A match between Optics and Physics, the Photon Cup features undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty from each department in a friendly rivalry to name the best department of the year.

And, while Physics might have thought their knowledge of buckminster fullerenes would lead them to the win, the control of this particular soccer “buckyball” proved too much. Perhaps it was one group of atoms they couldn’t control with much “coherence.”

Optics triumphed over the department 4-3, coming back from a 3-0 half-time deficit. After some tactical adjustments at halftime, Optics went into an “excited state” and was able to control the run of play in the second half.

By all accounts Steve Gillmer of Optics was athlete of the match, scoring twice. One goal was a brilliant 30-yard half-volley.

Physics has yet to hoist the Cup with Optics winning the past 2 years and the first contest ending in a draw.

Watch Highlights from the 2012 Photon Cup

While handball has never been recognized as a varsity sport on campus, several years ago two graduate students, Samantha England and Dan McNabney, channeled their love of the game and their organizational skills to create a club team. Both had played handball for years and wanted to introduce the Rochester community to the sport as well as find new opportunities to train. England has been ranked the third best female player in the world.

They vigorously recruited students and at one point the club had as many as fifteen members. Manrique, a philosophy and economics major, began playing handball when he arrived here as a freshman. However, new rules for club sports required that the student organizations be sustained solely through the recruitment and organizational efforts of undergraduate students. The new rules, combined with the annual graduation of several team members, made it difficult for the club to grow and today Rochester’s handball culture is down to three people: Manrique, England, and McNabney.

To add to these organizational challenges, there is the sheer difficulty of the game. “It’s such a hard learning curve,” said Manrique. “When you step on the court you have to not only be proficient at hand-eye coordination, you have to be proficient at hand-eye coordination with both of your hands, which is extremely tough.”

The game is played with a small, dense rubber ball and special gloves on a racket ball court.  After their first try players can expect to walk away with very sore hands and full-body fatigue. “Once you get past that, it’s just fun,” Manrique insisted. “It’s probably one of the best workouts you can get.”

But it’s not just about bouncing a ball off the walls of an enclosed court. Handball also is a strategic mental game.  “It’s like a game of chess once you really get into it,” said England.

“No matter how good you get at the game physically there’s always going to be some other challenge.”

Since his freshman year Manrique has risen to high ranks in local and national handball tournaments. “He’s in the top bracket right now for local tournaments and he’s only been playing for three and a half years which is unheard of because handball is so difficult,” said England.  She attributes his success to a keen ability to absorb new information and stay calm on the court.  “He’s really improved exponentially because of his ability to adapt to the game. He learns so quickly and implements the new information … He’s the ideal handball player.”

“I felt very calm and prepared. I have the best coaches that have prepared me for any obstacles that I could possibly come across, both mentally and physically,” Manrique said of his recent Division 1B bracket win. “This was easily the biggest athletic achievement of my entire life.”

“I think that he would be able to enter the pro circuit if he wanted to,” said England. “I look forward to reading his name on the Internet and in the handball publications about how well he’s doing.”  Expressing hope that Manrique will continue to play and teach handball to others after leaving Rochester, she added, “I feel happy that the handball community has gained another player like Brandon.”

Above all, it is the community aspect of the game that both Manrique and England find so attractive. While working in Sacramento, Calif., last summer, Manrique was able to quickly find new friends by joining handball clubs. As the only representative of the University it can be tough to travel to competitions without a team to support him, but while at the national tournament Manrique was cheered on by members of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities team, who knew him from the previous year. The game is also accessible to people of all ages which makes for an inclusive environment despite the competition.

“I am always going to be playing handball, there’s no doubt about that,” Manrique said. “It’s all about finding the right community of players. I still have a lot to learn so I’ll take advantage of my coaches here in Rochester while I can. After that, wherever I end up after graduation, I’ll just take it from there.”

Article written by Maya Dukmasova, a Take 5 Scholar at the University of Rochester and an intern at University Communications. She majored in philosophy and religion and focused her Take 5 year on researching the way American media covers current events in the Muslim world. An aspiring journalist, Dukmasova has freelanced for Rochester Magazine, the Phoenix New Times, and the Daily News Egypt in Cairo. She also maintains two blogs, one devoted to culture and society in Russia (www.out-of-russia.com) and the other to photography (www.myorientalism.com).

Top Photo: Brandon Manrique competes in National Handball Collegiate Championship.

Second Photo: Brandon Manrique poses with Dan Sterrett of Lake Forest College, after the final match of the National Handball Collegiate Championship. Manrique defeated Sterett for the Division 1B title. All photos courtesy of the US Handball Association.

