The Emory Athletics Weekly Preview for March 4-10. This preview is to serve as a weekly snapshot of all upcoming Emory athletic events for the coming week.
Track and Field:
After a solid showing at the UAA Indoor Championships, the Emory track and field teams will shift their focus to the NCAA Indoor Championships this weekend. Emory saw 14 student-athletes selected to compete this weekend at the Virginia Beach Sports Complex, with eight on the women's side and six on the men's side.
After breaking her own program record in the 800m with a time of 2:11.18 at the UAA Championships, Ranocha will run as the No. 9 seed in the event. Also competing as an individual is graduate student Brigid Hanley. Hanley will run in the 3000m as the No. 8 seed. The final individual competing on the track on the women's side will be junior Audrey Johnson, after qualifying for the 200m this past weekend when she recorded a time of 25.11. She will run as the No. 20 seed.
The women will also send a distance medley team to compete consisting of Hanley, senior Lily Taylor, junior Dashiel Tao Harris, and junior Madison Tiaffay. They will be the No. 7 seed after registering a time of 11:39.06 earlier this year.
Junior Caroline Hansen and graduate student Nikki Boon will compete on the field for the Eagles. Hansen will compete in the triple jump as the No. 11 seed. Meanwhile, Boon will take part in the Pentathlon as the No. 2 seed. Boon broke the program record in the Pentathlon earlier this season at the Ohio-Wesleyan University Open when she recorded a score of 3697.
The men will send two individual competitors, both taking part in field events. Sophomore Henry Brandstadter will take part in the triple jump as the No. 3 seed. The sophomore broke both the Emory and UAA record with his distance of 7.47m at the UAA Championships. Senior Kenya Sei will also look to make his mark on the field, earning the No. 18 seed in the weight throw event. He set his program-record mark at the UAA Indoor Championships where he recorded a distance of 18.49m.
Joining Brandstadter and Sei is the distance medley relay consisting of seniors Dawit Dean and Spencer Watry, junior Marcus Cheema and freshman Graham Greene. The relay team will compete as the No. 11 seed.
The NCAA Championships will span the course of two days, starting on Friday and wrapping up Saturday afternoon in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
When/Where:
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Friday, March 8th-Saturday, March 9th – NCAA Indoor Championships – Virginia Beach Sports Complex (Virginia Beach, VA)
Coverage:
Men's Golf:
With the winter beginning to wind down, the No. 2 ranked Emory men's golf team is back in action this week, heading to Savannah, Georgia for their first competition of the calendar year. The Eagles won the program's 21st UAA Championship this past fall and are hoping their momentum carries over into this spring.
Emory is led by senior Jackson Klutznick, who was named SwingU's 2023 NCAA Division III Player of the Fall. Klutznick experienced a very successful start to his senior campaign, setting program records in both single-round (61) and three-round scores (197). The Denver, Colorado native kicked off his fall with a bang, winning the Gate City Invitational, where he set both of his program records. Klutznick played a key role in the Eagles winning two tournaments, the Gate City Invitational and the Tartan Invitational, this past fall.
Close behind Klutznick is junior Tony Li. Li's most memorable moment from the fall portion of the season came in October at the Tartan Invitational. Entering the final round in ninth place, Li shot one under par to claim the individual title and lift the Eagles to a team victory in Pennsylvania.
Junior Josh Qian also played a key role in the Eagles claiming a UAA Championship, winning his matchup in Florida to help sure up the title.
Joining Klutznick, Li and Qian in Savannah this week will be junior Michael Burry and sophomore Brian Hanson. Burry's best performance in the fall came at the Gate City Invitational where he shot a three-round score of 213 (E). Hanson competed in two events in the fall, with his best score coming at the Chick-fil-A Invitational where he shot a two-round score of 147 (+3).
The field in Savannah consists of five of the top six ranked teams in Division III, with No. 1 Methodist, No. 3 Oglethorpe, No. 4 Lynchburg and No. 6 Carnegie Mellon joining the Eagles in East Georgia. In addition to the five premier Division III programs at the event, five other top-25 teams will make the trip.
The event will get started with a shotgun start on Monday morning. Each team will tee-off at 8:15 AM before playing two rounds on Tuesday to finish the event.
When/Where:
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Monday, March 4th-Tuesday, March 5th – Savannah Invitational – The Club at Savannah Harbor (Savannah, GA)
Coverage:
Baseball:
The Emory baseball team (7-6) will continue its season this week with a pair of regional opponents on deck. The Eagles will wrap up their three-game set with Covenant on the road on Monday before hosting LaGrange on Wednesday.
