Dear Friends of Tribe Athletics,

Every year at this time there is a nostalgic, though celebratory, feeling that pervades campus.  Families and friends are gathering for cherished graduation traditions and in Athletics we are getting ready to cheer on 127 student-athletes who will be awarded degrees during ceremonies tomorrow and later this summer.  
These young men and women, 97 of whom are undergraduates with 23 different majors, and 30 of whom are graduate students in five different programs, are entering new phases of their lives.  As we watch them receive their diplomas we remember them wearing the Green & Gold, and we are as excited as the rest of their families about what great things their futures hold.  Well done everyone!
 

While the academic portion of the year is wrapping up, baseball is still going strong and is facing league-leading University of North Carolina Wilmington this weekend in its final conference series.  Last weekend the Tribe took 2 of 3 from second place Northeastern to get to 32 wins.  The Tribe continued to show the resilience it has exhibited all season in clinching the series with a pair of comeback wins.  Adding to the excitement was the fact that we had a pair of "celebrities" throw out the first pitches.   Senior Raffaela Alhach took the mound to represent the CAA champion women's tennis team on Friday evening, while W&M's Dean of Students, Stacey Harris, had the chance to show off her arm Saturday. 
 

Speaking of baseball, we were honored to have Joe Plumeri '66, D.P.S. '11 on campus visiting with coaches and staff last week during his annual visit to announce the Plumeri Awards for Faculty Excellence.  Joe riveted us with an outstanding talk on leadership and then he headed to the ballpark to do some play-by-play from the broadcast booth. 
 

Along with baseball, our Track & Field team season is continuing as well. It was announced this morning that three student-athletes and a relay qualified for the NCAA East Regional in Jacksonville, FL, May 24-27. For the women, Liv Cantby (javelin) and Catherine Garrison (3,000m steeplechase) will compete individually, while the Tribe's record-setting 4x400 relay of Amaya Johnson, Lizzy Gregory, Carly Swierbut, and Emily Ervin earned one of the 24 regional qualifying spots. For the men, Chris Arias qualified for a third-straight year in the javelin.
 

Another W&M legend added to her glittering resume when she was inducted to the National Soccer Hall of Fame two weeks ago. President Katherine A. Rowe was in the audience in Frisco, TX when her friend Jill Ellis '88, L.H.D. '16, was awarded yet another honor in her storied career.  Also in attendance were Tribe soccer coaches and alumni Julie Shackford and Marsha Lycan, plus longtime former head coach and current volunteer assistant John Daly.  Soccer alum Nancy O'Toole (and mom of current soccer player Jillian) made the trip, too.  There are too many highlights to list here, but how about Jill's 248 wins in 14 seasons at the college level and leading the U.S. national team to FIFA World Cup championships in 2015 and '19?  Congratulations, Jill!

Our basketball programs aren't playing games right now, but they are certainly competing!  Women's basketball is bringing in three new players via the portal and men's basketball also inked three through the portal.
 

End-of-season honors continue to roll in for our student-athletes:

·     A quartet of men's tennis players received All-CAA honors.  George Davis was All-CAA First Team in singles; and he and Bill Duo were named the top team in doubles.  Joseph Brailovsky was named second team in singles and Andres Silva made third team singles.

·     After winning the CAA title, women's tennis was rewarded in the leagues honors. Hedda Gurholt was named the CAA Player of the Year and head coach Jessica Giuggioli took home the league's coach of the year honor for the second-straight season. The Tribe led the CAA in all-league honorees (6) and first team selections (3). Elisa Van Meeteren joined Gurholt on the All-CAA First Team in singles, while Sofiya Kuzina and Ine Stange garnered a spot on the top doubles team. Kuzina was named to the second team in singles, while Emma Fernald earned third team honors. Fernald and Van Meeteren were named third team in doubles.

·     Our track and field programs competed in two championships over the last two weeks. At CAAs on the women's side, Arianna DeBoer won the CAA Champion 10,000m, Olesya Sitkowski (pole vault) and Sofia Istnick (5,000m) both earned silvers and Liv Cantby (javelin) and Keeley Suzenski (shot put) took home bronze medals. W&M's 4x400 relay of Johnson, Gregory, Swierbut, and Ervin earned silver and ran not only a school-record time, but one faster than both the previous CAA meet and stadium records.
·     For the men, freshman Jason Nwosu was named the Most Outstanding Field Performer at the CAA Championship after winning the shot put. Daniel Layton joined Nwosu in winning gold in the decathlon with a PR. Stephen Larson took home a bronze in the 800m.

·     Johnson, Gregory, Swierbut and Ervin captured the first gold for the Tribe in the 4x400 at the ECAC Championship.

·     Cantby finished with gold in the javelin, which helped the Tribe women to third place in the ECAC Championship, the team's best finish at the meet.

·     Jacob Jones clinched All-East honors and a third-place finish in the 1,500m after posting a time of 3:44.13 in the IC4A Championship. Austin Rice broke the freshman record in the 400m in back-to-back weeks at the championships. 

·     Golfer Matthew Finestein was selected to the All-CAA Second Team.
 

 As our department hums along, this week we took a huge step forward in student-athlete well-being.  Athletics officially launched our new EXCEL program, which will assist the development of our student-athletes in three major areas-- career preparation, leadership development and community service.  Jasmine Perkins will be the department's first Assistant AD for Student-Athlete Development, and comes to the position after a stint as the director of operations for women's basketball.  EXCEL is part of the university's Vision 2026 initiative and gives us another opportunity to increase our commitment to our 500 student-athletes. I'm also very happy to note that the launch of the program is directly tied to a generous gift from a person loyal to W&M!  Please take a minute to visit the link to learn more.  
 

Don't forget to grab your W&M baseball cap and get ready to follow baseball this weekend; remember the series starts today.  I just may put on my glove for luck, as an unofficial assist to the team!

Go Tribe!