The Harvard Crimson :: Commencement 2008

MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Captain Does It All
In his final season with the Crimson, Geoff Rathgeber swam his way to seven Ivy League titles
By ALEXANDRA J. MIHALEK
An extremely successful nationally-competitive athlete, respected team leader, and talented student may seem like a combination that is too good to be true. That is, unless you’ve met Geoff Rathgeber. Rathgeber, a co-captain of the Harvard men’s swimming and diving team, helped lead his squad to unprecedented success—including a perfect conference record. Along the way, he also made a name for himself on both the Ivy League and national swimming circuit by setting numerous records and consistently outperforming his opponents in both regular and postseason meets.

RUNNER-UP: Kyle Kovacs

GAMES OF THE YEAR: Harvard-Yale Football
By BRAD HINSHELWOOD
It was a most unlikely blowout. By all accounts, the 124th edition of The Game should have been a closely-fought affair. For the first time since 1968’s famous 29-29 Harvard victory, both teams entered with perfect 6-0 Ivy records, and Yale was an immaculate 9-0 overall. The Bulldogs had spent the season dominating Ivy opponents, winning every league contest save one by double-digit margins, never allowing more than 17 points in regulation and becoming the first team to score 50 or more points twice in a single Ivy campaign.

BREAKOUT ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Sophomore Dominates in Record-Breaking Campaign
By LOREN AMOR
The opportunity appeared to have come and gone. As a freshman on the women’s hockey team coming into the 2006-07 season, Christina Kessler, a highly touted recruit out of Oakville, Ont., was expected to compete for the starting goalie job right away. But when Kessler arrived at Harvard with torn ligaments in her knee, then-sophomore Brittany Martin took advantage of the lack of competition and solidified herself as a mainstay in the net.

RUNNER-UP: Jeremy Lin

MALE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Illinois Native Displays Grit, Talent in First Season
Resilient freshman qualifies for regionals, closes in on school record
By DIXON MCPHILLIPS
Dan Chenoweth puts his shoes on just like the rest of us, one at a time. Except, once his shoes are on, he runs really, really fast. The freshman from Geneseo, Ill. made a resounding impact on Harvard cross country and track this season with his ability to compete near the top in almost every competition he participated in.

RUNNERS-UP: Alexei Chijoff-Evans and Aba Omadele-Lucien

COACH OF THE YEAR: Murphy, Crimson Take Ivy Crown
Murphy turns in arguably his finest coaching performance
By BRAD HINSHELWOOD
The untrained eye might have assumed that it was Tim Murphy, not Yale’s Jack Siedlecki, who was on the verge of an undefeated season at the Yale Bowl on Nov. 17. Murphy’s steady hand had guided Harvard through the Ivy League slate unbeaten, setting up a showdown with Yale for the Ivy title with the Bulldogs’ unbeaten season on the line. It was on this final and greatest stage that Murphy’s coaching ability shined through. He thoroughly outcoached Siedlecki, a fine coach in his own right, in Harvard’s 37-6 beatdown. Before the game, Murphy reminded his team that they could take the Bulldogs.

FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Rising Up, Taking Over
On a juggernaut women’s hockey team filled with stars, junior Sarah Vaillancourt, named the nation’s top player in 2008, shined the brightest
By LOREN AMOR
Sarah Vaillancourt’s name was announced, and the skaters of the Harvard women’s hockey team rose in unison as they watched their teammate walk to the podium in the banquet hall of the Radisson Hotel Duluth-Harborview in Duluth, Minn. The Crimson had just seen its season come to a disappointing end the night before after a 4-1 loss to Wisconsin in the semifinals of the NCAA Frozen Four, but the squad—for which cohesiveness and teamwork were synonymous with success—had come together one last time to cheer on Vaillancourt, a junior, as she accepted the Patty Kazmaier Award, given annually to the top player in women’s college hockey.

