The Dartmouth Sports Weekly 02/29/16

02.29.16

Men’s hockey drops two, picks up First Round series

MEN’S HOOPS DROPS TWO OT GAMES

MEN’S SWIM AND DIVE FINISHES 8TH

WOMEN’S HOOPS SPLITS ROAD PAIR SEAMORE ZHU, JOB ORENGE/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

SW 2

BY THE NUMBERS

54 Points for Verhagen ’16 at Ivies

1 Grand slams for McEachern ’16 in Alabama

1,003 Career points for Szabo ’17

6 Points for G. Smith ’19 in OT versus Brown

02.29.16

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2016

Men’s basketball loses back-to-back OT thrillers

By ALEXANDER AGADJANIAN The Dartmouth Staff

In each of its two games this past weekend, the Dartmouth men’s basketball team possessed a lead with under 10 seconds to play in regulation. Incredibly, both of these contests entered an overtime period — marking the team’s two closest games of the season in a span of 24 hours — and returned devastating outcomes, as the Big Green failed to close out potential victories by losing to Brown University (8-18, 3-9) 84-83 (OT) and top-tier Yale University (20-6, 11-1) 76-71 (OT), dropping to one game out of last place in the conference standings.

With six seconds left in its first overtime game of the season on Friday night, Dartmouth, trailing Brown 84-83, called a timeout and then another to regroup and prepare for a last-gasp effort. Guilien Smith ’19, who had drilled two 3-pointers in the overtime period to help overcome multiple deficits and played well at the end of regulation, handled the ball off the inbounds. Weaving his way down the right side of the lane, the freshman managed to release a shot between two Brown defenders — one of which was the Ivy League’s all-time leading shotblocker Cedric Kuakumensah — but just barely missed off the front of the rim, as the final buzzer sounded.

“I was supposed to pop up to get the ball and come off a screen and drive it to the hoop, we wanted a strong drive to finish out the game because we were only down one,” Smith said about the play. “It was a little crowded, it was a pretty tough shot. If I had that shot again I would’ve made it.”

Bears guard Steven Spieth led all scorers with 21 points of an excellent 6-7 shooting mark, and did so in only 26 minutes of action after having fouled out with 3:31 left in the second half.

Crucially, the junior scored 12 points in the first half — and all four of his 3-pointers during the game — to power his team’s offense, which, during that first period, shot nearly 10 percentage points worse than its field goal and 3-point averages entering the day.

Yet Brown markedly improved in both of those shooting aspects upon entering the second half, contributing in large part to a lead for nearly 70 percent

Rebecca Asoulin ’17 Editor-in-Chief

Rachel DeChiara ’17 Publisher

Annie Ma ’17 Executive Editor

Maya Poddar ’17 Executive Editor

Gayne Kalustian ’17 Ray Lu ’18 Sports Editors

Eliza McDonough ’18 Tiffany Zhai ’18 Seamore Zhu ’19 Photography Editors

SEAMORE ZHU/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

After dropping two road games, the men’s basketball team finds itself in sixth place in the Ivy League.

of total game clock on the night. Spieth’s fellow backcourt teammates in Tavon Blackmon and Obi Okolie particularly experienced a second half resurgence, netting 27 of their combined 35 points in the second and overtime periods.

Kuakumensah assumed his usual formidable inside presence in posting a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

By the end of the hard-fought contest, five different players posted double-digit scoring outputs for the Big Green. Evan Boudreaux ’19 continued to pave the way with 20 points and 9 rebounds, and showed further strides in his 3-point ability in going 3-3. The more Boudreaux eschews midrange shots in favor of threes, the better his own and his team’s offense becomes.

At the 9:06 mark in the second half, it seemed as though Brown would run away with the contest after having opened up the largest lead any side had at 55-44. Over the next five minutes, Dartmouth would mount a swift and successful comeback, embarking on a 16-6 run to cut the deficit down to one. Minutes later, Connor Boehm ’16 knocked down a three to give the Big Green its first lead in almost 16 minutes off a Cameron Smith ’18 assist.

But that was hardly Smith’s only contribution. Towards the end of regulation and through overtime, the sophomore and Guilien Smith thrived on offense, as Dartmouth turned to its youthful guard play for guidance in bridging the scoring gap with Brown.

