#WeeklyRundown: Flyers athletics start strong for new semester
Only have a minute? Catch-up on all your favorite Flyer sports, from cross country to basketball. Photo of UD Arena courtesy of Shawn McLaws/Rooted Media.
Taylor Robertson | Sports Editor
As the second semester begins, the Flyer student-athletes are off to a successful start.
Cross Country and Track & Field
The Women’s Cross Country and Track and Field team headed to University of Kentucky on Friday and Saturday to open their indoor season at the Jim Green T&F Invitational.
Freshman Chante Clinkscale broke an 18-year-old school record in the 60m dash with a time of 7.43s finishing first in the finals. Teammate Kaira Granger ran the fourth best all time at UD in the 60m with a time of 7.66s and placed ninth overall in the 200m dash with a time of 25.48s.
Taylor Flight placed fifth overall in the shot put with a throw of 13.20m and in the weight throw with a distance of 17.51m. On the distance side, Melissa Weidner finished the 5k run in 17:53.55s and placed second overall.
Tennis
The Men’s Tennis team opened their spring season on Saturday against University of Kentucky at the Hilary J. Boone Varsity Tennis Club in Lexington. Dayton drops to 0-2 on the season.
The Flyer’s fell 5-0 in the first match, senior Joe Demarco and junior Matt Demarco kept up with Kentucky’s Pair of Joshua Lapadat and J.J. Mercer, who are ranked as the 34th best doubles pair in the country.
Junior Connor Bruce faced off with the reigning ITA National Player of the year, Liam Draxl, and kept up with him early on before falling in straight sets. In the second match of the day between the two, the Flyers fell 4-0 with different matchups at each position.
Saturday night the Women’s Tennis team fell to Xavier in their spring season opener at Eastern Hills Indoor Tennis Club in Cincinnati. The loss put Dayton’s record at 2-1 on the season while Xavier improves to 2-0.
Senior, Claire Ghidotti, and junior, Paige Kompa picked up victories in their debut for the Flyer’s. In the sixth singles flight, Ghidotti won in straight sets over Xavier’s Natalie Moyer. Kompa earned her fourth win of the season after dropping the first set and winning the final two frames.
Basketball
On Saturday the Men’s basketball team defeated Duquesne in Pittsburgh 72-52.
Freshman DaRoln Holmes ll and redshirt freshman Kobe Elvis both set career highs in scoring with 18 and 16 points.
Holmes ll has been named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week after his efforts in the victories over St. Louis and Duquesne. DaRon is currently ranked No. 1 nationally among freshman and fifth overall with 37 dunks.
To wrap up the week, the Women’s Basketball team defeated Saint Louis 77-59 at UD arena Sunday afternoon.
With only a minute left in the third quarter, sophomore Makira Cook and graduate student Erin Whalen made back-to-back jumpers putting the Flyer’s up 15 points.
The Flyers improve to 11-3 on the season while SLU falls to 4-9 going into the rest of Atlantic-10 play.
The Flyer’s have a busy week ahead of them, starting with two games on Tuesday.
What’s coming this week:
- Jan. 18th @ 12:00p.m. UD Men’s Tennis vs. University of Louisville.
- Jan. 18th @ 7:00p.m. Men’s Basketball vs. St. Bonaventure at UD Arena.
- Jan. 19th @ 7:00p.m. Women’s Basketball vs. UMASS at Mullins Center.
- Jan. 21st Women’s XC/T&F at Indiana University.
- Jan. 21st @ 7:00p.m. Men’s Tennis vs. Xavier at South Regency Tennis Center.
- Jan. 22nd @ 7:00p.m. Men’s Basketball vs. George Mason in Fairfax, Virginia.
- Jan. 22nd @ 2:30p.m. Women’s Tennis vs. Cleveland State at South Regency Tennis Center.
- Jan. 23rd @ 10:00a.m. Women’s Tennis vs University of Cincinnati at South Regency Tennis Center.
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