Colleges

Steven Schier, the Dorothy H. and Edward C. Congdon Professor of Political Science, told USA Today on Feb. 8 that the recent low Republican turnout threatens the candidacy of Mitt Romney and is due to voter apathy towards the party's field. "Republicans are upset with their field," Schier said. "If you look at national polls, a large percentage would like other candidates. It's too late for that and many are stuck with unappealing choices. That produces low turnout and that's a real threat to Romney."

Carleton College will host a faculty and guest artist concert featuring the Chiarina Piano Quartet on Friday, Feb. 10 at 8 p.m. in the Concert Hall. Performers include Mary Budd Horozaniecki (violin), Nancy Nehring (viola), Mark Rudoff (cello), and David Viscoli (piano). The program will feature Ludwig van Beethoven's Quartet in C Major, Lee Hoiby's Dark Rosaleen, Rhapsody on an Air by James Joyce, and Johannes Brahms' Quartet in C Minor. This concert is free and open to the public.

Michael Coughlin ’12 (Burnsville, Minn.) of Carleton College has earned one of the 14 Churchill Scholarships, providing him a full scholarship to earn his master’s degree at the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge University. It is awarded to graduating seniors and recent graduates demonstrating exceptional academic talent, outstanding personal qualities, and a capacity to contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the sciences, engineering, or mathematics. Coughlin is the lone student from a Minnesota college or university to earn the award, worth between $45,000-50,000.

Instructor in Music Ray Shows (violin and viola) is celebrating the 25th anniversary of his ensemble, the Artaria String Quartet. "We're just taking care of chamber music to pass it on to the next generation," Shows told the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Annalee Wolf '89 also plays in the quartet.

Last Friday, Carleton College women’s track & field hosted its annual "Meet of the Hearts" and that seemed to be a fitting title, with senior distance runner Alison Smyth (Billings, Mont./West) showing plenty of heart in a standout performance. Smyth finished first in the women's mile with a time that helped her leap towards the top of the MIAC performance list and into the Top 25 nationally as well. For her performance, Smyth has been named the MIAC Women's Indoor Track Athlete-of-the-Week.

The Carleton College women's swimming and diving team got to test the waters for the MIAC Championships over the weekend at a similarly big event in the same pool, and the results were extremely encouraging for both the Knights and junior swimmer Erin McDuffie. She emerged as one of the top Division III freestylers at the meet, setting season-best times in two events and recording the fastest time of all D-III entrants in both events as well. For her performances, McDuffie secured her first career MIAC Women's Swimmer-of-the-Week award.

The Carleton College men's swimming and diving team and sophomore Jesse Gourevitch both appear to be peaking at the right time. Over the weekend Gourevitch had one of his best collegiate performances at the Minnesota Challenge, setting a season-best time in the 100-yard breaststroke and a lifetime best in the 200-yard breaststroke. For his performances, Gourevitch has been named the MIAC Men's Swimming and Diving Athlete-of-the-Week.

Dan McAlister '13 checks in with the Carleton Student Experimental Theater Board and their 24-Hour Show project. The team of students writes, casts, rehearses and performs a series of plays in a 24-hour time period, making for some interesting, creative work and a sleep-deprived group of Carls.

Student photographer Maria Kjellstrand '15 covered Ebony II, giving us an inside view of the ever-popular Carleton event. Ebony II is a student-run dance company open to beginners, experienced dancers, and everyone in between. All dance styles are welcome, and each term the company performs student choreography in a performance open to the entire campus (and attended by most of campus, too).

ST. PAUL, Minn. - St. Olaf senior Peter Rohn was named the MIAC's player of the week on Monday after he had six points in the Oles' sweep over Augsburg this weekend.

While many St. Olaf students went to their Interim class expecting to take notes, Kate Fridley '14 showed up to her Interim class each day without a notebook, ready to put up stage lights and play her clarinet. She was one of 17 students in the advanced Producing Theater Interim course that merged musical and theatrical projects into an academic setting.

Sometimes Goliath manages to avoid the upset and does indeed beat David… Sunday was one of those days. Despite spirited play, the Carleton College men’s tennis team proved unable to slay the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, falling 7-0 to the Phoenix, a NCAA Division I program. The match concluded the Knights’ two-day trip into America’s Dairyland.

The Carleton College women’s swimming and diving team concluded competition at the two-day Minnesota Challenge meet held at the University of Minnesota Aquatics Center. This competition concludes the regular season for the Knights and features NCAA Division I, II and III teams from across the Upper Midwest. This meet also provides those team members not on the MIAC Championship squad to taper and compete at one of the top facilities in the nation. The non-rested portion of the team participated in its final races before the upcoming conference championships.

The Carleton College men’s swimming and diving team took part in the Minnesota Challenge meet held at the University of Minnesota Aquatics Center. This competition concludes the regular season for the Knights and features NCAA Division I, II and III teams from across the Upper Midwest. Alex Simonides was part of Carleton's taper group for this meet and dropped nearly 30 seconds in from his previous best in the 500-yard freestyle.

Austin Jiang may have notched another victory during doubles, but it was Mauricio Gonzalez who won the day’s final match 6-3, 6-2 to lift the Carleton College men’s tennis team to a 5-4 victory over host University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. The Knights, ranked No. 10 in the central region, improve to 2-0 on the young season.

Another solid shooting performance by juniors Scott Theisen and Tom Sawatzke propelled the Carleton College men’s basketball team to its third consecutive victory, a 72-64 triumph over Concordia College. Theisen paced the Knights with 20 points—his fourth 20+point game this season—as he went 7-of-10 from the field, including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. Sawatzke was 4-of-8 from downtown en route to an 18-point performance.

Akemi Arzouman led the Carleton College women’s basketball team in scoring with a game-high 23 points, but the Knights were unable to capitalize on their 46 percent (6-for-13) three-point rate as they lost to visiting Concordia College, 74-66. It was her fifth 20-plus point game of the season.

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - Ryan Timmerman was victorious at 141 to lead the St. Olaf wrestling team at Saint John's University's North Country Open on Saturday afternoon.

NORTHFIELD, Minn. - St. Olaf defeated Augsburg College 4-3 to complete a two-game MIAC men's hockey sweep on Saturday night at Northfield Ice Arena.