The Eagles kicked off their series with Covenant with a doubleheader at Chappell Park on Saturday. Emory received a dominant performance from its pitching staff, with sophomore Josh Zuckerman and junior Bennett Speicher combining for 18 strikeouts, tied for the second-most in a single game by Eagle teammates. Zuckerman got the start on the bump, striking out a career-high 11 batters over six innings of work. Speicher came out of the pen and was dominant once again, sitting down seven of the 10 batters he faced while allowing just one hit over three innings. A five-run third inning for the Eagles provided them with a cushion, allowing the Emory pitchers to cruise to the 7-2 win.
Game two was scheduled to be a seven-inning affair, but that wasn't enough to decide a winner. The Eagles entered the seventh inning trailing 5-3. Yet, junior Jack Halloran wasn't ready to surrender without a fight as he singled to drive in an RBI and extend his RBI streak to eight games. A passed ball just two batters later allowed a runner to come home and score, tying the game at five.
The Scots tacked on two runs in the top of the eighth to take a 7-5 lead. The Eagles continued to claw their way back into the game, though, as a few batters reached via the walk, a hit by pitch, and a single. A fielder's choice allowed one run to come in, bringing the score to 7-6. Graduate student Nick Wilson came to the dish with two outs and trailing by one. Wilson swatted an 0-2 delivery up the middle, just too far for the ranging Covenant second baseman as it clattered off his glove and trickled into centerfield to allow two runs to come across and secure an Emory win.
Emory will look to complete the series sweep of Covenant on Monday as they head to Lookout Mountain, Georgia for the final game.
The Eagles will then shift their focus to LaGrange, who they battled with just last week. Despite jumping out to a quick 7-1 lead, the Eagles fell to the Panthers, 11-7, on the road. Junior Blake Dincman slugged his second home run of the season in the loss. Receiving votes in the national polls, LaGrange is 8-3 this year, while having won three of their last four. Over that stretch, the Panthers have scored 49 runs.
Halloran has spearheaded Emory's recent offensive outburst. The junior leads all NCAA Division III hitters in RBIs this season, having already driven in 23 this season and has recorded at least one RBI in eight straight games. Halloran has garnered both national and conference recognition this year, being named UAA Hitter of the Week twice and was named to the D3baseball.com's national team of the week.
Dincman has provided a spark out of the catcher's spot in the lineup as well, hitting .419 with a team-high seven doubles. His seven doubles rank third in the nation.
Speicher has been impressive on the bump this year, serving in a relief role. The junior has seen 13.2 innings of work in six games this year, while allowing just four earned runs and striking out 13 batters. Speicher joined Halloran on the D3baseball.com's national team of the week a couple of weeks ago when he pitched five perfect innings of relief against Rose-Hulman.
When/Where:
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Monday, March 4th – at Covenant – 2:00 PM – Covenant Baseball Field (Lookout Mountain, GA)
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Wednesday, March 6th – vs LaGrange – 2:00 PM – Chappell Park (Atlanta, GA)
Coverage:
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Covenant
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LaGrange
Softball:
Coming off a split in their doubleheader against Bridgewater (Va.) last week, the Emory softball team (5-3) will be back in action with a midweek series at home against Saint Benedict and a doubleheader on the road against LaGrange this weekend.
Sophomore Mackenzie Duford earned the win against Bridgewater in game one, improving her season record to 3-1. The sophomore tied her career-high in strikeouts, retiring nine batters via the punchout over six innings of work to help boost the Eagles to a 4-1 victory.
The Eagles jumped out to a 3-1 lead over Bridgewater in game two, but Bridgewater stormed back in the top of the sixth with a three-run inning to bury the Eagles as they fell 5-3.
Sophomore Ashley Chu has had a very strong start to her season, recording 11 hits in 23 at bats out of the leadoff spot. Chu has shown discipline at the plate too, working a team-high five walks to bring her season on-base-percentage to .571.
Freshman Ellie Zerr has been the Eagles' strongest bat this year. Starting in all eight games this year, Zerr has picked up a team-high 12 hits, with two homeruns and four doubles. The rookie boasts a batting average of .444 while leading the team in slugging percentage, posting a mark of .815.
