Ivy League Sports

In the 1990s, Yale teams won Ivy League championships in five sports, and individual achievements during the decade ranged widely. In 1991, fencer Kristine Campbell was named to the NCAA All-Decade Fencing Team and was an NCAA Woman of the Year finalist. In 1992, lacrosse captain goalkeeper Cathy Sharkey also was a finalist for the NCAA Woman of the Year and was named a Rhodes Scholar. And, in 1998, field hockey alumna Lawrie Mifflin was named an NCAA Silver Anniversary Award Winner, a tribute to her efforts to start the first women’s sport at Yale in 1972 and her groundbreaking work as a newspaper writer and editor. Mifflin was the first woman from the Ivy League to be awarded this honor. (Story, page 118)

Yale had numerous achievements in swimming and diving in this decade, beginning by sharing the Ivy League title in 1992; the Elis claimed sole possession of the Ivy title in 1993, and then shared it again in 1995 and 1996. The dominant swimmers during this period were Suzanne Heizer and Melissa Dalrymple: Heizer claimed two firsts in both the 1993 and 1995 EWSL championships, while Dalrymple took two firsts in the 1995 championship; the two together won five events in the 1996 championships. In 1997, Yale’s swimmers and divers left 11 teams in their wake as they completed an undefeated dual-meet season.

The Yale fencing team dominated the League for three straight seasons beginning in 1996, taking Ivy championships with 5-0 League records each year. Three Yale fencers were named to the All-Ivy first team in foil in 1996, the most of any school in the League, and one of those fencers, Maggie Super, placed seventh in the foil competition at the NCAA championships that year as the top Ivy finisher.

Gymnastics at Yale had a distinguished record entering the decade, including seven Ivy League titles during the years that official League championships were held from 1976 through 1990. In the Ivy Classic, Yale took first place among four teams in 1993, 1995, and 1996. Barbara Tonry, women’s coach since the program began in 1973, has seen her teams win 61 Ivy dual meets with just six losses. During the 1990s, four Yale gymnasts have been accorded Ivy championship status in the all-around: in 1991, Alyce Forcellina led the League, while in 1992 Tasha Taylor won the title, followed by Erin Murphy in 1993. In 1996, Anna Mitescu and Stacey Johnson tied for the honor. In 1993, Yale’s gymnasts claimed the national All-Academic team title with a 3.530 cumulative average.

The 1993 softball team, under coach Kathy Arendsen, won the Ivy League title and had a 13-game winning streak. That championship team included Yale’s two all-time highest batting averages, achieved by Jennifer Fong and Becky Huinker, as well as pitcher Jennifer Surface, who was the Ivy Rookie of the Year.

Yale won the first team title at the inaugural Ivy League women’s golf championship, held at the Bethpage (N.Y.) Golf Course in April 1997. The first-ever All-Ivy women’s golf team included Yale’s Charity Barras, Natalie Wong, and Chawwadee Rompothong among its seven members. In April 1998, the Yale team returned to the same course to defend its title. Yale entered the concluding round even with Princeton at 325, and the Ivy title was in doubt until the final twosome met on the 18th hole, though neither Yale’s Natalie Wong nor Princeton’s Laura Gillmore was aware that the winner of that hole would determine the team title. When Gillmore shot a bogey and Wong made par, the Yale golfers celebrated their second Ivy title. Wong had led all golfers with a two-day score of 154 to claim individual medalist honors.

Another individual stood out for the Bulldogs in the fall of 1998 at the Heptagonal cross country championships when senior Ariana Kelly won the event. Kelly, who finished in a time of 17:40.9, became just the third Yale woman to win the title and the first since 1988.

Yale’s Olympic athletes during the period included Celita Schutz, who competed in judo, and Louise Van Voorhis, who competed in sailing, both at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.