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BY KEVIN FRIEDENBERG

In print | Published December 7, 2006

The Swarthmore College badminton team powered through its first competition of the season this past Saturday at Bryn Mawr College. The Garnet placed first in the Mid-Atlantic Juniors Conference Badminton Championships and took home the collegiate trophy for the competition.

Kimberly Kramer ‘10 dominated her opponents in her collegiate badminton debut, coming in first place in women’s singles, first place with partner and team captain Candice Cherk ‘07 in women’s doubles and second place with partner Quoc An Truong ’07 in mixed doubles.

“She’s the best player on our team,” Patricia Kelly ‘08 said. "She’s just amazing."

Kramer wasn’t the only one from the Garnet who met with success. Swarthmore swept the women’s side of the tournament, placing in every category of the competition. Cherk, in addition to coming in first in doubles with Kramer, placed second in women’s singles, and made it to the semifinals of mixed doubles with Hitesh Bhattarai ‘08. Kelly made it to the quarterfinals and Karma Lama ’09 won first place in the consolation bracket in women’s singles. Together, Kelly and Lama also come in first in consolation women’s doubles. Mu Yang ‘07 and Heather Hightower ’09 placed second in consolation and Minju Kim ’09 and Jeongmo Kwon ’09 made it to the semifinals in consolation for women’s doubles.

The Garnet team faced opponents from Bryn Mawr, Haverford, George Washington University and Drexel at the competition. However, the women’s team mostly battled against local rivals Bryn Mawr and Haverford. Although some of the matches were challenging, the Garnet quickly defeated its opponents.

“We won so many competitions that we had to play each other,” Kelly said. “That’s when the matches got difficult.”

“A majority of us were very surprised at how well we did,” Lama said.

This year the Garnet doubled the number of players on the team from nine to 18. “We have a huge team this year. It’s really great to see that kind of interest in badminton on campus,” Cherk said. “Overall, it was a good tournament. The team benefited a lot. It really brought us together with team bonding and team spirit, cheering each other on.”

Although the team has more players than in recent years, the new players have already contributed a great deal to the team.

“The new players have a lot of energy,” Kelly said. “It’s good to have them on the team. They help strengthen the fundamentals. It’s good for all of us and we help each other out a lot. There’s more of a corporate feeling and very good chemistry with the new people.”

This tournament may serve as a good indicator of how the team will perform when its season kicks off next semester. The Garnet season and conference opener will take place on Jan. 30 at Bryn Athyn.

“We have a lot of potential,” Cherk said. “I think we have a really great chance of coming in first in the conference this year.”

“I’m very confident with the team and where it’s going in the future,” Kelly said.

Additional reporting by Jessica Hamilton

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