SPRING SPORTS PREVIEW
Three teams might take titles.
On the coldest winter night or morning, a look inside Leverone Field House is enough to remind someone that even New Hampshire has spring. Lacrosse sticks, baseball bats, golf clubs and running shoes litter the floor when 300 spring athletes representing 12 varsity sports begin training. Hopes are high in '89—championship titles are a strong possibility for baseball, track, and women's-lacrosse. Mean- while, men's lacrosse and 1 men's and women's tennis hope to continue last year's upswing.
Since the 1987 pennantwinning season, the Big Green baseball team has become a consistent title contender in the Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League (the eight Ivy schools plus Army and Navy.) "Baseball America picks Penn to finish first and us to finish second," notes Coach Mike Walsh. "But I think Yale, Princeton, Harvard and Navy will also be right in the battle for the first division."
Six of eight starters among the position players and three of the top four pitchers return from last year's fourthplace squad. Three All-New England players—centerfielder Bobby Jones '89, catcher Brendan Lesch '89 and first baseman/pitcher Mark Johnson '90—will give Walsh a solid nucleus of talent. Johnson, who doubles as the quarterback for the football team, is expected to be taken in this year's professional baseball draft.
Walsh sees his pitching staff as key to Dartmouth's success. He has two pitchers who can blaze the ball, but those who can't will have to rely on good placement. If this second group of pitchers are in control, the coach expects that the infield can make the key plays.
Lacrosse looks equally hopeful. Last year the Green women lost the Ivy title bout to Harvard, but they regrouped and went on to win their first-ever ECAC tournament crown. Coach Josie Harper thinks the 1989 team could equal or better the efforts of past years. Seventeen top players are back from 1988, and they will be joined by what Harper feels is one of her strongest freshman classes in years.
One who won't be back is high-scoring former All American Julie Clyma '88, but Harper thinks the team can compensate for her loss. "We'll have a much more balanced scoring attack than in years past," Harper says. For the Green to remain in the title hunt, it will have to get consistent goaltending and additional speed through the midfield. Harvard and Penn will be the main Ivy competition again, while Dartmouth will continue to play a tough non-league schedule that includes games against Northwestern and Penn State.
Third-year Coach B.J. O'Hara has the men's lacrosse team on the rise (last year's 5-9 record was the best since 1984), but he has one obstacle to overcome: the Green has to play six Ivy League games (Columbia doesn't field a lax team). The Ancient Eight is arguably the toughest conference in Division One lacrosse. Cornell and Pennsylvania made the NCAA final four last season, and Harvard, Yale and Brown are perennial top 20 teams. "The level of competition is one of the most exciting things about Ivy lacrosse," says O'Hara. "I think our players realize how close we really are to that level. This year's group has worked harder in the off-season than any group I've had here, and I think we'll see some results from that work."
The Green track and field teams once again should make a run for top honors at the Heptagonal Championships. Last year, the men won both the Heps and the New England Championships. The women finished a bestever second at the Heps. In winter action, the teams showed their respective strengths: the men ran well in all distances, but best from 500 meters up, while the women had control in field and long-distance events.
Sarah Beasley '89 was a dominator for the women in the winter, winning the weight-throw and shot-put events all along the collegiate circuit. Dartmouth's distance corps, led by Pam Crandall '88, Therese Devlin '9O and Laurie Isbell '90, also fared well in winter meets and should continue to succeed. Ail interesting development for the men's team was the addition of a topnotch sprinter: David Clark '90. After his two Ivy-record 97-yard touchdown dashes for the football team in the fall, Clark began running the 55-meter dash for the track team, and he came within two hundredths of a second of the indoor school record. Clark, plus the powerful distance unit, make the Green a tough team to beat.
Like men's lacrosse, Ivy League tennis is among the best in America. This year, Dartmouth's men have one monkey off their backs: last season they beat Harvard for the first time since 1952. Coach Chuck Kinyon's team, which features two nationally ranked players in Matt Semler '91 and Todd Kjedlgaard '90, will battle Princeton and Harvard for the top of the Eastern Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
The women's tennis team finished a strong second in the Ivies last spring, thanks largely to nationally ranked Shannon Crockett '91. Coach Chris Kerr's squad took rival Harvard down to the wire before losing 5-4, and the team, largely populated by underclassmen, may have its best days ahead.
Morton and the Pros
Now that wide receiver Craig Morton '89 has finished rewriting the Dartmouth record books, he is setting his sights on the professional ranks. The Green's all-time leading receiver, along with 300 other college seniors, attended the National Football League's scouting combine in Indianapolis. Morton was tested for physical health, weight-lifting strength, speed and catching. He ran a swift 4.5-second 40-yard dash, and his times were among the best in short (10- and 20-yard) patterns. In the pass-catching drill, Morton snagged throws from Southern California quarterback and Heisman Trophy finalist Rodney Peete.
It wasn't the first time Morton was watched by the pros. A scout from the Dallas Cowboys flew to Hanover in December to test the speedster, and numerous agents saw his exploits at games this past fall. Some scouts, including the one from Dallas, expect that Morton might be a fourth- or fifth-round draft pick.
Pitcher and first baseman Mark Johnson '90 trades his quarterback's helmet for a cap to lead baseball in the spring.
SCOREBOARDCurrent as of March 8,1989 Women's Basketball 22-4, 12-2 Ivy. Won Ivy League title for fourth straight year and eighth crown in last 10 years. 14-game winning streak in mid-season was longest in school and Ivy history. Women's Hockey 17-9-2,5-4-1 Ivy. Won first ever Ivy League Tournament championship with overtime wins over Harvard and Cornell. Men's Basketball 17-9,10-4 Ivy. Finished second in Ivy League for second straight year; upset losses at Cornell and Yale made the difference. Men's Hockey 8-17-1, 7-14-1 ECAC. Finished just out of playoffs once again, but stayed in contention right up to last weekend of play. Indoor Track & Field Men won Heptagonal Championships by a slim margin over Brown; womem finished seventh in meet.
