The women’s volleyball team attended the UIC Spring Tournament last weekend. The team came in first in pool play, defeating DePaul A, Loyola B, Northern Illinois A and Loyola A. The team went on to win the tournament, defeating Loyola A in the semifinals and Marquette B in the finals.
Squash Club (Men’s)
The Irish returned from the national tournament at Harvard this past weekend. Notre Dame had its best tournament of the season, with a full lineup that included five seniors. The Irish defeated Vanderbilt 6-3 and Sewanee 9-0, and finished with a 6-3 win against Minnesota in the finals. It was the first time ever the Irish won a full-team division.
Nordic Ski
The Irish competed in Traverse City, Mich., on Feb. 8 and 9 in the 38th Annual North American VASA ski race. The Vasa trail is Michigan’s premier ski course and has challenged skiers for decades. Competitors travel from near and far to compete in this event, and many make a tradition of it.
The event consisted of several different races of varying techniques, ranging from six kilometers to 50 kilometers. The majority of the team competed in 27-kilometer races: senior Kevin Bednar and sophomores Jenny Coble and Ellen Gleadow with the Classic technique, and senior Mara Stolee, sophomore Caroline Corsones and freshman Joe Kuhns with the Skate technique. Sophomore Lily McGill made her ski-racing debut in the Vasa’s 12-kilometer Classic race.
Races began early Saturday morning, with the 50-kilometer racers taking off at 8 a.m. Race starts were staggered throughout the morning in order to keep the trail in good condition and prevent congestion. Bednar led off the team in the 27-kilometer Classic race, fighting sub-zero temperatures and bone-chilling winds. After sticking with the lead pack for the first half of the race, Bednar and one other skier broke free and faced off for the rest of the race. The tension culminated in a sprint finish in which Bednar finished just one second behind the leader with a time of 1:43:13.
The women’s team also had a number of notable finishes, with Gleadow and Coble finishing second and third in their age group in the Classic with times of 2:55:38 and 3:39:40, respectively. Stolee finished third in her age group in the Skate with a time of 2:30:04.
The team is in its third year of existence and the seniors said they look forward to its promising future.
“Nordic skiing tends to be a sport most people have to grow up with to understand, so it can be hard to attract members and grow the club,” Stolee said. “However, we’ve seen a lot of growth, especially in this last year. We have some really outstanding leadership coming from the underclassmen, and I am excited to see them take ownership of the club after Kevin and I graduate.”
Next weekend, the team will travel to Wisconsin to tackle North America’s largest ski race, the American Birkebeiner, which spans over 30 miles on a trail connecting Cable, Wis., to Hayward, Wis. For most of the team’s skiers, this will be the longest race any of them have ever competed in and will certainly mark a milestone in their ski careers.
Sailing Club
The Irish made it back to Notre Dame from New Orleans on Sunday night after a strong weekend. Notre Dame placed fifth overall, with seniors Peter Roehmholdt and Maria Skorcz placing sixth in A’s and seniors Sarah Eide and Annie Schoenwetter placing fourth in B’s. The full regatta scores can be viewed at http://scores.collegesailing.org/s14/nelson-roltsch/
