Carleton athletics held a celebration for the Ravens basketball team celebrating their success in the past 15 years at Alumni Hall on March 23.
The event invited past Ravens alumni such as Wes Nicol and numerous fans, friends, and family to the team. It held refreshments and had speeches by a variety of people, including President Roseann Runte and Athletics Director Jennifer Brenning. The atmosphere in Alumni Hall was full of excitement as past and present Ravens and 50 supporters celebrated the team’s achievements.
“We are so fortunate to have such an incredible coach, Dave Smart. His statistics are staggering. His serious win record with 493 wins and 45 losses since 1999. This season, the team’s regular season record was 23 wins, two losses, with a 92 win percentage, finishing with two championship banners. We are witnessing history in the making,” Brenning said.
Brenning said Smart has proved to be an irreplaceable asset to the Raven’s program, as his leadership has led the team to new heights over the years.
“You have to play smart. Not every team can play smart because they don’t have a coach named Smart,” Runte said.
Following Runte, Ravens forward Thomas Scrubb who won CIS defensive player of the year had a few words of reflection regarding the five years of support Carleton and its fans have offered him and his brother.
“I just want to thank all of you for coming out, during my five years we’ve had amazing support,” Scrubb said. “I’ve been to a lot of other schools and they haven’t followed basketball too much.”
Assistant coach Rob Smart was impressed by the normally quiet Scrubb being so talkative.
Rob Smart believed the success from the basketball team has spread throughout campus. Rob Smart had similar thoughts as Scrubb, as the whole team seems humbled by the praise they have received following the recent win.
“I think the key thing in terms of sport, it’s a lot of like-minded people, what we’re trying to pass on is skills that will help guys in the future. Things that will help them and from the professors that have supported a lot of the people who have helped with our program. We talk a lot about culture and the culture of our team exists in this university,” Smart said.
With three big graduating players, only time will tell if their will be another ceremony like this next year.
