As another year draws to a close, it is important to recognize the indelible effects this senior class has left upon the club sports programs here at Whitman. They have experienced both growth and depletion in the past four years, but each has definitively left a mark on Whitman’s athletic harmony.
“My freshman year was the first year that all club sports budgets were subsumed under the athletic department,” said senior Erin Morris, the student representative for the Club Sports Committee. “Before then, students could go to many offices to ask for money, but this collected all those funds under one body.”
Morris explained that each year since her arrival at Whitman, club sports have become more cohesive and better organized. The creation of the Club Sports Committee her first year has enabled voices from all over the campus to administer the programs. The committee is made up of representatives from the athletic department, ASWC, student services and the general student body.
“Club sports as a whole have made leaps and bounds of progress in terms of organization, accessibility and commitment to students since I started here,” said Morris.
This progress has, in many cases, translated into success and heightened involvement.
Senior Haley Woods, captain of the Whitman Motherruckers rugby team, has seen marked enlargement of the program since her arrival.
“There has been an increased interest in women’s rugby as the years progress and our team gets larger,” said Woods, who commented that despite their battles with player retention each year, a group of dedicated girls has emerged who will take the team to the next level.
“I think I’m leaving a pretty strong team behind and I am excited to see how they do in the next year,” said Woods. “I fully intend to come back for Alumni Weekend next year and see what it’s like to play against them.”
For the men’s rugby team, the Reapers, the number of players has skyrocketed over the past four years, according to volunteer coach Eric McAlvey. When McAlvey started coaching in 2001, the team was typically only about 17 players deep and often faced difficulty getting players to practices and play on road trips.
“Now in the fall our roster is generally 28 or more players,” said McAlvey. “The added depth enables us to draw upon more talented players as well as exposing many more students to the game of rugby.”
The team’s record has improved with this increase, as the team won a record nine games last year, and has led to a rising awareness and love for the sport.
“Rugby builds a tremendous amount of camaraderie amongst all players that is unlike any other sport, and I know that all of my players would attest to that,” said McAlvey. “From day one players see how awesome the game is both off and on the pitch.”
Senior Todd Hawes, a member of the Reapers since his first year, names rugby as one of the things that has changed his life at Whitman.
“I thank my teammates for some of my greatest memories and our coach for teaching me a lot about athletics and life,” said Hawes.
As a sport that gets hardly any recognition, fencing at Whitman has stayed relatively under the radar, but with a recent influx of interest from first-years it seems that the club will see a continued increase in participation.
The team attends two types of events: seminars and tournaments.
“Our team has sent representatives every year [to a multi-day seminar in Seattle],” said senior Stephen Parkin, club captain and head instructor. “This has helped us become known within the greater Northwest fencing community, which has grown spectacularly in the last few years.”
In tournaments, the team typically does very well, and consistently brings home medals from each tournament.
“Our beginning and intermediate level fencers especially tend to do a fine job, which goes to show the efficacy of our emphasis on mastering the fundamentals and on careful, controlled and graceful fencing,” said Parkin. Because of this, Parkin expects the team to continue to do well in upcoming years.
Despite growth for many programs, there are a few programs to which Whitman has had to say goodbye in the past years.
Women’s softball essentially folded in the fall of 2007, due to a lack of turnout.
“Since our captain left Whitman it was kind of left up in the air and up to the rest of us to keep the team together, but there wasn’t really enough people left for it to be a legitimate team anymore,” said junior Kristianne Chavez. However, there are hopes of rekindling a team in years to come.
The coed ice hockey team will be defunct at the end of this year, as the majority of the players are graduating, including club founder and captain Morris. Morris started the club as a first-year.
“I am sad to see it die as I graduate, but I am grateful to have made it go for my four years,” said Morris. “It has been a wonderful experience for me and it hurts to know students next year won’t have this opportunity, but it was worth every hour I put into it.”
The team played their final game ever on Saturday, May 9 at 1 p.m. against the Walla Walla Adult League.
Overall, the club sports scene is on the rise, with new sports added almost every year.
“I think club sports will continue to grow and succeed as it continues to be more supported and organized,” said Morris. “It provides many students the opportunity to participate in numerous athletic endeavors.”
