The superlatives for the Engineers would be endless as they accomplished a great deal as a team and individually. It was a total team effort all season as WPI won just about everything you could win without the National Championship. They won the Worcester City Tip-Off Tournament to start the season. They won the Williams College Invitational in the middle and then pulled of the double win in the NEW-8 Conference by winning the regular season and tournament crowns.
Individually, we had some players reach career bests, players surpass 1,000 points along with player of the week honors within the NEW-8 and ECAC. The first player to have a career best season is junior Danielle Batey. Batey scored 490 points to tie the women's record for most points in a season, while she also had a career best 203 rebounds and 109 assists. Batey's classmate, Kim Landry, had career bests in points (456) and rebounds (248) while also reaching 1,000 points to become the eighth woman to do so, but only the fourth to reach as a junior. Senior co-captain Jenn Lovin also had career bests in points (386) and rebounds (308) as she became the fourth woman to record 1,000 points and 900 rebounds. Other players who contributed all year long were senior co-captain Jen Plante (5.9 ppg., 90 assists), senior Becca Rubenstein (5.3 ppg.), juniors Laura Bielitz (4.7 ppg., 68 assists) and Cathy Jzyk (1.8 ppg.) and sophomore Kerri O'Connor (1.6 ppg.).
Kupcinskas had another strong season in the water as she usually was either first or second in her events. Snell was a versatile swimmer for WPI this year, competing in various events to try and help the team win points. Kupcinskas was a qualifier in the 50-yard backstroke for the Division III New England Championships.
Competing in her last season was WPI's greatest diver. Senior Kim Scofield (Omaha, NE) will leave WPI as holder of the school records in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events. She too qualified for the New England's in both events.
Newcomers to the squad who show promise for the future were freshmen Jen Wright (Keene, NH) and Becky Thibeault (Ashland, NH). Wright had a tremendous impact on the team scoring 108.75 points this season and earning a varsity letter. Thibeault also earned a varsity letter while scoring 29.50.
The swimmers who participated in the New England Championships all swam their best times of the season.
This year's co-captains were senior Ian Buckley (Killingworth, CT) and junior Jason Wening (Jefferson City, MO). Buckley had a steady season while Wening has been an inspiration since he got to WPI. Wening joined the team at the beginning of C-term after spending the previous term in England and continued to swim as strong as ever. Adding to the leadership of the squad was junior Teak Ackman (Newport, RI). Ackman scored 107.75 points and earned his third varsity letter.
Leading this year's squad was sophomore Jamie Murdock (Woodinville, WA). He, along with classmates Jon Prusak (Easthampton, MA), Adam Terio (Reston, VA), Tim Connolly (New Haven, CT) and Brandon Alexopoulos (Suffield, CT), form the solid nucleus of the Engineers. Murdock led the team with 179.75 points while also setting a new school record in the 1,000-yard freestyle, an event he had never swam previous to this season. He also qualified for the New England's in the event. Others who qualified for the New England's were Prusak in the 50-yard backstroke and Terio, who qualified in the 50-yard butterfly event.
The team also has a solid group of freshmen who came along well this year. R.K. Marsland (S. Attleboro, MA), Bill Sullivan (Attleboro, MA), Steve Tyler (Monroe, CT) and Matt Woodcock (Orange, MA) are a foursome that will be relied on to do more scoring next season as they develop and improve their strokes.
The men had a fine showing at the New England Division III Championships. Individually, Murdock placed 15th in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Along the way he broke his own 1,000-yard freestyle record that he set earlier in the season. As a team, the Engineers compiled 53 points to finish 22nd overall amongst the Division III competitors.
The Engineers opened the season in the Blue Jay Classic at Johns Hopkins University and came home with a third place finish. Jim Naughton (Dublin, Ireland) and Jeff Cayer (Shelton, CT) were named to the All-Tournament Team for their performances in the two games. They then returned home to defeat Salve Regina and MIT on the road before dropping their first game to Babson to end November at 3-2. They opened December by losing a pair to Anna Maria and Nichols before rebounding versus Wentworth to go into winter break with a record of 4-4.
