The cycling team here at Whitman operates at a varsity sport level; however, it is entirely student run. Because it does not have a coaching staff, the team is required to plan every single race event as well as workouts and practices. The team is also required to plan their events such as spring training camps that they would like to attend. The team was created in 2001 and has had tremendous success, including 15 national titles on record and possibly more. Senior President Alberto Santos-Davidson and junior Vice President Mackinzie Stanley, who will return as president next year, run the team.

The team is co-ed and has an A and B team for both men and women. Its season consisted of six short races, one of which the team missed in order to do spring training in California. Despite missing that race, the team managed to place second in the conference among schools such as University of Washington, University of Oregon and Montana State University.

Some of the success that is made from the cycling team comes from the cyclists’ hard work of running a completely student-run team with no coaching staff. They get the help of some physical therapists from around town, but they are in charge of everything they want to accomplish as a team. Fundraising for their travels and gear is one of their main focuses, as traveling gets expensive over time.

Noah Edelson ’18. Photo by Tywen Kelly.

“Not only do these students take on time consuming leadership roles, but they are also doing their own training to prepare for the season. Some of the things that have been achieved by the team leadership include: a two-week training trip to California with accommodations arranged and training rides planned; weekly skills clinics to do bike handling drills like picking up water bottles off of the ground or practicing crashing, etc,” said senior Aliza Whalen through an email.

Through this incredible leadership, the team is able to fundraise for events around campus as well as help organize events at other Northwest Conference schools.

“We’ve put on a race here on campus for two years now. And through our fundraising we had the road behind [the] Anderson [Hall] paved, which the college had been trying to make happen for 10 years now,” said Santos-Davidson.

With this leadership, the team is able to create a fun and competitive environment that is structured just how they want it to be. The atmosphere generated has drawn significant attention to the team in terms of participation.

“We grew quite a bit this year; we only had three seniors. We had 13 new people join this year. And one of the really cool things about this was that of that 13 only five were not first-years. I think it speaks volumes of the reputation that the cycling team has,” said Santos-Davidson.

The atmosphere created by the team has flourished this season and can be seen through the results they have accomplished. A continuation of excellence has remained as the women’s A team swept the conference championships in both road race and criterium. They also won the team time trial. The men’s team also performed well, taking first in B men’s criterium. Santos-Davidson also won the Sportsmanship Award.

“We will be sending four women to nationals this year, for a full time trial team. All four will do the Criterium, the road race and the team time trial. These women are [junior] Mackinzie Stanley, [sophomore] Dessie Weigel, [junior] Becca Mellema  and [first-year] Sara Youmans. This is also incredible because there are no seniors, which means all of us will be returning next year,” said Mackinzie Stanley. 

The team will travel to Asheville, N.C. on Wednesday and compete over the weekend at the Colligate National Championship.

The inaugural season for the Whitman Varsity Women’s Lacrosse Team this spring could be measured in the amount of wins and losses the team had. However, a better measurement can be based on the growth and confidence that the women gained in themselves and in new Head Women’s Lacrosse Kate Robinson throughout their season.

Robison was quite pleased with the outcome of this season.

Photo by Tywen Kelly.

“I think we learned a ton. We got better from day one to the last game. I think that we became really cohesive as a unit and truly became a team,” said Coach Robinson. “We showed moments of brilliance and moments where we could use some development — all positive. This year was super fun and I was so pleasantly surprised with the level of play that we had. I lucked out with this group.”

The players were equally excited with the outcome and experiences that were had this season, especially with that of having a new coach.

“She was a really good fit for the school and with the transition. She understood that it was not going to be varsity level. She worked really well with us to make that transition,” said junior Emily Jordan.

With the generation of nothing but positivity this past season, there is a lot of excitement for next season. But with next season comes higher expectations and more preparations.

“The thing we need to work on, I think, is work ethic next year, and I think we have that along with our ground level skills, and we are prepared with a plan: lots of fitness and stick skills,” said Jordan.

Increasing every aspect of the game for this still new team is the starting point for next season and months before that.

“Next season is going to look very different, especially this being the hybrid year. We’re going to have an earlier preseason and an extra day of practice. Fitness has to be there, knowing our schedule and developing these habits early, starting this summer. Going deeper into what we did this year, especially with on-field things. We have so much potential,” said Robinson.

