The Williams Record (https://williamsrecord.com/category/sports/)
The physical education and athletics department convene to deliver an outline of the College’s athletics reopening policy for next fall. (Photo courtesy of Williams College on Youtube.)
As the College releases more details about the fall’s reopening, it has announced that fall athletics will not take place, that athletes will lose their season’s eligibility if they choose to enroll remotely, while the status of winter sports remains undetermined.
Throughout each semester, the Record”s sports section publishes “Athletes of the Week,” spotlighting Ephs” exceptional performances in a given week. Over the years, we have featured 25 members of Class of 2020. In honor of their graduation from the College, here they are:
Men’s cross-country: Top of NESCAC, third at NCAA
For the first time since 2016, men’s cross-country has won the NESCAC championship, with seven Ephs, all of whom won All-NESCAC Honors, finishing in the top 11 runners. After that, the Ephs continued their winning streak at the New England Regional, tallying 24 points and earning an automatic berth to NCAA, where they finished third with a team score of 183.
Interviews with senior captains of Eph sports teams.
What if I told you that an alum of the College, remembered by his professors as the quintessential liberal arts student and now as a critically-acclaimed documentary filmmaker, is the biggest name in sports right now?
Last week, the NCAA released guidelines for the re-opening of collegiate athletic programs, following the cancellation of the spring 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the College’s administration weighs potential on- and off-campus options for the coming fall semester, what Eph athletics could look like in a post-COVID-19 world remains unclear.
The juggle-a-thon, organized by the men’s and women’s soccer team, was livestreamed on Instagram, raising funds and awareness. (Photo courtesy of Daiana Takashima ’20 and @williams_soccer_juggles on Instagram)
“I heard out there that there’s a juggle-a-thon that’s pitting the men’s soccer team against the women’s soccer team,” President Maud S. Mandel said into the camera.
For many student athletes, much of the adjustment to remote learning has included losing access to training facilities and resources, hindering their ability to stay physically and mentally fit for both themselves and for their teams. Yet in response to the shock, many coaches have gone out of their way to keep in contact with their team members, providing guidance, support and suggestions for continuing to stay active during quarantine. In some cases, training remotely does not look too different: athletes trained with familiar instructions sent from coaches.
Professor of Economics Sara LaLumia has a tradition of traveling to races with her mother: The professor usually runs a half-marathon, while her mother, who lives in Pennsylvania, runs a 5K. The pair continued that tradition recently — though this time with no travel involved — through a virtual fun run and day of physical fitness organized by Williams for Williamstown, a student-led initiative to buy food and other supplies from Berkshire businesses for medical workers in the area, and Williams Student Athlete Advisory Committee.
Only a few months ago, Christopher Clarey ’86 was gearing up for tennis’ busy season. Clarey, who covers tennis and global sports for The New York Times, typically spends the warmer months bouncing back and forth across hemispheres to cover some of tennis’ biggest matches.
On Monday, the NCAA released guidelines on the process for resuming collegiate athletics following the COVID-19 pandemic. In its announcement that centered on a three-phase resocialization plan, the NCAA emphasized the importance of working with the federal government and college administrations while moving through its procedure.
