Williams College Athletics Program Wins Directors' Cup

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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – The Williams College athletic program won its 22nd Learfield IMG College Directors' Cup, emblematic of athletic supremacy in NCAA DIII with a point total of 1,117.
 
The win for 2018-19 marks the seventh consecutive year that the Ephs have won the Cup. Only the 1998 Cup won by UC San Diego (now a member of NCAA DII) and the 2012 Cup captured by NESCAC foe Middlebury College have eluded the grasp of the Ephs. The win by Middlebury snapped an Eph win streak at 13.
 
Mirroring the athletic success this year was the performance of the Eph athletes in the classroom, where this year 306 Ephs earned Academic All-NESCAC honors. Academic All-NESCAC honors are restricted to sophomores, juniors and seniors.  Honored athletes must possess a minimum cumulative GPA of 3..50.
 
The Johns Hopkins University Blue Jays finished second this year tallying 1,083.75 points after leading the competition at the end of both the fall and winter campaigns.
 
This year is the Ephs' smallest margin of victory, 33.25 points, in the most recent scoring structure of 18 teams that includes the four mandatory sports of men's & women's soccer and men's and women's basketball. To that list of four required scores each school may add a maximum 14 more scoring teams regardless of gender.
 
Points in the Directors' Cup competition are awarded based on a school's finish in NCAA Championship events or selected other national championship competitions.
 
This year Williams scored in 17 out of a possible 18 sports, as did Johns Hopkins. Throughout the 2018-19 academic year the Ephs notched 12 top 10 team finishes.
 
After the fall season Johns Hopkins led NCAA DIII with 475.0 points, scoring in seven sports. Second place Tufts was 121.50 points behind Johns Hopkins and the Ephs were in seventh place and were 207.50 points back, having scored 267.50 points in four sports.
 
Highlighting the Eph fall total was women's soccer's 100 points for winning the NCAA title. The fall of 2018 marked the third time in the past four years that the Ephs had won the NCAA women's soccer crown.
 
At the end of the winter season the Ephs had climbed into second place posting a season best total of 476.50 points. Four of the nine scoring teams representing Williams posted top six finishes with women's indoor track & field claiming the NCAA title.
 
Women's swimming and diving finished fourth, men's basketball fifth, and off of a program-best season women's ice hockey captured sixth place after finishing first in NESCAC in the regular season, winning the NESCAC Tournament, and posting their first ever NCAA Tournament win.
 
On consecutive nights in the NESCAC Tournament the Ephs defeated arch rival Amherst and Middlebury, marking the first time in program history they had recorded three wins in a season over both foes.
 
The women's track and field team's NCAA indoor title winning effort came despite not having their usual indoor training space – Towne Field House – available all year long due to renovation issues.
 
The Williams women trailed Washington University-St. Louis 24-8 after Day 1 of the 2-day indoor championship in Boston, but school record performances by Emma Egan winning the high jump (1.75m), Anna Passanante in the mile (4:46.81) and the half mile (2:11.03) in a span of one hour, and a fourth place finish in the 4x400 relay by Davis Collison, Ella Dunn, Megan Powell and Caitlin Ubl (3:50.59) gave the Ephs 42 team points, edging out Washington University's 40 points.
 
With their strong winter showing the Ephs had narrowed the Johns Hopkins lead from 207.50 points to 60.25.
 
Although every team and every point matter throughout the year in the spring the Ephs got a huge boost from men's lacrosse, which set a program record for most wins in a season (18), won three NCAA Tournament games (first ever NCAA Tournament wins) and upset the #1-ranked Tigers of RIT in double overtime, advancing to the NCAA semifinals.
 
Women's golf finished second overall at the NCAA Championship and Eph senior Cori Chan won the individual title to help fuel the Eph spring comeback. Softball advanced to the College World Series and both the men's and women's track & field teams added valuable points.
 
Another remarkable accomplishment was provided by senior Kristina Alvarado who played four years of soccer and softball in the Purple Valley. Alvarado was a member of three Eph NCAA championship teams in soccer and two Eph softball teams that advanced to the College World Series. She played in a combined 47 NCAA Tournament contests.
 
NESCAC placed four teams in the top 10: Williams 1st, Middlebury 4th, Tufts 7th and Amherst 8th. The next best top ten conference finishes came from the University Athletic Association (UAA), which placed three teams in the top 10 with Washington University – St. Louis 3rd, Emory 5th and University of Chicago 9th.
 
One of the Ephs' 22 Directors' Cups is on display 24 hours a day in the lobby of the Chandler Athletic Center.
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WCMA: 'Cracking the Code on Numerology'

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) opens a new exhibition, "Cracking the Cosmic Code: Numerology in Medieval Art."
 
The exhibit opened on March 22.
 
According to a press release: 
 
The idea that numbers emanate sacred significance, and connect the past with the future, is prehistoric and global. Rooted in the Babylonian science of astrology, medieval Christian numerology taught that God created a well-ordered universe. Deciphering the universe's numerical patterns would reveal the Creator's grand plan for humanity, including individual fates. 
 
This unquestioned concept deeply pervaded European cultures through centuries. Theologians and lay people alike fervently interpreted the Bible literally and figuratively via number theory, because as King Solomon told God, "Thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight" (Wisdom 11:22). 
 
"Cracking the Cosmic Code" explores medieval relationships among numbers, events, and works of art. The medieval and Renaissance art on display in this exhibition from the 5th to 17th centuries—including a 15th-century birth platter by Lippo d'Andrea from Florence; a 14th-century panel fragment with courtly scenes from Palace Curiel de los Ajos, Valladolid, Spain; and a 12th-century wall capital from the Monastery at Moutiers-Saint-Jean—reveal numerical patterns as they relate to architecture, literature, gender, and timekeeping. 
 
"There was no realm of thought that was not influenced by the all-consuming belief that all things were celestially ordered, from human life to stones, herbs, and metals," said WCMA Assistant Curator Elizabeth Sandoval, who curated the exhibition. "As Vincent Foster Hopper expounds, numbers were 'fundamental realities, alive with memories and eloquent with meaning.' These artworks tease out numerical patterns and their multiple possible meanings, in relation to gender, literature, and the celestial sphere. 
 
"The exhibition looks back while moving forward: It relies on the collection's strengths in Western medieval Christianity, but points to the future with goals of acquiring works from the global Middle Ages. It also nods to the history of the gallery as a medieval period room at this pivotal time in WCMA's history before the momentous move to a new building," Sandoval said.
 
Cracking the Cosmic Code runs through Dec. 22.
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