Sports
On June 26, ultrarunner Jamie Aarons set a world record for scaling all 282 Munros (mountains in Scotland that are taller than 3,000 feet), traveling only by foot, bike and kayak. She compressed what many hikers set as a lifetime goal into just one month, completing the self-propelled circuit in 31 days, 10 hours and 27 minutes.
Softball stars Danielle Williams, Jordyn Rudd, Skyler Shellmyer, Maeve Nelson and Nikki Cuchran return to lead Wildcats’ bid for another trip to the Women’s College World Series.
When Erin Gilchrist started digging through hundreds of 16 mm film and VHS recordings of Northwestern musical performances, she discovered some unexpected gems. Take the Second Annual Hoffnung Festival, a spoof of classical music concerts that in April 1980 featured a Northwestern University Symphonic Wind Ensemble performance on three vacuums, a floor cleaner and four rifles. “That was not at all what I expected,” says Gilchrist, a digital curation and metadata assistant.
Pawel Janas and Kyle Rutledge took the Chicago Union ultimate team to the brink of frisbee greatness. In late August the duo played in the American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL) championship, where the Union fell to the heavily favored New York Empire 22-14.
On July 24, Lily Williams ’17 MS and her Human Powered Health teammates will begin competing in the inaugural eight-day, 640-mile, 24-team Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. It starts in Paris, features two mountain stages and ends atop La Super Planche des Belles Filles in the Vosges Mountains.
Fifty years ago, Congress passed Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits sex discrimination in any education program or activity that receives federal funding. Though not the primary or only result of the legislation, participation in women’s athletics increased dramatically thanks to Title IX.
In just a few months, Morton Schapiro will step down as president of Northwestern after 13 years at the helm. During President Schapiro’s tenure, the Evanston and Chicago campuses were transformed by more than 50 major construction projects and the creation of 17 new research institutes and centers.
In 13 years as Northwestern University president, Morty Schapiro transformed the campuses, expanded international opportunities and supported faculty research — all while diversifying the student population. The University also faced financial challenges and several controversies, as well as an unprecedented pandemic.
My players inspire me the most. These young women come in as 17- and 18-year-olds and leave as leaders with a degree from Northwestern.
In December 2021, former Northwestern diving captain Yohan Eskrick-Parkinson ’22 joined Jamaican diver Yona Knight-Wisdom on Jamaica’s first-ever synchronized diving team. The duo finished second in the 3-meter synchro at the Scottish National and Open Diving Championships in Edinburgh.