College students from all over the Pacific Northwest gathered at the Whitman College Climbing Center for the Sweet Onion Crank climbing festival last weekend. Photos by Catie Bergman.

Last Saturday, climbers from all over the Pacific Northwest arrived at Whitman for the annual Sweet Onion Crank climbing competition. The Crank allows climbers of all skills to participate in the competition against fellow climbers of a similar skill rank at Whitman’s own climbing wall.

“The Sweet Onion Crank is the final climbing competition of the NC3 series, and it is the primary competition circuit for the region. So the Crank is a pretty big event for the climbing community. The competition consists of tiers of climbers: beginner, intermediate, advanced and open. Climbers compete against people in the same bracket, so experience doesn’t really matter,” said event organizer junior Matt Sellick.

All climbers are given a time period to rack up as many points as possible

“The climbers are allotted two and a half hours to rack up points by successfully climbing boulder problems without falling. The points are assigned based on the difficulty of the problem, and climbers record their points on a scorecard. After two heats of climbing, and a round of silly speed bouldering, the winners are announced and prizes are distributed,” said Sellick.

The environment of the entire competition was laid-back, as everyone enjoyed using the climbing wall.

“It was awesome to see climbers from all over the region enjoying our facility and the problems that Whitman’s climbing community worked hard on putting up,” said Sellick.

This huge event took a lot of preparation, but it ran smoothly with no difficulties.

“For me, the Crank was a culmination of eight months of preparation. It was a bit hectic and stressful running the event, but it is always fun to be part of a climbing community event. The community is very laid-back and talented, so the Crank did not feel overly competitive,” said Sellick.

For the event organizers, one of the best parts of the day was seeing how all of their hard work paid off, as they saw everyone having a great time.

“I think that my favorite part of the Crank was seeing how excited people were to climb the problems that my friends and I spent time setting. It is always satisfying to see folks enjoying something you created, but the Crank brings a ton of great climbers to the wall so it is interesting to see how people solve the movement of your puzzles,” said Sellick, who is part of a climbing staff that completely redid the gym’s bouldering problems.

For all of the climbers, the experience of the Crank was just as great as they were able to compete in a very friendly environment.

“The crank was really fun. It was packed; it took so long that they were registering people constantly for 45 minutes. It has a really nice atmosphere where everyone tries to help each other with the problems and the people were all really accepting of any skill level,” said sophomore Quinn Piibe.

When the event finally began, Whitman climbers were eager to begin after watching the event being set up for the past few weeks.

“I was excited to finally get to try all of the boulder problems I had been watching people set up for weeks in the gym,” said Piibe.

Each climber enjoyed climbing and pushing themselves to beat their previous records.

Over the weekend, both the men’s and women’s tennis teams secured their dominance in the Northwest Conference on campus.

With both teams playing in the conference tournament; the men soundly won their semifinal match with 5-0 win against Pacific University, followed by a 5-0 win against George Fox in the conference tournament final. Meanwhile the women won their semifinal match 6-0 against Linfield, followed by a final 5-0 win against Lewis & Clark. The victories captured the 6^th straight NWC crown for the men, and the 2^nd straight for the women.

Both teams played at Whitman, which was a major boost for the teams, as friends poured outside to watch.

“The Whitman community really came out in force for the final. The team always performs well in front of a big crowd, and the guys definitely stepped it up in the final,” said Men’s Tennis Assistant Coach Conor Holton-Burke.

Both teams thrived on the energy of the crowd as it further motivated them to sweep through the competition

“I thought we played really well this weekend—we were the team that brought tons of energy and fought at every position. It was so awesome to have the finals at Whitman and on our outdoor courts—having friends and family there to support us carried us through those matches and made the weekend so much fun,” said senior Alyssa Roberg.

The men’s and women’s teams performances impressed both of the respective coaches, as they were excited to see the hard work of the season paying off.

