Swarthmore College - Halcyon Yearbook (Swarthmore, PA)

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Mawr-Haverford on excellent shooting by Randy Grant ' 77 and Beth Youse ' 78, both of whom eclipsed their best marks from last spring several times. Women ' s tennis captured a 5-2 record, with a large measure of thanks to highly-touted Sandy Gilson ' 79, a former Delaware state champion. Liv- ing up to her advance notices, Gilson swept through seven matches un- defeated at first singles, while Coach Bertie Landes ' first doubles pair of Deb Burns ' 7S and Rachel Pocinki ' 78 posted five victories in seven tries. And despite a winless spring, the soft- ball squad boasted three hitters over .400; Sandi Liotta ' 78, who hit safely in all seven games, Becky Stamm ' 79, and Diana Hollister ' 76. Joan Sedlak ' 76. the squad ' s stalwart pitcher, also managed to bat .346 for herself. Coach Bill Cullen ' s men ' s tennis squad sewed up their seventh straight MAC title with an 8-1 victory over Northern Division champ Upsala on their way to an 11-5 mark against top- notch competition. Cullen ' s charges have now won 43 consecutive MAC matches and — are you ready? — 110 of their last 111. This spring the netmen captured impressive wins over Wil- liam and Mary and Colgate, two Uni- versity Division opponents. The dou- bles team of John Irwin ' 77 and Larry Davidson ' 77 took MAC honors in that event, marking the third time Irwin has traveled that route, and top singles player Alan Petrine ' 77 placed third in the MAC singles play after winning the crown for the past two seasons. To top that, when the Nf ' AA Divi- III playoffs cime, the Swarth- more tennis team took third place, and thai unstopable doubles combi- nation of Irwin and Davidson won hampionship! Glenn Swan 76 hot an out landing id of 72 in the MAC golf cham pion - carrying the Swarthmore fJuff«T to a I2th-place fini h among ntj One college . entered Swan ' lently umw game wa the high point jo ( oach Willi Stel on ' i la I year a- mentor of the link squad u ro ' • fell on hard tii •■. ir K onl ten in eleven atfc coll Killary ' 77 was the squad ' s leading point man, with a total of 25 on the year. Pete McGinness ' 76 took a second place in the pole vault to lead the track team to an eleventh-place finish at the MAC championships. McGinness earned himself a return trip to the Division III National Champion- ships late in May with his season ' s performance. Excellent two-mile per- formances by John Devlin ' 76, who won the MAC indoor championship in that event in the winter, also high- lighted the year for the thinclads. And then, there was baseball .... Widener ' s field ' s too wet. Playing here. — the message read on the Par- rish bulletin board, cryptic only to those who had been unaware of what this game meant for the baseball nine. Quite literally, the championship of the MAC Southern East Division was on the line; and to a bunch of hungry men headed for an excellent season, a winning mark simply was not enough. Pre-game meeting in the locker room. Some tense, some loose, all dar- ing to add more hope than they should. Hey, this Widener dude hasn ' t been beaten since high school, and a chorus of so what ' s and de- leted expletives. Out on the field, players mass by the dugout for the meeting. Spiritual leader Andy Deacon ' 79 solemnly in- tones, There ' s no place like home . . . there ' s no place like home . . . there ' s no place like home, referring to the change in game site. Mike Sweeney ' 79 getting the nod at third base, looks down to find himself click- ing his heels three times. By the time the team breaks, the Swarthmore side of the bleachers is filled; this is some- thing different. On the mound for the Garnet is a man who perhaps catalyzed il all with his confidence and gung-ho manner. Kid DiKelicianfonio ' 7!t, a lypesel tor ' s nightmare has been psyched for this game: I play againsl : lol of th • in summer leagues, and I ' m gonna gel them. Glove nervously ticking ••!! hi ide energy shooting off in all direction . I liFeliciantonio etc down the Wid nei batsmen with ■ in the first, and bi ings - ' i roar from the crowd. Rick ' s mother has another attack of agita. Swarthmore falls behind, with some marvelous defensive play preventing a big inning for the Chester visitors. Bottom of seventh, the Garnet pecks away at the two-run deficit. One run tallies in the seventh, Jay Clark ' 78 an instrumental factor. The lacrosse crowd comes over as the stickmen finish their game; even the Mower Man idles his tractor in left field. Bot- tom of eighth, and Swarthmore scores again. Widener counters with a new hurler who shuts off the Garnet, but not before the tying run crosses. DiFeliciantonio is pitching smart. Eleven innings is one strain on the arm, and Widener picks up a run in the top of the inning. The crowd doesn ' t fold: Go! Go! Go! cascades from the bleachers as the Garnet steps up for a do-or-die inning. Sweeney leads off with a hit; John Jacobson ' 78 follows with another. An out. Di- Feliciantonio slaps a grounder to short; the throw to second gets Jacob- son, but Jacobson gets the second baseman with an excellent take-out slide. The throw to first is wild, and Sweeney comes all the way around to score. 4-4. Called after eleven in- nings to allow Widener to get back for dinner. When it was Swarthmore that was the hungry one. Despite dropping a decision to Widener later in the year, Swarthmore had proved its point. Twelve wins, six losses, one tie; it had been a long time since the Garnet could look back on such a season. It could only hap- pen here, too, that the biggest game in a much-emphasized winning season was a tie. THE BOX SCORES Men ' s Women ' s Basketball 1-20 Basketball 6-4 Wrestling 9 2 i Badminton r,-A Swimming 0-8 Swimming 4-0 Tennis 1 1 6 Tennis .l-Li MAC champions Lacrosse 6-3 Tracl 4-6 Softball 0-7 ,; lf :t M Archery I 8 Baseball 12 ' i i I ,.ir m: ,. I 10 19