Now that women’s lacrosse is a varsity sport, recruitment for next year’s incoming first-year’s is crucial to increase the depth of the team from this past season.

“Right now we have about five commits, and we’re waiting to hear back from the other regular decision applicants,” said Robinson. “They have all been to campus and met the team and are super pumped to have an immediate impact for next year.”

Boosting the intensity for next season will only increase with the experience of current players and the excitement of new additions.

“We struggled with the varsity atmosphere, and having people coming in will really help us with that,” said junior captain Nina Henelsmith.

More game experience will also come along with the addition of recruits and ramped-up expectations. Robinson plans to expand the schedule in order to help the team gain experience.

“Right now I am working on our non-conferences games,” she said. “We are most likely going to go to Southern California and play a few powerhouse teams, which is good for our strength of schedule, maybe get some neutral site games on the west side. And hopefully get to go down to Colorado and play Colorado College.”

With the addition of recruits and expanding their schedule next season, there are hopes that the depth of the team will increase.

Photo by Tywen Kelly.

“Next year we really need to up the intensity, and knowing that we can actually compete in the league next year will really help us out. And having a fuller and deeper team will allow us to step up even more to the varsity level,” said Henelsmith.

The outcome of this season was more than Robinson or the team could ever imagine. The growth that was able to take place during their inaugural season was so immense and positive that it will allow for even more development for them next year and beyond, especially since they will only graduate two seniors, Nicolette Carnahan and Jade Anderson. The preparations for next season are already underway with the conclusion of this season, and there is no where to go but up for these Missionaries.

As the 2015 spring season for Whitman Men’s Tennis comes to an end, the Northwest Conference Tournament Championships are right around the corner. After this past weekend’s sweep of PLU, the team finished its regular season undefeated in the conference and ranked number 15 in the Nation with a possible return to nationals. This will be the team’s eighth straight Northwest Conference title, and the team has yet to lose a regular season conference match in nine years.

Phillip Locklear (back) Petar Jivkov (front). Photo by Tywen Kelly.

“We’ve had a really good season so far. Our start of the year was really strong. We had three top-20 teams come here and play and we beat all of them. And we’re still undefeated in conference so we have a lot of things to be happy about. A lot of the guys feel like at this part of the year that they’re playing a lot better even then a month ago, so we’re just about to get over the hump,” said senior Colton Malesovas.

The team has prepared this spring season to mentally and physically understand what it takes not only to become Northwest Conference champions, but also to return to the Division III National Championships.

“We have played a lot of top-10 teams, more than what we’re used to and right now we’re just right on the cusp of taking an extra step in actually beating them. We have had two 4-5 losses over spring break, so we’re just right there. What it comes down to is actually believing,” said senior James Rivers.

This season, there are three seniors, one junior, five sophomores and eight first-years. With such a big class of underclassmen, there is a much greater need for them to consistently score points than there has been in previous seasons. They have certainly stepped up to the challenge.

“We have a lot of people that can play really high-quality tennis right now, so it’s comforting to know that even if I’m not playing in the lineup, then I’ll have a teammate that I know can win. Our team is really deep,” said Rivers.

The depth of the team ranges from senior All Americans such as Malesovas and Rivers to many sophomores and first-years already poised to earn the same honors.

“First-year players Zach Hewlin and Chase Friedman have played well at the number-three and number-four spots this year, which is impressive since it is their first year of college tennis and we play a very demanding schedule,” said Head Men’s Tennis Coach Jeff Northam.

With an already-talented group, fitness has become the main priority for this season. The team had a little trouble playing some top-10 teams over spring break and realized that fitness should be a focal point for the rest of the season.

“We got back and hit it really hard. It is so nice to be in better shape than other teams, especially in tennis where it is such a mental sport. If you know that you have been putting in more work than your opponent, then you just have that little mental edge that can push you to win it,” said Rivers.

That mental edge has carried this senior class consisting of Rivers Malesovas, and Alex Noyes to this point in their last season.

“Three years ago we were a top-30 team and we were very happy to be Northwest Conference Champions and be top 30. And up to now, we have broken into basically a top-15 team, now I think our group wants to be a top-10 or a top-5 and we’re knocking on the door. Now we’re just one good win away from that, but not quite there yet,” said Malesovas.

To make it into the top 10 or top 5, the team must first perform well in the Northwest Conference Championships, hosted here at Whitman, to head to the NCAA Division III tournament.