“The guys played well, especially in doubles, at the NWC tournament. Was such a treat for everyone to play in front of the large home crowds. It really boosted their energy and intensity in the doubles. Being up 3-0 after doubles really gave us a lot of momentum going into the singles,” said Men’s Tennis Coach Jeff Northam.

Both teams played hard, as they have all season and the results clearly showed in their resounding victories.

“I’m so happy with how we played this weekend.  The focus and intensity needed for the post season was there and it showed in our results.  Tennis has a long season with multiple times where you need to be peaking,” said Women’s Tennis Coach John Hein. “While we started the season strong and played well over spring break, everything leads up to qualifying for the NCAA tournament and I thought Saturday was one of our best days in doubles all year.”

Now with the NWC crown under their belts, both teams look towards nationals, with high hopes to better last year’s run into the national tournament.

“By winning the NWC tournament we are an automatic qualifier for the NCAA tournament the weekend of May 10. We won’t know which region we will be in until Sunday May 4th. But it means we get to practice a few more weeks,” said Northam.

Now the teams wait for the scheduling of the national tournament.

“Nationals begin in a few weeks, and we don’t actually figure out where we will go until a couple days beforehand. Last year we played in southern California and won our first round there, so we are looking to improve upon that, and are super excited for everything that is to come,” said Roberg.

With the regular season over, both teams will start practicing even harder to be prepared for nationals.

“We’ve got almost three weeks to prepare to play our best weekend of tennis this year, so that gives us time to recover from this effort and move forward, working on the things we’ve learned we need to improve on,” said Hein

Over the weekend, both the men’s and women’s tennis teams were hard at work finishing up the regular season.

On Friday, the women’s team played Pacific Lutheran University and soundly won 9-0. The following day, the women’s team played at home against the University of Puget Sound, and put their opponents away with an 8-1 win overall. The team finished with a perfect NWC record of 12-0, and 15-3 overall. This win means the team clinches its first outright regular season title since 1988.

The team played very well over the weekend, and finished the season on a high note.

“The team played well against UPS. They are a deep team that can be dangerous, as they finished just out of the top four in conference and came in ranked number nine in the West Region. Our doubles was sharper at one and two than it was Friday, and after a day off three played really tough and all teams fought through windy conditions, which showed our mental toughness,” said Head Coach John Hein.

Having beaten both opponents before, the team was confident to repeat.

“I think that we performed well last weekend, as evidenced by the scores of the matches. We had beaten both teams we played before, and it is easy to let one’s energy down in a situation like that. However, I think that we came out and played the tennis we know how to play, taking charge in doubles and carrying those wins through singles,” said senior Alyssa Roberg.

With a perfect season under its belt, the team moves on to the conference tournament.

“The results from this weekend leave us undefeated in conference and bring the conference tournament to Whitman, a feat the women’s tennis team hasn’t accomplished since the ’80s. It is such an awesome spot to be in. Both the men’s and women’s teams will host the conference tournament next weekend, and it will be so fun to have both teams playing for a spot in nationals. It also means so much that my last matches at Whitman will be those in the end-of-year tournament,” said Roberg.

The team remains ready and prepared for the upcoming matches in the tournament to finish the season strong.

“We are a team that uses our long-term goals to guide our daily performance. Going forward, this last weekend shows that we are improving each day and each week, which is vital as the playoffs are Friday and Saturday at home. We’re very proud of winning the conference championship, but are also very focused on Linfield [College] Friday,” said Hein.

On the men’s side of tennis, the team was hard at work in a double header against Pacific Lutheran, which Whitman won 7-2 and 8-1, followed with a win against Puget Sound, 9-0.

The wins mean the team has completed its seventh consecutive undefeated regular season.

The team went down early against Pacific Lutheran, but they quickly bounced back.

“Even though we were down after doubles in the first match, [sophomore] Colton Malesovas, [senior] Sam Sadeghi, [junior] Andy Riggs and [sophomore] Steven Roston quickly put to rest any thought of an upset. In a situation when a lot of teams would get nervous, those guys were absolutely relentless,” said Assistant Coach Conor Holton-Burke.

