Another season, another year of triumphs and defeats written into the history of Trinity athletics. Here are some highlights from the NCAA Division III athletic teams from the 2022-23 academic year.

Diving team
The diving team performed well at the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Championship and several National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) qualifiers. The season as what head coach Stan Randall described as both the product of hard work and the stepping stone for more great things to come.

When looking at the accomplishments of the Tigers diving team this season, Randall started with the SCAC championship. Randall applauded the divers for their ability to put up a good number of points and for their depth on the podium at the conference.

“Well, I’m proud to say that since when we started back in the conference in February, the divers came through. We won all four conference titles, two men and two women, for the high board (3 meters) and low board (1 meter) as well as seconds also on the board. This allowed the swim team to win the conference,” Randall said.

This win extended the combined Tigers swimming and diving team SCAC championship streak to 20 years for women and four for men. However, the SCAC Championship isn’t the only piece of silverware the Trinity diving team collected. Looking at the NCAA, three Tigers qualified to dive at the NCAA competition: Gabi Fulk, Alexis Radhakrishnan and Konstantine Partales.

With the season at an end, the diving team has now moved on to the next season with success. Randall expressed his excitement over the consistent performance of the team’s rising stars such as Alexis Radhakrishnan, Konstantine Partales and Garret Guillet. Randall stated that the improvement of the divers overtime will ensure a degree of depth in the team that will bring stability to their placements.

“I’m telling you right now, Konstantine and Alexis will win the 1 meter and 3 meters. On top of that, I think our new team captain Garret Guillet will be in a position to back up Konstantine with a second. Colorado [College] gave them a really good push. Garret [Guillet’s] performance at the conference clipped one of the three Colorado divers. That is huge as you don’t only get extra points for that, but you prevent extra points for the opposition. So I think Garret is going to back up Konstantine with a second on both boards to give that one-two punch,” Randall said.

Swimming team
Much like their diving counterparts, the Tigers swim team has seen much success this past season. They had both a successful SCAC season ending in a championship victory and placed 19th in the NCAA Division III tournament. The team also set up new standards for the future with the breaking of several school records in the women’s individual events (Neely Burns, Josie Gillentine, Julie Schwan and Caroline Myers) and in four male individual events (Michael Kohl, Kendall Southwell and John Key).

Moving on to relays, the women’s team has two relays that broke school records, the 200 medley relay and the 400 relay, with the swimmers being Julie Schwan, Josie Gillentine, Caroline Myers, Emma Hagen and Ely Burns. For the men’s relay, five have broken records for the 200 free relay, 400 free relay, 800 free relay, 200 medley relay and 400 media relay with the swimmers being Michael Kohl, Nolan Anthony, Nathan Early, Caleb Manifold, Matt Lanzara, Will Walker and Kendal Southwell.

Swimming team (cont.)
Looking past the records, we can also see that both teams had many of their standout moments throughout the season. When looking at the team in general, head coach, Cathleen Pruden said that she was proud of her team both in their cooperation with one another, and also in the standard they held themselves to throughout the year.

“I think the team excelled in their ability to improve from last year. For example, we put a greater focus on tempo and starts in our training this year, and the team did a good job intentionally improving those components of their races,” Pruden said.

With the season coming to an end, Pruden expressed that she looks forward to seeing the ability of the younger swimmers on the team for the upcoming season.

“I look forward to welcoming a new first-year class in the fall and getting them involved. We will have a big sophomore class that is now prepared for the college season since they have been through it once. We only graduated one of our 14 NCAA athletes, so I am excited to see continued improvement in our National Championship finish,” Pruden said.

Softball
The Tigers softball team’s season has not been what they hoped. However, this does not mean that the team is devoid of any success. Their accomplishments can be seen in several records broken including the home run record which was broken by shortstop Marina Delaluna at 16 home runs.

Team improvement has been one of the mainstays that head coach Abigail Martin said the team did well with over the season. Martin praised the younger players on the team for both adapting to the team as well as improving their performance.

“We have made steady improvements offensively the entire season. We made good adjustments off of all kinds of pitching. They are also just a pleasure to be around. I really love this team. Watching them face and grow through adversity has been interesting too. They are a strong group of young ladies with awesome attitudes. They understand the amount of work we still have to put in but are embracing the process,” Martin said.

When looking at the future, Martin stated that she wishes to continue both cultivating the future of the Trinity softball team and collecting more talent in the incoming first-year class. With both a strong foundation and plans for the future, the Tigers softball team looks to the future season for further improvement and success.

Women’s basketball
The Tigers women’s basketball team’s season was a great success with both a SCAC championship as well as making it to the third round of the NCAA Division III tournament. On top of that, there have also been many domestic successes inside the team, which head coach, Cameron Hill, described it as several breakthrough accomplishments for the team.

“I won’t remember them all, but a few notables would be Ashlyn Milton becoming the all-time leader in 3-pointers. We were ranked number one in the nation for five consecutive weeks. We had a 20-game winning streak. We won our regular season and the conference tournament for the third consecutive season. We broke the single-game scoring record with 140,” Hill said.

However, such a successful year has had many memorable moments for both the players and the coaches. Coach Hill described one moment as the pinnacle of the entire season: when Trinity hosted the SCAC finals and the NCAA first-round games, and the large crowds of Trinity students coming to cheer for the team lifted the spirits of the players.

“Hosting the SCAC tournament and then the first round of the NCAA tournament has to be the highlight of the year. Between those two weekends, the energy in the gym and the overwhelming support we felt from the entire university were incredible. We will never forget it and we are so grateful,” Hill said.

Looking into the future of the Tigers women’s basketball team, Hill has stated that no specific plans have been made so far. Hill clarified that there is always prep work and skills to improve on, and emphasized the important journey of the team for each individual season.

“I look forward to starting new every season. No matter how many players we have returning, each season is a fresh start for us. We try to always prepare ourselves for the next adventure,” Hill said.