BY EMMA PRESBURG – STAFF WRITER
All Centre athletics’ in-season sports competed over spring break traveling to the likes of Atlanta, Florida, and Jekyll Island.
Women’s lacrosse opened break with a non-conference home game against Kalamazoo, winning 17-5. Junior Hannah Bellamah led the Colonels with four goals but with three goals to her name but senior Ellen Resinger stole the show by beoming the fourth player for Centre’s women’s lacrosse to score 100 career goals.
The team then travelled to Florida where they beat Calvin 15-12 but fell to Clarkson 17-4. Bellamah, once again, led the Colonels with 6 goals in the game against Calvin and garnered SAA player of the week honors. Bellamah followed up this performance with two goals for the Colonels against Clarkson, joining her teammate Resinger in becoming the 5th player in Centre women’s lacrosse history to score 100 career goals. Bellamah’s strong efforts were rewarded when she received Hero Sports News Hero of the Week honors.
“It was an amazing experience and I wouldn’t do it with any other group of women,” said junior goalkeeper Natalie Marek. “The trip really brought my team closer and so many memories were made.”
After a Millsaps forfeit, the Women’s Lacrosse team will continue SAA play on April 2, traveling to Sewanee to take on the Tigers.
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Men’s lacrosse played two conference games over. The first was at Sewanee where the Colonels fell 13-5, and the following SAA contest against Berry resulted in a 16-8 defeat.
Between these two games the team traveled to Lynchburg, VA where the faced the Randolph Wildcats. This game ended as the longest game in program history, with the Colonels falling 10-9 in triple overtime.
Men’s lacrosse is back in action on March 31 with a home conference game against Millsaps.
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Baseball started the break off at home, facing last year’s SAA conference winners, the Birmingham Southern Panthers. The Colonels lost two games in the series but ended strong, winning the last game 3-0.
The Colonels continued the break at home with an 8-1 loss to Thomas More, followed by a 3-0 win over Spalding. The Colonels finished the break by traveling to Millsaps, continuing conference play, winning the first two games but falling in the third and final game of the series.
Sophomore Nick Hoffman was a bright spot for the pitching staff, picking up SAA pitcher of the week honors. Hoffman has an earned runs average of 5.54 and leads the Colonels pitching with 21 strikeouts.
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Softball had perhaps the busiest break, playing 11 games throughout the week. The Colonels started in Atlanta, winning both games against Lynchburg and then falling to Emory 6-4 and 8-0. The Colonels then beat Agnes Scott 10-0 and 7-0 and split a series with Covenant, winning 7-1 and then losing 6-4.
The Colonels then returned to face SAA opponent Millsaps, falling 2-1 in the series. “We played 11 games over spring break,” said junior Madison DeBord. “It was a physically tough week but we had a great time together.”
Softball continues conference play with a home series against the Sewanee Tigers on April 1-2.
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Men’s and women’s golf traveled to Jekyll Island, located off the coast of Georgia, for the break. The men’s team finished 27th and 25th out of 29 teams over the two days while the women finished 14th in their tournament with 23 teams.
Senior Carson Riley shot the low score on Friday for the men’s team with a 76 and junior Andrew McKinney show the low score on Saturday with a 76.
The women’s team finished 14th after shooting a 344 on Sunday. Individually, Junior Alison Miller finished 35th overall, shooting a combined three-day score of 242, while junior Jill Edgington and junior Eliza Hudson also finished in the top 40, with three-day scores of 244 and 277, respectively.
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Men’s tennis played three matches over the break, beating Randolph-Macon 7-2 but then falling to Washington College and Haverford. Freshman Max Middleton picked up his first career one-singles victory at Randolph-Macon and won in the third doubles slot with freshman partner, Adam Slone.
Women’s tennis started the break with a loss to Christopher Newport but followed up with three victories against Randolph-Macon, Washington College, and Haverford. Sophomore Neha Rao won at both one singles and in doubles with junior partner Aliza Williams against Christopher Newport and Randolph-Macon. Rao was named SAA Women’s Tennis Player of the Week.
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Men’s and women’s track and field competed in the Rhodes Invitational with many Colonels ranking. Freshman Molly O’Dea came in 3rd in the women’s triple jump while senior Stephen Orr came in 5th in the men’s pole vault and freshman Thomas Burkey came in 5th in the men’s high jump. Senior Caitlin Yockey came in 3rd and junior Emily Winkler came in 5th in the women’s high jump.
Sophomore Rhoman James came in 7th in the men’s 200 meter dash and helped the men’s 4×100 relay secure 3rd with sophomore Stone Fentzlaff, senior Rubyn Branch, and junior Tristen Morrow. James was named the SAA Men’s Track Athlete of the Week.
Sophomore Annie Rodenfels and in 5th in the women’s 5000 meter run with a time of 17:22.83 and senior Serena Gale-Butto came in 6th with a time of 17:25.53, shattering the school record and setting the two fastest times in the SAA. Gale-Butto was named the SAA Women’s Track Athlete of the Week.