To completely cover both the spring and fall sports of 2018 in 700 or so words would trivialize how much has happened this past year. While I wish I could highlight all the incredible feats that the Trinity athletes accomplished this year, I will do my best to highlight the ones that blew my mind — and I’m sorry that I didn’t go to as many spring sports this year. I will change that this coming semester.
Last spring, I followed the highs and lows of the Trinity baseball team. They had a solid overall record of 33–9 and a good conference record going into the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) tournament but sadly fell to Centenary College. I followed them through my first-year roommate, who was a baseball player. As I would see him throughout the week or occasionally text him, I would learn how the team was progressing. Whether I received a simple “We won, they sucked” or a more flushed out answer like, “Their bullpen was just on fire the whole day, and we couldn’t get guys on bases,” it was nice to get an inside look into how our team was doing.
As for Track and Field, I kept up through some friends on the team. I would hear from them how they were running and how the team as a whole was doing. I must confess that the point system of track is incredibly confusing to me, and the one meet I watched proved to be far more complex than I thought it would be. At one point, I thought I was watching a race that turned out to just be a warm-up for a race that happened hours later. Additionally, I had a miniature heart attack each time someone would compete in a pole vaulting … vault? To see humans voluntarily fling their bodies in the air over a bar using a giant pole is both absolutely insane and incredibly impressive. The Trinity women’s track and field team won SCAC for the fourth year in a row, and the men placed second for the second year in a row. The Tigers sent eight athletes to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament, with each athlete placing. Then-senior Cody Hall placed second in the 110 meter hurdles and lost by 0.01 of a second, running it in 14.23 seconds — that’s really fast.
Moving to the fall sports, Trinity Men’s and Women’s Soccer absolutely annihilated their SCAC conferences, with each team boasting 17-win seasons and scoring goals for fun. In the NCAA tournament, the women’s team lost to No. 6 Hardin-Simmons University, and the men’s team bowed out in round 16 to No. 3 University of Chicago. Each team had some of their best seasons to date, with players making the all-SCAC team and winning SCAC honors.
My initial favorite moment of the fall season was watching Men’s Soccer come back from 2–0 down against U Chicago to tie 3–3 in double overtime. But it was dwarfed by the NCAA tournament held at Trinity. The men played against Chapman University and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Each game, I saw more Trinity students than I ever had at games.
It was heartwarming to watch as the student section collectively supported our team while also getting in the heads of the Chapman players. Heckling with a group united behind you is more fun than it really should be.
Trinity’s athletes have proven time and time again that they continue to balance athletics and academics, excelling in both. Trinity students all showed their support for their Tigers in some way or another.
But my time as a fan and an editor has also shown me that I need to go to more games and support more than just one or two sports. Our volleyball team had a stellar season that I sadly didn’t get to witness, and our basketball teams are starting expected-to-be stellar seasons, which I plan to follow closely.
So as the fall season draws to a close, I have a challenge for Trinity’s student body. There are going to be countless great individual efforts from our athletes this coming spring season. I plan to be at as many of them as I can, and I hope to see all of you there.
