As most Brown students head home for the semester, many athletes will instead remain on campus for Winter Break and continue training in hopes of Ivy League glory at season's end. This fall, the football team secured its second conference title in the last four years. Many of the teams at Brown hope for the same results in League supremacy. Here's a preview of the Brown teams that are just starting to kick off their seasons.
Women's Track and Field
The track team opens up its season at home Saturday at the Alden Invite. The women's distance squad looks to compete with the likes of Princeton and Columbia after its third-place finish at the conference meet this fall.
Thelma Breezeatl '10 returns to the track for the first time since she suffered a hamstring injury at the Indoor Heps meet last season that put her out for the rest of the year. She runs the 60m and hopes to return the Ivy League's fastest woman crown to College Hill. Nicole Burns '09 looks to defend her indoor and outdoor League titles in the 400m. Brynn Smith '11 threw a personal best of 51'10" in the shot put at the NCAA outdoor regional meet last year and hopes that in the indoor season she will pick up where she left off. Danielle Grunloh '10 in shot put and Molly Hawksley '09 in weight anchor the throws squad this season. Natasha Smith '11 once again looks to repeat as conference champion in the Pentathlon.
The Bears finished second at last year's Indoor Heps meet and hope to overcome the rest of the pack and take home first this season.
Men's Track and Field
On the men's side, Steve Chaloner '09, Sean O'Brien '09 and Duriel Hardy '10 look to push the distance squad into scoring contention at every meet this season. Bryan Powlen '10 in shot and Eric Wood '09 in weight will be a dominant force in the throwing circle for the team.
The men's first meet of the season will also be at home this Saturday as they look to improve upon their seventh place finish at last year's Indoor Heps.
Men's Swimming and Diving
Bruno opened up its season in solid fashion, splitting a tri-meet with a 183-117 win over Dartmouth and a narrow 155-131 defeat against host Navy on Nov. 22.
Brown won eight of the 16 events of the day as Ryan Kukuchi '11 collected three victories and Daniel Ricketts '09 added two. Ricketts holds four school records and will look to build on his dominance in the pool this season.
The Bears will also be lead by tri-captain Richard Alexander '09, who represented his country in the Canadian Olympic Trials this past summer. Ricketts also swam in the Olympic Trials representing the United States.
The Bears head to Princeton this weekend looking to build momentum for the rest of the Ivy League season.
Women's Swimming and Diving
The Bears opened up the season with a convincing 164-136 win over Dartmouth.
Allyson Schumacher '12 has already established herself as a competitor in the Northeast, breaking a Dartmouth pool record, 1:52.25 in the 200 Free, that had stood since 1995. Bruno also recorded a one-two sweep of the 1000 Free as captain Ainsley McFadgen '09 finished in first (10:27.31), while Schumacher followed closely behind in second.
The women's team will follow the men to Princeton where it faces top-10 power Florida. The meet will count as a dual with Princeton.
