Luca also commented that Pete is leaving the team much better than he found it. In our interview, Pete described that there is an intangible element that every team needs to succeed: the men’s basketball team has it. Pete, in many ways, embodies that element. The type of energy, sportsmanship, and competitiveness he has are essential components to a winning team. For example, he eats a snickers bar before every game to remind himself of how much fun the hustle of college basketball is.

Ribbion-making and carrying giant pumpkins across campus are some of Maddie Thompson’s core memories from this year’s cross-country season. Thompson is the first Great Big Pumpkin winner for the women’s cross-country team. Following the Skyline Conference Championship 6k Race, Head Coach Tom Dilberto bequeathed an organic big orange pumpkin to Thompson for her drastic improvements throughout the season, staying determined and committed until the very end. Her personal best 5k performance was 31:31 minutes.

Finishing up the last race in the cross country season this year will be followed by another soon-to-be-completed race for Nat Skoczenski. College is often a slow and steady race, and Skoczenski’s is finally at the finish line. Their plans after graduating include “—pursuing a PhD in clinical psychology, but before then… who knows. Looking for jobs in research and patient care but maybe I’ll become a cheesemonger or kayaking instructor in the meantime.” 

Fifth year Women’s volleyball libero, Kaille Ferguson, continuously grabs crowds’ attention on the court. After a unique first year of playing on a coed team due to COVID, this setback proved to have minimal impact on Ferguson’s drive to continue playing.