Sports

Despite the dead atmosphere in the Ravens’ Nest, the Carleton men’s varsity basketball team battled hard for two gritty victories against the University of Toronto Varsity Blues and the Ryerson University Rams Jan. 29 and 30.

The men began the two-day haul by defeating the Varsity Blues 75-53 in what seemed like an easy game, but turned out to be a nail-biter in the third quarter.

The first quarter saw the hoopsters get off to a bit of a shaky start, letting Toronto score nine fairly easy points.

Tension was visible in both the stands and on the bench as the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees made a powerful comeback at the end of the Raven women’s hockey team’s afternoon game Jan. 24.

“As soon as they got one goal you could just feel the energy change on our bench,” said head coach Shelley Coolidge.

The Carleton varsity swim team participated in back-to-back meets at the University of Ottawa and Queen’s University Jan. 22-23.

The Ravens’ 6 a.m. practices and increased dedication appear to have been worth it as the team broke personal and school-wide records.

After two full days of competing, head coach Dale Coleman could only speak highly of her teams’ accomplishments.

 “It was a great tune-up as we head into the OUA [Ontario University Athletics’] championships.”

The Carleton University figure skating club danced and free styled its way into a satisfying eighth place finish out of 11 teams Jan. 22 at the Winter Invitational in Toronto.

“This was probably the best showing that the figure skating team has had in its seven-year history,” said head coach Karen Laurin.

The team competed at the two-day invitational in 11 out of 14 events, capturing a total of 14 points overall which put them in eighth place.

There is never a lack of sub plots when the Queen’s University men’s basketball team comes to Carleton.