Sophomore John Watts and junior Charlie Cutler have both advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals in singles action while the duo of Cutler and junior Chris Hoeland advanced to the next round in doubles. The Bears are coming off their thrilling 5-3 national championship victory yesterday.

Track and Field

The Bears are on the move with several submitting provisional times. Seniors Tyler Mulkin and Tricia Frisella provisionally qualified in the 5,000 meter run. Freshman Taryn Surtees also submitted a provisional qualifying time in the same event.

The defining moment in the battle to be the first team to get to five points came down to sophomore Danny Levy.

Sophomore Danny Levy was locked in a heated battle against Emory’s David Caplan in the No. 3 singles spot while junior Charlie Cutler was down in the No. 2 spot against Emory’s Mark Boren.

Both matches were into their final sets after both Emory players took the first and both Wash. U. players won the second. Cutler was down 5-3 while Levy had a slight edge at 6-5. Either game could have spelled victory for Wash. U. but it was Levy who scored the national championship winning point with a 7-5 win.

That’s the third team national championship for Washington University with volleyball and men’s basketball taking home the title this school year. This year we also had senior Morgen Leonard Fleckman taking home the NCAA Indoor National Pole Vaulting championship and sophomore John Watts winning the ITA National Championship.

It’s never been a better time to be a Bear fan with several other teams pulling in program bests and Wash. U. riding the top spot in the Director’s Cup Standings. The latest standings will be out on May 22.

Wash. U. also took number two doubles but dropped number three doubles.

In singles the Bears have taken two and the Eagles have taken two. Freshman Isaac Stein prevailed at No. 6 singles and junior Chris Hoeland won at the no. 5 spot. No. 2 and No. 3 are still in contention with Eagles and Bears splitting the first two sets. It’s 6-5 in the No. 3 in Wash. U.’s favor and 5-3 in the No. 2 spot in Emory’s favor.

It’s 69 degrees in Maine and the Bears have broken out of their huddle. The national anthem has been sung and it’s game time. The courts are Wash. U. colors. Red and green apshalt. It’s going to be a point for point battle.

They’re off with number one doubles. Claremont Mudd Scripps took third place in the previous match.

You can listen in on this battle royale between No. 5 Wash. U. and No. 3 Emory at RadioTennis.com.

No. 2 singles is the match up to watch according to commentators.

The entire season comes down to a rematch by No. 5 Wash. U. and UAA archrival No. 3 Emory University. The Bears face off against the Eagles for the title of national champion in Maine.

Wash. U. advanced after defeating the No. 2 Claremont Mudd Scripps College 5-1.

The Bears defeated Emory for the first time in program history this February to take third place at the ITA Indoor National Championships. When the two teams last clashed, Emory beat Wash. U. to defend the UAA crown. Wash. U. is in search of it’s first men’s tennis national title while the Emory Eagles look to secure their third crown.

The first match is set for 12:30 p.m. ET in Bates College.

Live stats are here.

A live audio feed is here.

The tournament website is here.

May 13

Only four teams remain and the Bears are one of them as they defeated No.6 Gustavus Adolphus College 5-0 to zip to the NCAA Semifinals. It promises to be a match of titans as the Bears face the highest ranked team left in competition, No. 2 Claremont Mudd Scripps College.

The other two teams left are No. 3 Emory and No. 7 Middlebury. The winners of the matches will face off for the championship crown while the losers play in the third place match.

May 9

The No. 5 men’s tennis team has advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals which will be held at Bates College in Maine. Wash. U. became the Central Regional Champion after dispatching No. 16 DePauw University 6-0. They will face No. 6 Gustavus Adolphus College on May 13. Gustavus Adolphus is on a 12 match winning streak.

Juniors Charlie Cutler and Chris Hoeland have also qualified in doubles while sophomore John Watts has qualified for singles in the 2008 Division III Men’s Individual National Championship held from May 16-18.

Softball

May 10

The sixth seeded Coe College struck fast and hard to end the seventh seeded Bears’ season. Coe scored two runs in the second, added an insurance run in the third and then padded their lead with four more in the sixth. Wash. U. (25-15) fell 7-0 to the Kohawks committing four errors. The Red and Green were limited to three hits the entire game.

Coe nearly blew the game wide open in the second. After scoring their first two runs, Coe had loaded the bases. With two outs, freshman Claire Voris got the batter out swinging. Voris ended the season with a 15-7 record on the plate.

All five seniors played in their last game as Wash. U. Bears. Seniors Amy Vukovich and Laura D’Andrea each recorded a hit. The 2008 UAA Champions will return next year.

May 9

The Bears lost to the number one team in the country DePauw University 5-0. DePauw got the early lead scoring three runs on a costly error by the Bears in the top of the second. A deep hit to right field went off the glove of senior Karli Stander to clear the bases. Wash. U. was in contention the entire game but were unable to score any of nine runners who were all left on base. DePauw cushioned their lead with a two run fifth inning. Freshman Claire Voris struck out six in the loss.

