Women’s Track and Field

The Knights qualified four athletes to the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) championships (coming home with two second-team All-American honors) on March 8 and 9, with two to compete over Spring Break. At the NCAAs, Phoebe Ward ’24 finished 14th in the 5000 meters, beating both her seed place and personal best (PB) with a time of 17:07.18, earning Second Team All-American honors in the first track nationals of her career. Sophie McManus ‘25, another NCAA track meet debutant, finished 20th in the same event with a time of 17:27.14. Mary Blanchard ’24 placed 17th in the 800 meters, running 2:14.27 in her third national meet. Helen Cross ’24 finished 11th in the 3000 meters, beating her seed place by six  spots and running a PB of 9:48.4 to earn her first career All-American honor (second team). Blanchard ran 4:45.61 at the Ross and Sharon Irwin Invite in San Diego, California on March 16 while Libby Rowland ’25 set a new best time in the 3000-meter steeplechase (11:34.10, 10th all-time in school history) at the Bill Schmidt Classic at the University of North Texas.

Men’s Track and Field 

The Knights had two athletes compete at the Jim Klein Decathlon in Santa Barbara, California. Soren Kaster ’27 finished fifth  with 5,612 points, which is currently fifth-best in the country. This earned him  Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Men’s Athlete of the week awards. Reese Anderson ‘25 finished eighth with 3891 points. Ethan Ash traveled to Wartburg on March 29, winning the 800-meter  with a MIAC-leading time of 1:56.95.

Women’s Swimming and Diving

Hailey Westrup ’27 debuted at the NCAA DIII Swimming and Diving Championships on March 21 and 23. She posted 386.35 points for 18th in the one-meter dive. Her highest score was her ninth dive, for 43.05 points. She placed 19th in the three-meter dive with 388.45 points, scoring 44.4 points for her highest-scoring dive and moving up from 20th in the last round.

Men’s Tennis

The Knights (8-3) recorded three wins and a loss against a ranked opponent in Hilton Head, South Carolina. They won 9-0 over Western New England and 9-0 over Nazareth on March 18, with Kenton Young ’24’s comeback win over a Nazareth opponent as a highlight. March 19 brought a 6-3 win over Frostburg State, with Jasper Yang ’27 and Aniketh Vipparla ’24 winning in both singles and doubles. No. 38-ranked Grinnell defeated the Knights 7-2 on March 21, with Baiyun Jing ’27 and Cooper Kline ’26 winning their singles matches, the latter with an exciting tiebreak finish. 

Women’s Tennis

The (10-0, No. 34) Knights maintained their winning streak over spring break in Hilton Head, South Carolina. They won 9-0 against St. Ambrose on March 20, with Kathryn Burton ’24, Piper Brown ’25 and Zoe Rose ’25 doubling as doubles and singles winners and remaining undefeated on the season as individuals. The Knights prevailed 7-2 over Grinnell on March 21, with Amelia Asfaw ’25 and Mary Hose ’24 winning in both singles and doubles. The pair repeated the feat on March 30 with a 9-0 victory over St. Katherine’s. Asfaw earned MIAC Athlete of the Week for her performance.

Softball

The (9-5) Knights played ten games in Clermont, Florida over spring break. They beat Trinity College (Conn.) 2-0 and Lasell University 7-4 on March 15, but lost to St. Mary 2-1 and Middlebury 6-3 on March 17, fell to Wesleyan 2-0 and Luther College 7-4 on March 18, beat Elmhurst 3-1 and lost to Bowdoin 11-5 on March 20 before closing their trip with a 9-6 win over Kalamazoo and 7-0 victory over Westminster on March 23.  

Baseball

The (4-9) Knights traveled to Tucson, Arizona and recorded seven losses and two wins. They beat the SAGU (Southwestern Assemblies of God University) American Indian College 14-0 and had a close loss to Edgewood College, 10-12, on March 16. They lost to Luther College 5-7 on March 17, fell 1-7 to Bates College on March 18, and lost a tight game to Wesleyan (11-13) on March 19. After three more consecutive losses, the Knights beat the University of Redlands 11-10 on March 22 to close out their trip. They opened Spring Term with a sweep (3-2, 5-4) of St. Scholastica on Gustavus Adolphus’ campus. Sam Gossard ’26 performed well to clinch wins at the end of both games.