With an undefeated season under its belt, the team moves on to the conference tournament. Currently, the men’s team is ranked 15^th in the nation.

“It was a key accomplishment to secure the regular season title and hosting privileges for the NWC tournament. We clearly still have some work to do in doubles, but I think we’re all really excited to host the tournament. It’s particularly special that both the men’s and women’s teams have earned the right to host. It should be a spectacular weekend for Whitman tennis,” said Holton-Burke.

Over the weekend, both Whitman men’s and women’s golf teams fought against the elements in the Spring Classic in Bremerton, Wash. The persistent rain led to unplayable conditions on the course, leading to the second day of both men’s and women’s tournaments to be canceled.

The men finished sixth overall in the shortened tournament, with Whitworth University taking the team title. The cancellation of the second day only further frustrated the men’s team.

“Everyone on our team wanted to play to improve our standing, but ultimately we weren’t given the chance. It was a bummer especially because we pride ourselves as a ‘second-round team.’ Traditionally we have played much better on the last days of tournaments. Overall, it was a frustrating weekend due to poor playing conditions and a lack of an opportunity to rebound after one tough day,” said first-year Daniel Hoffman.

On the course, the weather proved to be the team’s greatest adversary.

“The tournament was played in the worst conditions we have seen all year. The greens were totally flooded and we were even forced to putt through puddles of standing water on the first day. Temperatures were extremely cold and that takes a toll on you after five hours of play. The second day of the tournament was canceled due to such poor course conditions. The course superintendent deemed the course unplayable and we were forced to face a long rain delay before the cancellation of day two,” said Hoffman.

The men head to Moses Lake this upcoming Saturday to compete in the Washington Cup, before heading to the conference championships on April 20 and 21 in Woodburn, Ore.

The women faced a similar problem with continuous rain while facing off against George Fox University, the number-four team in the country.

“Last weekend was a difficult challenge for our team emotionally. We were five shots behind George Fox after day one and 17 shots in front of the third-place team, Willamette,” said Coach Skip Molitor.

The cancellation of the second day due to weather was maddening for the team.

“Our ladies felt they had a great chance of catching [George] Fox. It was very disappointing to have the second round canceled … which resulted in Fox winning the Spring Classic with Whitman in second. We played well day one, with Kelly Sweeney in third place with a 78 and Catelyn Webber tied for fourth at 79. Katie Zajicek shot 82 and Caitlin Holland rounded out the scoring with an 88,” said Molitor.

Now with the mentally challenging circumstances of the Spring Classic behind them, the women look ahead to their next challenge as they hope to make another return to the NCAA Championships. On April 20 and 21 the team will travel to Woodburn, Ore. for the NWC Championships, where they will face their rival George Fox again.

“If we beat [George] Fox in that tournament, both teams will head to the first tee and have a sudden-death playoff for the Automatic Qualifier berth for the conference to the NCAA Women’s DIII Championship in Destin, Fla., May 14-17. We will be in the discussion for an at-large berth if we don’t get the AQ … but our best chance is to take care of business and defend our NWC Championship title and return to the NCAAs,” said Molitor.

Over spring break, the women’s basketball team was hard at work shattering expectations reaching the Elite 8 in the Division III NCAA basketball tournament. This memorable season saw the team go 23-6, even be ranked 11^th on the D3 Hoops.com poll and 22^nd in the USA Today Coaches Poll.

“Words can’t even begin to describe our experience in the NCAA tournament. We thought our season was over when we lost the conference playoff game, so it was an absolute dream come true hearing that we were the last team let into the tournament. I think for us, we felt extremely blessed getting this opportunity, and with every advancement. We were so grateful to be getting to share this experience with each other,” said junior Sarah Anderegg.

The road to the final game in the team’s incredible season was not easy whatsoever, but with incredible determination the team overcame many obstacles.