Cameron Smith scored seven points in the last six minutes of the second half, while Guilien Smith did most of his damage in overtime, as both finished with 10 points on the night.

Guilien Smith’s aforementioned end-of-overtime play out of a timeout might not have been necessary had the Big Green taken a similarly prudent decision earlier in the night.

Stunned that a multi-possession lead with under 30 seconds left evaporated after two Brown 3-pointers made for a tie game, Dartmouth opted not to advance the ball enough to call a timeout with nine seconds left. Instead, the team

frantically pushed the ball upcourt only to quickly turn it over despite having two timeouts at its disposal to settle the possession down and generate a better opportunity. “[Head coach Paul Cormier] was trying to call a timeout, but the ref didn’t see him,” guard Miles Wright ’18 said about the situation. “Our point guard couldn’t hear that he was calling a timeout, so he couldn’t make the call.”

The following night in New Haven brought an eerily similar course of events and outcome. Facing a Yale team neck-and-neck with Princeton University in the conference standings as both vie for the conference crown, Dartmouth had a chance to play spoiler for the second consecutive year against Yale — last year the Big Green won an end-of-season game against the Bulldogs, who instead of winning the Ivy League were forced into a playoff game it lost to Harvard University.

Battling back from an early second half deficit to overtake Yale on the scoreboard and building its largest lead of six halfway through the final period, that spoiler role increasingly became a definite possibility. With a fervent home crowd behind its team on senior night, however, the Bulldogs narrowed the margin as the game wound down.

Following the 4:30 mark in the second half, the two teams proved inseparable, as neither secured more than a single possession lead thereafter.

With the lead swinging back and forth, Wright drilled a cold-blooded three with 22 seconds left that put Dartmouth up 62-61. Seconds later, the sophomore stole the ball away from Makai Mason. After Wright hit just one of two free throws on the ensuing foul, Mason would immediately atone for his mistake, bringing the ball upcourt in a hurry and connecting on a midrange jumpshot to the tie the game. The Big Green had a shot to pull ahead, but another panicked final possession expectedly resulted in no points, much like the night before.

Just as in any sport when a clearly favored team exists, the longer a game extends, the more the chances at an

upset for the underdog diminish. Such an axiom was borne out in the overtime period, as Yale decisively overpowered Dartmouth off the back of a 9-10 mark at the charity stripe in extra time — coming from one of the worst free throw shooting teams in the league.

“Going into the overtime, we had some opportunities,” Boehm said. “We had good shots that just rimmed in and out. [On defense] we ended up having to foul or they got an offensive board.

So it happens, five minutes is a short time, and we weren’t able to pull it out.”

All 13 of Yale’s overtime points were scored by Mason, Brandon Sherrod and Justin Sears — the team’s highest scorers on the season. Two more Bulldog players joined this trio in double-digit scoring, as a balanced offensive distribution fueled the team’s victory on Saturday.

Sears, one of the Ivy League’s best players, embodied an explosive force at times in netting a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds, thus leading the way for Yale’s plus-11 rebound differential by the end of the night.

For Dartmouth, Boehm displayed a very crafty inside game all night in scoring 16 points, and Taylor Johnson ’18 knocked down all 10 of his free throws to lead all scorers with 18.

Both picked up the slack in light of Boudreaux’s struggles, as the freshman reached only 10 points on 20 percent shooting. Boudreaux fouled out of the game less than 1:30 into overtime on a questionable call away from the ball, and in the process hurting his team’s chances of keeping pace with Yale in the extra session.

The game was tightly contested throughout, with Dartmouth in particular exceeding its typical level of play. Despite Yale possessing a lead for nearly three-fourths of the game clock, the night featured 11 lead changes and nine ties.

Having concluded its final road games of the season, Dartmouth will now return to Hanover to face the University of Pennsylvania on Friday and Princeton on Saturday, with both contests tipping off at 7 p.m. in Leede Arena.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2016

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

Men’s hockey drops two, loses shot at bye

SW 3

RUNDOWN THE

Men’s Basketball SCHOOL

IVY

OVERALL

YALE PRINCETON COLUMBIA PENN HARVARD DARTMOUTH BROWN CORNELL

11-1 10-1 9-3 5-6 4-8 3-9 3-9 2-10

20-6 20-5 20-9 11-14 12-16 9-17 8-18 9-17

SEAMORE ZHU/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

The men’s hockey team will have to play Colgate University in the ECAC First Round next weekend.

