In the foyer of Sherwood Athletic Center sits Whitman College’s Athletic Hall of Fame. 58 athletes, coaches and supporters from over a 100-year span have plaques in the Hall of Fame, celebrating momentous athletic events, from Olympic time trials to multi-decade coaching careers.

The Hall of Fame was started in 2003, which is surprisingly late. “We have over 100 years of history of athletics at Whitman College and we only started our Hall of Fame less than 15 years ago, which is quite remarkable,” Athletic Director Dean Snider said. A new class was inducted every year from 2003-2013, until it was decided to have an induction every other year, so more time could be spent researching nominations.

Photo contributed by Ridley Eastland-Fruit.

In 2006, the College decided to start hosting a Hall of Fame banquet where the athletes would actually be brought to campus and inducted into the Hall. “Usually we have somewhere between 80-100 people out to those events,” Snider said. “This switch was the start of making it really meaningful to the people that we’ve inducted.”

Decisions on Hall of Fame members are made by the Hall of Fame Committee, a select group of alumni and coaches. On any given induction year they are generally looking for 3-5 inductees, and any inductee must have been out of school for 10 years to be eligible.

A closer look at those featured in the Hall of Fame reveals the fascinating athletic accomplishments of Whitman’s past athletes.

The first induction class in 2003 started things out on a high note, with five Whitman legends being inducted. This class featured Raymond Borleske, perhaps the most prominent figure in the history of Whitman athletics. Borleske was a member of the Whitman Class of 1910, and dominated in both football and baseball. Borleske was hired in 1915 by President Penrose to coach football, basketball and baseball, and led Whitman to 17 conference champions in a coaching career that spanned more than 3 decades.

Photo contributed by Ridley Eastland-Fruit.

Also inducted in 2003, Charles William “Bill” Martin’s sprint times in 1911 earned him the title of “world’s fastest human” as he set a world record in the 100-yard dash at 9.6 seconds and tied the world record in the 220-yard event at 21.1 seconds. Though he did not compete in the 1912 Olympics, Martin was the top U.S. qualifier, and two of those whom he beat ended up winning gold.

Another 2003 inductee was Susan Hubbard Sakimoto, class of 1989, who was one of the greatest three-sport athletes Whitman has ever seen, leading Whitman to a conference championship in basketball and a shared conference title in volleyball, as well as competing in the NCAA national championships in track & field.

One of the athletes inducted in the class of 2004 was Lynn Greer McKelvey, class of 1988, who is perhaps the greatest women’s tennis player the school has seen. Over 3 seasons, McKelvey held a 87-10 singles record, including a 34-2 senior year campaign. Those only two losses came in the national championship tournaments after she suffered a back injury.

This induction also featured Guttorm Berge, Whitman class of 1953, a world-class skier. Berge earned a bronze medal in the 1952 Winter Olympics, finishing only 1.7 seconds behind the gold-medal winner.

Whitman clearly had skilled skiers in that era, as Dean Lodmell, inducted in 2013, also appeared in the national spotlight. Lodmell finished 7th nationally at the slalom and went on to the 1955 Olympic team trials, where he finished 21st in the giant slalom and 30th in the alpine combined final results.

A new class will be inducted in the spring of 2018, and every two years following that. As Whitman’s athletic accomplishments continue to grow, so will the Hall of Fame.

Both Whitman men’s and women’s tennis teams wrapped up their seasons with wins and now look forward to next weekend’s Conference Tournament.

The men’s team finished on top of the Northwest Conference with a perfect 12-0 record, going 22-6 overall.

“This season has been going pretty well. We started off strong with a huge win over top 10 team Pomona. Since then we’ve been pretty steady, beating the teams we should be beating. The new ranking system has put us at 9 in the nation and we’re really playing like it. Last weekend we went to Texas, where we had a great win over No. 17 University of Texas at Tyler and a close loss to No. 15 Trinity,” junior Chase Friedman said.