“As for the entire experience, we were thrilled to earn a berth. We had our best season overall with 20 wins in a very good conference but because we lost a close game to Whitworth in our playoffs we were unsure of whether it was good enough to get us in. But we got an at-large bid and drew SCIAC Champion California Lutheran as our first opponent at Lewis & Clark,” said Coach Michelle Ferenz.

The team beat California Lutheran and then conference rival Lewis & Clark College to advance to the Sweet 16. The team then stunned Emory University with a come-from-behind win to enter the Elite 8.

“I was very proud of how we played in all four of our NCAA tournament games and we were the last team left from the West region when we qualified for the Elite 8 by beating Emory University at Williams College,” said Ferenz.

The team’s hard work was definitely rewarded, as the team received the perks of being an Elite 8 team.

“Teams are definitely spoiled in the tournament—from buses with On Demand cable, to flying home in a private jet, to not having to eat all our meals at Safeway, we definitely got the all-star treatment. To us, these surprises were an added bonus. We were honestly just so happy to still be playing the game we love with the people we love,” said Anderegg.

With the tournament completed, the team has many great memories to build off of.

“The entire experience was honestly indescribable. I would definitely say we were the Cinderella team because the whole thing felt like a fairy tale. Even though we knew all season we could get that far, the general feeling was that other teams underestimated us. The private jet was really the icing on the cake and was a wonderful way to end my career,” said senior Mary Madden.

Now that they have experienced the benefits of success, the team looks towards next season with high hopes of surpassing this year’s achievements.

“Playing in the NCAA tournament is our goal every season but we know how hard it will be. The Northwest Conference is very good and it is hard to just get out of the conference. It takes a lot of hard work and focus to even give ourselves a chance and that is what this group did,” said Ferenz.

WIth a small graduating class, another run in the national tournament is not out of the question.

“Every season is different but with only two seniors, Emilie Gilbert and Mary Madden, graduating, we are hoping to add a good recruiting class to our roster and work hard in the off-season and build on our success. We have a great core of players back who know what it takes to compete in the NWC and nationally,” said Ferenz.

The team also hopes that their performance this year will attract even more fans.

“Hopefully after the outcome of this year’s season, the Whitman student body will recognize our efforts and support our commitment to basketball and Whitman as a whole by coming out to our games,” said Anderegg.

With the strong showing on the national stage, the team is beginning to feel a sense of respect on campus.

“The results I think have brought a lot of much-needed attention to the women’s basketball team. A lot of times we end up playing second fiddle to the men’s program. And while they do deserve the recognition, it felt nice to finally be in the spotlight and be the team everybody was talking about. I think we definitely gained a lot of respect on campus,” said Madden.

Now with great memories from the past season, the team is excited to see what next year has in store.

“After getting a taste of the tournament, making it to the Elite 8, we are definitely fighting to get back to where we are and go even further. We know that we have what it takes to compete with the best teams in the country and that just gives us even more of a drive to improve in the off-season. This year we made memories that will last forever, and we plan to make even more of those memories in the years to come,” said Anderegg.

Whitman tennis’ recent wins against the University of Puget Sound and Whitworth University raised its win streak to six following a loss to Lewis-Clark State. The team easily won its two matches this weekend by scores of 9-0 and 8-1, respectively.

As the season progresses, the men look to add to their past victories with help from stellar individual performances. The top singles player for the team, sophomore Colton Malesovas, is currently ranked 11th in the nation in the singles position and doubles player junior Steven Roston is the most recent recipient of the Student Athlete of the Week award.

Andy Riggs ’14 changes the scorecard during the tennis matches last weekend. Photos by Halley McCormick.

The team has swept through the competition with relative ease and few surprises from the opposing teams. The team only dropped one game against Whitworth to its top doubles team. After the win against Whitworth, the team moved up the national rankings to 13th in the country.

“Though the results weren’t unexpected, it’s always gratifying to get the win [against Whitworth]. It was especially nice to play at home on our outdoor courts,” said Assistant Coach Conor Holton-Burke.