By SAM STOCKTON The Dartmouth Staff

The men’s hockey team dropped a pair of road games this weekend, missing out on a first-round bye in the ECAC Tournament.

The team instead set itself up for a matchup with Colgate University in the tournament’s opening round next weekend. Dartmouth is set to host.

On Friday night against St. Lawrence University, the Big Green jumped out to a 2-0 lead by the 11-minute mark of the opening frame on the strength of a pair of goals from the red-hot Corey Kalk ’18. Kalk, the ECAC’s reigning player of the week, would score again on Saturday night against Clarkson, giving him five goals in his past three games.

“He has one of the most lethal shots of anyone I’ve ever played with,” Brett Patterson ’16 said. “He’s seen very good results lately, and it’s great to have that confidence going for him going into the playoffs where we’re going to need a lot of scoring.”

Less than 30 seconds after Kalk made it 2-0 Dartmouth, Saints winger Mike Marnell beat Big Green goaltender James Kruger ’16 to cut the lead in half. The Saints would not look back from there, scoring twice more before the period was up, taking a 3-2 lead into the first intermission. They would control the play for the rest of the game, adding a pair of goals in the third period for a 5-2 victory. After Kalk’s second marker, the Big Green struggled to generate offense of any kind, and, by the game’s end, the team was outshot 37-18.

“I think we kind of let them off the hook,” Grant Opperman ’17 said. “They have a good goalie, but it seemed like he was having an off night early on. I think a big part of their success comes from their blue line — their D-men are so mobile, and we didn’t really have much of an answer for that. Some teams will roll over after giving up two that early, but obviously, they stuck with it, chipped away, and scored five unanswered.”

The Friday night defeat was a disappointing one for a Big Green team that had hoped to take a strangle-hold on a first-round bye in the conference tournament against the Saints.

Instead, the loss gave St. Lawrence the final of four byes in the tournament, leaving the Big Green with potential first-round match-ups with Brown University, Colgate University

and Princeton University.

“We’ve got some guys that are banged up, myself included, so that bye would have been huge from a rest standpoint,” Opperman said. “But at the end of the day, if you’re going to win a championship, you’re going to have to play the best teams.”

On Saturday, the Big Green travelled to Potsdam, New York to take on the Clarkson University Golden Knights with seeding for the ECAC Tournament still on the line. The Big Green answered an early Clarkson goal with a power play strike from Nick Bligh ’16. The goal was Bligh’s first since returning from a 13-game absence due to injury, though Bligh had played the previous night against St. Lawrence.

“Nick is a really talented player, and he brought so much to our team for the first half of the year, so it was tough to see him go down against Vermont,” Troy Crema ’17 said. “He brings a whole element of leadership, skill and confidence to the team.

When he’s in the lineup, we know we’re going to get a great performance from him, and it just allows everyone around him to play with an elevated level of confidence.”

The game also marked the first power play goal for the Big Green since Ryan Bullock ’16 tied the game with a one-timer in the third period of a win over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Feb. 13.

“To be honest, I don’t think our power play has been particularly good all year,” Opperman said. “Our coaches always reiterate that the power play is more about generating momentum than scoring goals.

Sometimes those shots will go in, but getting those chances, staying in the zone, and getting that attack time are what power plays are about.”

Patterson also emphasized that shots on goal are key to getting the power play back on track, pointing out that when the Big Green man advantage was willing to fire, it saw good results.

“We’ve been trying to force too many things and not relying on using our shots to open things up,” he said. “On Saturday, Ryan Bullock takes a shot and creates a little chaos. Then Brad Schierhorn [’16] makes a good cross-box pace over to Bligh [resulting in a goal]. We need to have a shot first mentality and go into reaction mode from there.”

Late in the first, Jordan Boucher scored his second goal of the night to give Clarkson a 2-1 edge after 20 minutes of play. For the second night in a row, the Big Green were able to generate first period momentum, but end up heading into the locker room down a goal.

