Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

Buzzer beater snaps slide for men’s hoops

The Carleton College men’s basketball team didn’t just halt a 10-game losing streak with a 54-52 victory over red-hot Bethel on Monday night. The Knights did so in dramatic fashion as Tom Sawatzke drained a three-pointer at the buzzer to secure the win and snap Carleton’s longest slide since dropping 12 straight games during the 1984-85 campaign. The recent losing streak included four setbacks by two or less points. Sawatzke matched his career high on Monday with 5 three-pointers and finished with a game-high 17 points. Video of the game-winning shot can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru0X8cVXMlI

Another Thorpe Pool record bites the dust

During the Senior Day meet against St. Olaf, the Carleton College quartet of Erik Klontz (Jr./Bethesda, Md./Bethesda-Chevy Chase), Mamoru Kanazawa (Jr./Tokyo, Japan/St. Mary's International School), Benito Ramirez (So./Saint Louis Park, Minn./Minneapolis South), and Ross Brown (So./Chippewa Falls, Wis./Chippewa Falls) won the 200-yard freestyle relay, posting a Thorpe Pool-record time of 1:25.47, bettering the previous standard of 1:26.57 established in 2008 by St. Cloud State University. All told three pool records have been broken this season.

Knights tabbed to Collegiate Baseball Watch List

Five members of the Carleton College baseball team were named to Collegiate Baseball’s annual NCAA Division III National “Players to Watch” list. The quintet are southpaw Paul Dimick (Sr./Northfield, Minn.), righthander Anderson Cole (So./Aspen, Colo.), catcher Jeff Dsida (So./Winnetka, Ill./New Trier), infielder Alex Wirta (Sr./Corte Madera, Calif./Redwood), and outfielder Ray Yong (So./Elmhurst, Ill./York). Dimick is already in the Knights all-time top 10 in a multitude of statistics, including innings pitched, era, starts, appearances, and saves.  Cole had a tremendous rookie campaign and was one of the Knights’ top hurlers, posting a 2.65 ERA, tops on the staff and fifth-best in the MIAC among pitchers with at least 35 innings pitched. Dsida took over the catching duties as a rookie and hit a robust .370 while pacing the Knights in slugging (.519) and ranking second in the MIAC with a .485 on-base percentage. Wirta led the team with a .388 batting average and 40 hits, while finishing second on the roster in runs and RBI. Yong hit .314, led the MIAC with 15 doubles, and boasted team highs in RBI and runs scored.

Thanks for coming, Mom, sorry I took out your record

HU swimmer Hannah Hawker broke her way into the school All-Time Top Ten when she won the 100-Yard Backstroke in a meet against Concordia last Friday when she clocked in at 1:02.26. Her mother, Holly Bowman, was on hand to witness the event. But one could excuse her if she had mixed feelings about it. Hawker’s entrance into the record book knocked out the No. 10 swimmer, a woman whose effort of 1:03.38 had been on the books since 1984. Her name? Holly Bowman

Women’s hockey on record win streak
Hamline’s women’s hockey team did more than just move over the .500 mark for the season when they swept St. Ben’s, 2-1 and 4-3. The Pipers have won four conference games in a row for the first time in the 12-year history of the program. Corinne Henning and Haley Johnson scored twice in Saturday’s 4-3 win that pushed the Pipers’ overall mark to 8-7-1. They are 4-5-1 in the MIAC.

Big home weekend for St. Kate's swimmers

Burns picks up the pace

Saint John's senior point guard Andy Burns (Shorewood, Minn./Minnetonka) returned to form with an average of 16 points and 4.5 assists per game with a .600 shooting percentage (12-for-20), including 75.0 percent (3-for-4) from beyond the arc, and a 3.00 assist/turnover ratio in the Johnnies’ pair of wins last week. He posted 19 points, five assists and no turnovers in the 64-50 win at Saint Mary’s Jan. 25, and ended the week with 13 points and four assists in the 57-56 in against Carleton Jan. 28. Burns entered the week with a .320 shooting percentage, including 24.7 percent from three-point range, and a 1.88 assist/turnover ratio on the season. Both shooting percentages are career lows. Burns enters Wednesday’s game at St. Thomas with 956 career points, 44 shy of becoming the 33rd Johnnie to reach the 1,000-point mark. He is currently third in school history with 355 career assists and fourth with 145 career three-pointers.

Moncada, Johnnie tennis starts season this weekend

Saint John’s begins its 2012 season with a pair of matches against non-Division III schools, South Dakota State and St. Cloud State, this Saturday, Feb. 4, at Gold’s Gym in Sartell. The Johnnies aim to improve on a disappointing ninth-place finish (2-7 MIAC, 8-9 overall) last spring. Junior Fabricio Moncada (Managua, Nicaragua/Lincoln International Academy), a two-time All-MIAC honoree at No. 1 singles, begins the 2012 campaign ranked fourth in the ITA Central Region Preseason Rankings. Moncada finished second at the USTA/ITA Midwest Regional this past fall (Oct. 2) in St. Peter.

Fighting to the finish
Last Saturday’s 5-4 overtime loss at Augsburg was the 11th Saint Mary's University men's hockey game this season that has been decided by one goal or less. Only two of the Cardinals’ 19 games have been decided by more than two goals.

Ending the streak(s)
With their 55-50 win at Saint Benedict last Wednesday, the Saint Mary's University women's basketball team put an end to a pair of streaks that started during the 1986-87 season. SMU put an end to a 26-game losing streak at Saint Benedict, while also completing its first season sweep of the Blazers since beating CSB 57-53 and 59-42 during the 1985-86 season. The Cardinals finished 20-2 and placed third in the NCAA Division III Regional that year.

Hitting his stride
Michael Burfeind (Lewiston, Minn.) tossed in 22 points against Concordia on Monday,  marking  the ninth time this season the SMU junior has scored 20 or more points. Burfeind, who scored a career-high 38 points against Concordia in the team's first meeting against Concordia on Dec. 7, has now scored in double figures in double figures in 18 of the team's 19 games — including SMU's top five individual offensive outputs.

Terrific start to 2012