Cabot, Kirkland Net IM Wins

Not many events at Harvard draw House Masters, tutors and throngs of fans. Even fewer of them net a moose.

But Masters, students and mascots were all on hand at Lavietes Pavilion last night for the Intramural Basketball Championships, which consisted of the finals of three divisions: Women’s, B-League and A-League.

The Women’s division final tipped off an evening of basketball and spirit that did not stop until the final whistle concluded the A-League game. At the night’s end, Kirkland won the Women’s final, Dunster won the B-League game and Cabot earned the top spot in the A-League division.

“Intramural sports has always been something that has drawn the entire House community together,” said Voltaire R. Sterling, a resident tutor in Cabot. He pulled for his team, playing in the A-League finals, from amidst a loud cheering section.

“The intramural season is something that the residents look forward to, especially basketball. On the e-mail list, when there’s a game, it’s definitely highly publicized,” he said.

The Women’s matchup, the earliest of the finals, pitted the teams—and fans—from Kirkland and Dunster against each other.

Four spirited women spelled out “K-HOUSE” with six sheets of paper, while

Kirkland House Co-Masters Tom and Verena Conley stood alongside them shouting.

At the other end of the bleachers, Dunster’s partisans cheered like animals.

Resident tutor Ryan C. Hickox dressed up as the Dunster moose and pranced along the sidelines. “We just want to win the big prize,” he said.

“That’s all there is to it, really.”

But mid-sentence, Hickox lost his moose head to a Kirkland fan who snatched it from his hand.

“Now we know who to go get after the game,” Hickox said after he recovered the moose head.

Kirkland, who overcame Leverett in the semifinals earlier this month, beat Dunster 38-32 last night.

After the Women’s game, the stands began to fill for the B-League final, which featured a mix of recreational and out-of-season varsity athletes.

“Crew is such a miserable, grueling sport that to actually play a game for exercise is a completely novel concept,” joked Charles G. Kulwin ’06 of Currier House.

Teams from Dunster and Currier House competed in the B-League final.

Among the Dunster players was Harvard’s starting quarterback, Ryan J. Fitzpatrick ’05, who kicked off the action with a quick three-pointer.

“It’s just good intramural atmosphere,” said Aaron S. Byrd ’05, another football player who played for Dunster. “We’ve got a lot of House pride, a lot [of people] showed up, and we’ve got a mascot.”

Currier I lost to Dunster 40-38 in the finals. Dunster had eliminated the other team from the same House, Currier II, in the semifinals.

The A-League final betwen Eliot and Cabot—the last game of the night— was the most raucous of the three contests.

Eliot’s flag hung from the rafters above the team’s cheering section, and though the Cabot fan base was smaller in numbers, it sounded just as loud.

“So Eliot has their flag,” Voltaire said with a smile. “I think we’re doing a good job. We’ve got a lot of supporters.”

He added that “at least we came wearing our colors.”

Cabot beat Eliot 74-64, but as the stands emptied it was the atmosphere of the evening—not the scores of the game—which still lingered.

“It’s great,” said Cabot captain Nick S. Miller ’04. “The team is great, the House is great and our opponents were great as well.”

Kirkland player Kathryn E. Barletta ’04 agreed.

“We were so intimidated when Dunster came in with their big mascot, but then some of our fans showed up and they were really supportive,” she said. “It makes a big difference.”