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Sports Editor Jack Powers Sports Editor Chris Weber flathatsports@gmail.com
The Flat Hat | Tuesday, March 26, 2013 | Page 8
TRACK AND FIELD
Dan Stimson arrived in the summer of 1986, and the College’s track and field program hasn’t been the same since.
DIRECTOR of
EXCELLENCE
COOPER NELSON / THE FLAT HAT
Since arriving in the summer of 1986, Dan Stimson has won 25 of a possible 34 Colonial Athletic Association championships. Now coaching as assistant coach of throws, Stimson demands the best from his athletes.
Stimson helps revitalize track and field
College takes eight events in Invitational
BY CHRIS WEBER FLAT HAT SPORTS EDITOR
BY JACK POWERS FLAT HAT SPORTS EDITOR
You’ll find him hanging around the aptly-named Stimson Throwing Events Area, directing his athletes. Dan Stimson, assistant coach for William and Mary’s track and field program, brings more than a few trophies to the table. In Stimson’s 25 years as the director of the program, Stimson guided the Tribe to 25 of 34 possible Colonial Athletic Association championships. Since 1986, the year of Stimson’s arrival in Williamsburg, the 25 CAA championships rank third most in that span, trailing only James Madison and the rest of the College’s programs in total number of CAA championships won. Rather than merely setting a tone of conference dominance, Stimson Stimson revitalized the track and field program at the College. Arriving in the summer of 1986, Stimson inherited a team lacking talent and struggling to field scholarship athletes. The throwing team, Stimson’s specialty,
had a single male thrower — and he was coming off shoulder surgery. “The team was terrible. John Randolph [the Athletic Director at the time] put the men’s and women’s teams together. Back then, you still had separate men’s and women’s programs throughout the country,” Stimson said. “And then we started putting them together, so a new position was the director of track and field. And the women’s team was pretty bad, frankly. They kind of let the program go for awhile.” With limited personnel and talent, Stimson relied on his previous experience and connections to build the track and field program mostly from scratch. “Back then you had to learn all those events and learn coaching. I kind of came up through the old system where you were a graduate assistant and you’ve got knowledge in the areas you’ve done — I knew the throws,” Stimson said. “People don’t do that anymore. They’re too specialized, almost, I think. I try to encourage the assistants I’ve had here the last 25 years to learn all the events.” Stimson, a former All-Ohio and a See STIMSON page 7
Kicking off the outdoor track and field season, this weekend’s Tribe Invitational offered a slew of impressive William and Mary victories for the spectators at Zable Stadium to revel in. “I think this weekend went very well for us,” Director of track and field Stephen Walsh said. “The throws went very well and on the track we saw good things out there — even that last 4x400 looked like a real good performance.” Hundreds of collegiate and unaffiliated athletes descended on Williamsburg to compete in the annual meet which lasted from Friday night to Saturday afternoon. Friday night’s main event, the 10K, did not disappoint. Junior Rad Gunzenhauser set the national mark for this season with his time of 29 minutes, 50 seconds. Gunzenhauser’s time was the 13th-fastest in the illustrious history of Tribe long-distance runners. Saturday was a long day for the assembled athletes. At noon the whistle was blown for the women’s 1,500 meter run, which got the Tribe off to a resounding start. Senior Katie Buenaga
and junior Elaina Balouris took the top two spots in the event, finishing alongside each other, seven seconds faster than their nearest competitor. While freshman Emily Stites was busy captaining Team USA at the World Junior Cross Country Championships in Poland, the remaining Tribe freshmen made a large impact on the weekend’s meet, amassing four event wins and numerous top-10 finishes. Freshmen Austin Vegas and Greg Gallagher both cleared 4.80 meters on the pole vault, the seventh best score in school history, to finish first and second. Freshman Katie Johnston dominated the javelin competition, throwing 41.49 meters, 2.86 meters farther than her closest competitor. Freshman Claire Tito defeated all her collegiate opponents in the 400 meter run with a time of 58 seconds. Rounding out the day, freshmen Nathaniel Hermsmauer and Paul Gates challenged each other to the finish, placing 1-2 in the men’s 3,000 meter run. “The freshman class has been doing real well,” Walsh said. “I mean in the 3K for the guys, 1-2 were both freshmen. See INVITATIONAL page 7
