Weekly sports update - results from February 17th through 23rd
by Geoff Hassard - Sports Information Director
Wrestling
The WPI Engineers, in dramatic fashion, won their second straight New England College Conference Wrestling Association title on February 19th at Roger Williams University. They came from behind to tie Williams College with 116.5 points.
Going into the finals round of the NECCWA Tournament, WPI had three wrestlers with the opportunity to win individual championships while Williams had four with the same opportunity. The Engineers were behind by 10 points when senior captain George Chu took the win at 126 pounds. This win was huge because it was over a Williams wrestler, one that Chu had lost to earlier in the tournament. This win closed the gap to six points. At 150 pounds, senior captain Garrett Trombi won by a major decision to take five points which brought WPI to within one point of Williams. Williams took five points at 158 pounds to bring the lead back to six points. At 167 pounds and 190 pounds, the two Williams wrestlers lost enabling WPI to stay within the six points with just the heavyweights remaining. Junior captain Rich DeStefano, who earlier this season pinned an opponent for a team victory, would be called upon to do whatever he could. At 1:02 of the first period DeStefano's arms were raised in victory as he pinned his opponent for the win and a share of the NECCWA title.
In addition to our three champions, WPI also had five other All-New England wrestlers by virtue of finishing in the top six of their weight divisions. Freshman Aaron Becker placed third at 118 pounds. Junior Jeff Stearns placed fourth at 167 pounds. Senior captain Matt Wassel finished fifth at 158 pounds. Junior Paul Hammerstrom placed sixth at 134 pounds. Sophomore Nate Fiore finished sixth at 142 pounds.
For WPI, it was their fourth NECCWA title in the last 10 years with the other three being in 1985, 1987 and 1994. Trombi was selected as the Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament. Chu, DeStefano and Trombi have qualified for the NCAA Division III National Tournament on March 3 and 4 at Augustana College in Illinois. Congratulations and best of luck.
Men's Indoor Track
The men's track squad also competed in their New England Championships a week ago and did very well according to coach Jim Smith. "For us this is the culmination of our season," Smith said, "It is the meet that we work towards because it is all division III schools competing."
We had eight athletes, four individuals and one relay team crowned All-New England for their performances. Our 4x800-meter relay team, consisting of junior Rich Person, sophomore Tim Caldwell and freshmen Rich Crispo and Liam Kelly finished in fourth place. Junior Steve Labranche took fifth place in the 1,000-meter run. Senior Jeff Mullen finished in third place in the triple jump with a performance of 42'-51/2". Junior Marc was second in the high jump at 6'-7". Senior Jim Beardsley turned in an outstanding performance to win the pentathlon and was crowned New England Champion in division III.
Men's Basketball (18-8)
The men's basketball team ended their regular season last weekend with games against Coast Guard and Nichols College. These games were final tune ups prior to the Constitution Athletic Conference Tournament set to begin the following Tuesday.
A week ago Saturday, the Engineers played host to CAC foe Coast Guard. WPI had control of the game as they built a 10 point halftime lead on 58 percent shooting from the field. Coast Guard could never get on track from the outside as WPI won 69-56. Junior Jim Naughton led the Engineers with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Junior Chad Hamel had a strong game back in the starting lineup as he hit 3 of 8 three point field goals to contribute 13 points to the winning cause. Senior Chris Dunn had 13 points and sophomore Jeff Cayer added 12.
In a rescheduled game from an earlier snow out, WPI entertained high scoring guard Billy Collins and the Bison of Nichols College. WPI was cruising along with a 19 point lead early in the second half, when all of a sudden there seemed to be a lid put on our basket. At the same time, Collins began to put on a shooting exhibition which catapulted his team into the lead and to the eventual win 94-87. Naughton was the high scorer with 21 points with Cayer scoring 18 and Scott Ennis and Dunn adding 16 points a piece.
Last Tuesday, WPI opened the first round of the CAC Tournament at home versus Clark. This was the fourth time this season the two teams had met with WPI winning the previous three games. WPI looked as though they would romp as they jumped out to a 12-2 lead. The hard working Cougars clawed their way back to trail at halftime 30-25.
Out of the lockerroom to start the second half, Clark tied the game at 30-30. From there the game would go back and forth until the last 2:30 when WPI came up with some key steals and baskets to outscore Clark 12-4 to win going away 58-47. The win secured another home game for the Engineers in the semifinals.
Last Thursday, WPI played Coast Guard in the semifinals of the CAC Tournament. It was a rematch from 1993-94 in which Coast Guard eliminated WPI in the semifinals.
From the opening tap it appeared that this game would go down to the wire as both teams started off strong. Midway through the first half Coast Guard began to click on all cylinders as they opened up a 12 point lead at halftime. The game was never close as the Engineers fell behind by twenty early in the second half. Coast Guard ended up winning 104-79.
Dunn, who was hurt late in the first half, played courageously as he scored 30 points to lead the Engineers.
Women's Basketball (18-7)
The women's team also finished their regular season a week ago Saturday when they were on the road to face Babson College in a game for second place in the New England Women's 8 Conference. Babson won the game 84-67.
In the game, sophomore Kim Landry scored 20 points to lead WPI with junior Jenn Lovin adding 17 points and sophomore Danielle Batey chipping in 11 points.
Last Tuesday, the Engineers hosted Brandeis University in an opening round game of the NEW 8 Tournament. The game was close for the first 10 minutes before WPI took control of the game at both ends of the floor to win 77-63. Lovin led four Engineers in double figures with 22 points. Senior Tricia Pignone scored a season high 15 and Batey and Landry each had 14 points in the win. Batey also pulled down 11 rebounds and Lovin had 10 caroms.
Women's Swimming
The women's swim team participated in the New England Championships a week ago at Bowdoin College. The Engineers finished 23rd out of 27 teams that competed. According to coach Griffith, all of the women swam their best times of the season.
A run down of the results showed our 200-yard freestyle relay team, consisting of seniors Brooke Kuffel, captain Jen Sanna and Renee Cusson along with junior Katie Snell finished 18th in the bonus final. Sanna, Cusson and Snell teamed with senior Becky Kupcinskas to place 24th in the 400-yard medley relay extra final and 22nd in the 200-yard medley relay bonus final. Sanna, Cusson and Snell then teamed with Patty Linden to place 22nd in the 800-yard freestyle final.
In the individual events, Cusson placed 20th in the 50-yard freestyle bonus final. Congratulations to all of our competitors!
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