Photo by Tywen Kelly

For a team with as much success as they’ve had in past years, one of the challenges is finding challenging situations to sharpen their play. This year, Coach Jeff Northam scheduled a bevy of challenging nonconference matches to improve their skills.

“We’ve traveled to Philadelphia, Texas and California, and had to play top teams on their home courts. “Even though we didn’t win all of them, we’ve kept positive attitudes throughout the matches and I think that’s an important thing to have,” junior Gary Ho added.

For Friedman, the key to the team’s success has been in doubles.

“Our doubles this year has been really strong. We usually go up after doubles, which makes it a lot easier to finish off teams in singles,” Friedman said.

Senior Petar Jivkov has been one of the team’s strongest performers in his final year. Jivkov seized a vital singles win 6-3, along with a 8-5 win in doubles with partner Zach Hewlin in the 5-4 win against University of Texas at Tyler.

Zach Hewlin and Gary Ho high-five. Photo by Tywen Kelly

“He’s really stepped up as a leader and he’s playing unbelievably well,” Friedman said.

This weekend the men’s team beat George Fox 9-0 and Pacific University 8-1.  

The women finished tied for top of the Northwest Conference with Linfield with an 11-1 record (13-5 overall), but will enter this weekend’s conference tournament as the second seed due to a close loss to Linfield on March 11. The women are in good shape after a very strong regular season.

“A few weeks ago we traveled to California and had a huge win against Redlands. This was the first time in my four seasons here we have beat them. That match was also really big for our national ranking. A combination of that win and the strength of our schedule pushed our ranking up from 28 to 24, which is the highest in our conference,” senior Allie Wallin said.

Pictured: Allie Wallin. Photo by Tywen Kelly

One unique aspect for the women’s team this season has been their small roster of only 8 players.

“Having a small team has been challenging, but it has almost been an advantage for us because we all get a lot of playing time. Because we are also a very young team, getting lots of match experience for the underclassman has been key,” Wallin said.

For Wallin, all focus is on the upcoming conference tournament. The team will be playing third seed Lewis & Clark at 2 p.m. Saturday at Linfield.

“Our goal is to win next weekend’s conference tournament and earn an automatic bid into the NCAA regional tournament. We won the conference tournament my first two years and it would be really great to finish off my last season with another conference tournament title,” Wallin said.

The aim is similar for the men’s team, who open the tournament by playing George Fox Saturday at 10 a.m. on Whitman’s home court. The team is hoping to use the conference tournament as a springboard for the national tournament.

“Moving forward, we’re looking at nationals. This year we have a genuine shot of making farther than we ever have before. Based on the way we’re all playing I expect a great national tournament,” Friedman said.

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This past weekend, hundreds of ultimate frisbee players from across the Northwest flocked to Whitman’s campus to participate in the 23rd annual OnionFest tournament, hosted by the Whitman Sweets. OnionFest is viewed as a more casual, fun-focused tournament in the midst of an intense spring schedule. In contrast to other regular season tournaments, the teams are co-ed and games are played for fun.

Photo by Amelia Wells.

“OnionFest is a Spring Break of sorts from the rest of the spring season,” said Josh Schacht, a visiting player on Gonzaga’s ultimate team. “Each year when OnionFest rolls around, tensions are always running high as preparations for sectionals get more rigorous, travel teams are chosen and we have to at least pretend that we’re not goofing off as much as we did in the fall. Then, like the Rohirrim emerging in the East, we get this sunny weekend to dress up and have some fun on real grass fields.”

Teams play in a variety of outfits, this year ranging from a team with moustaches on the face of every player to a team dressed entirely in a golfing outfit (clubs and all).

Photo by Amelia Wells.

Schacht credits OnionFest for his love of the sport. “This tournament opened a new door for me that altered my college experience. It was my first ultimate tournament and freshman Josh was still months from learning a flick. But whether it was because everyone else’s throwing arms were restricted by hot dog costumes, or because of the friendly, welcoming environment, my inexperience didn’t cast me aside. Instead, I was embraced by the ultimate community and put on a course to ultimately play as a captain for my team.”

