famous names The Green Wave football team roster this fall will
include Nick Montana, son of NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana, and Nico Marley, grandson of reggae icon Bob Marley.
S P O R T S
ryan rivet
Gravity Buster When teams are first formed, expectations for accomplishment are usually tempered due, simply, to the nascent status of the squad. Such was the case with the newly formed Tulane table tennis team, which was organized in October 2012. Despite modest expectations, the team performed better than anyone expected, making it to the national tournament in April. The team’s success is due, in part, to the strength of play of two players, Kangkang Huang and Dian Li. After the national tournament, Huang is ranked eighth in the women’s rankings and 31st in the coed rankings, and Li is ranked 51st in the nation in the men’s rankings. The team’s fast success surprised junior Connor Dolan, the team’s manager and cofounder, who says Tulane is the first team in the history of the National Collegiate Table Tennis Association to make it to the championship tournament in their first year. “When we first started the team I just saw it as a fun opportunity to get people to play competitively,” Dolan says. “Nationals was never in the picture for me.”—R.R.
larry miller
Side Spins At Tulane press time, pole vaulter Merritt Van Meter had qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore., in June. She punched her ticket to nationals by clearing 4.10 meters (13 ft., 5 in.) at the East Regionals in Greensboro, N.C., on May 24. Two weeks earlier, she had won the event title at the Conference USA Championships. Those facts are even more impressive when taking into account that Van Meter, a redshirt sophomore on the Tulane team, has come back from three knee operations and 10 knee drains to set multiple school records in pole vault this year. While in high school at Metairie (La.) Park Country Day School, Van Meter was the nation’s top-ranked pole vaulter. She enrolled at the University of North Carolina, but an aggressive case of seronegative arthritis in her knees derailed her first year of competition in college. After daily physical therapy sessions and a transfer to Tulane, Van Meter was shocked when she set a personal record of 4.23 meters (13 ft., 10 in.) during the indoor season with only three months of training under her belt. “Where I am now, I never complain about my knees hurting,” she says. “One of the biggest things I’ve learned is you have to take things day by day.” Van Meter is a third-generation Green Wave student-athlete. Her grandfather, Cliff Van Meter (A&S ’50), played football at Tulane and was later drafted by the NFL San Francisco 49ers. And her father, the late Dr. Cliff Van Meter Jr. (A&S ’77, M ’81), also played on the Green Wave gridiron. “Both of them just seemed larger than life,” Van Meter says. “I’m extremely humbled and proud to be a part of their legacy.” —Johanna Gretschel
Tip-top Form Merritt Van Meter has broken school records in the pole vault this year, overcoming injuries while inspired by examples set by her grandfather and father, both former Green Wave football players.
national contenders With skill and finesse, Dian Li led the newly formed Tulane table tennis team to the national championship tournament this spring.
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