While most students were enjoying time away from school over winter break, the basketball and swim teams continued to represent Whitman. Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams began their conference play in early January, playing six games each before the start of spring semester. The swim team also kicked off its season in mid-January and has completed its regular season at the time of publication. 

Men’s Basketball

The men’s basketball team had a rocky start to the season, coming into the new semester with a conference record of 2-4. The Blues began conference play on a stronger note, besting Pacific University 92-88. The team played Willamette University the next day in a tight 55-58 defeat. To finish off the homestand, Whitman faced Whitworth in the Battle of the Whits and were dominated, losing by 30 points.

Head Coach John Lamanna attributed many of the team’s struggles over winter break to roster inconsistencies due to health.

“We’ve been consistent with inconsistencies in regards to our roster and having everybody suited up and ready to play who’s supposed to,” Lamanna said. “On the flip side, though, we’ve been able to see certain individuals get opportunities that maybe wouldn’t have gotten opportunities because of sickness and injuries that have bitten us a little bit.”

The team ended winter break on the road, losing back-to-back games against Linfield University and Lewis & Clark. In the final game before spring semester, the Blues defeated George Fox University 93-88. 

Despite a lackluster performance to start out the season, some of the team’s struggles have become points of learning.

“On the defensive side of the floor, we’re focused on doing a much better job of guarding the ball,” Lamanna said. “Offensively, we’ve looked at how we can execute better, meaning setting screens and reading screens. Everything in our offense is read-based, and we’ve been delayed with how we’re reading what the defense is doing.”

Women’s Basketball

The women’s team started the new semester with a conference record of 4-2. They kicked off their conference play with three wins at home, defeating Pacific University and Willamette University for their first two games, and ended the homestand with a dominant 74-39 performance against Whitworth. The Blues hit the road with three conference wins under their belt to face Linfield University, where they faced their first loss of the season. The team then faced Lewis & Clark, walking away with another loss. For the final stop of the road trip, the Blues faced George Fox University, where they collected a 79-66 win before heading back to campus for the start of the spring semester.

“Being a young team, we’ve had a lot to learn, but also coming out six and two in the first round of the conference games is a really big win for us,” junior guard Holly Morgan said. “One of our main challenges is communicating on the court. We’re very good at communicating off the court, and we’re always talking, but I think being young and new, we haven’t fully nailed down the communication aspect.”

Swimming

The swim team started their season towards the tail end of winter break in Salem, Ore., against Willamette University. Both squads came out on top, with the men scoring 117-87 and the women scoring 109-89. In addition to the team victories, first-year Eliot Yung took home top honors with a time of 50.00 for the 100-yard freestyle.

“We’ve definitely pushed ourselves to our max,” Yung said. “We’ve been pushed with practices that Coach Jen [Blomme] and Coach [Andrew] Hanson have given us that we might not have expected going into the season.”

In the second meet of the season against Linfield University, the men’s team won while the women’s team lost. Since returning to campus for the spring semester, both squads have had three meets; the men’s team has won one and the women’s team none.

“The hardest part of meets for the team and I was keeping a positive mindset,” Yung said, “especially when we get tired after our practices, and we have to swim these back-to-back meets. It gets hard to persevere and to stay focused and to keep your mind on the common goal that we all have.”

With the spring semester in full effect, students are back to support all of the teams on campus, which have an exciting slate of sports ahead of them. Both basketball teams have five conference games remaining in the season to push for Northwest Conference tournament eligibility, and the swim team will compete in the NWC Championship from Feb. 13-15.