Welcome to SportsNotes, a weekly newsletter from Middlebury Athletics. Please see some of this week’s headlines below. For the full list of articles, click on the link at the top of this email.
Senior Alison Maxwell (Port Angeles, Wash.) sprinted to the finish line ahead of the field to claim the national championship in the women's mile during the final day of the 2015 NCAA Division III Indoor Championships. A total of eight Panthers competed in the two-day meet that was contested at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, North Carolina with Roanoke College serving as the host institution.
Sophomore Rob Cone (Killington, Vt.) claimed the men's giant slalom national title on day two during the 2015 NCAA Skiing Championship as the Panthers ended the four-day event eighth overall as a team hosted by St. Lawrence University in Lake Placid, New York. The sophomore, also an All-American in 2011, becomes the first men's individual skiing champion to represent Middlebury atop the podium since Robert MacLeod took home the men's slalom title in 1989. The giant slalom races took place at Whiteface Mountain and the nordic events were held at Mt. Van Hoevenberg. Colorado won the title with 505 points, followed by Denver (478), Utah (471) and Middlebury in eighth place (230).
Trailing by a 2-1 score, Norwich scored twice in the second period and held off a late flurry by fifth-ranked Middlebury on its way to a 3-2 NCAA Quarterfinal win in Kenyon Arena. The fourth-ranked Cadets (22-4-3) advance to the final four at Plattsburgh where they will take on the host school.
The ninth-ranked Middlebury women’s lacrosse team tallied a perfect 2-0 week. The Panthers scored the opening six goals of the game and first five scores of the second half, cruising to a 16-4 home victory Wednesday at Kohn Field over Rensselaer. During a road conference victory Saturday over Wesleyan, Middlebury jumped out to a 6-1 lead Saturday and eased past the Cardinals, 15-8.
The Middlebury men's lacrosse team posted an unblemished 2-0 week. The Panthers scored the first five goals of the second half and hung on for a 13-11 road win Tuesday over St. Lawrence at Hall-Leet Stadium. On Saturday, Middlebury mounted a 5-2 halftime lead on its way to an 11-9 NESCAC home triumph over visiting Wesleyan at Youngman Field at Alumni Stadium.
The Middlebury women's tennis team, ranked 10th nationally, opened the spring portion of its schedule with three impressive wins. The Panthers opened play Saturday with road wins over #20 Skidmore (8-1) and Rensselaer (9-0). On Sunday, Middlebury blanked Brandeis in a match played in the Duke Nelson Recreation Center.
The third-ranked Panther men's tennis team played its first two spring matches of the season picking up a pair of home victories against Stevens Institute of Technology (8-1) and Brandeis (7-2) in the Duke Nelson Recreation Center.