“We just gave up too many odd-man rushes – a couple bad bounces where they had guys in the right spots and got a couple breakaways,” Crema said. “Overall, I thought we played really good hockey. It was definitely a step forward in the right direction.”

In the second period, Clarkson stretched its lead to 4-1 before Tim O’Brien ’16 put the Big Green back in the game late in the frame. At the second intermission, Clarkson led by a score of 4-2.

In the final stanza, the Big Green outshot their opposition 11-5 but only Kalk was able to beat Golden Knight netminder Greg Lewis, as the Big Green’s furious comeback bid fell short. Charles Grant ’16, who made 23 saves along the way, took the loss for the Big Green in net.

“We put our nose down, got pucks deep and got on their D,” Patterson said. “They’ve got a lot of big guys, but we kept getting pucks to the net and kept making their goalie move. I think a few bounces the other way and we come out with a win. We didn’t put together a full 60 minutes, and we had a couple of lapses that they capitalized on.

You can’t have that late in the season. We can’t leave our goalie out to dry with three breakaways in the first period and expect to be successful.”

The loss dropped the Big Green to the seventh seed in the ECAC tournament, meaning they will host a best-of-three series against the Colgate Raiders at Thompson Arena this weekend. The Big Green swept the season series against Colgate, winning 3-2 in Hamilton, New York on Jan. 23 and 5-2 on Feb. 19 at Thompson. Last season, the Raiders ended Dartmouth’s season in the quarterfinals of the tournament; the Big Green hopes it can get its revenge this year.

“If you were to ask any guy on the team, this is the team we don’t like the most,” Opperman said. “We don’t like this team.

It all stems from last year — they ended our season — so it would be awesome to return the favor.”

Women’s Basketball SCHOOL

IVY

OVERALL

PRINCETON PENN HARVARD DARTMOUTH CORNELL YALE COLUMBIA BROWN

10-1 9-1 9-3 7-5 6-6 3-9 1-10 1-11

21-4 20-4 14-11 12-16 14-12 12-17 12-14 13-13

Men’s Hockey SCHOOL

ECAC

OVERALL

QUINNIPIAC YALE HARVARD ST. LAWRENCE CLARKSON RENSSELAER DARTMOUTH CORNELL UNION COLGATE BROWN PRINCETON

16-1-5 14-5-3 12-6-4 11-8-3 10-9-3 8-7-7 11-11-0 8-8-6 6-10-6 6-14-2 3-13-6 3-16-3

25-2-7 19-6-4 16-9-4 17-13-4 18-13-3 16-13-7 14-14-1 13-9-7 13-12-9 10-22-2 5-17-7 5-21-3

ECAC First Round No. 12 Princeton at No. 5 Clarkson No. 11 Brown at No. 6 Rensselaer No. 10 Colgate at No. 7 Dartmouth No. 9 Union at No. 8 Cornell

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

SW 4

SPORTS

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2016

TUESDAY MONDAY LINEUP LINEUP

MEN’S LACROSSE No athletic AT VERMONT events 3 PM scheduled

Women’s basketball splits weekend, Szabo ’17 hits 1,000 points

By ASHLEY DUPUIS

The Dartmouth Staff

The women’s basketball team wrapped up its last home games of the season this past weekend, splitting its games against Brown University and Yale University. The Big Green extended their win streak to five games after defeating Brown 60-56 Friday night. This victory marked the first time the team had a five-game win streak since February 2009. The following day the Big Green dropped a nail biter to Yale, 65-62. Despite the loss to Yale, the night was momentous for Dartmouth with junior Fanni Szabo ’17 scoring her 1,000th point.

Daisy Jordan ’16 and Lakin Roland ’16 earned recognition for senior night.

The weekend’s performance leaves the Big Green at 12-16 overall and 7-5 in the Ivy League.

Dartmouth kicked off the weekend strong, once again dominating play for the first half against the Bears.

Both Roland and Kate Letkewicz ’18 knocked down threes early on, helping the Big Green take a quick lead. As the second half dwindled, Brown couldn’t find an answer for Dartmouth’s dogged offensive performance. The Big Green led at the half 34-21 despite the referees discounting a shot at the buzzer by Amber Mixon ’18.

Roland kicked off the second half with a three. Unlike the last half, the

Bears began to claw their way back.