In addition to the many games played over the course of the weekend, OnionFest features plenty of annual traditions. On Friday afternoon, both Sweet’s teams, as well as Sweets alumni, played a co-ed mixed alumni scrimmage on Ankeny. Saturday night featured the annual showcase game, in which current Sweets players play alumni in a more competitive, but still good-natured game with the largest crowd of the weekend. The men and women’s teams alternate who play this game each year, and this year the women’s alumni team was victorious over the current women’s team.

“Playing against most of my teammates from last year in the showcase game was a definite highlight,” said Marlena Sloss, a captain of last years Sweets teams who played her first showcase game on the alumni side this year. Halftime of the showcase game consists of a sweet onion eating contest.

“Our team always makes a big deal out of the onion eating contest, though we can never seem to find a freshman that won’t yak it up,” Schacht said.

Sloss’ favorite aspect of the tournament, however, is the reunion between Sweets players of past and present.

Photo by Amelia Wells.

“The best part of OnionFest is having the current Sweets and alumni Sweets all together in one place. It’s such a cool weekend for the first-years to see how close the alumni still are to the team, and to see why they all come back to the campus for the weekend. For myself, it was amazing to come back because it was my first time visiting campus since I graduated, and I got to see many of my Whitman friends that I hadn’t seen since May. It’s a pretty unique chance to have a reunion with so many people in my year and to get to play frisbee together for a full weekend.”

__________

Recommended in sports this week:

Lifting Away Gender Stereotypes: Kendra Winchester’s Journey into the World of Weights

Quiet Powerhouse: Women’s Golf Ready to Take On the Nation

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Whitman has seen many athletic success in the past few years, but these victories have come at a cost.

According to Whitman’s 2016 Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act Survey (covering the 2015-2016 academic year), Whitman spent a grand total of $2,794,892 on our varsity sports teams. Of this multi-million dollar spending expenditure, $881,881 was spent on expenses not attributed to any specific team, leaving $1,913,011 spent on specific varsity sports teams.

Marra Clay

Across our 15 varsity sports teams, the share of this expenditure varies widely. The men’s golf team expenses were the smallest, at $55,430, followed by the men’s cross country team at $60,179 and the women’s cross country team at $60,836. The teams with the largest expenses were basketball and baseball by a large margin. The men’s basketball team spent $232,904, followed by the men’s baseball team at $222,403 and the women’s basketball team at $211,266.

Part of the variance seen can be attributed to different numbers of athletes in each sport. For example, as our smallest varsity sports team, the men’s golf team’s limited $55,430 spending expenditure was only spread across 4 athletes, with an average of $13,858 spent per athlete. Meanwhile, the largest varsity sports team, the men’s baseball team, had their $222,403 expenditure spread across 30 athletes, with an average of only $7,413 spent per player. So despite the men’s golf team having a total expenditure about four times as small as the baseball team, nearly twice as much is spent per athlete.

Annual recruiting expenses for varsity sports at Whitman College. Infographic by Marra Clay.

This discrepancy is at its largest when comparing the basketball teams and the cross country teams. Despite all four teams being of similar size, ranging from 13-15 athletes, the men’s and women’s basketball teams spend $15,527 and $16,251 per athlete, respectively, while the men’s and women’s cross country teams spend $4,299 and $4,056 per athlete, respectively.

This difference can lead to gaps in necessary team expenses.

“This last season the women’s team got our first new set of uniforms in ten years. Before that, we had been wearing ancient shorts that were falling apart, and men’s singlets,” senior women’s cross country captain Lara Ruegg said.

While some teams have a large enough budget to travel nationally for preseason trips every year, teams with smaller allowances must spend strategically to ensure that they can manage to travel for normal competition.

Marra Clay
Infographic by Marra Clay.

“Every other year, the Regionals meet is in California, and because of our limited budget, our coach has to limit spending on the off-years so that we have enough money the next year to go to California. So this year we had to save money on travel, etc. so that next year the team can go to Regionals, which is a regular season competition,” Ruegg said.

