William & Mary student-athletes Evan Goodell (St. Louis, Mich.) and Madeline High (Raleigh, N.C.) were honored by the Colonial Athletic Association on Wednesday as Scholar-Athlete of the Year finalists.  The CAA Scholar-Athlete of the Year program recognizes one male and one female honoree from each of the 10 league institutions, and from those institutional Scholar-Athletes of the Year, selects one Male and one Female CAA Scholar-Athlete of the Year.  For the 2020-21 academic year, the winners are Elon tennis player Kyle Frankel, and James Madison diver Faith Anderson.
 
A standout distance runner for W&M, Goodell wrapped up his undergraduate career in just three years in the spring 2020, earning his degree in biology.  This year, he began earning his Ph.D. at W&M, in the Applied Sciences Biology doctoral program.  After redshirting all three seasons his freshman year in 2017-18, Goodell was named the CAA Track & Field Rookie of the Year in 2019, after a spring that saw him sweep the 5,000m and 10,000m titles at the conference championships.  He was also All-East indoors that year, anchoring W&M's distance medley relay to sixth place at the IC4A Championships.  As a redshirt-sophomore in 2019-20, Goodell was well on his way to bettering all of those efforts.  He finished fourth at the CAA Cross Country Championships in the fall, an improvement of 15 places over the year before.  Indoors, he ran the mile three times, improving each time out to finish fifth overall at the IC4A Championships in 4:06.88.  That time ranks him 15th all-time at W&M.  With his redshirt year and this CoVID-19 year both impacting his career, Goodell will still have two full years of eligibility remaining beginning in the fall of 2021 as he works towards his doctorate.  Goodell is also the first athlete from the W&M men's cross country and track & field programs to be selected as a Scholar-Athlete of the Year finalist in the current format of the award.
 
On the women's side, Madeline High will graduate in a few short weeks with her degree in neuroscience.  She finished her career on a high note this winter, leading the Tribe swimming team to its first undefeated dual-meet season since 1970-71, and to a runner-up finish at the CAA Championships for the fourth year in a row.  Individually, she made the finals of all three of her events, after making two finals in both 2019 and 2018.  High ranks 11th in school history in the 100 fly, and won five races in her career, including the 200 fly against Old Dominion this past winter.  After graduating, High plans to pursue medical school.
 
W&M Institutional Scholar-Athletes of the Year
2020-21 - Madeline High, Swimming; Evan Goodell, Cross Country & Track & Field
2019-20 - Cassidy Goodwin, Field Hockey; Brandon Raquet, Baseball
2018-19 - Claire Williams, Swimming *; Julian Ngoh, Soccer
2017-18 - Erin Menges, Field Hockey; Paul Rowley, Basketball **; Bodie Sheehan, Baseball
* Overall Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year
** Overall Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year and also CAA Men's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year