Molly Reckford ’15 (right) with rowing partner Michelle Sechser at the Olympics
Olympics Update: July 29
7/29/2021 8:10:00 AM | Women's Basketball, Women's Rowing, Women's Rugby, Athletics
Reckford places fifth; Hughes and the men's rugby sevens team finishes sixth
TOKYO, Japan — Two Dartmouth Olympians finished competing at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo with some impressive performances.
Molly Reckford '15, rowing in the lightweight women's double sculls with her partner Michelle Sechser, raced in the second semifinal on Tuesday evening (all dates and times mentioned are for the Eastern Time Zone) and broke both the Olympic and world record set just minutes earlier by Great Britain with a time of 6:41.54. As it so happened, Italy edged out the U.S. boat by 0.18 seconds, but both boats advanced to the Grand Final on Wednesday evening.
The race to medal was extremely close with just one second separating the top five boats. In the end, the Italian boat which had set the record the previous day managed to fend off all comers for the gold with France claiming the silver, 0.14 seconds off the pace. The bronze medal came down to a photo finish with the Netherlands squeaking ahead of Great Britain by one one-hundredth of a second, while Reckford and Sechser finished fifth, a mere 0.51 seconds from a medal.
The men's rugby sevens team, captained by Madison Hughes '15, finished pool play with a 2-1 record having beaten Kenya and Ireland before falling to South Africa, all close matches. That pool play record was plenty good enough to qualify Team USA for the quarterfinals, where they fell victim to Great Britain, 26-21, with Hughes delivering three conversions in as many attempts. The loss dropped the team into the consolations, but it bounced back with a 21-14 victory over Canada as Hughes once again went 3-for-3 on his conversions. The battle for fifth place early Wednesday morning was a rematch between Team USA and South Africa, but the latter emerged victorious once again, this time by a 28-7 margin. Hughes led his team with 30 points over the six matches throughout the Olympics.
Another alumna saw her first action recently as Isalys Quiñones '19 suited up for Puerto Rico's women's basketball team in its first preliminary game on Tuesday morning against China. "Ice" provided 10 points with a pair of 3-pointers and a team-high five rebounds in 23 minutes of action. Her contributions could not slow China, however, which cruised to a 97-55 victory. The Puerto Rican team will play again this evening at 9 p.m. against Belgium before wrapping up preliminary play against Australia on Aug. 2 at 8 a.m.
The women's rugby sevens team, which includes Ariana Ramsey '22, also played its first match on Wednesday, doubling up China, 28-14. Early this morning, Team USA knocked off host Japan as well, 17-7, as Ramsey started and contributed a try to the winning effort. The U.S. will complete pool play this evening at 9:30 p.m. against Australia, while the quarterfinals will begin tomorrow at 4:30 a.m.
Molly Reckford '15, rowing in the lightweight women's double sculls with her partner Michelle Sechser, raced in the second semifinal on Tuesday evening (all dates and times mentioned are for the Eastern Time Zone) and broke both the Olympic and world record set just minutes earlier by Great Britain with a time of 6:41.54. As it so happened, Italy edged out the U.S. boat by 0.18 seconds, but both boats advanced to the Grand Final on Wednesday evening.
The race to medal was extremely close with just one second separating the top five boats. In the end, the Italian boat which had set the record the previous day managed to fend off all comers for the gold with France claiming the silver, 0.14 seconds off the pace. The bronze medal came down to a photo finish with the Netherlands squeaking ahead of Great Britain by one one-hundredth of a second, while Reckford and Sechser finished fifth, a mere 0.51 seconds from a medal.
The men's rugby sevens team, captained by Madison Hughes '15, finished pool play with a 2-1 record having beaten Kenya and Ireland before falling to South Africa, all close matches. That pool play record was plenty good enough to qualify Team USA for the quarterfinals, where they fell victim to Great Britain, 26-21, with Hughes delivering three conversions in as many attempts. The loss dropped the team into the consolations, but it bounced back with a 21-14 victory over Canada as Hughes once again went 3-for-3 on his conversions. The battle for fifth place early Wednesday morning was a rematch between Team USA and South Africa, but the latter emerged victorious once again, this time by a 28-7 margin. Hughes led his team with 30 points over the six matches throughout the Olympics.
Another alumna saw her first action recently as Isalys Quiñones '19 suited up for Puerto Rico's women's basketball team in its first preliminary game on Tuesday morning against China. "Ice" provided 10 points with a pair of 3-pointers and a team-high five rebounds in 23 minutes of action. Her contributions could not slow China, however, which cruised to a 97-55 victory. The Puerto Rican team will play again this evening at 9 p.m. against Belgium before wrapping up preliminary play against Australia on Aug. 2 at 8 a.m.
The women's rugby sevens team, which includes Ariana Ramsey '22, also played its first match on Wednesday, doubling up China, 28-14. Early this morning, Team USA knocked off host Japan as well, 17-7, as Ramsey started and contributed a try to the winning effort. The U.S. will complete pool play this evening at 9:30 p.m. against Australia, while the quarterfinals will begin tomorrow at 4:30 a.m.
Players Mentioned
Wing/Scrumhalf
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