“I don’t think it’s a big secret why some sports get more money than others. We have one coach and one assistant coach (who was a volunteer up until this year) to coach both the men’s and women’s teams. Resources are just thinner for less important sports,” said senior men’s cross country captain Alex Waheed. “I do think athletes should receive funding more equitably. After all, they certainly go through lengths to tell us about how ‘every athlete counts’ and ‘every athlete’s experience is equally important.’”

According to Athletic Director Dean Snider, about 85 percent (over $2 million) of the funding for current fiscal year expenses will come from endowment payout and Whitman’s budget, 11 percent from alumni and other contributions and four percent from camps and clinics. Game day ticket revenue does not amount to even a percentage point.

“We do budgeting in such a way where we can focus funds where they are necessary. We negotiate a budget with the coaches of each team a year in advance, and we consider their needs within that plan. We also try to match what the market is doing in terms of expenditure, when comparing to peer institutions. Some programs can tend to cost more because of length of season and fewer competitions,” Snider said.

Marra Clay
The average expense per player for women’s basketball and men’s running teams. Infographic by Marra Clay.

Snider admits that there is still work to be done in bringing more equitable experiences to Whitman’s athletes.

“Compared to even three years ago, huge improvements have been made that I’m proud of, but as in any growing process, there are still improvements to be made. We want every student athlete to be able to have an incredible experience and be able to compete at the top of their game, no matter the sport, and though we’re not there yet, I am pleased with our progress.”

Though many across campus have expressed extreme annoyance with the seemingly never-ending winter experienced by Walla Walla this year, few have been more frustrated than many of the athletes on our campus. The snow covering the ground has forced practices for baseball, lacrosse, and ultimate frisbee teams indoors.

These teams are forced to compete for practice time in the multipurpose gym In Sherwood Center, which created a variety of difficulties.

“First, we play on grass and moving to a court surface is problematic. Ultimate incorporates many changes of direction in quick succession and it’s harder to do in shoes than cleats. Second, we’ve had a number of injuries from person to person collisions on the court, as well as a number of players running into the walls while making plays on the disc,” sophomore Whitman Sweets ultimate frisbee team captain Robbie Farwell said. “Playing in such a confined space is dangerous for our sport. Third, scheduling practice times has become a nightmare with every sport needing to share court space.”

Women’s lacrosse has also been weary of the challenges presented by the change as they prepare to play in Texas this weekend.

“I don’t think it’ll affect our season as a whole but it will affect our first game because we haven’t practiced on a big field or the transitions across it yet,” said sophomore Maddie Florer.

Lucas Thrun, a sophomore baseball player, felt the team was able to use their indoor experience to their advantage for a sunny weekend in California last weekend. In their first outdoor play of the semester of the season, the team beat the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges team in three of four matchups this past weekend.

“We were far more excited to be playing baseball on a field and to give it everything we had, rather than sit back and think, ‘but what if we had been able to practice on our field?’ That positive outlook helped us stay relaxed, helped us pick each other up, and got us some wins,” Thrun said. “If anything, it’s made us more excited to go out to any ballpark and win some games.”

Farwell felt the opposite.

“All things considered, we’ve played beautifully for not having practiced outside as a team since mid-December. It’s early in the spring season, and everyone has improved tremendously over the course of the fall, but being limited to just indoor practices so far this term has adversely affected our team’s preparedness for our spring season tournaments,” he said.

Not only has adapting play been a difficulty, but many teams have struggled with trying to practice with the limited availability of the multipurpose gym.

“The MP gym schedule gets loaded heavily when the fields freeze over. We’ve had a number of practices late into the evening and it can be difficult for student athletes to manage work time,” Farwell said.

For the baseball team, the completion of the new Borleske Stadium indoor practice facility could not have been better timed.

“In years past, during rough weather, the team would practice in the multipurpose gym, with gym floors being the only surface we could practice on. With the building of the new indoor facility last year, we have been able to practice in a much more baseball-specific facility, complete with turf and pitching mounds,” Thrun said.

