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Cross country (men)
Emory, ranked No. 24 in the nation among NCAA Div. III schools, is fielding
virtually the same lineup as last season. Despite losing top runner Adam
Carlson to graduation, the Eagles have made dramatic strides, most notably
winning the Vanderbilt (Tenn.) Invitational (a school first), a meet full
of Div. I and II scholarship schools. Sophomore Paul Tufaro, no better
than the team’s No. 6 runner a year ago, led the Eagles by placing
sixth overall out of 213 runners at Vanderbilt.
Cross country (women)
With 10 consecutive trips to the national championships, Emory has set
high goals for itself, namely another strong showing at nationals in November.
As a result, the Eagles paced themselves in September and early October.
Still, they ended up winning both the Sewanee (Tenn.) and Georgia State
invitationals. Despite an injury, senior Sarah Byrd recorded a time of
18:20 on a 5,000-meter course in the second meet of the season, already
faster than she ran at the end of last season when she finished 22nd at
nationals.
Soccer (men)
As baseball’s Yogi Berra would say, “It was déjà
vu all over again.” For the second year in a row, Emory opened conference
play with a 3-0 win—over Brandeis (Mass.)—followed by a heartbreaking
1-0 loss to Rochester (N.Y.). The Eagles are hoping that’s where
the similarities end. Offensively, there is no comparison to last year’s
squad, which struggled to score 28 goals in 17 games. Heading into October,
this year’s team needed only eight games to surpass 28 goals, averaging
3.33 goals per contest.
Soccer (women)
With nearly every player back from the team that finished No. 10 nationally
last season, the question for this year’s Eagles is what to do for
an encore. The team quickly answered by reeling off a school-record nine-game
win streak to start the season, propelling it to a No. 8 ranking. Emory
extended its conference-record unbeaten streak in University Athletic
Association play to 24 games, dating back to October 1997.
Volleyball
With an almost entirely new cast, Emory has produced old results, namely
success at the regional and national level. The Eagles raced off to the
best start in school history with a 17-1 record. Along the way, Emory
knocked off several regional foes to move into the top spot in the regional
rankings heading into October and a No. 6 national ranking. Of the 17
players on the opening-day roster, 13 were freshmen or sophomores.
Tennis (women)
In a tournament featuring the reigning national champions in singles and
doubles, one advanced and the other was eliminated. In the Sept. 28–30
Intercollegiate Tennis Associa-tion (ITA) regional finals, Emory’s
Mary Ellen Gordon, defending ITA national champion, fell to defending
NCAA Div. III champion Elena Blanina of Methodist (N.C.), 7-5, 6-0. Gordon
and Anusha Natarajan, defending NCAA doubles champions, were eliminated
in the ITA semifinals by teammates Margaret Moscato and Emily Warburg.
Moscato and Warburg were defeated in the finals by Methodist’s Blanina
and Carla Simpson, 8-4.
Golf
In its season debut, Emory finished fifth out of 21 teams at the Williams
(Mass.) Invitational. The Eagles recorded a two-day score of 605, their
fourth-best ever in the fall and 11th best all-time. Of the team’s
five golfers, three were making their college debut, including freshman
Timothy Hamm. Hamm led Emory with a score of 149 (72-77), good for
12th overall in a field of 105 competitors.
Emory varsity
sports updates are available online at www.emory.edu/SPORTS.
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