After going on an 10-1 run in the third quarter, Brown closed Dartmouth’s lead to 42-34.

Brown continued a strong offensive assault, causing the Big Green lead to dwindle into the final quarter. With only 3:00 remaining Brown closed Dartmouth’s lead to a mere one point.

“It was a tough game to play,” Szabo said. “We started really well and then I think we got a bit slowed by their press defense and our offense wasn’t flowing but then by the end of the game we were more confident then Brown and I think that’s why we could get the victory.”

Jordan came through for the Big Green scoring two crucial free throws, giving Dartmouth a 57-54 lead. With 23 seconds remaining, Mixon helped the Big Green solidify the victory with two free throws of her own, giving the team a five-point lead that they would retain at the final buzzer, beating Brown 60-56.

The victory clearly reflected Dartmouth’s team play in the stats, with four players finishing the night in double figures. Roland led the Big Green with 17 points and nine boards, while Letkewicz earned her fifth double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Szabo put up 11 points, and Mixon continued her strong play from last weekend with a season high 13 points.

“I’m proud of Amber and she’s

just getting started,” head coach Belle Koclanes said. “Her game tonight was excellent, defensively she just brings another level and dynamic to our team with her pressure and what she does.

She had great steals and great awareness picking inbound passes off.”

Excitement was in the air during Saturday night’s match-up against Yale. Dartmouth seniors Jordan and Roland were honored for four years of play and commitment to the program, and Szabo was only four points away from reaching her 1,000th career point at the beginning of the night.

Senior night always proves bittersweet, and with the lost of two exceptional players, Saturday night proved no different.

“The people on the team are my family — players, coaches, everyone,” Lakin said. “They’ve provided me with the opportunity to grow as a basketball player and a person, to participate in a tradition. I’m very grateful.”

Roland leaves behind her own impressive lists of accomplishments.

However, the legacy she wishes to leave behind goes beyond stats and honors.

“I want to leave the team with confidence and support, and pave the way for Dartmouth basketball,” Roland said. “[The team has] given me a lot, so I hope I can help inspire them.”

Szabo cemented her own legacy early Saturday night. Szabo wasted no time working towards her 1,000th

career point, kicking off the game with a jumper, and quickly posting another two points to reach the milestone.

“I didn’t really pay attention to it — I just played,” Szabo said. “I knew that if I thought about it, it would put pressure on me, and I didn’t want to force my shots, so I just tried to stay relaxed and see what would happen in the game.”

The season has been one of ups and downs for Szabo, who returned from an injury in December. She is only the 18th player to reach this career milestone in the program, and she attributes her success to the unwavering support of the team.

“It’s awesome and you saw it on her face when she hit it that she was more relieved than anything else,” Koclanes said. “There are not too many people that get to score 1,000 points, but for those of us who have in our career know when you get close to it, it’s more nerve racking than anything else. You just want to surpass it so you can relax and play, so I’m grateful she got it early.

I’m proud of her, she’s going to score a lot more.”

Despite an early lead by Dartmouth on Saturday night, Yale tied the game up 12-12 by the end of the first quarter, before launching a quick offensive run in the second. Szabo nailed one free throw to end a 7-0 Yale run. Throughout the rest of the half, however, the Big Green couldn’t regain its footing, ending the half down 21-33, after a

buzzer-beating 3-point shot from Yale.

During the two teams’ last meeting this season, Dartmouth managed to pull off a comeback from a doubledigit halftime deficit. Returning to the court for the start of the third quarter, the Big Green looked poised to do the same once again, unleashing a 7-0 run on the Bulldogs, and cutting the lead to five points. Still Yale rallied, answering with a 12-0 run before a Letkewicz three wrapped up the quarter 48-33.

Letkewicz paved the way for a possible late game comeback with a career-high 27 points, including three free throws after a foul by Yale and a technical foul assessed to the Yale coach with 6:40 remaining. Down by four with seven seconds to go, Letkewicz knocked down a crucial 3-pointer to cut the deficit to one. However, it was not enough to overcome Yale’s stalwart defense as two final free throws sealed the game for the Bulldogs.

“Kate gets better and better every single day,” Koclanes said. “Kate has been hungry since we met her and she continues to make statements. She is so serious about competing and raising her level.”