The new year brought three straight wins as the team tried to break out early in the Constitution Athletic Conference. The rest of the way saw WPI in the midst of a three-game losing streak and winning streak and then following up with a two-game losing streak and a two-game win streak to bring them to 12-9 entering the last weekend of the season. During that weekend, WPI was in a tight battle with Clark, Norwich and Coast Guard for seeding in the conference tournament. They lost to both Coast Guard and Norwich to finish sixth which meant they had to play Coast Guard in the opening round of the CAC tournament. In a game that went down to the last shot, WPI was beaten 76-74 to end their season.
There were many highlights during the season. Most of them center around Naughton, who made a lasting impression on the record book for WPI basketball. He finished his career with 1,543 points (2nd all time for men's basketball) and 891 rebounds (first for men's basketball). In addition, he has the school record for free throws attempted and made for a career along with having 36 career double-doubles and a streak of scoring in double figures for his last 55 games. He was also named to the GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-America District I First Team for basketball.
Naughton was not the only Engineer to enjoy success this season. We had three juniors show that there is indeed something to look forward to next year as the trio of Cayer, Greg Simpson (Lebanon, NJ) and Mike Shannon(Worcester, MA) all had solid seasons. Cayer had his best season at WPI. He averaged over 16 points a game while shooting close to 59 percent from the floor. Simpson came back this season after an ankle injury kept him out for all of 94-95 to start 16 games and average over seven points and five rebounds per game. Shannon was one of the team's captains and was the Engineers' outside threat. He averaged over 12 points per game while hitting 45 three-point field goals to lead the team.
Many of our wrestlers completed strong dual match seasons. Sophomore Rob Polin (118 lbs, Randolph, MA) finished 14-7. Junior Dave Gardner (126 lbs, Marlboro, MA) was 12-9, but fractured a rib prior to the NECCWA tournament and was unable to compete. Aaron Becker (126 lbs, Coventry, RI) was having a tremendous season at 8-2 before a knee injury ended his season prematurely. Senior co-captain Paul Hammerstrom (134 lbs, Milford, NH) came back from a dislocated elbow to finish at 4-6. Junior Nate Fiore (142 lbs, Cohasset, MA) was 11-3 before he to was injured and not able to come back. Freshman Joe Tucker (Barre, VT) had a strong first season compiling a 12-8 record while filling in at 134 and 142 lbs. Senior Dan Hugaboom (150 lbs, Freeville, NY) finished 13-6. Senior co-captain Jeff Stearns (158 lbs, Narragansett, RI) followed up his 15-6 season with an All-New England honor after finishing fifth at NECCWA. Transfer Lance Baden (167 lbs, Framingham, MA) made a big impact in his first season at WPI as he finished with a record of 12-7 and earned All-New England honors after placing fourth at NECCWA. Graduate student Stan Farrell (177 lbs, Augusta, ME) had a steady season with a record of 15-7 while our heavyweight, sophomore Craig Howitt (Windham, ME) finished 11-7 including a couple of pins to win matches for the Engineers.
Coach of the year - Christa Champion, NEW-8 Basketball
All-New England: Jeff Stearns '96, wrestling (5th, NECCWA, 158 lbs); Lance Baden '98, wrestling (4th, NECCWA, 167 lbs); Marc Lefebvre 96, indoor track (1st, high jump, Div. III); Steve LaBranche 96, indoor track (6th, 800, Div. III); David Hawes '98, indoor track (6th, 200, Div. III); Jeff Coleman '99, indoor track (3rd, pentathlon, Div. III; 4th, 55 H. hurdles, Div. III); David Bowler '98, indoor track (6th, pole vault, Div. III); Dana Schlosser '96, indoor track (5th, 35 lb weight, Div. III); Danielle Batey '97, basketball, (NEWBA 2nd team, guard); Jim Naughton '96, basketball, (ECAC 2nd team, frontcourt)
All-ECAC: Marc Lefebvre '96, indoor track (3rd, high jump); Peter Manolakos '97, indoor track (3rd, 1,600 relay); Jeff Coleman '99, indoor track (3rd, 1,600 relay); David Hawes '98, indoor track (3rd, 1,600 relay); Steve LaBranche '96, indoor track (3rd, 1,600 relay); Liam Kelly '98, indoor track (6th, 3,200 relay); Rick Crispo '98, indoor track (6th, 3,200 relay); Tim Caldwell '97, indoor track (6th, 3,200 relay); Rich Person '96, indoor track (6th, 3,200 relay)
All-American: Kim Landry '97, basketball, (Kodak Division III)
GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-American: Jim Naughton '96, basketball, (District I + National First Team)