Track and Field

Junior Danielle Wadlington has automatically qualified for nationals in the triple jump. Other Bears have provisional NCAA marks in several events including senior Morgen Leonard-Fleckman’s school record 3.75m height in the pole vault. The team continues to compete in order to qualify more contestants in the Outdoor National Championships this summer.

Wash. U. sees action at the Dr. Keeler Invite in Naperville, Ill. from May 8-9.

Senior Tyler Mulkin and freshman Taryn Surtees provisionally qualified in the 5,000 meter run at the Dr. Keeler Invite. Senior Jesse McDaniel also provisionally qualified in the 10,000 meter run.

Senior Angela Hartman raced to a NCAA provisional time of 2:14.60 in the 800 meter run while classmate Abbey Hartmann had a provisional time of 10:56.69 in the 3,000 meter steeplechase. Sophomore Hope Rathnam also provisionally qualified in the steeplechase. Wadlington also provisionally qualified in the 100 meter hurdles but had run a faster time in an earlier meet.

The No. 5 men’s tennis team has advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals which will be held at Bates College in Maine. Wash. U. became the Central Regional Champion after dispatching No. 16 DePauw University 6-0. They will face No. 6 Gustavus Adolphus College on May 13. Gustavus Adolphus is on a 12 match winning streak.

Juniors Charlie Cutler and Chris Hoeland have also qualified in doubles while sophomore John Watts has qualified for singles in the 2008 Division III Men’s Individual National Championship held from May 16-18.

Softball

Wash. U. advanced to the next level after beating Tri State 1-0 as freshman Claire Voris picked up her first post season win in the pitcher’s circle. The Bears struck first although the situation was perilous. With two outs, the Red and Green were able to string together three consecutive hits to score senior Karli Stander off an RBI single by junior Kerry Kreitman.

Tri State put the Bears in a dangerous jam with a runner on third with one out but Voris struck out the second batter and Kreitman retired the final batter on a fly out. Voris allowed only three hits the entire game and recorded eight strikeouts.

The Bears advance to play against the number one seed and number one team in the country DePauw University. The 2008 UAA Champions split their previous meeting with DePauw dropping the first frame in an eight inning 4-1 loss and coming through with a 1-0 victory in their last regular season game. That win snapped DePauw’s 37 game winning streak.

The Midwest Regional will be hosted by Augustana College from May 8-12 in Rock Island, Ill. The Bears are currently the number 16 team in the country.

Here’s a link to the bracket.

Here’s a link to the regional website.

Women’s Tennis

The No. 15 Bears played valiantly but fell to No. 4 Emory University 5-0 in the second round of the NCAA National Championships.

Track and Field

Junior Danielle Wadlington has automatically qualified for nationals in the triple jump. Other Bears have provisional NCAA marks in several events including senior Morgen Leonard-Fleckman’s school record 3.75m height in the pole vault. The team continues to compete in hopes of fielding more contestants in the Outdoor National Championships.

Wash. U. sees action at the Dr. Keeler Invite in Naperville, Ill. from May 8-9.

Chancellor Mark Wrighton defended the decision to reward the “graduate and donor” (donor? Hmm… As it turns out, her family is fairly well-off) by claiming that “her contributions have inspired women.” Really? To do what? Inspired women to stay at home? Giving this woman an honorary degree at the same time as the first female surgeon at the med school (Dr. Jessie Ternberg) is like slapping the latter across the face.

Let’s take a look at some of the positions that Washington University will be endorsing and honoring:

“By getting married, the woman has consented to sex, and I don’t think you can call it rape.” — He wants to have sex but you don’t? Sorry ladies, if you wanted to say “No” you should have done it when he proposed. (Sun Journal, March 29, 2007)

“Sex education classes are like in-home sales parties for abortions.” — How many times do we have to tell her that abstinence-only sex ed doesn’t work? (Huffington Post, July 20, 2006)

“Many professors are Marxists or other varieties of radicals who hate America.” — Does that include former chemistry professors who go on to be university chancellors? Does fellow honoree Dr. Ternberg hate America? (Phyllis Schlafly Report, April 2005)

“The atomic bomb is a marvelous gift that was given to our country by a wise God.” — Thank God for making the world a safer place though nuclear proliferation. (New York Times, Sept. 9, 1982; R. Balmer, Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America, p. 193)

“I suspect that the picture of the woman soldier with a noose around the Iraqi man’s neck will soon show up on the bulletin boards of women’s studies centers and feminist college professors. That picture is the radical feminists’ ultimate fantasy of how they dream of treating men.” — Yes, since a woman tortured a man, feminists be just gushing with joy over the Abu Grahib prison scandal. That’s just the sort of rational thinking that this university encourages. (Human Events, May 18, 2004)

I don’t know about you, but I get sick every time I read just the first quote. I hope that she’s donating a lot of money to the school–I mean a lot of money, like enough to build a campus on the moon–because rewarding a woman who defends men who rape their wives will permanently tarnish this school’s reputation.

