Little Threes and Frisbees!

Having chaired the NESCAC Conference meetings in Boston last week (it was my turn to run the meetings for our athletic conference), I took great interest in the athletic events on campus as we approach the end of the semester. We’ve been a member of the conference since it was created in 1971, but long before we were part of a much longer tradition of athletic competition, The Little Three. Amherst, Williams, and Wesleyan were grouped in athletics in 1910, and Google tells me this is “believed to be the oldest continuous intercollegiate conference in the US without a change in membership.”

This year has been record-setting for Wesleyan in the Little Three, as we have won 10 championships across the three sports seasons. Our previous high was 8. This spring, baseball, women’s and men’s lacrosse, women’s tennis, and men’s crew have all been awarded Little Three crowns.

Spring sports have more to celebrate than Little Threes. Our track and field athletes have been winning their share of races, and sophomore Steve Paul has been burning up the track in the sprints. He won both the 100m and the 200m in the NESCAC tournament, and that makes him the first Wesleyan student to take a first place in more than a decade!

Of course, there are some non-NESCAC sports that are played with an equal amount of skill and exuberance. It’s a pleasure to mention our two frisbee teams: the men, Nietzch Factor, and the women, Vicious Circles. Nietzch had a great season and just fell a bit short of their national goal last week in a tough regional competition. Our VC team is defending its national title, and last week they won the regional tournament as preparation for the final push. Somehow the team plays with cool abandon, and we wish them luck as they go to the nationals.

Here’s a clip of both teams singing the fight song.