Women’s tennis wins first game
It was a fine start to the 2012 season for the No. 30 MIT women’s tennis team as the Engineers downed Assumption College, 9-0. Junior Lauren C. Quisenberry and freshman Victoria Tam got things started for MIT with an 8-0 win at No. 1 doubles.
Volleyball team wins 4 matches
MIT Women’s Volleyball swept all four of its matches this past weekend to take the Regis Pride Invitational Championship. Kristine A. Bunker ’14 was named to the All-Tournament Team and Tatiana Berger ’14 was named the Tournament MVP.
Red Sox trades players
One can only imagine that if former Arizona Cardinals coach Dennis Green was running the Boston Red Sox, he would have said that Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, and Carl Crawford were not who we thought they were. On Saturday, the Red Sox finally let them off the hook, releasing them into the friendly confines of Chavez Ravine.
Sports Shorts
Three members of the MIT football team picked up the first individual honors of the 2012 season when USA College Football announced its 2012 Division III Preseason awards. Senior offensive lineman Ethan E. Peterson (Rutland, Vt.) and junior defensive linemen Joel T. Santisteban (Lawrence, N.Y.) and Derek E. Vaughn (Goodlettsville, Tenn.) were all selected to the organization’s Northeast Regional All-Star team.
US women’s gymnastics: Gold
The 2012 London Olympics officially started on Friday with a quirky opening ceremony which included the Queen jumping out of a helicopter and lots of corgis.
SPORTS SHORT
Former MIT heavyweight crew coxswain Stephen Young ’09 will represent the United States at the 2012 World Rowing Championships which will be held from Aug. 15 to 19 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. This will be Young’s second time coxing at the World Rowing Championships. Last year in Lake Karapiro, New Zealand, he raced in the men’s coxed pair and in the lightweight men’s eight.
Olympic swimmers chosen
We’re currently midway into July. That means it is hot and humid in Boston, there are less than two months before school begins, and the London Olympics are only a few weeks away. The USA Olympic team is currently being assembled for the Games which begin on July 27th. From June 25th to July 2nd, the Olympic team trials for swimming were held in Omaha, Nebraska. The big story from the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games was Michael Phelps’ domination of the pool he earned eight gold medals to become the most decorated Olympic athlete in history. He will be competing in seven events (four of them individual) at this year’s Olympics. However, there are other superstars this year, including Missy Franklin in freestyle and backstroke and Rebecca Soni in women’s breaststroke. Here are some things to watch out for in the coming Olympics:
Sports Shorts
Rising senior Wyatt Ubellacker ’13 completed his U.S. Olympic Trials experience Saturday June 30 with an outstanding swim in the prelims of the 50-meter freestyle event. He finished second in his heat with a personal record time of 22.78 seconds. Ubellacker also competed in the 100-meter freestyle trials on Thursday and finished with another personal record of 51.39 seconds.
Federer takes No. 1 at Wimbeldon
Roger Federer of Switzerland won his seventh Wimbledon Championship last Sunday at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London. On his path to the championship, he defeated first-seeded favorite Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the semifinals in four tough sets (6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3). In the finals, Federer rallied back to beat the fourth-seeded Andy Murray of Scotland in four sets after dropping the first set (4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4).
Heat and Thunder face off in 2012 NBA Finals
The 2012 NBA Finals features the two valiant number two seeds: the Miami Heat from the East and the Oklahoma City Thunder from the West. Both teams have had to battle back in the previous rounds in order to arrive here at this point. The Heat trailed 2-1 in the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Indiana Pacers before winning three in a row to wrap up the series. They were also down 3-2 in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics before winning two straight to thrust themselves into their second straight NBA Finals.
Taking a swing at the French Open
The 2012 French Open is in full swing, and the men’s side is still in contention, competing for the top spot at the Roland Garros in Paris. Top-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia will face third-seeded Roger Federer of Switzerland in the upcoming semifinals. In the process of reaching this stage, the 30-year-old Federer has dropped five sets, one in each of his second through fourth round matches and two in his quarterfinal match against the ninth-seeded Argentinian Juan Martin Del Potro. Djokovic won his first three matches of the tournament in straight sets but had to grind out his last two, both five-setters.
Women’s Ultimate fifth at regionals
Although sMITe, MIT’s Women’s Ultimate, finished the season placing fifth at Division I regionals, they are not done with the sport. Many team members plan to continue playing during the summer, and next weekend a few will volunteer at the Northeastern High School Regionals.
Men’s track takes sixth at New England Championship
MIT served as the host of the All-New England Championship over the weekend, welcoming teams from across the region in Divisions I, II, and III to the Steinbrenner Stadium. The Engineers had a number of impressive performances during the meet and finished sixth as a team, the highest finish among Division III squads. Tech had 39 points, bolstered by second-place showings in three events.
Predictions for the NBA Conference Semifinals
It just doesn’t get much better than this. A matchup of two franchises with a well-established rivalry, from the days of Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell to Julius Erving and Larry Bird, the 76ers and Celtics go way back. As of late, the Celtics have dominated the Sixers, especially since Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen arrived in Boston, but this year, it appears Philadelphia may be competitive again. The 76ers have taken two of three in the season series this year against the Celtics, with both wins coming in blowouts. In all fairness to Boston, the first loss was after two straight overtime games and both were on the second night of a back-to-back. The Celtics struggled with Atlanta’s athleticism in the first round, but in the end, Boston’s playoff experience simply wore down the Hawks. Almost no one expected the 76ers to be in this position at the beginning of the playoffs, but after Andre Iguodala’s clutch free throws with 2.2 seconds remaining to send Chicago home, Philly looks to continue its improbable run.
MIT swimmer qualifies for the Olympic Trials
Like many MIT students, Wyatt L. Ubellacker ’13 is going to be around campus this summer, doing a UROP in Mechanical Engineering. When late June comes around, however, Ubellacker will venture out to an unlikely midsummer destination: Omaha, Nebraska, the site of the USA Swimming Olympic Trials. The Tech talked to Wyatt about his ongoing preparations for the trials and his experiences swimming at MIT.
Mike A. Nackoul aims for the 2016 Olympics in Rio Junior earns bronze in the National Collegiate Weightlifting Championships for weight class
How can you balance being a world-class weightlifter while studying mechanical engineering at MIT?
Men’s rugby reinvented
You don’t often hear rugby associated with MIT, but for the 30 players on the MIT Men’s Rugby team, it’s something that brings them together. Started in 1949, the club is one of the oldest in Boston and the founding core of Boston’s Super League club. A mixture of different countries, languages, and styles of play, the team has pulled together, seeking to play at their top level at all times. For the past four months, men’s rugby has been practicing and preparing to defend the Division III NERFU (New England Rugby Football Union) Cup. Whether playing in snow, sleet, or sun, the team knows that this is their chance to retain their championship and prove that they can play Division II rugby.