Sports briefs

Black and White heavies to vie for national title

The NCAA rowing committee has named the Radcliffe heavyweight crew as one of a dozen squads to receive a team-bid to the national championships May 26-27 at Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, Tenn. Coming off a 10-5 dual racing season and a fourth-place finish at the EARC Sprints, the Black and White will make their 10th NCAA appearance in the 11-year history of the championship.

Radcliffe will join Brown, California, Minnesota, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Princeton, Southern California, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, and Yale to compete in Tennessee. Central Florida, Dartmouth, Stanford, and UCLA earned the four at-large bids.

Six softballers earn All-Ivy nods

Since capturing the Ivy League championship on May 5, six members of the Crimson softball team have gone on to earn recognition from the league for the 2007 season. Pacing the pack is Shelly Madick ’08, who captured the Pitcher of the Year award after leading the Ivies with a 1.45 ERA. Madick struck out 139 batters in 135 innings to finish 16-4. Freshman Lauren Murphy, meanwhile, was named Rookie of the Year for her reliable hitting. The first-year hit .359 while tallying 18 home runs (a new single-season record at Harvard). Both Madick and Murphy were also unanimous selections to the All-Ivy first team.

Rounding out Harvard’s All-Ivy selections were senior shortstop Lauren Brown ’07 (first team), second baseman Julia Kidder ’07 and centerfielder Stephanie Krysiak ’10 (second team), and third baseman Melissa Schellberg ’10 (honorable mention).