“Well, first things first, we accomplished the first goal of winning the NWC title and hosting the NWC tournament. We need to win the the NWC tournament to advance to the NCAAs so that is all we are thinking of at the moment. We have had several close matches with teams in the conference, so we have our work cut out for us next weekend,” said Northam. 

If the team is able to win the Northwest Conference tournament, they will earn a team bid to nationals. The team will be competing in the NWC semi-finals on Saturday, April 24 followed by finals on Sunday, April 25. The Whitman Women’s Tennis Team will also be hosting the conference tournament and will play on Friday, April 23 and Saturday, April 24.+

For years, the Whitman College Varsity Women’s Tennis team has been able to compete successfully at a national level. They have continually set the bar higher year after year with the help of Head Women’s Tennis Coach John Hein, who shared in a 1998 national championship as a player at the University of California-Santa Cruz. As soon as he came to Whitman, he was able to begin building a prosperous program. Hein’s past two years coaching at Whitman have resulted in undefeated conference play, and this season looks to be no different, with only a few more conference matches left to play.

Although they have had extremely victorious seasons in years past, this year’s team dynamic seems to be different. 

“This year we have increased depth, and it brings up the level of intensity each day in practice and has caused us to be much better at doing more of the little things right than in years past. Still, we’ve retained and even built upon the core of what our team is about, which is building amazing relationships and competing as a team in this individual sport,” said Hein.

Maddy Webster ’15 practices. Photo by Tywen Kelly.

A lot of the success that has driven the women’s success has been that of the senior twins, Morgan and Courtney Lawless. Each with multiple all-American titles under their belt, this season will be their last here at Whitman.

However, not having the Lawless twins 100 percent of the time, the team has been able to pick up some of their slack and compete at a high level this season. 

“I’ve lost three or four matches this year already, compared to none before. But that’s the thing about our team this year. We’re so deep that I can just trust them to pick up any of my slack,” said Morgan.

A significant part of that depth has come thanks to the three first-years, Jenna Gilbert, Hanna Greenberg and Lindsey Brodeck, and junior transfer Alex Sigouin.

“The key is that while they bring as much talent and experience as any class we’ve had, except possibly our current seniors, with our depth they are having to really fight for playing time. Each of them has met or exceeded expectations in terms of performance, with Hanna making huge contributions in doubles and Lindsey in singles,” said Hein. 

Having an amazing group of women to continue the legacy of Whitman Tennis has been even easier with the help of this first-year class.

As the season draws to an end, the team has their fate in their own hands. If they are able to win these matches against Pacific, Willamette, PLU and UPS, then they will win conference and host the conference tournament. The return to the National Tournament will be hard like every year; however, it is very achievable with this group of women.

On Saturday, the women finished the day with an 8-1 victory at Willamette University after starting the day with a 6-3 win in Forest Grove, Ore. at Pacific University. They will close out their regular-season schedule Saturday and Sunday with two more conference matches against Pacific Lutheran University and University of Puget Sound.

As everyone on the Whitman campus headed back home or took their two week destination vacation, five swimmers, Karl Mering, Sam Starr, Sean Terada, Clark Sun and Loic McGiverin-Ideide, made their way to Shenandoah, Texas. There, at the Conroe ISD Natatorium, they competed in the NCAA Division 3 Swimming and Diving National Championships. They were invited to compete in Whitman-earned invitational spots in all three freestyle relays — 200-, 400- and 800-yard — and were on the optional entry list for the 200- and 400-yard medley relays.

Karl was the only one of the five swimmers to return to nationals for a second time, so the individual goals of the four others were much different from his.

“For us, we just wanted to have fun and go with whatever we were given, and see what happened,” said Terada, a sophomore on the team.

Coach Jennifer Blomme was excited at the opportunities offered to the team in Texas.

“Going into Nationals we were so elated to have relays qualified in addition to our individual opportunities.  Getting a relay invited to the meet has been a goal of ours for several seasons and we’ve gotten so close,” said Blomme.

Bringing a relay team increased the team scoring potential, where relays are worth double the points of individual races. The team had hoped to improve their highest national finish, 17th place in 2013, which in fact they did.

The relay team including Mering, McGiverin-Odeide, Starr and Sun placed 12th overall, with a time of 1 minute, 22.5 seconds. McGiverin-Odeide led off with a 21.54-second split, followed by Starr and Sun who swam almost identical times of 20.74 and 20.75 seconds.