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GARNET SPORTS By Cigus Vanni ' 72 Swarthmore College: One Swimmer, One Coach, One Fan. Draped over the gleaming rail of the University of Miami pool, the banner struck terror and fear in the hearts of the grants-in-aid from Ari- zona and the scholarships from USC. Jackie Heineman ' 76 was back. Last spring Heineman, daughter of Richard ' 48 and Joan Adams Heine- man 48, had placed among the top sixteen women in the country in the national collegiate swimming finals to become the first Swarthmore woman to receive All American laurels. Dog- gedly pursuing the much-improved times for championship qualification, He ineman wrote record after record in her favorite breaststroke event, all without training tables and the Olym- pic-size pools accorded to her na- tional competition. Women ' s sports do not divide into small college or university championships, explained Heineman ' s mentor, Coach Sue Davis, a major factor in the success of women ' s swimming at Swarthmore. Jackie was in with the best college swimmers in the country. You just really have to want it, said Heineman, to put in the work you need for qualifying. Coach Davis was a great help, and so were my teammates, giving me encouragement when I needed it. And since her pre- teen days as a championship swim club stroker, Heineman has indeed desired to be the best, and to dedicate her time to — well, her times. Teammate LeBris Smith ' 7G is a similar story. Smith last spring qualified with Heineman and two other women on a relay squad that ventured to Arizona for the nationals and also took individual honors her- self in several butterfly events in the Eastern Intercollegiate Champion- ships. A Connecticut state champion for her age group while in high school, Smith has parlayed determination and dedication into a successful swimming career at Swarthmore. Some weeks ago, there was some question over whether Smith would qualify for the Easterns again this year. Only one meet was left in which she could race, and even then her In 1976 event was not scheduled as a regular part of the match. Undaunted, Smith took her place at the starting blocks for the 200-yard freestyle, against West Chester State ' s already-qualified pair of premier swimmers. But wait — this was not the event for which Smith needed to match her best time ever; she swims the butterfly stroke, doesn ' t she? Yes, she does, and she did. Churning up a tremendous wake, Smith took off after the West Chester freestylists swimming butterfly. Work- ing on sheer determination. Smith actually led the race at the halfway point before slipping back in the final laps. To the tumultuous cheers of her proud teammates and an amazed West Chester contingent, Smith learned that she had topped her previous best time and was on her way to the Uni- versity of Pittsburgh pool for a repeat show at the Easterns. How good are Heineman and Smith? The women ' s swimming record board at Sharpies Pool lists sixteen events for women ranging from relays to in- dividual strokes. The names of Smith and Heineman appear beside all but two of those sixteen records. Starting with the football squad ' s legendary win back in the fall, it has been a successful year for Swarthmore athletics. Several teams maintained winning traditions, and a few others began some of their own. This was typified by the outstanding success of the baseball nine, which came up a winner for the first time since 1951. Not coinciden tally, 1951 was the last season for Dick Hall ' 53, who went on to major league stardom with several clubs. The wrestling squad continued its string of excellent seasons with a 9-2-1 mark, including a first-place finish in the Lebanon Valley Invitational Tournament and a new season ' s rec- ord for team points, 392. Andy D ' Amico ' 78 swept through twelve matches undefeated and placed second individually in his weight class at the Middle Atlantic Conference cham- pionships, while Dennis Dacey ' 76 also picked up a second-place at the MAC meet and finished his career with a 21-6-2 personal record. Basketball and swimming for the men did not fare so well: The hoop- sters could manage but one victory in the year despite a 15.0 average from Captain Bracken Rourke ' 77, while the swimmers could look with pride on Mark Tomsho ' 78, who competed in the NCAA Division III diving championships and upped his own Swarthmore diving records. Women ' s sports in the winter showed two plus ledgers at the end, with Eleanor Hess ' s badminton squad post- ing its eighteenth winning season in the nineteen years Hess has been coach. In fact, for Swarthmore sports trivia buffs, the badminton team has suffered but two losing campaigns in its forty years of intercollegiate com- petition! A 20.4 points-per-game aver- age from Wilma Lewis ' 78 and 10.6 from B. J. Entwisle ' 78 sparked the women ' s basketball five to five con- secutive victories at season ' s end to chalk up a 6-4 marU. Speedy guard Lewis had a high game of 29 points in that skein, while Entwisle, who was also the team ' s leading rebounder, pumped in 18 for her high tally. In celebration of the national women ' s lacrosse tournament held here over Alumni Weekend, the women ' s lacrosse squad swept to its 29th straight winning slate, topping Penn and Bryn Mawr on the way to a 6-3 mark. Liz Gilbert ' 77, who had a better-than-five-goals-per-game aver- age, topped all scorers and earned her- self a place on the Philadelphia All College first team at center attack. The coed archery squad won its first meet in two years, edging out Bryn 18

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