The University of Rochester men’s swimming and diving team scored 14 event wins and set three new Liberty League records en route to running away with the team title in the Liberty League Championships Swimming and Diving Saturday at RPI.  Rochester totaled 1006.5 points, over 200 better than second place RPI.

For the Lady ‘Jackets, the weekend was just as successful. The women swimmers and divers ran away with the title by over 475 points in the team standings at the 2010 Liberty League Championships.  In the two day event, the Yellowjacket women totaled 13 event wins and set six new Liberty League records.

It was was more of the same for the Yellowjacket men, as they jumped out to three straight race wins to start session three at the league championships.

The first winner was freshman James Frauen who won the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:56.42.

A new school record in the 200 breaststroke was achieved by Adam Bossert who completed the win with the time of 2:09.91.  Fellow Yellowjacket Pat Davis was fourth in the event.

The Rochester squad had a great showing in the 100 freestyle where they took six of the first seven spots.  The winner of the race was freshman Chris Doser who swam a 47.21.  Right behind him in 2nd place was Bossert who raced to a time of 48.08.  Freshmen Derek Lam and Booky Porapakkham earned 3rd and 4th place finished while Brian Wong was 6th and Vincent Ness was 7th.

In the day two diving events, Rochester two competitors earned solid finished of 7th and 9th in the 1 meter board event.  Sophomore Zach Howard was the 7th place finished compiling 261.20 points.  Junior Elliott Lasher was the other UR finisher while scoring 343.70 points.

Freshman Brian Wong got in on the action with a win in the 200 yard butterfly, finishing in a time of 1:55.64.

Wong also was a member of the winning 400 yard free relay team along with classmates Porapakkham, Doser and Frauen.  They finished the race in 3:11.25, over three seconds ahead of the 2nd place team.  Rochester’s B team in the event placed third with a time of 3:16.47.  That squad consisted of senior Vincent Ness, junior Christian Vu, sophomore Alex King and freshman Brett Maus.

UR had six multi-event winners over the two day championships.  Leading the way for the Yellowjackets was Wong who ended with six wins (individual and relays), while Bossert and Doser had five wins apiece.  Frauen had four victories while Porapakkham tallied three.  King rounded out the multiple winners with two.

For his impressive results, Bossert was named Male Swimmer of the Year while teammate Brian Wong was named Male Rookie of the Year at the championships.  The UR coaching staff was also named Coaching Staff of the Year.

In the third session for the women’s team, freshman Lauren Bailey got her fourth win of the championships in the 100 yard freestyle, finishing in a time of 54:02.  Teammate Meg Lawless was second in the event Meg Waring was fourth for the Yellowjackets.

In the 200 backstroke, Rochester got a third and fourth place finish from freshman Teresa Xu (2:12.10) and sophomore Farrell Cooke (2:12.49).

In the diving events on day two, the UR women achieved a 1-2-3 finish in the 3 meter board event.  Junior Sara Spielman placed first scoring 393.24 points.  Classmate Megan Braun was second scoring 392.10 points in her dives while senior Rachel deLahunta was third in the event after scoring 356.35 points.  The three finished as the top 3 in the 1 meter diving event on day one of the championships.

The women smashed the Liberty League record in the 400 yard freestyle relay by nearly three seconds en route to another event win.  The team of Bailey, Waring, Lawless, and Xu finished in a time of 3:37.60.  The B squad of Ellie Ansani, Avery Palardy, Kristy Harding and Emily Friedline placed third in the race with a time of 3:46.41.

Waring earned another solid finish, this time in the 200 breaststroke where she placed 4^th with a time of 2:34.47.

In the 200 butterfly, Rochester had three of the top-6 finishes with Lauren Bailey finishing 2^nd (2:11.20), Friedline getting 4^th (2:12.49) and Steph Bolin ending up 6^th (2:14.65).

In the overall team standings, Rochester ran away with the title, winning with a total of 1115.5 team points while the second place and host RPI Engineers ended up with 629.5 points.

The slew of multiple event winners included Bailey (5 wins), Waring (4), Friedline (3), Karen Meess (3), Xu (3), Ellie Ansani (2) and Lawless (2).

UR had many award winners in the post meet ceremonies as Braun and Spielman were named Women’s Co-Divers of the Year, Friedline was Women’s Rookie of the Year and the UR coaches took home Coaching Staff of the Year honors.

This article includes reporting from Scott Sabocheck, Athletic Communications Asst., photos courtesy of Rochester Athletics