The Trinity College women’s basketball team defeated NESCAC rivals Amherst College, 56-45, on Feb. 22, and Wesleyan University, 60-56, on Feb. 26 to finish the regular season with three straight wins. The Bantams finished in second place in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) with a 7-2 record, and narrowly missed earning a bid to the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament.

Trinity, coached by Maureen Pine, was selected as the No. 1 seed in Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division II New England Championship Tournament. The Bantams will host No. 8 Babson College (16-10) on March 1 at 7 p.m. If Trinity wins, the semifinal and final rounds will be held at the College on March 4-5.

Senior forward Gretchen MacColl (Portland, OR) scored a game-high 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and sophomore guard Bridget Dullea (Longmeadow, MA) scored 11 points with eight boards against Amherst. Senior co-captain guard Megan Shutte (Allentown, PA) added seven rebounds and seven assists.

In the regular season finale at Wesleyan, junior guard Jackie Siscone (Hammonton, NJ) finished with a game-high 19 points and Dullea totaled 16 points, five assists, and five steals. Senior co-captain Caitlin Luz (Woburn, MA) pulled down 10 boards.

Trinity leads the NESCAC in field goal percentage at .430 and third in three-point percentage at .313. MacColl is the league's most accurate shooter with a .607 field goal percentage (139 of 229), is first in rebounding at 10.3 per game, and fifth in scoring at 16.0 points per game. Siscone is third in the NESCAC in three-point field goal percentage at .351 (59 of 168) and Shutte is tied for seventh in assists with 3.5 per contest. MacColl was named to the All-NESCAC First Team and Shutte was selected to the All-NESCAC Defensive Team for their outstanding seasons.

Trinity is currently rated among the top teams in the nation. The Bantams are ranked 36th in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) national poll.

Men's Basketball (14-8, 3-6) Limps Home

The Trinity College men’s basketball team lost to NESCAC rivals Amherst College, 95-78, on Feb. 22, and Wesleyan University, 92-81, on Feb. 26. The Bantams ended the season tied with Wesleyan for sixth place in the NESCAC.

Senior co-captain forward Rory Neal (Springfield, MA) paced the Bantams at Amherst, scoring 22 points and sinking eight of nine shots from the field, while sophomore forward Colin Tabb (Somers, CT) added 19 points and junior guard Mike Keohane (Belmont, MA) had 15 points.

Against Wesleyan, Neal scored 21 points, along with nine boards and four steals in his final collegiate game. Tabb totaled 20 points and dished out six assists, while junior guard Michael LaBella (Middletown, CT) had 18 points, including four three-pointers.

Trinity, coached by Stan Ogrodnik, is currently second in the NESCAC in free throw percentage at .703 and is third in field goal percentage at .480. Neal is the league's most accurate shooter with a .621 field goal percentage (139 of 224), second in rebounding at 10.8 per game, and tied for fifth in scoring at 15.9 points per game. Tabb is tied for eighth in assists with 3.9 per game and scoring at 14.2 points per contest. Neal was named to the All-NESCAC Second Team and Wallach was selected to the All-NESCAC Third Team for their outstanding seasons.

Rival Wins New England Pentathlon for Indoor Track & Field

The Trinity College men's and women's indoor track and field teams each sent representatives to the NCAA Division I New England Championships on Feb. 26. Junior co-captain Todd Markelz (Homer, AK) and freshman Ryan Bak (Suffield, CT) competed in the men's championships held at Boston University and junior co-captain Marisa Eddy (Los Angeles, CA) competed in the women's championships held at the University of Southern Maine.

Markelz finished 12th in the 5,000-meter run with a season-best time of 15:02.85. Bak and Eddy were both eliminated in the preliminary rounds of the 800-meter run. Bak came in fifth in his preliminary heat with a career-best time of 1:54.20 and Eddy placed 11th in her preliminary heat with a time of 2:21.97.

