Varsity athletes set goals for fall, highlight team culture

BY LANIE EVERETT

The Dartmouth Staff

Student-athletes of Dartmouth’s cross country, football, women’s rugby, volleyball and soccer teams are gearing up for their respective fall seasons. Many have their eyes on a league title — whether it’s hopes for a three-peat or their frst ever championship — and shared that their teams’ close-knit cultures will allow them to excel. Here are some of Dartmouth’s most promising teams for the upcoming season, with a look at how they’re preparing and how you can see them in action.

Men’s and Women’s Cross Country

This year, the men’s cross country team hopes to place well at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championship and make a run at the NCAA championships, according to Albert Velikonja ’25, a member of the cross country team.

“We’re all really excited, incredibly committed and we all really care how each other is doing,” Velikonja said. “It will be tough, but I think we have a great chance at making it happen.”

Velikonja said that most of the men’s cross country will be returning from last year, apart from their incoming freshmen –– an advantage that could allow the team to reach both goals. Velikonja came in 28th place at Heps and as well as 45th in the NCAA Northeast Regionals last season.

Last season, men’s cross country finished eighth at the NCAA Northeast Regional meet, where the fve student-athletes running for Dartmouth fnished within 41 seconds of one another. Additionally, at the Ivy League Heptagonal Championship, Dartmouth moved up three places from their eighth place fnish in 2019, taking home ffth. Meanwhile, women’s cross country fnished sixth place at Heps and 11th at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championship in Boston, with Corrine Robitaille ’23 leading the way for the Big Green by placing 16th and 28th, respectively.

The women’s cross country team shared the men’s cross country team’s goals of placing their best in Heps and competing well in the NCAA regional meets, women’s cross country captain Julia Fenerty ’23 said.

“As a team I think we can do a lot better at Heps than we have been doing in the past,” Fenerty said.

Both men’s and women’s cross country will run their season opener at the Vermont Invite on Sept. 3 at the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vt.

Football

This season, captains quarterback Nick Howard ’23, safety Quinten Arello ’23 and defensive end Shane Cokes ’23 will lead the 2022 football team, which welcomes 23 new recruits, in defending its back-toback Ivy League championship titles.

Wide receiver Paxton Scott ’24 said that in season, the team practices at least 20 hours a week. Scott said the team’s main goal is to win the Ivy League championship, though he also noted that, like every year, the upperclassmen hope to act as mentors for incoming players.

Scott added that watching older players take underclassmen under their wings has inspired his desire to take on a bigger leadership role this year and to try to make First Team All-Ivy.

“The next step is helping other members of the team get ready for the season and games,” Scott said. “We have a ton of talent at every position, and [we have a goal] of executing to the best of our ability every week.”

Football will kick of the 2022 season against Valparaiso University at Memorial Field on Saturday, Sept. 17.

Women’s Rugby

Dartmouth women’s rugby will start the season with high hopes as the most recent winners of the NIRA National Championship, defeating Army West Point 28-18 last fall. The Big Green is looking to defend its national title.

“We defnitely have a huge target on our back right now, and we’re losing a few players, but we’re gaining a lot, too,” team member Anjali Pant ’24 said. “We are just trying to keep the ball rolling, stay on top of things and continue crushing it.”

While under pressure, Pant said she likes to remember the team’s slogan: “with you.”

“[‘With you’] means ‘I’m on your side,’ or ‘I’m in this tackle with you, I’m there by you,’” Pant said.

Women’s rugby will play its frst game on Sept. 1 against Long Island University at home on Brophy Field.

Volleyball

The volleyball team ended the 2021 season with a fourth-place finish in the Ivy League –– an improvement from the team’s record in recent years of fnishing in the lower half of league rankings. According to co-captain Ellie Blain ’24, the team is seeking more.

“Defnitely our long term goal is to win our frst ever Ivy League championship, and on that note, also make it to the Division I NCAA tournament,” she said.

Blain said she believes one of her team’s greatest strengths is its sense of trust and closeness to one another –– something she says they plan to rely on this upcoming season.

“I think that because we are so close, it really helps us on the court knowing we can trust each other,” Blain said. “If each teammate does an individual part of the puzzle piece, we know we will be fne.”

Dartmouth volleyball will begin its season at the University of California Irvine on Sept. 2. The Big Green will take on Sacred Heart University, College of the Holy Cross and UC Irvine in the tournament.

Men’s and Women’s Soccer

Big Green women’s soccer will gain six new incoming freshmen this year, recruited by head coach Ron Rainey. Center forward Daisy Granholm ’24 said the team aims to focus on playing as a united front as the season approaches.

“In soccer it’s either playing direct transitions, super fast games or more of a technical possession style, where you keep the ball, and your best defense is ofense,” Granholm said. “I think we are just trying to defne ourselves as a team, and where we fall on that spectrum.”

Women’s soccer will open Ivy League play against Brown University on Sept. 24 in Hanover. Granholm, who will play for the frst time since her ACL injury last season, said she hopes students show up to support the team in their season opener.

Cade Keesling ’24 of the men’s soccer team said he looks forward to their frst Ivy League match against Princeton University on Oct. 1 at Burnham Field in Hanover. Last season, the team lost to Princeton in overtime after tying the game up in the second half. Keesling said that in particular, the team hopes to improve on converting scoring opportunities.

“I know last year a lot of our games came down to one or two goals, and if we had fnished our chances, then the season could have been the other way entirely,” Keesling said. “We could have almost been undefeated.”

While only time will tell what these teams will accomplish, many student-athletes are approaching the fall season with high hopes and a commitment to supporting one another on and of the feld.

