Northampton, MA — The New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) has announced its 2009-2010 All-Conference teams.
Among the twenty athletes honored were seven seniors: Ethan Buchsbaum (Williams), Baset Chaudhry (Trinity), David Funk (Bowdoin), Kush Mahan (Bates), Christian Henze (Williams), Palmer Higgins (Bowdoin), and Supreet Singh (Trinity). Henze is a first-time All-NESCAC honoree, while Funk, Mahan, Higgins, and Singh have all been recognized by the conference in the past. Buchsbaum and Chaudhry have been awarded First Team status every year since NESCAC starting naming an all-conference team in 2008.
Buchsbaum and Mahan were also named co-Players of the Year.
Playing at number one for Williams, Buchsbaum helped lead the Ephs to a second-place finish in the Hoehn Cup (“B” Division) of the 2010 Men’s National Team Championships. He finished his senior year with a 10-11 regular season record. Buchsbaum was also named to NESCAC’s All-Academic and All-Sportsmanship teams, one of only four athletes out of all the NESCAC student-athletes playing winter sports to earn all three conference honors. (The other three athletes to be named to all three teams — Funk, Samantha Smith of Colby, and Jo-Ann Jee of Trinity — were all squash players.)
Mahan was also named to the All-Academic team while notching a 15-3 record during the regular season. Along the way, Mahan defeated Trinity’s Singh in five games during the Bantams’ first trip to Lewiston. Mahan also had impressive wins over Gabriel de Melo of F&M.
“Kush had an amazing year,” says Bates coach Pat Cosquer. “Aside from his own personal accomplishments on the squash court, he was able to lead his team effectively and get the most out of the men. He was able to perform when the pressure was on at the top spot all year and be an inspirational captain and leader at the same time, and I am proud to play a role in his development.”
Cosquer was recognized by his colleagues as Men’s Coach of the Year; he was also named Women’s Coach of the Year. The Bates men tied their team record for the most wins — 20 — in a season, and they finished twelfth at the 2010 Men’s National Team Championships.
Along with Mahan’s wins over de Melo, Cosquer pointed to Jordan Greenberg’s 5-game victory against Saint Lawrence at Yale, and Bobby Burns’ and RJ Keating’s victories over Dartmouth at Bates as some of the on-court highlights of the season. Another highlight was the Maine Event weekend, where the two Bates squads together won seven out of nine matches, including big wins over Mount Holyoke for the women and Brown for the men.
“I am very proud of both teams and their accomplishments and happy for Kush, Bobby [Burns], Will [Katz], Cheri-Ann [Parris] and Hannah [Laverty] for receiving recognition for and validation of their hard work and dedication to the game and to our program at Bates this season,” Cosquer says. Burns, Katz, and Laverty all earned All-NESCAC honors as well, and Parris was named Rookie of the Year for the women.
Caleb Garza of Connecticut College was named Rookie of the Year for the men. Garza finished his first season of intercollegiate play with a 22-5 record, playing number one for the Camels.
According to Connecticut College coach Bill McNally, Garza was looking forward to playing on a team since his high school did not have one. “In his freshman year he quickly established himself as the best player at Connecticut College and through dint of hard work and a low keyed personality soon became the team leader,” McNally says. “He is popular with teammates and is an exemplar of sportsmanship. He will have a great collegiate squash career.” Garza also received second-team All-NESCAC honors.
Congratulations to the members of the 2009-2010 All-NESCAC teams!
2010 NESCAC Men’s Squash All-Conference Teams
First Team
- Ethan Buchsbaum (Williams)
- Bobby Burns (Bates)
- Baset Chaudhry (Trinity)
- Antonio Dias-Gonzales Salas (Trinity)
- David Funk (Bowdoin)
- Alex Gross (Tufts)
- Kush Mahan (Bates)
- William Morris (Williams)
- Valentin Quan (Middlebury)
- Parth Sharma (Trinity)
Second Team
- Jay Dolan (Middlebury)
- Caleb Garza (Connecticut College)
- Christian Henze (Williams)
- Palmer Higgins (Bowdoin)
- Will Katz (Bates)
- Randy Lim (Trinity)
- Vikram Malhotra (Trinity)
- Supreet Singh (Trinity)
- Harry Smith (Colby)
- Brian Warner (Amherst)
