This weekend has seen Crimson athletes in action on the national scene. Junior Rebecca Nadler tried her hand at defending her title in skiing this week and three female athletes competed at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Arkansas, marking the first time since 2009 that Harvard has sent women to the championships. As these sportswomen return to campus, the Crimson looks ahead to other athletes seeking national success in the month of March.
The Harvard men's baseball team is off to a 1-3 start this season after its opening weekend in Virginia.
There is no debating that there are a number of question marks heading into the 2013 season for the Harvard baseball team. Out of the squad’s six leading hitters last year, only one player is still on the roster – the team has lost over 50 percent of its offensive production in the quintet. The Crimson also loses two of its top pitchers, who collectively accounted for nearly 100 innings last season. Furthermore, the team’s coaching staff has undergone a complete turnover as Bill Decker, hired out of Trinity College in the fall, has assumed the position of head coach.
Despite all the uncertainty, however, Harvard began its season with a walkoff win in the tenth inning against Bucknell, which equaled the team’s victory total in its first 17 games last year. The squad went on to drop its next three contests, but the Crimson nevertheless gained valuable experience and a much-needed opportunity to see what some of its new talent could do. Here is an overview of a few of the Crimson’s top performers from the weekend, who will most certainly have an impact going forward.
At the beginning of the season, the Harvard men’s hockey team was projected to finish near the top of the league, and the incoming crop of freshmen was touted to be the best in the ECAC.
While the team results may have fallen short of expectations, with the Crimson finishing at the bottom of the ECAC standings for the first time in history, the rookies did not disappoint.
The standout this season for the Harvard freshmen has been forward Jimmy Vesey, who was recently named Ivy League Rookie of the Year.
In games against Penn and Princeton, sophomore Kenyatta Smith tallied a total of 34 points, 16 blocks, and 16 rebounds. Smith set career highs in each of those three categories in Friday’s contest against the Quakers.
On the way back from a tough road trip at Princeton and Penn, the Harvard men’s basketball beat writers convened to discuss the events of the weekend. Below are the highlights from the exclusive taped conversation made available to The Back Page.
On freshman point guard Siyani Chambers and pick-and-rolls…
David Freed: “Has Siyani Chambers been figured out by the Ivy League?”
Catherine E. Coppinger: “I don’t know if that’s true. Penn definitely figured out how to contain him.”
DF: “He doesn’t shoot from outside and he’s not getting into the lane. He’s 3-14 in his last five games.”
Hope Schwartz: “That’s crazy because he started out as one of the strongest three-point shooters on the team.”
DF: “It helps that nobody sets screens for him on pick-and-rolls. Steve’s screen is basically a show-and-roll to them.”
