The Albion College Britons wrapped up another successful fall sports campaign. From August to November, several records were broken and 12 MIAA player of the week honors were awarded to Albion student-athletes for their hard work and dedication on the field, court and course.
Each respective sport had seasons to cherish but are now turning to look at the bright future of Briton athletics.
Football
Finishing with an 8-2 season record, the Albion football team posted the best record for a first year head coach since 1969. This placed them in a tie for second place in the conference: their highest finish since winning the MIAA championship in 2015.
Nine players were rewarded for their work this season by being placed on the all-MIAA team. Chase Buoschor, a senior from Sault St. Marie, Mich., added to his all-MIAA status by being awarded the Pete Schmidt Award as the top senior scholar-athlete.
The team will look to build on the success they found this season, next year.
Volleyball
The volleyball team completed the season with a 16-11 record. One of those wins came over Alma College in the first round of the MIAA tournament.
Kate Winter, a junior from White Lake, Mich., and Grace VanDorn, a junior from North Aurora, Ill., represented Albion as all-MIAA selections, marking VanDorn’s third time being selected for this award.
Head coach Kristin de St. Aubin was pleased with the performances from young players as well as the leadership of the upperclassmen.
“We graduated several key players in 2018, and we knew this season would be filled with a lot of young players filling key roles. And they rose to the occasion and competed,” said St. Aubin. “We had great leadership from our upperclassmen who set the expectations high for our younger players.”
These young players will play a pivotal role in repeating the consistent success that the team has found in the past few seasons.
“Finishing in the conference semi-final for the third straight year says a lot about our potential for 2020. I am proud of our group and very excited for the future,” said St. Aubin.
Men’s Soccer
The men’s soccer team posted a 7-10-2 record for the 2019 season.
The team made history by recording the first postseason win in program history after defeating Adrian College 4-1 on penalty kicks.
The team looks forward to a bright future as 10 freshmen saw playing time this season.
Women’s Soccer
The women’s soccer team wrapped up their 2019 campaign with a 8-7-2 record overall. They capped the season by advancing to the MIAA tournament semifinal after defeating Alma College 2-1.
Riley Burnette, a senior from Livonia, Mich. earned second team all-MIAA status while Emily Wolford, a senior from Berkley, Mich., achieved first team all-MIAA status.
“I would pinpoint attributing our success to building off the seasons prior. Players trying to take what worked and adding their own contributions to the next chapter in the legacy,” said Scott. “We have a good group of players, and we lose only two, Riley and Emily. The concern is how important those two have been over the years, and using all the good players we have left to fill those voids.”
Losing these two pivotal players will prove difficult going forward, according to head coach Eric Scott. Using the success from previous seasons, however, will help the team continue to build a powerhouse program.
“We have done well to get to the conference semi-finals the last two seasons, and we need to find a way to get over that hurdle and get to the final,” said Scott.
Men’s Cross Country
The men’s cross country team achieved a third place team finish at the MIAA championship meet. Individually, Keihl Smith, a senior from Jonesville, Mich., earned second team all-MIAA while Adam Ditri, a senior from Novi, Mich., earned first team all-MIAA status.
The team experienced a coaching change only one week prior to the season beginning. Although this presented a bit of a hurdle, team members were able to pull together to reach its collective goals.
“The biggest thing that contributed to our success was the team’s flexibility and buy-in, despite a change in coaching at the beginning of the season. The team went in with big goals for the season but were willing to adjust to a new coaching style and to put in the hard work to make their goals a reality,” said head coach MariKate Murphy.
Going forward, Murphy believes that returning runners have the potential to continue its success.
“We will graduate three of our top seven runners, so we will be relying our returners to step up for us,” said Murphy. “This season was a great step in the right direction for those returners, so I’m confident they’re up to the challenge.”
Women’s Cross Country
The women’s cross country team wrapped up their season with a seventh place finish at the MIAA championship meet. Albion’s top two runners, Jordan Revenaugh, a junior from Rochester, Mich., and Megan McCulloch, a first-year from Fort Gratiot, Mich., ran the fourth and ninth fastest times in school history for the 6k, respectively.
The team also underwent the head coaching change as well. Murphy was happy with how the team adjusted in order to continue the hard work that was required to reach the team’s collective goals.
As for the future, Murphy is excited for what lies ahead.“On the women’s side, we will only graduate one senior, so the future looks bright,” said Murphy.
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