Around the Herd: J-Term Edition

While most students remained home throughout January, avoiding the freezing temperatures and rolling hills of our quaint college, a group of athletes remained on campus to compete in events over the January term. In that time, these students participated in over 50 competitions. In this special edition of Around the Herd, we will recap a handful of these events and provide info on the most significant stars and stats to fill you in.

On Jan. 11, the swimming and diving team hosted their senior meet against Williams at Pratt Pool. The women’s team honored their eight senior members, including Sydney Bluestein ’25, who scored 314.91 points — a season-best — to win the one-meter diving event. Fellow diver Donna Zhang ’26 also won for Amherst in the three-meter. On the swimming side, Lucy Smith’s ’27 time of 24.53 seconds won the 50-yard freestyle race, her third straight win in the event. Paige Arnold ’27 also continued her win streak in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 57.81 seconds. Still, the Mammoths were ultimately bested by their No. 9-ranked archrival, losing 117-183.

After celebrating their seven seniors, the men’s team began the meet with a close victory in the 200-yard medley relay with strong performances from Andrew Yuen ’25, junior Fynlan Nadel ’26, Jaden Olson ’25, and Ethan Van De Water ’26. In the 1000-yard freestyle, Gabriele Lunardi ’25 swam a time of 9:28.86 in his last competition in Pratt Pool, setting a pool record. Sweeping the breaststroke events, Henry Liu ’27 swam times of 56.96 and 2:06 in the 100-yard and 200-yard, respectively. The Mammoths were ultimately defeated by the Ephs by a final score of 172-126.

Later, the men’s and women’s squash teams continued their winning seasons, both besting Bates College on Jan. 19. The No. 13 women completed their 9-0 sweep thanks to dominant wins across the board. Quincy Cline ’27 got the Mammoths off to a hot start, playing at the No. 1 spot and winning her match 3-0. Each of her teammates followed suit, allowing the mammoths to win 24 sets compared to the Bobcats two. The women have been busy this J-term — although dropping a close match to Tufts 5-4, they secured wins over Dickinson, Franklin and Marshall, and Georgetown.

The men, too, overpowered the Bobcats to put another tally in the win column. At the No. 3 spot, Joseph Toth ’27, recorded the first 3-0 for the team. After him, players 5-9 all dominated their matches, cementing the victory for the men. Sitting at 8-3 overall, the No. 16-ranked men look ahead to their next match. Both the men’s and women’s teams face a pair of tough upcoming road matches — first taking on the Williams College Ephs in Williamstown on Jan. 29 before trekking to Middlebury, Vermont, to play the Panthers on Feb. 1.

In other news, the men and women of Amherst basketball played Williams on Jan. 22. The men saw their losing streak extend to three games, losing 65-69 in overtime despite a valiant 22-point effort from freshman guard Elias Chin ’28. Chin played a whopping 39 minutes while shooting a strong 50% (9/18) from the field and grabbing two steals. Nonetheless, on a cold winter night, men’s basketball fell to 10-7 on the season.

The women, on the other hand, bested Williams by 14 points, winning the game 63-49. The victory can largely be chopped up to a lopsided second quarter, during which the Mammoths outscored the Ephs 20-5, all without making a single 3-pointer. Laura Mendell ’26 and Maya Cwalina ’25 led the way in this one, scoring a combined 25 points. Cwalina showed up on the defensive end as well, accumulating four blocks — a number tied by her teammate Elizabeth Cain ’26. In the end, the Mammoths rose to a strong 12-4 on the season.

Finally, the No. 3 ranked women’s hockey team traveled to Middletown, Connecticut, on Jan. 25 for a double-header against Wesleyan. After falling to the Cardinals in their first match 1-2, the Mammoths came out with a fiery passion. Amherst forced the Wesleyan goalie to make 10 saves in the first period alone, as the team launched a brutal offensive attack totaling 38 shots overall. Despite Amherst’s unrelenting assault, it took until the third period for either side to score. Alyssa Xu ’25, off a rebound and pass from Bea Flynn ’28, slotted the puck into the back of Wesleyan’s net nearly six minutes into the period. Xu and Flynn then linked up for another goal-scoring opportunity, with Xu assisting Flynn on the play. With 56 seconds left in the game, Wesleyan went on an all-out attack and relegated their goalie to the bench in favor of an extra offensive player. Wesleyan’s attack, in pair with a roughing penalty called on Amherst, resulted in the Cardinals scoring with only 13 seconds remaining. In the game’s final faceoff, Maeve Reynolds ’26 won possession for the Mammoths and secured the 2-1 win for Amherst. The team, currently 12-3-1 record on the season, faces off against Bowdoin on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1.