Though this is not the first time weather has affected athletic seasons (wildfire smoke has moved practices inside in previous years), this was the longest practice disruption in recent memory. Spring athletes across campus are going to be relieved to see the snow continue to melt and for practicing outside to return as a possibility. Only time will tell if a disrupted start to practicing will affect these teams’ seasons.

While many of Whitman’s varsity sports teams continue to see outstanding success on the field, concerning off-field behavior has been brought to light as the school continues to see high rates of sexual assault reports against athletes.

Varsity athletes represent slightly more than 20 percent of Whitman’s student body, yet so far this year they have made up 28.6 percent of sexual violence responding parties (named persons allegedly responsible for the reported behavior), according to Title IX Administrator Juli Dunn. 50 percent of responding parties were non-athletes, and for 21.4 percent it was unknown whether they were athletes or not. Further, athletes only make up 3.4 percent of claimants, in comparison to 73.3 percent non-athletes and 23.3 percent unknown.

Not only are varsity athletes overrepresented as those accused in reported sexual violence cases, but they are also underrepresented in reporting cases of sexual violence.

In response to these unsettling statistics, last December every varsity student athlete underwent a one-hour consent education workshop with their team. The workshop was the idea of junior baseball player John Lyon. Lyon has worked in the past with Associate Dean for Student Programs and Activities Barbara Maxwell as a Student Sexual Violence Prevention Intern targeting off campus housing.

“Within that role I saw [sexual violence prevention for] athletes and off-campus going hand-in-hand and asked Barbara if I could expand my job to include an athletic oversight position for sexual violence prevention,” Lyon said. From this, Athletes for Consent Education (ACE) was born.

“Nationally, the two biggest groups for perpetrating sexual violence are fraternities and athletics…and it is disproportionate compared to the amount of people on this campus as well.”

According to Laura Finley, an assistant professor of sociology and criminology at Barry University, nearly one-third of college sexual assaults nationwide have been perpetrated by athletes. This, relative to proportion of student body, is a rate nearly six times that of their non-athlete peers.

Lyon, as well as other athletes who joined the ACE group, began working on a workshop on consent for each team.

“We came at it from a lens of understanding that athletes on this campus take up a social role, as well as one on the field, and so we tailored it to every individual team. We did alcohol safety trainings with specific teams, and we came at it from a standpoint that consent should actually be easier for athletes,” Lyon said. “You have the advantage of having a built-in community of teammates who already look out for you in all these different ways, and just making sure that you’re making the right call where consent in concerned, is one more way you can look out for each other and hold each other accountable.”

While initially frustrated by having the trainings required during the final weeks of the semester, sophomore cross country runner Kelby Pierce, viewed the trainings as very constructive.

“The workshop was a great opportunity for our team to come together and think about how we, as a team, may be contributing to rape culture through how we act and what we say,” she said. “It was a reminder that while one person might be comfortable with a joke that objectifies another individual, we need to be aware of how our actions and words as a team are seen by other members of the community.”

Leighton Kingma, a first year on the men’s basketball team, also found the workshop to be quite beneficial.

“I like the idea of having each sports team go through the workshop. It was all important information, and though I think many members of my team were aware of most of the information, it served as a helpful reminder of the harmful actions that go on in college, and was informative about the ways in which we can help prevent that kind of activity.”

Lyon believes most athletes have had a similar response to Kingma’s.

“The response has been fairly positive. It was definitely taken differently by each team, and that was a result of tailoring it to each specific team. But whereas ACE started with 15 people at the beginning, we now have multiple people from each team, and the teams have been very responsive.”

The hope is that the program will continue to grow and promote positive change on campus.

“We’re going to use this momentum to continue going over ways that we as athletes can continue to change culture on campus. We’re talking about doing things like a first year athletes consent training, or having buddy teams sober roaming each other’s parties, and stuff like that.” Lyon said. “For me, I think the most beneficial part was that for at least an hour every athlete was forced to think about these issues, and that was great to see.”