BY CAROLINE YORK

The Dartmouth Staff

With over 1,200 games under the team’s belt, Dartmouth football is one of the College’s oldest and most popular sports. Not only is the sport steeped in tradition on campus, but it also carries a legacy of success. In recent years, Dartmouth has secured the Ivy League championship in two consecutive seasons: 2021 and 2019. From its inception to its present day accomplishments, the Dartmouth football program has seen moments of great success.

According to the book “Dartmouth College Football: Green Fields of Autumn” by former Dartmouth athletics information director Jack Degange, the frst Dartmouth football game was played in 1881, and a few years later the Yale University football team traveled to Hanover to deliver Dartmouth’s frst big loss, with a score of 113-0. Degange writes that the tides began to change in the early 1900s, when the 1903 Big Green team had a 9-1-0 record. Most notable was the win against Harvard University in the frst ever game to be played at Harvard Stadium — America’s “frst permanent arena for college athletics,” he wrote.

The 1925 team was one of the most successful teams in the College’s history: The team fnished the 1925 season with an 8-0-0 record and was crowned the national champions, according to Degange. Degange also describes how early 20th century sports writer Grantland Rice wrote, “football’s main banner for the waning year goes to … Dartmouth, the College on the hill.”

In 1926, Dartmouth had a winning record and was invited to compete in the Rose Bowl against the University of Washington, Degange wrote. However, Dartmouth declined the ofer because the players wanted to spend Christmas with their families, and the University of Alabama was chosen instead.

The Ivy League: Academics First, Athletics Second

In 1946, the “Ivy Group,” composed of Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University and Yale University, met due to their concerns about the public’s growing interest in collegiate athletics, particularly football, as entertainment. Administrators resolved that students who attended their institutions would frst and foremost be students furthering their education and not recruited athletes. The Ivy League was ofcially founded in 1954, but the eight universities did not engage in athletic competition until 1956.

Bridging rigorous academic programs with competitive athletics, the Ivy League began attracting wellrounded individuals who excelled both in the classroom and on the feld. Tackle Henry Paulson ’68, for example, was named to frst-team All-Ivy and NCAA Scholar-Athlete and went on to become the CEO of Goldman Sachs. President George W. Bush later nominated Paulson to serve as the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury.

When asked what he believes was the most successful football team in Dartmouth history, Degange pointed to the 1970 team, which went undefeated and fnished 14th in the AP polls. Nineteen players won “regional and national” awards, and Willie Bogan ’71 was named as an Academic All-American, an NCAA Postgraduate Scholar and a Rhodes Scholar for his academic excellence.

Dartmouth, with the smallest population of all eight Ivy League schools, also boasts the most Ivy League championship wins, with 20 titles since the league was established. Also notable are Dartmouth’s fve consecutive Ivy League championship wins from 1969 to 1973.

Some Dartmouth football players have gone on to have successful careers in the sport. After starting as quarterback for three seasons and being named Ivy League Player of the Year in 1992, Jay Fiedler ’94 went on to have a standout career in the NFL. He competed for both the football and track and feld teams during his time at the College, serving as quarterback and as a decathlon athlete, respectively.

“[In order to keep up with the game], you have to sacrifice in other areas, whether it’s socially or anywhere else,” Fiedler said. “You have to prioritize what’s important to you; athletics and academics were the two most important things for me to focus on while I was at Dartmouth.”

Fielder played for the Philadelphia Eagles, Minnesota Vikings and Jacksonville Jaguars and eventually found his footing as the starting quarterback for the Miami Dolphins from 2000 to 2004. He has been the only Miami quarterback to win a playof game in over twenty years.

“I think a lot of people underestimate the competitiveness of the Ivy League, but we were a tremendously competitive league and every game was a fght,” Fiedler said. “This helped prepare me to climb the ladder to becoming the starting quarterback in Miami.”

Recent Accomplishments

Dartmouth football has continued its tradition of excellence, winning the most recent 2021 crown. Bruce Wood, founder of Big Green Alert –– a blog covering Dartmouth Football since 2005 –– said he believes there are a variety of factors that have made the program so strong in recent years.

“Over the last decade what has made the team so successful is great recruiting, solid coaching and a lot of help from friends of football in terms of budget,” Wood said.

Wood also cited the players’ commitment to the sport and the team’s ability to think a step ahead of competition as reasons for its accomplishments over the years.

“One of the things that is very impressive is the fact that there is very little turnover in the program,” he said. “Coaches stick around. Players don’t quit.”

Another aspect of the football program at Dartmouth that “attracts players” is its emphasis on making the game as safe as it can be, Wood said. He added that current head coach Buddy Teevens ’79 felt tired of watching players sufer from head injuries, which led to Dartmouth’s decision to ban tackling in practice in 2011, before the Ivy League ofcially passed a motion for no tackles at practice in 2016. In 2013, Teevens, in conjunction with the Thayer School of Engineering, developed Mobile Virtual Player, a motorized tackling dummy that prevents head contact, according to ESPN.

“Dartmouth is certainly at the forefront of that with the mobile virtual player robotic tackling dummy, not tackling in practice –– the only Ivy League team to do so –– [so] you will never tackle or be tackled by a teammate,” Wood said.

John Lyons, former Dartmouth football defensive coordinator from 1987 to 1991 and head coach from 1992 to 2004, attributed the program’s success to the school’s location, alumni backing and the great tradition that Dartmouth football rests upon.

“Dartmouth is a unique school because of its location where it is easy to focus on playing the game of football with few distractions,” Lyons said. “There is also a really strong support from alumni, who have done a great job of upgrading the facilities; players feel the sense of tradition from alumni.”