The team is currently 6-1 on the season, despite its success. Every single win is important in driving the team closer to a return to the national championships. Furthermore, every game prepares the players for the tougher matches which are sure to come.

Colton Malesovas ’15

“The conference matches are a poor barometer for how we’re looking as a team, but we’ve been working incredibly hard both on the court and in the weight room the past couple weeks, and I think we’re ready to compete well over spring break,” said Holton-Burke.

Although the team is heading for the tropical weather of Hawaii, the members of the tennis team will continue working hard as they compete with high-level competition on the island on their annual trip.

“We’ll be spending spring break playing six nationally ranked DIII teams [#4 CMS, #10 Wash U, #11 UC Santa Cruz, #17 Pomona-Pitzer, #20 UT-Tyler, #27 Whittier] to go with ranked opponents from DII [#5 Hawaii Pacific, #44 BYU-Hawaii] and DI [#57 Idaho] in Santa Cruz and Hawaii. These are the two weeks we’ve been training for all semester, and to say that we’re excited would be a colossal understatement,” said Holton-Burke.

The team seeks to continue its success with goals of winning its sixth straight NWC title and surpassing its highest national ranking of 8th last year.

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Even though the soccer season is over, Men’s Soccer Coach Mike Washington is hard at work preparing for the upcoming season.

For the first few weeks of February, Washington traveled to Manchester, where he was enrolled in a course for the education of coaches. There Washington, who is originally from England, worked with one of the biggest clubs in soccer, and one of his favorite teams, Manchester United.

Whitman soccer coach Mike Washington (right) is studying coaching with Manchester United. Photo contributed by Washington.

“In soccer there is a lot of coaching education required as far as coaching licenses. Every once in a while we get an opportunity for a special course, and this is exactly what this was. A special topics course with Manchester United,” said Washington.

Washington continues to educate himself by taking different courses to reinforce his coaching strategies and learn new ones.

“I take a course every year. [Manchester United] was a huge experience because it is one of the top clubs in Europe and just to hear what they do with younger players was really interesting because it is very basic. It was all about discovery and letting the players play. It has great correlation to our older players. I think we are missing some of that here at the collegiate level as far as tactical knowledge and mental knowledge,” said Washington.

René Meulensteen, left, and Mike Washington

In Manchester, Washington worked with René Meulensteen, the first team coach of Manchester United.

“[René Meulensteen] was Dutch, so there was a lot of information coming from the way the Dutch look at the game. He brought a format where the players would learn things about the game themselves,” said Washington.

Through the course Washington worked with children, and he was able to see the impacts of the mindset being taught by Manchester United.

“We worked with six-, seven- and eight-year-old boys—just watching them train was unbelievable. They are very skillful. It was amazing watching the kids play and [do] stuff that we do,” said Washington, who was surprised to see children pushed at such a young age still enjoying the game.

A large part of the work they did was focusing on player development, something very transferable to Washington’s role at Whitman with new players coming in every year.

“[The program was] regarding player development and youth development. It gave us a behind-the-scenes look at the professional club and how they work with little kids up to adult players,” said Washington.

The course stressed that players need to start developing their skills at a young age and should be allowed more freedom. This mindset is something the coaches in Manchester implemented more strongly in their country to improve soccer on a national scale.

“[The course] reaffirms that younger players need to play more. Soccer is not a game that is controlled as easily by coaches as some other sports, which is great if you’re a player. Too much of the coaching in the U.S. is about the coach rather than player development. Educating the younger players [is important] so that when they get to be 16, 18, then the national team for the U.S. is in a better position,” said Washington.

Washington has already been using the techniques that he learned in Manchester on the men’s team at Whitman.

“Since I have been back, what we decided to do with that spring training is just let the players play, so we are setting up environments for them to play, and what they called it was ‘discovering the game again.’ So we are letting our players discover the game again without hearing my voice,” said Washington.

After the course, Washington and the other coaches who attended were treated to a Manchester United match against Everton.

Over the summer, the men’s team will travel to Europe for 19 days to play soccer and learn more about the game before getting back to Walla Walla early to prepare for the 2013 season.

