This Week in Sports: 1/27/23

This Week in Sports: 1/27/23

Noah Riccardi, Sports Editor

Women’s Basketball fights through the break

• Since the last issue on Dec . 2, 2022, women’s basketball has faced challenging matchups, going 2-9 during this stretch.
• The highlight of the break was a statement win against the College of Saint Scholastica. In the former, a 15-rebound, 3-block showing from Emma LaFrenz ’23, along with 25 points from Peyton Starks ’25 sent the Scots to a 57-51 victory in a contest where defense dominated the game.
• In the game vs. the Saints, the dynamic duo of Starks and Andrea Palmen ’24 won the day, with Palmen pouring in 14 points with 4 three-pointers, and Starks with a careerhigh 30 points along with 10 rebounds to complete the double-double in a 80-56 rout over the Saints.
• Starks’ performances named her MIAC offensive player of the week.

Women’s swim/dive cruises through meets

• In the last meet before the winter break, on Dec. 2 and 3, the Scots defeated eight other squads in the Roger Ahlman Meet, defending the meet title. The first meet coming out of the break was a 6-team showdown in Decorah, Iowa, where the Scots again came out victorious. After that, the Scots traveled to Northfield to face St. Olaf, where they fell just short, 134-166.
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Men’s hoops powers through winter

• Over the break, the Scots were hot and cold, going 6 -5. They currently sit in 4th place in MIAC with an 8-5 record.
• The highlight game of the break was a thrilling 75-72 home win vs. Saint Mar y ’s University (Minn.) on Jan. 18. In a back and forth shoot out against a closely matched Cardinals side on an 8 -game winning streak , it came down to the efforts of Caleb Williams ’24, who supplied a game winning and-one layup through contact in the final seconds, capping a 24-point night for the guard.

Track & field opens season equals records

• On Jan. 21, the track and field teams opened their seasons in the Leonard Center with the Vanessa Seljeskog Classic, where the men finished 4th of 8 as a team, and the women finished 6th of 9, and had several great performances.
• Highlighting the day was Arlo Heitler ’25 in the 60m sprint . He earned third place with a time of 7.05, which matched the all-time record for Macalester. Heitler’s 22.80 in the 200m sprint was also good for third, and set him second all-time in Macalester history.
Journey Amundsen ’23 took secondplace in the triple jump with a 11.63 which was second-best all time for the Scots, and which made her the 8th best triple jumper nationwide in division III this season.

Men’s swimming breaks school records

• On Dec. 2 and 3, the men’s swimming and diving team also hosted the Roger Ahlman Invitational, and took victory among 5 competing teams.
• The performance was highlighted by a recordbreaking relay win in the 400-yard medley relay, with a team including 3 first-years taking the record down by over 4 seconds.
Charles Batsaikhan ’25, in addition to being on the record-breaking relay team, won 3 individual events, winning the 200-yard individual medley, the 200-yard breaststroke and winning the 10 0-yard breaststroke and breaking his own school record.