After the relay, Mering looked to his own individual events. The defending champion finished in 47.56 in the 100 butterfly, beating his winning time from last year by .4 seconds and taking second to the top seed. 
Fifteen minutes later, he pulled out a third-place finish in the 200 free with a time of 1:37.60. Both of his swims set new Northwest Conference and Whitman school records.

Going into his races, Mering worked to keep his mind focused on the task at hand.

“My biggest personal goal was to simply just go out and perform every race with as much intensity as I could bring to it at any given moment, and not worry about how swim one will affect swim seven,” said Mering. 

Coach Blomme was pleased, but not surprised by Mering’s efforts.

“Not only was the physicality of what he did so impressive – the sheer strength and endurance.  But the mental strength to have the confidence to pull that off, to be willing to step up on the blocks feeling tired and trust your body would be able to do what you were about to ask of it… that is something really special,” said Blomme.  

True competition and an overall team success was on the mind of Senior Karl Mering the entire race.

“I think for me the number one thing I am taking away from this is that despite the fact that I didn’t win any individuals, I was the fastest split out of the entire field in each of the relays I participated in. I have never been able to be so consistent over an entire meet, and I take a lot of pride in the fact that I was able to be the best (free) relay swimmer at this meet. I did my best in the moment, and was blessed to get a best time in all the events I swam,” said Mering. 

Next year will undoubtedly be different than this year in terms of the team dynamic, especially without the presence of senior leader Karl Mering. His legacy will forever be etched in Whitman’s history, however, with all the hard work that the team put in this year as well as the leadership that has been passed through this historic swim team. The road to Northwest Conference Championships and National Championships has been paved and will be followed for years to come.

The Whitman Men’s Club Lacrosse Team has found itself going to division playoffs every season since 1995. With many successful seasons before them, the 2015 team have some big shoes to fill, but ultimately, this team looks forward showing the newcomers what it is like to be successful.

With the addition to some new players, the team is fully committed to its development.

“I’m pretty happy with where we are as a team right now. We have a lot of new players on the team, including a few who are completely new to the sport. Everyone has really committed themselves to the team, and we’ve developed a lot because of that,” said senior Captain Max Skotheim.

A part of this commitment and development comes from the recent injuries that the team has experienced. So far there have been three concussions, a knee injury and a case of pneumonia that have held back a total of five of the experienced offensive players, in addition to several other players with smaller injuries that are currently playing through them. However, all these injuries have allowed for unintended developments.

Photo by Anna Dawson.

“Because of the injuries, we’ve had to put players in new positions that they’re unfamiliar with. Everyone has done a great job of stepping up to the task and figuring out their roles even as they’re continuously shifting. Our rookie players especially have done a fantastic job of representing our team and taking on larger leadership roles,” said Skotheim.

The inexperience comes from a range of players, with some new upperclassmen joining the younger student-athletes.

“The current rookies on the team are a mix of younger players who have played a lot through high school and even before and some older guys who are just starting out, so we are all learning from each other a bit. It’s a transition from high school lacrosse to college lacrosse,” said first-year Evan Neal.

One of the outstanding first-year players is Michael Brock.

“Michael is definitely one of our rising stars on the team. He’s a hard worker and he’s all over the field in games. His stick skills are great for a long pole, and he has had several goals already this season,” said Skotheim.  

Their first home game was last Sunday against College of Idaho, for which they were very excited, especially coming off two losses to University of Puget Sound and University of Portland. The two losses on the season put the team in a challenging spot, but they are still in the running for playoffs. After a tight, highly competitive game, the team dropped their contest on Saturday at 9-8. Though in a tough spot and looking at playoffs from the outside for now, the team is optimistic about the remainder of the playoff race.

“The level of play will continue to ramp up with Central and Southern Oregon, among others. We know the games will be tough, so we’re staying focused on the playoffs, and if we play to the best of our abilities we can definitely make it,” said Neal.

Heading into spring break with a win against Central Washington University and a loss to College of Idaho on the weekend gives the team an opportunity to develop some more before they face the tougher match-ups in the second half of their season.

“The fire we’ve lit under ourselves will be really constructive for the team, both in forcing us all to rely on one another more, as well as giving our newer lacrosse players the opportunity to really step out of their comfort zones and grow. I think we’ve done a great job of simulating these kinds of tough moments by treating our practices like game situations, and I look forward to seeing that hard work pay off with some clutch wins,” said Brock.

