Mike O’Brien ‘23

Chief Sports Editor

Holy Cross Athletics saw a very successful week from Monday, February 22nd to Sunday, February 28th, highlighted by the men’s basketball team, volleyball team, men’s lacrosse team, and the men and women’s track and field teams.

The week kicked off with a Wednesday night matchup for the men’s basketball team at Boston University. Coming into the matchup with four wins, the team already had more wins than last season, and looked to add to their strong rebound of a year. After speaking with senior guard Austin Butler before the season started, he was looking forward to giving it his all this season, and he certainly has delivered on that statement. Butler put together an extremely efficient performance against BU, shooting 11/14 on FG’s and three for five on 3PFGs, for a team high 30 points. 

The team’s defense held BU to only 33 points in the first half, which proved to be an insurmountable margin and Holy Cross held on for the win by a score of 86-75. Freshman Judson Martindale also had himself an efficient night, scoring 21 points on 7/9 FGs and three for four on 3PFgs.

Volleyball was the next team up, kicking off their season away at Lafayette on Friday, February 26th. After dropping the first set by a score of 25-18, the team pulled together an impressive comeback effort, winning the next three straight sets by scores of 26-24, 25-15, and 26-24. Although Lafayette led the majority of the stat categories such as points, kills, aces, and assists, HC was still able to overall outplay the Leopards for the win.

The two teams then met again on Sunday, February 28th, this time at The Hill. After being tied with Lafayette after two sets again, the Crusaders won the next two to win the game 3-1 again. This time, HC was the better statistical team, leading in all stats mentioned before, in addition to blocks and digs this time. The main reason for Cross’ 2-0 start to their season in back-to-back wins over the Leopards was because of junior outside hitter Johanna Shamley, who was named the HC Athletics Crusader of the Week for her efforts. Shamley put up a whopping 26 kills and 28 digs over the two game series, as well as providing two service aces to get the volleyball team off to a flying start. 

The men’s lacrosse team hosted Sacred Heart University on Saturday, February 27th at Kuzniewski Field for their first game of the season. This was also the first game for new head coach J.L. Reppert, who most recently served as offensive coordinator for national powerhouse Maryland. After a difficult first quarter going down 3-0, HC finished the rest of the game strong, scoring four in the second quarter, three in the third quarter, and four in the fourth quarter to pull off the come from behind win by a score of 11-10.

Two Crusaders in particular helped to spark the comeback win, as both sophomore attacker Dean DiNanno and sophomore midfielder Cameron Magalotti recorded hat tricks in the win over the Pioneers. Junior attacker Will Spangenberg also recorded three assists and a goal to help HC get their season going. 

Lastly was the men and women’s track and field teams competing at Boston University against the Terriers at the Patriot League Challenge on Sunday, February 28th. Although there is no official Patriot League Championship for indoor track due to the inability to safely fit all teams in an indoor setting, this was the final and most important meet of the indoor season for the teams. 

On the womens’ side, impressive performances popped up throughout a multitude of both running and field events. Senior pole vaulter Christa Moore and sophomore Annie Lineberger finished in 1st and 2nd place respectively, with identical marks of 3.65 meters with just misses separating their places. In the one mile run, junior Sam Carroll won the event while posting a new PR of 5:10.68, just beating out teammate Kelsy O’Hara who finished in second place with a mark of 5:11.45. In the 400 meters, sophomore Laura Turner ran 58.26 for the win, while teammate Kate Ashley narrowly finished in second, setting a new PR of 58.26 seconds. In her collegiate debut, freshman Rhiannon Richmond won the 3K with a time of 10:27.05. 

On the men’s side, junior Corey Kumamoto finished in first place in the 800m, running 1:55.92 and then returned to run a speedy 49.5 leg of the 4×400 meter relay. In his open 400 meter debut, junior Will Hornyak ran 50.79, setting a new PR in the process after making the transition down from middle distance. Senior jumper Michael Pichay won both the long and triple jump, reaching distances of 7.04 meters and 14.77 meters respectively. Junior TJ Duggan finished in second place in the pole vault, setting a new PR of 4.45 meters. Lastly, freshman Michael Mazzocca had a strong debut for HC, finishing second in the high jump with a height of 1.98 meters, and first in the 60 meter hurdles, running a time of 8.52 seconds.

Congratulations to these teams and athletes on great performances and best of luck to teams competing this week!