After a great season in which the women’s tennis team made it to the national tournament last year, Whitman’s women look to capitalize on the momentum to carry them even farther this season, while the men aim to build upon their tradition of regional success.

“I am so excited for this season. So far, we are having so much fun and playing great tennis. I feel great about this season and think we’re only going to keep getting better as the weeks go on,” said senior Alyssa Roberg, a recent Northwest Conference student athlete of the week.

The women’s team is currently 3-0 in conference and 4-0 overall, giving them sole control over first place in the Northwest Conference (NWC). With wins against UC Santa Cruz, Linfield, Lewis & Clark and Willamette, the women’s team looks poised to continue their success into the spring.

“We have performed well in all our conference matches so far. We haven’t lost more than two matches against any of the teams. We weren’t sure what to expect from Lewis & Clark since their top three singles players are all highly-ranked freshmen, but we came out fired up and showed them what we’re made of. Our 5-4 win over UCSC to start the season was also huge, and gets us ready for the type of competition we will see over spring break when we play all nationally-ranked teams,” said Roberg.

With a strong start to the season, the women’s team looks to continue the success of last year and add to it through further development as a program.

“I think each season we improve. We made it to nationals last season and secured a national ranking. I think that this year we will improve on both of those fronts. We always have so much fun, and I think we will use our great energy and togetherness to perform even better than last year,” said Roberg.

On the men’s side of the sport, the players looks to keep their conference success rolling and continue the success they had last year when they won a fifth NWC title and rose to a ranking of eighth in the nation. The team has not lost a NWC match since April of 2006.

The season has hit a minor road bump due to injuries, but a number of other players have had the opportunity to step up.

“The season has been interesting so far, to say the least. We’ve had guys injured all over the place. Most notably James Rivers is out for a bit with a dislocated shoulder, and as a guy who got to the national championship in doubles that will certainly hurt us, but he’ll be back. The injuries have been a blessing in disguise, though. The injuries gave other people a chance to step up and get good match experience, which in a sport as mental as tennis is absolutely crucial,” said senior Matt Tesmond.

The team is currently 1-1 overall and 1-0 in conference after one match of conference play against Willamette where they cruised to a 7-2 victory, and a loss to Lewis-Clark State 3-6.

“LC State always gives us a tough match. They are consistently ranked in the top 20 of the NAIA and have some solid players. We went in with only one returning starter in the singles lineup, and two of the three doubles teams were playing together for the first time this year. Despite the lack of experience, I think everyone eventually settled in and was able to dig in and play hard,” said Tesmond.

The team was far more successful in their league match, where it continued its NWC dominance.

“Willamette is an interesting team. Overall they are a team that is not very strong, but they have one of the best players in the nation. We dominated in the number two and three doubles, and the singles wins were pretty convincing. It was good to take care of business against a weaker opponent and will hopefully foreshadow the rest of our conference matches,” said Tesmond.

Despite a rough start to the year, the team looks to improve and continue to better themselves.

“I think this year we come in with a lot more uncertainty. We lost three core players, but also come in with a lot of guys who have been in the rigorous Whitman tennis system for one, two or three years. Due to injury we have not gotten to see our roster at full strength and probably won’t get to until much later in the year,” said Tesmond.

The team looks forward to the matches ahead, which will be full of many challenges that the team never encountered last year.

“Coach Northam has put together an amazing schedule full of top-20 and top-10 teams. Last year we really only got to play two or three teams that were able to stay in the top 20. This year we play six matches against teams in the top 25, almost all of whom are in the top 10 or have top 10 potential,” said Tesmond.

Regardless of any troubles, the team is excited for what the rest of the season has to give.

“Overall I think this year will certainly come with more struggle than last year, but knowing the guys we have on this team, I think those struggles and the tough schedule are going to prepare us for a late season push full of big matches and our best tennis,” said Tesmond.