Hopefully the team’s flame will only become brighter as its season continues through the spring.

The men’s Ultimate Frisbee team kicked off their spring season two weekends ago in San Diego, where they went 1–5. Although a learning experience, arriving with only a total of 15 players did not offer them as much depth as they would have liked. However, the necessity of younger, newer players stepping in offered more chances than usual to improve.

Though the depth of the team has caused problems, the experience some of the newcomers are getting will be very valuable in their upcoming tournaments.

“We have very little experience playing high level Ultimate, and this tournament was an opportunity for a bunch of guys to learn and grow. We did not do very well in terms of wins and losses, but we improved drastically throughout the weekend” said Peter O’Rourke, a senior captain.

Despite the improvement from the San Diego tournament, The Sweets have have some tremendous losses this season due to injury that will likely continue to plague the team.

“By far the biggest loss is captain Pete O’Rourke, who had significant hip surgery and will miss the entire season. We should get some other crucial depth and talent back by the playoffs,” said junior Evie Vermeer.

While they had a hard time putting together a full game in San Diego, the outcomes with the development of the team has better prepared the team for their upcoming tournaments this spring.

“As many players found out, playing in practice is one thing, but tournaments are entirely different. I think we struggled in San Diego because sometimes it can be hard to recognize flaws in your team until you’re matched up against someone other than yourselves. I strongly believe that you can improve in one tournament as much as you might in an entire month of practice,” said senior Elliot Moskat.

In addition to the first tournament offering a new outlook on the team’s season, the influx of injuries to some top players, including two of the three captains, has brought about a new dynamic for the team.

“Now our team needs to assume much more of the faceless army identity,” said Moskat. “Everyone has a role on the team and we will win or lose based on how well every single individual does his role. Injuries also mean that we have to be exceptionally sound in our fundamentals and strategy. The margin for error is much smaller. We need to be smarter players and we need to be able to trust each other to get the job done.”

There have been many players that have stepped up since their last tournament, including sophomore Reed Hendrickson.

“He has really come onto the scene. Last year when he was a first-year we knew he had the potential to be a great player on The Sweets. This year he’s showing that come his senior year, he will undoubtedly be one of the best players in the Northwest. Physically he’s gifted by being a huge dude, but also quick and agile, which is so important in Ultimate. Mentally he understands the game at a level that most sophomore players don’t,” said Moskat.

Another player to step up quite a bit is sophomore Nathan Gruenberg.

“He’s really come into his own this year because of hard-work and commitment to becoming better. He is ridiculously intense, and he holds himself and others to the highest standard possible. He wants to improve and he wants to be the best every second he’s on the field, and that’s made other teams recognize him as a dangerous player when they match-up with us,” said Moskat.

Another mention is that of sophomore Chris Cahoon, who has lots of promise according to O’Rourke.

Last weekend, the team was in Las Vegas for another tournament, where they saw some marked improvement already, winning two of four on the weekend.

Looking ahead to the rest of their season, The Sweets are looking to peak at just the right time in order to be at their best come playoff time.

“We’re looking to play our best Ultimate at the last day of regionals,” said Moskat. “In years past there’s definitely been a greater focus on succeeding in regular season tournaments like San Diego, but this year our focus is simply about getting better every single day between now and the last point of our last game.”

The team’s regional playoff tournament is in the first weekend of May. The Sweets earned the right to host the tournament, which heightens the excitement of it all.

“We will have the opportunity to play in front of our friends and show them what we are all about,” said O’Rourke.

Truly believing in the team will help the Sweets sweep the postseason, and hopefully playing in front of a home crowd for regionals will boost some of their momentum in the playoffs.

The energy from their sweep against Whitworth to end the regular season carried both the men’s and women’s swim teams through their Northwest Conference Championship finals. The men took first place earning 697.5 points, ending Whitworth’s 12-year NWC winning streak. And the women finished second with 524 points, marking only the second time ever finishing above third in the NWC Championships.

Karl Mering ’15. Photo by Tywen Kelly.

