Photo credit: Molly Choma/ USABS (bobsled) / 2018 Getty Images (hockey and skiing)
THE IVIES OF TEAM USA
It’s no secret schools in the Ivy League have a reputation for stellar academics. But during the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, it’s the conference’s Olympians that will take center stage. The league has 16 current or former student-athletes competing for Team USA in South Korea from more than half of its schools.
Brown
The Brown Bears have two student-athletes suiting up for Team USA in PyeongChang: Evan Weinstock, a former track and field athlete, and Lauren Gibbs, a former volleyball player. Both will compete in their first Olympic Winter Games for the U.S. in the sport of bobsled.
Weinstock was a four-time Ivy League champion in track and field, winning the Ivy League heptagonal championship in both the heptathlon and decathlon as a junior. Meanwhile, Gibbs earned All-Ivy honors and was named team captain during her senior season.
“I truly loved my time at Brown,” Gibbs said. “Learning to navigate the complexities of being a student-athlete at an academically rigorous institution taught me time management and work ethic, which has served me well in business and in sport.”
Cornell
Jamie Greubel Poser is the lone Big Red collegiate athlete on Team USA. A former track and field student-athlete at Cornell, she is poised to make waves on the bobsled track in South Korea after picking up a bronze medal with Aja Evans (Illinois) in Sochi.
While at Cornell, Greubel Poser competed in both the heptathlon and pentathlon, winning three heptathlon Ivy League championships and one pentathlon conference championship. Outside of collegiate athletics, she also grew as a person during her time at Cornell.
"College sports taught me how to train as an elite athlete, how to perform at an elite level, and it also taught me how to push myself past the limits that I thought I had."
Dartmouth
Dartmouth boasts eight student-athletes on Team USA in three different sports – cross-country skiing, biathlon and alpine skiing. In all, the Big Green has the second-largest collegiate contingent on the 2018 U.S. Olympic Team, behind Minnesota.
Five student-athletes are competing as members of the cross-country team: cousins Sophie and Patrick Caldwell, Rosie Brennan, Annie Hart and Ida Sargent. Brennan, P. Caldwell and Hart are all first-time Olympians, while S. Caldwell is back for her second Olympic Winter Games.
Alpine skier David Chodounsky is taking to the slopes in his second Games alongside biathlete Susan Dunklee. Meanwhile, Emily Dreissigacker is making her first Olympic appearance in the sport of biathlon.
Harvard
The Crimson have two student-athletes competing as teammates on the 2018 U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team. One of four current men’s ice hockey athletes that is still competing collegiately, Ryan Donato has proven to be an offensive force on the front line for Harvard. In two full seasons in Cambridge, the forward nearly doubled his point output, from 21 points as a freshman to 40 points as a sophomore.
Joining Donato is former Crimson Noah Welch. Welch competed for Harvard from 2001-2005 and was a two-time All-American defenseman. He registered 76 points in 129 career games, while helping the Crimson reach the NCAA tournament in each of his four years. Alongside Donato, Welch is a first-time Olympian.
Yale
The Yale Bulldogs are the second-largest collegiate contingent on the 2018 U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team, with three skaters set to wear red, white and blue in PyeongChang.
Brian O’Neill, Mark Arcobello and Broc Little all are first-time Olympians who played together as teammates at Yale under head coach Keith Allain, who is making his third Olympic coaching appearance in 2018 as an assistant coach for the men’s team.
O’Neill was a first-team all-ECAC selection in 2011 and 2012, received Ivy League Player of the Year honors in 2012 and helped the Bulldogs to an NCAA championship in 2012. In 2009, Arcobello was a first-team all-ECAC selection and all-Ivy selection. Meanwhile, Little was named first-team all-Ivy in 2011 and currently sits fifth in the record books in goals (72) and career points (142).
The Ivy League’s impact on Team USA is far reaching, with representation in five different sports in South Korea. Outside of Team USA, the conference’s impact extends internationally, as many Ivies can also be found representing other delegations in PyeongChang.
Ice hockey
Harvard’s Ryan Donato netted a pair of power-play goals to lift the U.S. men over Slovakia, 2-1, in their second preliminary matchup in PyeongChang at the Gangneung Hockey Centre. Mercyhurst’s Ryan Zapolski turned away 21 of 22 shots en route to Team USA’s first regulation victory of the preliminary round.
The U.S. jumped out to a 1-0 lead midway through the first period after Donato buried a shot from Denver’s Troy Terry and Boston University’s Chris Bourque. Twenty-five seconds later, Slovakia answered with the equalizer, and the two teams remained tied until the third period.
The red, white and blue regained a 2-1 lead early in the final period after Donato, assisted by Yale’s Mark Arcobello and Bourque, capitalized on another power-play opportunity. The goal marked Donato’s second of the game and Bourque’s second assist of the contest, as well.
The U.S. closes preliminary round play against the Olympic Athletes from Russia Saturday at the Gangneung Hockey Centre.
Read more about the win on TeamUSA.org.
Cross-country skiing
Two of the three U.S. collegiate athletes who competed in the 15k freestyle placed in the top-45 Friday afternoon at the Alpensia Cross-Country Centre. Scott Patterson, a former skier at Vermont, recorded the highest Team USA finish, ending the race in 21st place with a time of 35:28.0. The first-time Olympian’s pace was 1:44.1 off the gold medal-winning time of 33:43.9, set by Switzerland’s Dario Cologna.
A two-time Olympian and Alaska Pacific student-athlete, Erik Bjornsen crossed the finish line in 41st place with a time of 3:28.6, the second-highest time of an American in the competition. Bjornsen competed in this event for the first time at a Games, after placing 18th at the 2017 world championships. Behind Bjornsen, first-time Olympian Tyler Kornfield (Alaska Fairbanks) skied to a 74th-place finish with a time of 38:17.9, less than five seconds off the gold medal pace.
Men's cross-country skiing continues February 18 with the 4x10k relay.
Skeleton
After entering the final two heats in 13th place, SUNY Plattsburgh’s John Daly closed out his 2018 Olympic skeleton competition with a 16th-place finish Friday at the Olympic Sliding Centre.
Daly’s four runs yielded a combined time of 3:25.35. The former collegiate track and field athlete posted times of 51.33 seconds and 51.64 seconds in his final two runs, which moved him back three spots in the standings.
Kendall Wesenberg, a club soccer athlete at Colorado, sits in 17th after the first two heats of the women’s race. The first-time Olympian slid a 55:77 in the first heat and 52:96 in the second heat, ending with a 1:45.73 in the cumulative race time.
Wesenberg continues competition February 17 at 8:20 p.m. KST.
2/17: w. cross-country skiing (4x5k relay)
6:30 p.m. KST (2:30 a.m. MT)
S. Caldwell (Dartmouth), S. Bjornsen (Alaska Pacific), K. Randall (Alaska Pacific)
2/17: w. skeleton
8:20 p.m. KST (4:20 a.m. MT)
K. Wesenberg (Colorado)
2/17: m. ice hockey (USA vs. OAR)
9:10 p.m. KST (5:10 a.m. MT)
Boston College, Boston University, Clarkson, Denver, Ferris State, Harvard, Mercyhurst, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, New Hampshire, St. Cloud State, Vermont, Yale
Full schedule