RUNNER-UP: Becky Christensen

GAMES OF THE YEAR: Harvard-Michigan Men's Basketball
By KEVIN C. REYES
The crowd rushed the court as the final buzzer sounded. That alone sums up how huge the 62-51 victory over Michigan was for the Harvard men’s basketball team. For a school with such little basketball success, this win was significant.

GAMES OF THE YEAR: Harvard-Boston College Men's Hockey
By COURTNEY D. SKINNER
It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Or, at least, it was once-in-a-decade. For the first time in 10 years, the Harvard men’s hockey team earned a spot at the 56th annual Beanpot Championship against eventual NCAA champion Boston College and had the chance to claim its first title in the tournament since 1993.

FEMALE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Halpern Shines in Difficult League
Freshman wins Ivy Rookie of the Year award after high-scoring campaign
By ALISON E. SCHUMER
After the Harvard women’s lacrosse team posted a miserable 4-11 record in its 2007 campaign, the Crimson bounced back this season to notch its best record since 2002. What was its recipe for change? Leadership from the team’s seven graduating seniors. New head coach Lisa Miller, who brought a different game plan to the veteran squad. And the fresh talent of rookie midfielder Jess Halpern. In her first season with the Crimson, Halpern was Harvard’s second-leading scorer with 46 points on 34 goals and 12 assists, pacing a Crimson attack that finished second in the league in goals per game.

RUNNER-UP: Katherine Sheeleigh

COMEBACK OF THE YEAR: Crimson Too Strong for Princeton in Overtime
By MAURICIO A. CRUZ
All was seemingly lost. After dropping seven straight in league play, the Harvard men’s basketball team was well on its way to adding another tally to its stretch of futility. Down by eight with 2:29 left to play, a familiar sense of despair wafted through Lavietes Pavilion. The cheerleaders fell silent, the fans began to collect their belongings, and the Princeton bench afforded itself an opportunity to sit back and relax. That’s when the Crimson struck.

One Final Edit: To Take the ‘I’ Out of Article

These stories are not about me: In May 2007, the Harvard softball team drew regional host Hofstra for its opening game of the NCAA Tournament and sent newly minted Ivy League Pitcher of the Year Shelly Madick to the circle. With one beatable team and one powerhouse joining them in the round-robin, picking up a W against the Pride would be the key to the Crimson advancing in the tournament.

Get a Lodha These Awkward Advocates

It’s sort of awkward being a college journalist. Sure, as far as journalists go, we’re blessed. Most of the events we need to cover occur within a half-mile radius of our homes (Quadlings excluded), our subjects and sources eat meals in the same dining halls as we, and we don’t have to work with schmucks like Joe Morgan. Of course, for every 10 home games we cover, there’s a trip down the ever-dangerous Muller Hill Road, but professional journalists generally have much more trying lives than student-journalists do.

Thinking Back: It Was Fun, Harvard

I never thought that I would have the chance to sit on press row during a nationally televised college basketball game. I never thought that I would have the chance to drive in the snow through upstate New York en route to covering Harvard men’s hockey and men’s basketball games in the same weekend. I never thought that I would have the chance to have a one-on-one interview with a former Duke basketball player. Heck, I never thought I’d be a sportswriter—period.

Confessions of a Boston Sports Fan

It’s time for me to admit it. My name is Dan, and I’m a Boston sports fan. It’s been four days since my last trip to Fenway. (Hi, Dan.) It wasn’t always this way. For 18 years I didn’t even know I had a problem. They were simpler times, growing up in Cambridge; every sports fan I knew liked the Red Sox, every sports fan I knew liked the Patriots, and the only subject of debate was whether Tom Brady was the greatest quarterback of all time, or merely the greatest quarterback of his generation. (I’m exaggerating. Kind of.)

Learning to Love Another Crimson and Cream

Months before I set foot in Holworthy 07, my father gave me an important piece of advice. Don’t choose a college based solely on its sports teams, he told me—a seemingly ridiculous suggestion given the magnanimity of my decision.

SEASON RECAPS