LACROSSE
College’s defense holds strong against surging Richmond
Nofi’s save in final minute preserves 12-11 win as College improves squad to 3-6 overall BY MICK SLOAN FLAT HAT STAFF WRITER William and Mary pulled out a narrow victory over visiting Richmond Saturday, hanging on to win 12-11. The Tribe (36) gave up four straight goals late in the second half but stopped the Spiders (37) from spoiling the day at Martin Family Stadium. “[The win] was extremely important,” head coach Brook Ireland said. “We’ve had some problems with our basic fundamentals and holding on to the ball, or silly turnovers, but I think today we really executed our game plan.” The Spiders asserted themselves early in the contest, methodically weaving through the Tribe defense and pressuring the College’s attackers to keep the Tribe away from the net. Richmond scored the game’s first two goals and threatened to turn the contest into a rout. The College responded quickly, however. Junior attacker Taelor Salmon ripped through the Spiders’ defense, caught a pass from senior midfielder Katie Stillwell, and netted a goal to stop a 13-minute Tribe scoring drought and cut the Spider lead to one. The College looked lost when
Richmond’s Bailey Zerr scored three times in three minutes to bring her squad’s lead to 6-3 with 8 minutes, 30 seconds left in the first half. Sophomore attacker Ellen Shaffrey kept the Tribe alive with three goals and one assist in the first half. The Tribe then scored three unanswered goals at the end of the half to force a 6-6 tie at intermission. The two teams logged 14 shots a-piece in the period, while the College held a 9-4 advantage in draw controls. Junior goalkeeper Colleen Nofi stopped seven shots to slow a relentless Spider offensive attack. The Tribe kept its momentum going into the second half, scoring in less than two minutes when Salmon ripped a shot from the right side to earn her third goal of the day and the Tribe’s first lead at 7-6. A goal by junior attacker Jenna Dougherty and Shaffrey’s fourth score pulled the College’s run to six straight, giving the Tribe a 9-6 lead. The Tribe surrendered a goal to Richmond’s Caitlin Fifield on a free position shot but nonetheless continued to dominate the game. Senior attacker Kyrstin Mackrides responded with two straight goals, and then freshman attacker Zoe Boger ripped
a shot into the net between multiple Richmond defenders. The goal ended a 9-1 Tribe run, a dominant stretch that created a 12-7 advantage with 9:19 remaining. The contest, however, was far from over. Richmond applied punishing defensive pressure, snaring nine ground balls and forcing five Tribe turnovers in the second half. The Spiders played their best lacrosse of the day over the next four minutes, scoring four times in quick succession and cutting the Tribe lead to 12-11. With the dominant advantage down to just a single goal and just over five minutes on the clock, the Tribe had to ratchet up its defense to avoid a complete collapse. “We knew we were going to pull it out no matter what the game situation was because today was just a great game,” Shaffrey said. “Everybody was ready from the beginning; everybody was fired up.” The Tribe responded to the threat with poise, controlling the ball for most of the final five minutes and denying Richmond multiple scoring chances. The Spiders held the ball with one minute remaining, managing to fire a close shot on goal, but Nofi deflected the shot, earning her ninth and most
important save of the day. The Tribe gathered the resulting ground ball and did not surrender possession as the clock’s final seconds ticked down and sealed the victory. Although she made the lastminute save, Nofi gave all credit to her teammates. “There’s definitely anxiety when
you’re watching the clock and waiting for it to run down,” Nofi said. “But our defense came up huge.” The win came at a crucial time for the College, which had lost three straight games and 6 of 7 against a schedule loaded with highly ranked opponents. The Tribe travels to Farmville, Va. to take on Longwood Saturday.
COURTESY PHOTO / TRIBE ATHLETICS
Senior attacker Kyrstin Mackrides recorded two goals alongside two assists in the Tribe win.