Duford has been the ace for this staff, registering 22.1 innings of work with an ERA of 2.82. Freshman Lexi Bach has also seen work in the circle, tossing 16.1 innings in three starts. The rookie has an ERA of 3.43 and has yet to surrender any runs via the long ball this year.
Saint Benedict will play a doubleheader on the road against Berry on Monday before making the trip to Atlanta. Prior to the clash with Berry, the Bennies are 1-3, but have scored 17 runs in their last two games. Though the season is still young for the Bennies, Tori Benson has led the way on offense, recording five hits in 14 at bats and picking up an RBI. Sammy Muetzel has also provided a spark, driving in three RBI in 15 at bats this year. This is just the second time the two programs will have met, with Emory winning the lone meeting, 6-2, in 2020 at the NFCA Leadoff Classic.
LaGrange will play a doubleheader this Wednesday against Concordia Wisconsin before taking on Emory this weekend. To date, the Panthers are on a four-game skid and have been outscored 24-3 over that stretch. Alexa Gonzalez has had a strong start to her season for LaGrange, hitting .378 while starting in all 14 games. She has four doubles, two homeruns, and 14 RBIs in 45 plate appearances to lead the Panthers into their doubleheader against the Eagles on Saturday. The Eagles and Panthers have a bit of history, having met 66 times before. Emory leads the all-time series 56-10 and has won 12 straight games dating back to 2013.
When/Where:
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Tuesday, March 5th – vs Saint Benedict – 3:00 PM – Cooper Field (Atlanta, GA)
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Thursday, March 7th – vs Saint Benedict – 3:00 PM – Cooper Field (Atlanta, GA)
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Saturday, March 9th – at LaGrange – 12:00 PM / 2:00 PM – LC Softball Field (LaGrange, GA)
Coverage:
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Saint Benedict
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Game 1 (Tuesday)
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Game 2 (Thursday)
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LaGrange
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Game 1
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Game 2
Women's Golf:
The No. 6 ranked Emory women's golf team will compete in its second event of the spring season this weekend as they get set to play in the Westbrook Invitational hosted by George Fox in Peoria, Arizona.
The Eagles most recently competed in the Columbia Classic in a field comprised of all NCAA Division I opponents. Freshman Carys Code was the Eagles' strongest performer at the event, finishing her three rounds with a 232 to finish tied for 44th against the strong field. Sophomore Cindy Wang competed in the event as an individual and finished tied for 57th after carding a three-day total of 236.
Emory finished the event incredibly strong, shooting a 312 on the final day. Their final day score saw them best five teams in the round, including Eastern Kentucky, Youngstown State, Princeton, St. John's and UAlbany.
The Westbrook Invitational will be a two-day, 36-hole event spanning Saturday and Sunday at the Westbrook Village Golf Course.
When/Where:
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Saturday, March 9th-Sunday, March 10th – Westbrook Invitational – Westbrook Village Golf Course (Peoria, AZ)
Coverage:
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TBA
Women's Tennis:
Coming off a fifth-place finish at the ITA Indoor Team National Championships, the No. 6 ranked Emory women's tennis team is set to head west for Spring Break. The Eagles will get their west coast trip started with a meeting with the ITA Indoor Champions and No.1 ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athenas on Sunday, March 10th.
The Athenas were dominant in their ITA Indoor title run, taking down Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins and Chicago. After being bounced in the first round by Johns Hopkins, Emory went on to win its two consolation games to finish fifth overall at the event.
Sophomore Emily Kantrovitz and senior Ana Cristina Perez's strong start to the spring continued this past weekend. The two are an impressive 4-2 out of the No. 1 doubles position and won all three of their matches at the ITA Indoor event. Sophomore Iris Berman and junior Eliza McPherron have been a solid doubles tandem this year as well, going 5-1 in the No. 2 position this season, including wins in both consolation matches at the ITA Indoors.
Kantrovitz has been Emory's strongest singles player this spring as well, boasting a 4-1 record out of the No. 1 position and won all three of her matches this past weekend. Sophomore Izzy Antanavicius has been red hot as of late, playing out of the No. 3 and 4 position. The sophomore is 4-1 in dual matches and has won four straight matches.
The Eagles will head west with their eyes set on the Indoor National Champions. The match with the Athenas will be the first of four matches played over Spring Break.
When/Where:
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Sunday, March 10th – at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps – 1:00 PM (EST) – Biszantz Family Tennis Center (Claremont, CA)
Coverage:
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TBA