The Athlete of the Week this week is Junior swimmer, Randy Dunton. Dunton won three events in the team’s most recent meet against Bentley to lead the team. Keene State College held their own against their division II competition, eventually winning the meet 185-103. Dunton, who hails from St. Cloud, Florida, is the only junior on a young team that has looked experienced beyond their years so far this season. Dunton won the 100-meter back with a time of 54.35, the 200-meter back with a time of 2:00.7 and touched the wall first in the 200-meter individual medley at 2:04.28. While most of his teammates probably felt out of their element on the team’s recent trip to Florida, Dunton, who grew up in central Florida, must have felt right at home.
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Our first runner-up this week is Sophomore swimmer Alison Bartlett. Bartlett won two races for the women, who won 11 of 14 races overall on the day to beat Bentley 162-129. Bartlett, who is from Stratham, New Hampshire, won the 50-meter free with a time of 24.53, then won the 100-meter free, clocking in at 54.49. The sophomore was one of three girls to win multiple races for the Lady Owls. Teammates Amber Long (sophomore) and Caitlyn Shea (junior) were the others.
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The second runner-up this week is Junior Guard Tom Doyle. Doyle has been a gunner all year, leading the team in field goal attempts per game with 14.8. Sometimes shooters can be stereotyped as ball-hogs or selfish, but on a young team that has sometimes struggled to score this season Doyle and his 44.6 field goal percentage are welcomed. In a blowout loss to Eastern Connecticut State last week Doyle led the team with 23 points to go with seven rebounds and four steals. He followed that performance up with 18 points and six rebounds in a key win against LEC rival U-Mass Boston on Saturday. A big part of that point total came from Doyle’s four three-pointers— Doyle has been scorching hot from long range all season, making 44 percent of his shots from downtown. With only three upperclassmen on the team the Wallingford, Connecticut native has assumed a leadership role out of necessity.
Zach Winn can be contacted at zwinn@keene-equinox.com