APERLisa Kelly
Things were not looking good for the Mills tennis team against Notre Dame de Namur during their Feb. 25 home competition, and junior Lisa Kelly had a decision to make: she could let the energy of losing her first match pull her down, or rally to come back tougher and more focused than before.
She chose the latter, and after going down 3-0 in the first set of her singles, rallied strong by winning 12 of the next 13 games for a decisive 6-3, 6-1 victory.
“In the last couple of weeks Lisa has really turned a corner competitively,” said head tennis coach Marc Weinstein.
“She is now absolute nails on court, and is a great model for our younger players. She competes with huge focus and desire, and has pushed two Division II players to the limit with her mental toughness and will to win.”
Kelly and the Mills tennis team will play next in Southern California, where they will match up against La Sierra, Whittier, Cal Tech, and Cal Lutheran over spring break.
Rachel Griffith
The big day had finally come. All of the swim team’s hard work had led to this one event: the NAIA National Champ-
ionships in St. Peters, MO. The team came back triumphant; our Cyclone of the Week, sophomore Rachel Griffith, shone especially bright.
Griffith competed in an impressive eight different events: three individual events (100-meter, 200-meter back stroke, and 1650-meter) and all five relays. She started the meet by breaking her own school record in the 200 Medley Relay with a time of 30.36. She also swam a personal best on the 800-meter Free Relay, and with the help of teammates Cathy Knight, Kelsey Mercado, and Amelia True, bettered the old school record by 18 seconds, swimming a time of 9:02.38.
Sunday came, and Griffith still had three swims. She swam season best times in all of them. Her split on the 400-meter free relay helped break the school record with the same three mentioned above, swimming a time of 4:03.86. She was also nominated for the Mills College Champion of Character individual award.
