College Insider: Engineer balances athletics, studies

Springfield grad has started five games at Rose-Hulman.

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By Michael Cooper, Staff Writer 10:46 PM Saturday, January 28, 2012

SPRINGFIELD — If she’s not at the soccer field, basketball court, softball field or in the classroom, Springfield grad and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology freshman Christine Rollins can be found at Starbucks, firmly entrenched in a book.

“From 7:30 to 11 p.m., it’s straight homework,” Rollins said. “I get a lot of coffee.”

Rollins has appeared in all 18 games for the Fightin’ Engineers women’s basketball team (5-13, 3-8 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference), starting five times. She’s playing about 18 minutes per game.

“It’s a lot of fun having a big role on the basketball team, especially since I didn’t get much playing time with soccer,” Rollins said.

Rollins played three sports at Springfield. She said the Greater Western Ohio Conference and post-secondary classes helped her prepare for the next level, both on the floor and in the classroom.

The biggest challenge, she said, has come in the classroom and managing her time combined with athletics. Rollins is majoring in mechanical engineering major at Rose-Hulman, the top-rated engineering school in the country.

She played soccer last fall, appearing in four games at goalkeeper, which helped her work on time management for the rest of the year.

“The academic level and the expectations are extremely difficult,” Rollins said. “The two combined make it really difficult. You have to manage your time really well to be able to succeed.”

On the court, Rollins comes off the bench for the Engineers, where she plays all over the court, but mostly in the post.

“It’s a completely different game,” Rollins said. “It’s so much more fast-paced and the practices are so much more intense.”

Rose-Hulman, a Division III school in Terre Haute, Ind., has lost several close games, but hopes to right the ship in the coming weeks before she begins softball season.

“We’ve got a really good team, we just can’t convert,” Rollins said. “We’ve got a chance to make it to the conference tournament, and that’s our goal.”

Short Takes

Indoor Track and Field: Northeastern grad Alek Erwin, a sophomore at Wilmington College, won the 1,000-meter run at the Otterbein Indoor Invitational Meet on Jan. 20 in a time of 2 minutes, 39 seconds.

Erwin’s teammate, Greeneview grad Tyler Caudill, a freshman, won the 60-meter hurdles in 8.72. His time of 8.63 in the prelims was 0.01 second off the school record.

Wittenberg University sophomore Molly King, a Northeastern grad, finished second in the 5,000-meter run in 18:55.

• Northeastern grad Ethan Deselem, a junior at the College of Wooster, won the 60 meters (7.59) in a dual against Oberlin in the first-ever meet held at the school’s new indoor track facility, the Scot Center.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0365, Michael.Cooper@coxinc.com or on Twitter @SNS_Wizard.

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