Ainsley Shelsta
Ainsley Shelsta (senior) was awarded the SCIAC Ed Baldwin Award Feb. 25, ending her basketball career with an honor reflective of the sportsmanship she exhibited throughout the season.
After tearing her ACL twice her junior and senior years, Shelsta said she wanted to come up with another way to support her teammates.
“I tore my ACL in my junior year and I was recovering this year, so I only played seven games,” Shelsta said. “Then I tore my ACL again this year and I decided I would help my team by being the best teammate possible.”
Shelsta said she took on the role of player-manager for the team after asking herself what her teammates needed most.
“They needed someone to uplift them, cheer them on and believe in them,” Shelsta said. “I turned it into a competition — if [Oxy’s] bench was the loudest then I [won].”
Shelsta said as captain, she had a responsibility to be there for her team despite her injuries.
“I would communicate with the team and talk to them before and after games to help them see the bigger picture,” Shelsta said. “Although it was not the way I wanted my time on the team to end, I think it was still a good time and I wouldn’t want to change anything.”
Shelsta said it was an honor to receive an award that embodied her college career.
“I thought it was so sweet that the SCIAC coaches recognized me in this way,” Shelsta said.
Women’s basketball head coach Anahit Aladzhanyan said Shelsta has played for Occidental all four years and has been an integral part of the team as a player and a person.
“It’s been wonderful to have Ainsley on our team,” Aladzhanyan said. “She’s poured [everything] into our program and the people in it, and we are going to miss her presence on and off the floor.”
Aladzhanyan said she nominated Shelsta for this award because of how she has represented the team’s culture.
“When not on the floor for us, she cheered the loudest for her teammates and stayed totally engaged,” Aladzhanyan said. “Ainsley upheld our team values and displayed strong sportsmanship consistently.”
Micah Elegores (junior) said Shelsta would always be there for the team when they needed it.
“At every half-time she was always the one to rally us together, hype us up and tell us what we needed to hear,” Elegores said. “She resonated with us. Her words were impactful because she was not only a senior player, but she [also] had a [viewer’s] perspective.”
Elegores said although this season did not go as planned, Shelsta remained dedicated to the team and deserves this award.
“She is a great captain and leader on and off the court, and she is the reason we are who we are as a team,” Elegores said.
Emerson Ames
Emerson Ames (junior) earned SCIAC Track Athlete of the Week honors Feb. 23, scoring the SCIAC-best time of 10.90 in the 100-meter dash at the Pomona-Pitzer Collegiate All-Comers meet.
Ames said his main event is long jump. He said he found it humorous that he ran the fastest time in a category he does not usually compete in.
“It is kind of funny that I don’t usually run the [100 meter, yet] I ran the fastest time so far,” Ames said. “I expect someone will run [it] faster very soon, but it feels good to be at the top.”
According to Ames, he ran the 100 meter at Pomona because of a recommendation from men’s track and field assistant coach David Foley.
“[Coach Foley’s] philosophy is to do a non-main event after running or jumping particularly well to allow the body to cool off,” Ames said. “I ran well indoors in the 200 meter, so he threw me in the 100 for a bit of fun.”
Ames said he is unlikely to run another 100 meter this season, and that his primary goal is to improve in the long jump.
“I’m better at the jumps and I do enough events as it stands,” Ames said. “My goals are to make outdoor nationals in the 4×100 and long jump, improving both [personal records] in the process.”
Foley said Ames is a long jumper as well as a general sprinter, and that he put Ames in the 100-meter dash to get a sense of where his speed was at.
“I put him in that to change things up,” Foley said. “He ran a 10.90, which is a little faster than I expected.”
Foley said Ames’ goals are primarily in long jumping and that Ames wants to qualify for nationals this year.
“He was the SCIAC champ in the long jump last year,” Foley said. “He was three centimeters away from qualifying for the national championship, so I think he would like to be able to qualify for nationals in that event.”
According to Foley, Ames is a fun athlete to work with.
“He’s had a really great spring season so far,” Foley said. “He [takes] the sport seriously and [prepares] himself for competitions well, but he doesn’t take himself so seriously that he’s super wound up. I think for him, it’s about working as hard as he can to maximize his talents and then [letting] the training do the work for him.”
Contact Miriam Arenal at arenal@oxy.edu
