Dear Friends of William & Mary Athletics,
 
As sports fans, those feel-good moments are a huge part of why we love watching our favorite teams. Thanks to generous support from our donors, and with the assist from Sean McDermott '98 and Coach Mike London, we recently had the pleasure of experiencing such a moment.  
 
Sean was on campus to be inducted into the William & Mary Athletics Hall of Fame and he carved out some time to spend with our football team. Please take a minute to witness the jubilation of the team as they celebrate a special moment for Freshman All-American long snapper Nick Levy. Also, if you are interested, the following is a brief video recap of the engaging weekend Coach McDermott spent with our Tribe!

How about another feel-good story about a Tribe football student-athlete?  John Pius, a consensus FCS All-American defensive standout, says "No!" to the transfer portal for a simple reason--"… I love it here, the school, my teammates and coaches." And we love you back, John!
 
Women's basketball finished its season in the semifinals of the CAA Tournament, falling to Towson. The team fought to the final whistle and was cheered on by W&M fans, including our women's lacrosse team that stopped in on their way to a game in New York. We love it when our student-athletes support each other - it almost felt like a home game. Thanks to everyone who made the trip and congratulations to the team for an amazing and fun season!

Speaking of the lacrosse program, it has lately turned in several notable performances. Elise Palmer (Defensive POW) and Maresa Moyer (Rookie of the Week) helped the team to a pair of wins, including a win over Hofstra to start CAA play and they earned all CAA-honors for their efforts. While the team is riding a three-game winning streak heading into this weekend, it is also getting wins in our community, as the program exceeded its fundraising goal of $5K for HEADstrong Foundation.
 
The 2023 swimming season has ended and for the second-straight year women's swimming has had an athlete qualify for the NCAA Championships. Katie Stevenson set a school record in the 200 free and won her heat. Her senior season was highlighted by her three-event entry in the NCAA's and her seven wins in the CAA Championships. Missy Cundiff finished 17^th in the 50 free at the national meet last year. Katie and Missy are the first Tribe swimmers to qualify in back-to-back years, so big congratulations to head coach Nate Kellogg and his staff for their great work in developing our student-athletes to their fullest potential!

Track and field is off and running in its outdoor season (sorry, I couldn't resist!) and scored a handful of first place finishes at Richmond's Fred Hardy Invitational. The performances were highlighted by Keeley Suzenski, who broke her own school record in the shot put, finishing first in the event at 15.02m (49-03.50).  And she didn't stop there, as Keeley added another first-place performance in the discus and also set her personal best in the hammer.

Stay tuned as the program prepares to host events on the next two weekends, starting with the Dan Stimson Memorial Track Meet (March 25) and the Colonial Relays (March 30 - April 1). 
 
Senior men's gymnast Christian Marsh, has been nominated for the highest honor in his sport, the Nissen Emery Award. He is one of eight nominees who were selected for exhibiting the characteristics of a "true champion who seeks excellence physically, mentally, socially, and morally." No wonder this is akin to the Heisman Trophy in gymnastics! Additionally, on the strength of his outstanding performances in the team's dual meet against No. 4 Penn State last weekend, freshman Trenton Peazant was selected as the College Gymnastics Association Specialist of the Week. The honor recognizes the nation's top specialist. Our men will travel to the USAG Collegiate Championship this weekend.

The Tribe pride was strong in Kaplan this weekend, as nearly 200 men's gymnastics alumni were in town to celebrate Tribe icon Cliff Gauthier's 50 years of association with the program (with 43 as the head coach). They celebrated Cliff on Saturday at a special banquet, then came out in force to support the team's efforts against the Nittany Lions the next afternoon. 
 
In other gymnastics news, our women's team got off to a hot start at the Gymnastics East Conference (GEC) Championship by placing first in the first session and finishing fifth. Overall, 17 Tribe gymnasts earned GEC Scholar Athlete Awards, and three earned regular season All-GEC honors; while Grace Costello earned All-GEC honors on bars at the championship meet.
 
A pair of tennis players snared two honors this week. Hedda Gurholt and George Davis were each named CAA Player of the Week. Hedda had a 3-0 CAA record and three-straight clinching wins, while George had a pair of big wins at No. 1 singles in tight matches vs. Gardner-Webb and Delaware. Congratulations to both of you!

Ready to be fired up about the future of the Tribe, even more than you usually are? Watch this 5-minute video! Not even a year ago we announced plans for major upgrades and renovations to the W&M Athletics Complex and we thought it was time for a project update. Check out the drawings and see our timeline. I hope you're as excited as we are!
 
There is a full slate of sports in the last week of March. Our composite calendar gives you all the info you need to keep up with the Tribe. And taking a peek into the month ahead, One Tribe One Day is scheduled for April 18. This year our focus will be on giving our supporters their own chance to "Beat Richmond" and its single-day giving total of $680,000.

Go Tribe!