All varsity athletes dedicate their lives to their respective sports at Whitman, working hard to balance academics and athletics. When these athletes graduate, they go in many different directions; some pursue careers, others turn their sights to graduate school. Regardless of what they do, the same work ethic that they perfected in college is with them after graduation.

Swimmer and alumnus Chris Bendix ’12 is still on campus, working a job his swim career helped him land.

“My current job is as the full-time assistant for the Whitman swim team. Because we are a combined roster (men and women) of 42 athletes and our season is so long (mid-September through mid-March), having a full-time assistant coach is extremely important for the success and advancement of our program. I do a lot of work with the actual on-deck coaching every day and I do a lot of work compiling data on swimming recruits as well as keeping in touch with them. My job also includes teaching swimming classes each semester,” said Bendix.

Bendix is also pursuing work outside of the Whitman community.

“Outside of the Whitman team, I’m planning to do some coaching with the Walla Walla Swim Club this summer. I got to help out a little bit with the Wa-Hi girls’ team back in the fall as well, which was very fun. It’d be fun to pick up something part-time with a local winery, too,” said Bendix.

His work with the swim team has quickly become a passion, and he is planning on making a career out of it.

“In the long term, I’d like to find a position working as a graduate-assistant coach, preferably at the DIII level. I definitely enjoy coaching, so if I can land a job earning a master’s degree and continuing to coach, I’ll be thrilled,” said Bendix.

Although graduated life has its perks, he misses the student life.

“Do I miss being a student?  I definitely miss the social aspect of it; but, at least for now, I’m happy that I get to spend my free time doing whatever I want. Reading whatever I feel like reading is also definitely a plus,” said Bendix.

Alumnus Conor Holton-Burke is an Academic All-American who graduated in 2012 and has also remained on campus, working hard on a research project and with the tennis team.

“I’m assistant coaching the tennis team. I’m also working as an intern for the Athletics Department. I’ve been doing research with Dr. Juers. His project involves developing a quantitative methodology for cryoprotection. Basically, cryocooling causes damage to crystals in X-ray crystallography, and he’s interested in minimizing that damage. The team is currently exploring many different avenues to do that,” said Holton-Burke.

Holton-Burke is also involved with a number of activities outside of research and tennis.

“I’ve also been volunteering at St. Mary’s hospital and shadowing a physician at a clinic. More recently, Alyssa Roberg and I have started a shoe drive to hopefully collect shoe donations in conjunction with the nonprofit organization Soles4Souls. There are boxes all around campus in most dorms, Reid, BFFC and Bratton for those with extra pairs,” said Holton-Burke.

Graduate life is essentially the same for Holton-Burke as it was in college.

“As far as being a graduate goes, it’s really not that different from when I was a student. I still stay busy during the day with volunteering basically substituting for class and research substituting for my lab periods. I still go to practices and workouts with the team as the assistant coach. When everyone else is doing homework, I’m writing game stories, taking pictures and managing the Athletic Department’s Facebook page,” said Holton-Burke.

Not all Whitman graduates stay on campus after graduating, however. Alumnus Jay Richards ’11 is a graduated varsity baseball player who made the Academic All Conference team in 2011 and is pursuing a career off campus.

Jay Richards ’11 when he played baseball at Whitman. Photo contributed by Richards.

“I’m working out in Gig Harbor. I’m opening up a Carl’s Jr. chain and doing commercial real estate development,” Richards said.

Despite being disconnected from the athletic life at Whitman, Richards has found ways to play baseball.

“It is hard to compete when you lose the structure that you are used to being involved with it. I played on my little brother’s team for a few weeks over the summer, and I played in an adults’ league with a few other Whitman alumni. What I miss most is being competitive. It is hard to find another outlet,” said Richards.

Like most alumni, Richards misses Whitman life, particularly the people.

“There are a lot of things I miss about it. The few things I miss most about it [are] being on a team and competing. That was a great experience. The thing I miss most about Whitman is being around people who are young and ambitious and thoughtful, which is difficult to find outside of Whitman,” said Richards.