Winter 2011 newsletter
To: Alumni C-Club Members
From: Bill Huyck ‘53
Subject: Somewhat Quarterly News
Greetings from Carleton!
1) Note that Carleton has joined a lot of other schools, including the Ivy’s, in establishing a mechanism for handling gifts to athletics (varsity, club, and IM) here: the Carleton Athletic Initiative or CAI (not to be confused with the CIA). With considerable loss from the September floods, this can bring welcome help to programs that have suffered and simply allow those donors who have specific interests to support them. About $321,000 was raised in 2010. Please look it up on the Carleton website at: https://apps.carleton.edu/campus/development/athletics/
2) Long-term athletic director Leon Lunder retires to the honest work of coaching shot-putters, hammer and discus throwers, and teaching gym classes this winter. His years of good and hard work will be recognized at and after the home basketball games on February 19th. For more information about the Leon Lunder Tribute event, visit: https://apps.carleton.edu/athletics/lunder_tribute/. The CAI encourages gifts in his honor on this occasion.
3) Thanks to my lousy penmanship, one of the several terribly important issues in the autumn letter became slightly confused. I wanted to convey the ever-increasing difficulty, even in Division III, that female coaches have in maintaining a home, raising a family, coaching/teaching, and recruiting sufficiently to have successful programs. This came across as gender neutral in the last letter, and that is not true; it’s female coaches who face this unfortunate dilemma, not men.
4) The fall sports were down a bit from recent years, with four sports carrying the season:
Women’s Soccer: MIAC champs and national tourney competitors
Men’s Soccer: Tied for 2nd in the MIAC
Women’s Cross Country: 3rd of 12 in the MIAC
Women’s Golf: 4th in the MIAC
The Women’s Soccer team was particularly successful, getting to the second round of the NCAA Div III nationals for the third year in a row. Senior defender Leigh-Ann Borkowski (Elverta, CA) was named All-American. At one point, they had a 16 game winning streak. They were ranked 15th in the country. Six Carls were on the All Region team!
Coach Keren Gudeman (a St. Paul Academy grad, played at Harvard, MA from the U. of Chicago) runs a model program. She recruits very well (from a surprisingly wide geographical population), teaches sports with enthusiasm and skill, and runs a tight ship. It can be done!
5) Carleton teams and coaches managed the September flood with commendable flexibility, patience, and focus. A closed Stadium and West Gym and flooded fields were a bother, but did not detract from the tasks at hand. Basketball teams trained at Cowling and every high school gym for miles around before getting back into the West Gym toward Christmas. Volleyball and football played on the road.
6) Now, well into the winter season, men’s basketball looks strong; both swim teams are (what’s new?) competitive; and women’s basketball is experiencing some transitional pain, while new coach Cassie Kosiba ’03 gets her system installed and brings in some players.