Department of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation (DAPER)

American Society of Mechanical Engineers reporter Cathy Cecere spotlights Ashley Lederman, a senior studying mechanical engineering who plays midfield and defense for the MIT field hockey team. Lederman relates how being an athlete has helped her learn to manage her time “meticulously.” Cecere writes: “Juggling practice, games, and travel led Lederman to use what time and energy she does have to be productive and disciplined especially during field hockey season. She explained this includes knowing when to seek out support from her teammates.” Lederman explains: “I know I have a support system to lean on.” 

After suffering a concussion during her sophomore year, senior Emiko Pope, a mechanical engineering major and midfielder on the MIT women's soccer team, was inspired to study the effectiveness of concussion headbands, reports Cathy Cecere for Mechanical Engineering Magazine. “After collecting data simulating concussions and testing multiple concussion headbands, my data revealed that certain concussion headbands can reduce the force of direct impact by up to 80 percent,” says Pope.

The MIT women’s cross-country team won its first national championship, securing the Division 3 title, reports Amin Touri for The Boston Globe. “Junior Kate Sanderson of West Hartford finished 16th, leading five Engineers to score in the top 40, the only team to do so as depth delivered for MIT,” writes Touri. “Rujuta Sane, Christina Crow, Liv Girand, and Lexi Fernandez rounded out the scoring for MIT, but Heather Jensen and Gillian Roeder were just seconds back as all seven Engineers finished within a span of 33.4 seconds.”

Senior Ryan Wilson speaks with CBS Boston’s Dan Roche about being the first Boston area student athlete to run a sub 4-minute mile and being named the Division 3 National Athlete of the Week. "It felt amazing. I saw my teammates and I actually gave them a smile with about 400 [meters] to go,” says Wilson of his record-breaking time. "Everybody loves Ryan. Everybody is rooting for him," said Coach Riley Macon. "So for him to be the one that does it, I mean, tears were had. It was pretty exceptional." 

Graduate student Karenna Groff ‘22 has been named NCAA Woman of the Year, an honor presented to a graduating female student-athlete who has distinguished herself in athletics, academics, leadership and community service, reports Matt Doherty for The Boston Globe. “I think the award is the first recognition I’ve gotten that looks into who I am and who I want to be,” says Groff. “I think it will help me frame the direction towards what I want the next chapter in my life to look like.”

Graduate student Karenna Groff ’22 speaks with CBS Boston reporter Mike UVA about her academic and athletic accomplishments. “Groff become just the sixth Division III student-athlete ever to be recognized as the NCAA Woman of the Year,” says Uva. “An honor that celebrates excellence both on and off the field for all divisions.”

Mashable spotlights how MIT’s baseball pitching coach is using motion capture technology to help analyze and teach pitching techniques. Using the technology, Coach Todd Carroll can “suggest real-time adjustments as a player is pitching so that just one session using the technology improves their game.”

During the Covid-19 pandemic, MIT developed a conceptual online swim class aimed at helping to keep students safe and inspiring them to learn to swim, in lieu of the traditional swim test requirement, reports Wall Street Journal reporter Jem Bartholomew. “We owe it to our students to teach them how to swim,” says Prof. Carrie Sampson Moore, director of physical education and wellness. Moore adds that she hopes that “for those who were very familiar with the activity” they’d see the benefit of conceptual learning on technique, safety or the “history of swimming.”

GBH reporter Esteban Bustillos spotlights former MIT women’s basketball coach Sonia Raman, who recently made the jump to coaching in the NBA. “I think that her legacy of creating just an incredible culture is gonna continue because I think these seniors and these juniors want to continue to perpetuate that,” says interim head coach Meghan O’Connell. “And it’s ingrained in them.”

Sonia Raman, the MIT women’s basketball coach, has been hired as the new assistant coach for the Memphis Grizzlies, reports Evan Barnes for USA Today. “I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to be part of the Memphis Grizzlies coaching staff. I can’t wait to get to Memphis and get started with Taylor, his staff and the team’s emerging young core,” said Raman. “I must also give a truly special thank you to MIT and the women I’ve had the honor of coaching for the past 12 years.”

Esteban Bustillos of WGBH’s On Campus highlights the work of MIT Director of Athletics Julie Soreiro ahead of her retirement at the end of the fall semester. “Soriero's biggest contribution may be making the school’s athletic mission an extension of its academic one,” says Bustillos. “It’s best summed up in a phrase that’s become something of a mantra for her: ‘We will not apologize for winning.’”

In an article for The Boston Globe Magazine, Neil Swidey highlights MIT as a model of “what an athletics-affirming but recruitment-light culture might look like.” “Despite refusing to put a thumb on the scale for athlete applications, MIT has produced a successful sports program that enhances, rather than detracts from, its academic reputation,” explains Swidey.

NESN spotlights MIT senior Riley Quinn, who was born without a left hand and forearm, and his success in the classroom and on the football field. “My only option was to outwork people, whether that was on the field, in the classroom, in relationships, day-to-day life,” says Quinn, “being a good person and taking that with me in everything I do.”

NBC Boston highlights five athletes to watch at the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, including MIT alumnus A.J. Edelman. “There was this pull on me to try to achieve something greater in sports that would have a meaningful impact," said Edelman, who represented Israel in skeleton racing.  

MIT alumna Margaret Guo was named the 2016 NCAA Woman of the Year during a ceremony in Indianapolis, reports Emily McCarthy for The Boston Globe. Guo says the award “reflects the amount of support I’ve had and the people around me who have pushed me to become better than I could have been by myself.”