The accomplishments were truly historic. First is senior Karl Mering, who was named the NWC Men’s Swimmer of the Meet for the third year in a row. Head Swimming Coach Jenn Blomme earned Men’s Coach of the Year honors for the seventh time since starting at Whitman. Cameo Hlebasko, a junior on the women’s team, led the team in the 200 back, breaking her own school record by more than 1.5 seconds. Other honorable mentions are that of Clark Sun, Nina Dipboye, Jo Brunner, Elise Tinseth, Sam Starr and Sean Terada, who all had standout performances.

Coach Blomme was pleased with the overall result of the meet, as well as the individual performances from all her swimmers.

“So many factors go into peak performance: training, nutrition, recovery, sleep, health, race strategy, mental preparedness, your taper, etc. … To have all those things come together on one weekend is pretty amazing. Our team put the work in all season, and then this weekend they showed up in a huge way … And they didn’t shy away from a single race,” said Blomme.

With the astounding performance at the championship meet, the team will await the NCAA selections for Nationals. The number of contenders for individual events varies year to year. The only secured spot is that of Karl Mering in the 200 free.

“Individual contenders are Karl Mering (100 fly, 200 free, 200 fly), Cole Weinstein (500 free, 400 IM), Clark Sun (200 free), Drew Quan (200 breast), Sam Starr (100 back) and for the women’s side Tai Hallstein (50 free, 100 free). But we also have four relays with times that would have made it into last year’s meet: the men’s 200 free, the men’s 400 medley, the men’s 800 free and the men’s 400 free,” said Blomme.

During this period of nationals selections, the team will keep high hopes that these swimmers will be selected as contenders on March 18–21 at the CISD Natatorium in Shenandoah, Texas.

“Until then, swim and weight room practices resume, so the expectation is helping them train,” said Hlebasko.

Photo by Tywen Kelly.

As the hard work continues for the entire team, former National Champion Karl Mering will look for nothing but perfection not only from his team, but also from himself while on the road to nationals.

“Last season was good for me but I knew that I hadn’t had perfect races last year, so I’ve just been trying to clean things up with my swimming,” said Mering.

His coach also is excited for him to experience nationals once again.

“He can compete in any environment, but he tapers for that meet very well and loves to race. He just loves to compete. As a senior, this meet will be less a challenge or test and more a celebration of his college career,” said Blomme.

The record-breaking season, along with the remarkable performance at the NWC Championship meet, has yet to settle in for Coach Blomme. With this recipe of hard work and determination, along with the success this season has brought, Blomme can only look back with admiration for her team.

“I think as I look back on this season, it will be marked by courage — a willingness to put yourself out there and go for it. And I also think our team really internalized what it means to be a team in a sport so characterized by individual performance,” says Blomme.

The team’s exciting atmosphere impacted the season immensely.

“Every swimmer knew their work in practice, their efforts in races and the energy they brought onto the pool deck every day was going to play out in a very real way,” said Blomme.

This hardworking resilience will carry the team to nationals, hopefully bringing home some hardware.

Left to right: Sam Starr, Loic McGiverin-Odeide, Clark Sun, Karl Mering, Sean Tarada. These swimmers are in the running to go to nationals. Photo by Tywen Kelly.

After 12 seasons and a tough 2014 season, Mike Washington, Whitman’s head men’s soccer coach, has decided to retire.

 As the spring season kicks into gear, the team is still unsure about their coaching situation for the fall.

Looking for a new coach involves Dean Snider, the athletics director at Whitman, several faculty members and a teammate from each class on the soccer team itself. The anticipations and emotions range for each player.

“The team and I together have mixed feelings about getting a new coach. Some are in favor of getting a new coach and some are not,” said sophomore captain Trayvon Foy.

But the team will undoubtedly be grateful for the lessons they have learned from Washington, something junior Bridger Sellegren, also a captain, spoke to.

“Mike built this program from literally nothing, and so we have to be a little bummed to see such an amazing guy moving on, a guy that gave people the opportunity to play after high school and is so passionate about Whitman soccer,” said Sellegren.

During the offseason, the team is typically very dependent on their captains to keep the vision of the type of program they want. And with that, they also want their new coach to have the same type of motivation for the team that Washington had.

“I want our new coach to have the same passion and buy-in mentality as our old coach. Mike always put in extra work to make our program succeed in ways that other soccer programs at other schools did not. I expect the same or better from the new coach,” said Foy.

So far there are around 60 applicants nationwide. And Snider is expecting to cap the search at around 100 applicants.