The Bantams, coached by George Suitor, will compete in the ECAC Championships held at Wheaton College (MA) on Mar. 4. Junior co-captain Amanda Rival (Berlin, CT) has the best score in the ECAC this season in the pentathlon with 3,140 points and the eighth-best height in the high jump at 5-feet, 4-and -one-half-inches. Bak's time of 1:54.20 in the 800-meter run is the third best this season in the ECAC.

Wrestling (14-11) Sends Pair to Nationals

Junior Michael Marcucio (Derby, CT) and freshman Mark Foresi (West Springfield, MA) will both represent the Trinity College wrestling team as wild-card qualifiers to the NCAA Division III National Championships to be held March 3-4 at Ohio Northern University.

Young Earns All-New England for Men's Swimming & Diving (5-5)

The Trinity College men's swimming and diving team competed in the NCAA Division III New England Championships on Feb. 25-27 at Bowdoin College. Trinity, coached by Amy Heasley Williams, place 13th among 24 teams.

Senior co-captain Ryan Young (Anchorage, AK) repeated his 1998-99 All-New England performance for the Bantams with an eighth-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle. Young swam a time of 4:46.58 and also finished 11th in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:22.87.

Senior Mike Gorman (Larchmont, NY) also scored points for the Bantams with a 13th-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke at 54.64 seconds. Gorman and Young teamed with sophomore Alex Blanchard (Warwick, RI) and freshman Chris Rorer (Villanova, PA) for a 12th-place time of 3:39.32 in the 400-yard medley relay, and Young, Blanchard, senior co-captain Andrew Lovig (Bethany, CT), and freshman Coley Dale (Bloomfield, CT) swam a 3:21.01 in the 400-yard freestyle relay to place 13th.

At the New England Championships, Gorman and women's senior co-captain Emily Polito (Joliet, IL) set new Trinity swimming records. Gorman swam a 1:58.93 in the 200-yard backstroke and Polito swam an 18:14.38 in the 1,650-yard freestyle.

Rorer and Dale also set new Trinity freshmen records at the New Englands. Rorer swam a time of 28.63 seconds in the 50-yard breaststroke and a 2:16.37 in the 200-yard breaststroke, while Dale swam a time of 22.17 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle.

Men's Squash (18-0) Repeats as National Champs

The Trinity College men's squash team defeated Dartmouth College and Yale University, both 9-0, and Harvard University, 8-1, to capture its second consecutive National Intercollegiate Squash Racquets Association (NISRA) Potter Trophy Team Championships title at Yale University on Feb. 25-27.

The Bantams, who have won 35 consecutive matches dating back to the 1998 National Intercollegiate Squash Racquets' Association (NISRA) Team Championship, won 17 of 18 individual matches by a 3-0 score against Dartmouth and Yale in the quarterfinals and semifinals. Freshman No. 5 Jonathan Smith (Leeds, England), junior No. 7 Loua Coetzee (Port Alfred, South Africa), and sophomore No. 9 Rohan Juneja (Bombay, India) all won three 3-0 matches in the tournament.

Trinity will compete in the NISRA Singles Championships held at Williams College on March 3-5. The Bantams, coached by Paul Assaiante, should have five of the top 12 seeds in the singles tourney, including senior and two-time NISRA Singles champion Marcus Cowie (Norfolk, England), senior co-captain Preston Quick (Lakewood, CO), sophomore Lefike Ragontse (Gaborang, Botswana), junior Akhil Behl (Bombay, India), and Smith.

Women's Squash (15-3) Competes at WISA Singles

The Trinity College women's squash will compete in the Women's Intercollegiate Squash Association (WISA) Singles Championships held at Williams College on March 3-5. Junior Janine Thompson (Port Elizabeth, South Africa), freshman Nicola Clark (Brighton, England), and senior co-captain Gail Davie (Cheshire, England) are three Bantam players expected contend for the title.