In the closest vote of the D Sports Awards yet, Yejadai Dunn ’16 emerged victorious with 50.9 percent of the votes. Close behind was Kaitlin Whitehorn ’16, garnering 36.4 percent. Jaclyn Leto ’16 took home 9.1 percent while both Katie McEachern ’16 and Laura Stacey ’16 each received 1.8 percent of the votes. Dunn’s victory marks the third victory coming for women’s rugby in three votes for best moment, best rookie and best female athlete. Dunn will go on this summer to compete among national talent and potentially secure a spot on the USA Eagles.
Brian McLaughlin ’18 turned in a fantastic season for the men’s Alpine ski team that earned him All-American First Team honors in the slalom after a third place finish in the NCAA Championships. McLaughlin finished both of the day’s runs in a total time of1 minute 24.68 seconds.
Consistently ranked in the top 15 in giant slalom and slalom rankings for the East Coast, he entered the Championship as the fourth ranked skier in the East. This was due in large part to his incredible consistency on the slopes.
He finished no lower than fourth during his carnival season, including five podium finishes in the six races he completed. Those podium results included second place finishes in the first Carnival of the season at Bates College as well as back-to-back second place finishes at the Dartmouth and Williams College Carnivals.
The Topsfield, Massachusetts native will play an integral role in the men’s Alpine ski team’s success once again next season.
Although the Dartmouth baseball team had its run of eight consecutive Red Rolfe division titles broken this past season, starting pitcher Duncan Robinson ’16 continued to dominate opposing batters on the mound.
Having been a standout pitcher for much of his time in Hanover, Robinson became the Big Green Pitcher of the Year his sophomore year, was the Ivy League Pitcher of the Year his junior year and had a superb senior season, landing him a spot on the 2016 All-Ivy League first team.
Winning first team honors for the third straight season, he now joins a group of only 23 Ivy League players all-time to achieve this dominance over three seasons, and the first one from Dartmouth to do so in seven years.
Across all the most important metric for pitchers in 2016, Robinson topped all competitors, posting the best strikeout percentage, lowest walk percentage and the best fielding-independent pitching mark in the conference.
When Nick Bligh ’16 went down with an injury against the University of Vermont on Jan. 8, it seemed the men’s hockey team may have been on the verge of losing the momentum they had gained from their victory in the Ledyard Classic. However, Jack Barre ’16 picked up the slack in the Big Green’s offense created by Bligh’s absence. The Big Green rolled to nine wins in its next 12 games, and during that stretch, Barre was the team’s primary offensive catalyst.
In many ways, Barre is the quintessential Dartmouth hockey player. He is highly responsible in his own end, a diligent shot blocker, a key penalty killer and tremendously hard-working in the offensive zone. In the 2015-2016 season, he consistently went to the dirty areas of the ice and was rewarded on the score sheet.
Despite playing just a few shifts in the postseason before being sidelined with injury, Barre led the Big Green in goals, assists and points, while posting a plus-18 rating that led the entire Ivy League. Barre was named First Team All-Ivy and received the Phelan Award as the team’s Most Valuable Player.
Dartmouth men’s soccer won its second consecutive Ivy League title behind the phenomenal season from co-captain and goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland ’16. The senior from Dayton, Ohio posted a .62 goals-against average, .25 points better than the second closest player that saw at least 500 minutes.
After losing star striker Alex Adelabu ’15 last year, the men’s soccer team needed to find another driving force. No Dartmouth player scored more than four goals all season, but thanks to Cleveland, who was named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year and First Team All-Ivy, the team finished 12-6-1 overall and 6-1 in the Ivy League. Cleveland posted a 9-4-1 record in net, with all nine victories coming from clean sheets.
The team’s regular season title propelled the squad into the NCAA Tournament, where it defeated Hartwick College in the first round before losing to No. 6 Syracuse University in the second round. Cleveland was always quick to credit the team’s defense for for making his job easier, but nevertheless the goalkeeper played an integral part in the Big Green’s success.
As part of the team that led Dartmouth football to a share of its first Ivy League title in almost two decades, Will McNamara ’16 closed out a terrific Big Green career during the fall of 2015. The Chicago native led the team in tackles for a second straight year, notched the second most interceptions conference-wide and ranked fifth in the Ivy League in stops per game with 7.7. McNamara served as the linchpin of a stalwart Dartmouth defensive unit that led the entire nation with only 10.1 points yielded per game last season.
As a result of all of his achievements, the senior captain received a unanimous first-team All-Ivy selection at linebacker for the second straight season. McNamara also won the 2015 Reggie Williams Award at Dartmouth for leadership and was a defensive finalist for the Bushnell Cup, the award given to the best players in the Ivy League.
McNamara was part of the team that earned Dartmouth its first national ranking since 1996, named No. 23 in the FCS.