EJ Day dribbles on Anna Maria defender Jakai Alexandre during a recent game. He surpassed 1000 career points earlier this season during his senior season. Photo courtesy of Janard Jones/Lasell Athletics
By Josh Wolmer & LJ VP LaFiura
The winter season for Laser sports is almost over and it has been historic. Men’s and women’s basketball as well as track and field are having some of their best seasons in recent history. Multiple players have recorded individual program records and milestones.
“Records being broken at this rate has never happened before,” Director of Athletics Kristy Walter said. “It is amazing to see all these athletes who play together be able to celebrate everything at once.”
Men’s basketball racked up four individual achievements on the way to the third best record in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC). Seniors EJ Day, Kevin Nunez, and graduate student Kevin Vanderhorst each passed the 1,000 career point mark during this season. Nunez completed the feat in November, while Day and Vanderhorst hit 1,000 a couple of weeks apart in January and February.
Kevin Vanderhorst attempts a free throw in a game earlier this season. On top of collecting career point 1000, he broke the school rebound record with 27. The next game he had 26. Photo courtesy of Janard Jones/Lasell Athletics
Vanderhorst also set the single-game rebound record, grabbing 27 rebounds during a win against Colby Sawyer, he nearly surpassed this record in the following game.
The women’s basketball team broke two records this season. In November, senior Meg Carroll set the single game scoring record, scoring 39 points versus Northern Vermont University – Johnson in her team’s first win of the season.
“At the time I had no idea that I broke the record . . . Assistant Coach Jamal [Smith] told me I had that many points,” Carroll said. “I only found out when my teammates were going crazy in the locker room. It was a surreal moment.”
First-year guard, Jasmine Depina, set the single game rebound record last month with 27.
The men’s track team has also set four program records this season. At the John Thomas Terrier Classic meet at Boston University, three Lasers broke records. First-year Brady Mackechnie recorded a time of 9.57 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles. Junior Zachary Kirsch reached the mark of 12.89 meters in the triple jump. Junior Ben Abely also recorded a time of 23.12 seconds in the 200-meter dash. A couple of weeks later, Abely was at it again, beating the record of the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.26 seconds.
“It means a lot,” said Abely. “It shows that I could come back, work hard at practice and show I hadn’t fallen off since the pandemic.”
With more games left to play this season there are still opportunities for records to be broken. The men’s and women’s basketball playoffs are just beginning and track and field athletes will still compete at the New England Division III Championships on Feb. 26 and 27.
The spring season provides more chances for Lasers to break records. Men’s lacrosse goalie Alex Beauchemin already broke the record last year for most wins in team history and should continue to add to it during his senior season.
Lasell fans will have to follow closely this spring to see if any other records can be broken.
Comments