Dartmouth looks to finish the season strong next week against the top two basketball teams in the league. The Big Green will take to the road to face No. 2 University of Pennsylvania on Friday and No. 1 Princeton University on Saturday.

Men’s swim and dive finishes eighth, Verhagen ’16 scores 54 points

By MAX ZHUANG The Dartmouth

The Dartmouth men’s swim and dive team finished in eighth place overall during the men’s Ivy League Championship with 491.5 points. The meet ended Saturday afternoon with several of the Big Green’s swimmers setting personal best times despite the team finishing in last place overall.

“It’s tough to finish last in the league,” head coach Jim Wilson said.

“And the league improves every year, so that even when you’re getting your personal best times and getting faster, so does the entire league.”

The meet was Brett Gillis ’16’s final Ivy League performance. During the preliminaries of the 3-meter dive, Gillis was in first place putting up 351.60 points. However, Gillis dropped to seventh place in the finals of the 3-meter dive (293.10). Contributing a total of 48 points to the team, Gillis

took a fifth place finish on the 1-meter dive (289.10).

“Diving can be a really volatile sport,” Gillis said. “A few mistakes dropped me from 350 to 290 points which was really rough.”

His large point total contributed to his total career point total of 189. At the end of the meet, Gillis was named the Ron Keenhold Career High Point Diver, an award presented by former Dartmouth swim and dive coach Keenhold in person. The award is given to a senior diver every year who has contributed the most points toward his team throughout the course of his collegiate career. Keenhold coached at Dartmouth for 40 years and was an All-American diver.

“I’m pretty sure my coach mentioned the award to me a couple days before,” Gillis said. “I was more focused on my individual events, and I wasn’t feeling that great after the finals in my events brought me down from first place

to seventh. It was a nice surprise at the end to have Ron give me the award.

It definitely picked up my spirits and helped me look at the bigger picture.”

Co-captain James Verhagen ’16 came up huge for the Big Green, finishing in third place in the 100-yard backstroke (47.53) and making an NCAA B cut time.

“I thought this meet had a lot of emotion attached to it,” Verhagen said. “For a number of reasons, such as swimming the Ivies without Tate, the last meet for us seniors, and for Jim [Wilson]. We handled all of our emotion maturely using it to move our swimming forward.”

Verhagen was able to follow up his 100 backstroke performance with a strong fourth place finish in the 200 backstroke (1:43.57), earning him a school record and another NCAA B cut time. Verhagen finished half of a second behind the first place finisher.

“I knew I had a chance of winning

going into the 200,” Verhagen said.

“The winning time was also slower than everyone expected, but for me, I had to come back a lot on the last 50, so I didn’t realize how close I was to winning. Looking back, it makes me wish I had just swam half a second quicker and gotten an Ivy victory.”

During the meet, Verhagen contributed a team high of a total of 54 points.

“Records in the Ivy League fall at an incredible clip,” Wilson said. “It’s amazing as I believe we’re the fourth fastest swimming league in the country, but that also means we have to be get much faster to not only stay where we were but to remain competitive.”

In the 1650 freestyle, Carter Jacobsen ’19 took 19th place (15:43.01), dropping almost a whopping 30 seconds from his seed time. In the 100 freestyle, Aaron Athanas ’16 tied for 21st (44.97).

Tony Shen ’18 swam in the 200 backstroke and touched in 24th (1:49.96).

In the 200 breaststroke, Delaney

Hall ’19 came in 22nd (2:02.90), touching a tenth of a second ahead of the swimmer in 23rd from the University of Pennsylvania. In the 200 butterfly, David Harmon ’17 finished in 17th (1:49.96), missing the school record by less than half a second. Logan Briggs ’16 came in 20th (1:50.90), Brandon Boval ’18 was 21st (1:51.46) and Robert Purvis ’19 took 22nd (1:51.71).

“We had probably half of our swimmers swim their personal bests and about half not,” Wilson said. “It’s really exciting for the swimmers to swim their best times ever.”

Wilson will not be returning next season, leaving a team that he has coached for 23 years.

“Jim’s seen everything this team has been through,” Verhagen said. “He’s seen and coached the best swimmers this school’s ever had. I think all the swimmers would back me up in saying that he’s been a great coach to the team as well as a mentor to all of us.”