(Cross-posted at CrazyDrumGuy)

Congratulations to senior Priya Srikanth of swimming and diving, senior Morgen Leonard-Fleckman of track and field, and senior Troy Ruths of men’s basketball. The Bears received $7,500 educational grants through the NCAA postgraduate scholarship program. They are three of the 58 Winter Sports recipients in all Divisions. Ruths led the men’s basketball team to their first national title, Leonard-Fleckman is the 2008 Indoor Pole Vault National Champion and Srikanth continued to set new school records coming in eighth at nationals in the three meter spring board event.

Click here for the official press release.

Congratulations to junior Shanna-Lei Dacanay of women’s basketball who led all of Division III with a 2.83 assists/turnover ratio this season. In all divisions, Dacanay was seventh.

Congratulations to sophomore Jeremy Rogoff for being the first Wash. U. and UAA athlete named this year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writer’s Association Player of the Week honorable mention. Rogoff struck out a career high 14 batters against Case Western Reserve as Wash.U. won 12-1.

Men’s Tennis

The Bears will host the NCAA Central Regionals this weekend. The Bears advances to the next round against No. 16 DePauw University after beating Grinnell College 5-1.

Men’s Tennis defeated DePauw University 6-0 to advance to the NCAA Quarterfinals at Bates College. They will face either Gustavus Adolphus College or the University of Texas-Tyler.

Women’s Tennis

The team earned at large berth to the national NCAA tournament and face Huntingdon College on Friday. The winner of this match will face UAA champion Emory University.

After sweeping Huntingdon College in the NCAA first round, Wash. U. fell to No. 4 Emory 5-0. The Bears were unable to overcome the 3-0 deficit from doubles play. They will return next school year for another run at the UAA and NCAA championships.

Softball

Wash. U. was swept in a doubleheader against Missouri Baptist University dropping the first frame 5-4 before falling once more 5-1. The Red and Green end their season with a home doubleheader against the number one team in the country, DePauw University on Saturday.

The Bears came close but were unable to pull off the upset. Wash. U. scored the first run in the bottom of the six as a high pop up by junior Lindsay Cavarra landed right between the pitcher and the shortstop. While the Tigers were looking up for the ball, sophomore Ashton Hitchcock came tearing through the bases to score.

DePauw managed to tie the score in the seventh through some clutch hitting.

Wash. U. had a bases loaded opportunity in the bottom of the seventh but couldn’t complete it. It came down to the tiebreaking 8th inning with tiebreaker rules in effect. DePauw loaded the bases and with a full count, a bases clearing double scored three runs for DePauw.

One run separated the winners from the losers in the second frame. One run ended DePauw’s 37 game winning streak as the Wash. U. Bears held on for the 1-0 win. Junior Lindsay Cavarra celebrated her 21st birthday with the only RBI of the game as she sent a double to left field. Freshman Claire Voris held the number one team in the country to only two hits as she picked up the win.

The Bears find out on Monday if they advance into the postseason.

Baseball

Baseball demolished Maryville with a 14-3 win on Thursday. The Bears lost both frames of a doubleheader against California State East Bay on Friday. The Bears ended their season with a 14-4 loss to Greenville College. Wash. U. ended with a 15-14 record.

Track and Field

The number one women’s track team in the country and the men’s track and field team competed at the Butler Twilight this weekend in Indianapolis, Ind. against schools from all divisions.

Seniors Tricia Frisella and Tyler Mulkin took first and second respectively in the 3,000 meter run. Classmate Angela Hartman took second in the 800 meter run while sophomore Molly Schlamb took third in the 1,500 meter run.

The women’s 4 x400 relay team of Hartman, junior Danielle Wadlington, junior Erika Wade and Schlamb also took first. Senior Morgen Leonard-Fleckman notched another provisional NCAA mark with a 3.70m height in her first place pole vault finish while teammate junior Jessica Lane finished third with a 3.40m height.

On the men’s side, the 4 x 400 meter relay squad of junior Tanner Coghill, senior Marcus Woods, freshmen Ben Harmon and Skyler Moots took first. Sophomore Keith England took second in the javelin throw.

Full results of the Butler Twilight can be found here.

Junior Danielle Wadlington has already automatically qualified for the triple jump with a distance of 12.02m. Several Bears from both squads have also provisionally qualified for a multitude of events.

Top results for this season can be found here.

The budget called for $1,666.67 to be moved from the Executive Appeals account to KWUR to fund two more artists during KWUR week.

Although dragged out, SU passed the budget.

MR WU. will have to work through appeals.

Session adjourned.