Women’s track hits winning stride in Northfield meet

• On Jan. 27, in the pentathlon event at a quad meet at St. Olaf College, Sarah Beth Hobby ’24 took home the victory, with a personal best 2638 points, the 5th-best showing in Macalester history. Hobby won three events and came second in the other two in a dominant display that included a top-10 shot put in Macalester history.
• On Jan. 28, the remaining events took place, highlighted by Maria Blaesing ’24 following up on a strong cross country season by taking the win in the mile run. Blaesing also contributed to the 4x400m team that landed on the podium with a third place finish.

Men’s swimming faces tough challenge from Grinnell

• On Jan. 28, men’s swimming and diving welcomed Grinnell College. Despite standout performances, they fell by a score of 83-199.
• A pair of Scot double victors headlined the Macalester performance. TJ Palli ’26 won the 100-yard and 200-yard freestyle events, while Charles Batsaikhan ’25 won the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke.

Men’s Basketball takes two on the road, then lose to Concordia-Moorhead

• On Jan. 28, the Scots traveled up to Duluth to face the College of Saint Scholastica, and came back with a 69-63 win in an important MIAC clash.
• Beyond high scoring totals from Caleb Williams ’24, Coby Gold ’25 and Noah Shannon ’26, with 24, 20 and 15 points, respectively, it was a display of stingy defense that pulled the Scots through. Badou Ba ’25 swatted 4 blocks and acquired 3 steals, amidst team totals of 7 blocks and 10 steals.
• Two days later on Jan. 30, the Macalester men’s hoops side ventured out of the MIAC to University of Minnesota-Morris’s gym, and came away victorious, again behind a rock-solid defensive stand, and a standout game from Armando Akapo-Nwagbo ’25 who pulled down 15 boards. In the second half, the Cougars ran into staunch defense, shooting 24.3% from the field.
• On Feb. 1, these Scots visited Concordia College (Minn.), and fell narrowly, 78-83. The defense that had characterized the Scots’ week gave way to a high scoring shootout that eventually favored the Cobbers. The loss came despite Williams dropping a career-high 39 points, including 29 second half points.

Women’s swim falls to Grinnell

• Women’s swimming and diving celebrated their seniors on Jan. 28 in a dual meet against Grinnell College but lost in a tight contest, 138.5-158.5.
• Izzy Uhlhorn-Thornton ’26 continued her impressive first-year campaign with two more individual wins in the 100-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard breaststroke.
• Other Scots with individual swim wins were Emma Henry ’26 in the 200-yard backstroke and Skye Schmit ’26 in the 1650-yard swim, with a MIAC best time of 18:01.16, 27 seconds better than the nearest competitor.

Men’s track rewrites Scot records

• On Jan. 28, the men’s track team also competed in the quad meet at St. Olaf College, and were led by Max Menache ’25, who set a new Macalester record in the weight throw with a 15.33m heave, topping a record set in 1990. Right behind Menache was Victor Wright ’23, who set the third best all-time Scot mark in that event.
• In the distance runs of the 5000m and the mile, a quartet of sophomores also put in historically strong times: Tor Olsson ’25 and Ben Crotteau ’25 set the 6th and 7th-best ever times for Macalester in the mile, and Nick Ihrke ’25 and Reece McKee ’25 setting 6th- and 8th-best Scot times in the 5000m.

Women’s hoops faces tough stretch

• On Jan. 28, Jan. 30 and Feb. 1, the scots took a series of tough losses; 56-73 at College of St. Scholastica, 48-84 at Saint Catherine University and 57-73 at Concordia College (Minn.). 
• Among the bright spots for the Scots were two strong scoring nights from Peyton Starks ’25, with 26 and 25 points against Scholastica and St. Kate’s, respectively, and an 8-rebound 16-point night from Katherine Norquist ’25 against Concordia.

Men’s tennis aces first test against UW-Stevens Point

• In Macalester’s first match of the spring season against the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, the Scots dominated their opponent, taking the contest 8-1.
• The Scots won all six singles matchups, highlighted by Jordan Doi ’25, Lewis Jolly ’24 and Josh Marine ’23 all winning in straight sets. 
• Two doubles teams—the pairs of Anton Korolev ’23 and Liam Lynch ’25 and Sawyer Michaelson ’23 and Martin Stoner ’25—handed their opponents 8-0 bagels, capping the emphatic display.