from USATF asking me to return their call regarding the Hall of Fame ceremony. I though they wanted me to go to North Carolina for the event, and I knew I couldn’t because I was teaching so I called back to tell them only to find out that I won. I was flabbergasted. It was nice to be recognized for all the weekends I spent announcing track results. It was also nice to see other people like myself who help conduct track meets as officials, meet directors, announcers and the like. I think my name was more recognizable because I am always on the infield with a mic but thousands of people help host a great meet. I wanted to accept the award for them as well as myself. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.