Wellesley teams’ seasons are coming to a close, and they have dominated the spring. Golf is on a six-competition winning streak, led by a strong class of first years. Blue Track and Field has just won the Mount Holyoke and Smith tri-meet, capping off a series of successful meets. Tennis has seen the ITA college rankings this season for the first time in years, having been ranked 29th in all of Division III on the week of April 3. Thanks to their hard work, the teams will look forward to the summer feeling victorious.
At this time last year, the Wellesley Golf team was unranked among Division III teams in the Women’s Golf Coaches Association polls. Now, they are tied for 8th. For a program to make that big of a jump, it requires talented newcomers, strong leadership from upperclassmen and good coaching. One of these talented newcomers, first-year Aileen Du, set a program record for the lowest 36-hole score at the Jack Leaman Invitational on Sunday, placing second in the entire competition. Fellow first-year Audrey Wang finished third overall. Golf is now preparing for the Liberty League championship this weekend, which they hope to capture after a second place finish last year. If their improvement thus far is any indication, they should perform remarkably well.
Track and Field won nine events in the Smith and Mount Holyoke tri-meet on Saturday, April 20, with junior Emily Doyle winning three of them. She continued her triumphant throwing season with the wins in discus, shot put and javelin. Sophomore Ella Whinney won another two, taking first place in the high jump and the 1500m with a personal-best time of 4:38.21. Junior Aoife Fitzgerald also took two wins, in the 100m hurdles and the 400m hurdles, while the 4×100 team dominated with a season-best time of 50.18 and the gold medal. Still to come are the NEWMAC Championships next weekend at Springfield College, where the Blue hope to build on the motivation of this triumphant performance.
Tennis is on a four match conference winning streak, having defeated Emerson, Mount Holyoke, Smith and Wheaton in the last week. Against Emerson the Blue had a clean sweep, winning all three doubles and all six singles matches. Seniors Annissa Mu and Melinda Alviar had standout performances both as the first doubles pair and as individuals. Smith was a narrow win, 5-4, but first years Kriti Sarav and Suzanne Xu provided clutch performances that kept the Blue in the game. The Blue only have three conference matches remaining, and it will be interesting to see if they keep their record at only one conference loss.
Blue teams have seen remarkable improvements this year, with both tennis and golf climbing the Division III rankings and individuals from track and field besting their competition. Anticipate exciting conclusions to these teams’ seasons in the coming weeks.