“We will start reviewing [the applicants] in about a week and a half, and our goal is to have someone named and an offer accepted by mid-April. Once we narrow the pool down we will Skype interview the candidates and then bring the top three to campus to visit,” said Snider.

Overall, the panel of faculty and players are looking for the best fit to teach at Whitman.

“We look for a good fit to Whitman. [We want] someone who is an educator. Someone who coaches because it represents them teaching through the classroom of competitive sport … which is why this is a faculty search rather then a staff search,” said Snider. “We put as much effort into these searches as we do for tenure track faculty positions.”

The captains are happy to able to be involved in the search as well.

“We have a vision of the direction that we would like to take the program, and the way that Dean has set up the coaching search has made it possible for the opinions and thoughts of the team to be taken into account and taken seriously,” said Sellegren.

Another attribute that the search team will look for is a special attitude towards Whitman’s community and unique learning environment. Energy is key for a new coach to make a true impact on the team.

“We look for a ‘niche’: a highly academic, athletic person that seems to like the Northwest and the outdoors,” said Snider.

Naturally, the new coach must also be passionate about soccer.

“While competing and being serious about training and improving is really important, equally important is to remember why we play sports. We as a team can’t forget that the reason we play soccer, and the reason we play for each other, is for the enjoyment we get,” said Sellegren. “It’s certainly a fine line, but that is the challenge of being a leader on the team. Finding that balance between being serious and achieving our goals but still having a good time with your teammates and the game.”

That balance will certainly be emphasized in the search process and is equally valuable to the search team as qualifications are. Whoever steps in, he or she will have large shoes to fill, but with such a complete and robust search process, there is little doubt that the search committee will find a worthy candidate.

With about one month left until their first game, the varsity women’s lacrosse team is gearing up for their inaugural season. The team is the first team to move from club to varsity in over a decade at Whitman.

Previously a successful team at the club level, returners as well as new adds are looking forward to getting their first varsity competition under their belts. And their new coach, Kate Robinson, is eager to begin as well.

With some added interest last year on the club team, the excitement has been building for the official start of practices and games at the varsity level.

“I am really excited for the upcoming season and looking forward to challenging our team in many different ways by playing at the varsity level” said junior Bea Sheffer.

Since lacrosse is new to the Northwest Conference, they will only play eight games this season, starting with back-to-back games on March 15 and 16 against Linfield College and George Fox University at 12 p.m. and 1 p.m.

Part of the excitement of becoming a new varsity team here at Whitman has come from getting a new coach. Prior to this season, the team didn’t have a coach and was instead led by veteran players. Coach Robinson graduated from The Catholic University of America where she was a three-time All-American in lacrosse. She also shined on the basketball court. After her career she continued to coach for her alma mater and then continued as a top assistant at the Stevens Institute of Technology.

“There aren’t many people like Kate out there who are willing to move across the country and take on creating a new team,” said sophomore returner Anna Melville. “She’s coming from a program that was quite strong, and I think that having her to guide us through this first year is going to be really important.”

Though Robinson wants to be able to compete this season, she also recognizes that this hybrid year requires much smaller and more reachable goals.

“[We’re] just going to have fun and grow: grow everyday, grow every practice and game,” she said.

Similar to that of her coach, Sheffer’s goal for her team is to simply enjoy the process.

“Playing a team sport is all about the process. Each practice, each workout and each point in every game we play will contribute to building our team and focusing on the process” said Sheffer.

The transition for the team has gone easier then expected for Robinson, who is starting her players off slow with some conditioning and basics before they get on the field and prepare for their first games.

The slow transition has been key for the players, many of whom were intimidated by the move to varsity.

“I think the way it was so quickly thrown onto the team scared a lot of the girls who loved the game and loved the team but didn’t like the idea of the level of commitment becoming varsity meant,” said Melville.

But with the turn out for this new team, the team’s big changes have made it all worth the while. There is quite a bit of youth on the team, but that inexperience is countered with a heightened level of athleticism compared to previous years.

“The number of first years who came out and joined the team was phenomenal, and they are all really great athletes, so that assuaged my fears. Combining these new girls with the solid base left from the club team has given us a much stronger team than I was originally expecting,” said Melville.

Making history here at Whitman is an accomplishment in and of itself, which is what the women are looking forward to the most in their inaugural season. It will be a short season, but will certainly make an impact on the history of Whitman College Athletics.