Dear Friends of William & Mary Athletics,
Drum roll, please! Now that the final accounting for the All In campaign is complete, our grand total is $57.2 million, more than $2 million over our goal! The total includes $13.2 million for scholarships, thanks to the outpouring of support from 11,206 donors. Of those donors, 3,280 gave to athletics for the first time and 2,310 donors made their first gift to W&M. Tribe Athletics is tremendously grateful to everyone who got us way past the finish line! Many, many thanks to everyone who participated.
Hitting the Books
Heartiest congratulations to Elizabeth Upright (women's track & field), Sarah Wozniak (women's gymnastics) and Alek Kuzmenchuk (men's gymnastics) on their recent selection to the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa Society following the fall semester. Upright, Wozniak and Kuzmenchuk pictured below.
Also, during the fall semester, our student-athletes had a cumulative GPA of 3.32, with 19 of 21 programs having a 3.0 or better and six programs with a 3.5 or better. The top overall GPA was scored by women's soccer (3.7) followed by 3.62 for women's gymnastics. The top men's GPA was men's golf at 3.55.
Notable Performances
William & Mary men's and women's indoor track & field teams opened the spring schedule at the fourth annual Brant Tolsma Invitational at Liberty University on January 18-20. Brian Walsh broke the freshman heptathlon record with 4802 points. Sofia Istnick recorded a 5000M victory and Arianna DeBoer had a personal-best time for a 1000M win. The men's 4x400M relay team of Austin Rice, Jonathan Kumer, David Seekford and Lucas Thompson finished third. Istnick, Walsh and Deboer pictured below.
Combining 20 event wins and 43 top-three finishes, William & Mary men's and women's swim teams made an impressive showing at Davidson last Saturday afternoon. The Tribe women secured their sixth win of the season, improving to 6-1, with a 175-119 victory over the Wildcats. On the men's side, they had eight event wins and 20 podium finishes.
Men's gymnastics took fifth place at the Navy Open, with Sam Lee, Jared Noyman and Trenton all scoring top-10 finishes.
Behind the Scenes
Our Tribe Scribe Dave Johnson recently authored terrific articles about two of our impressive student-athletes. Madeline Frazier has battled back from three serious health issues and is now a freshman on the women's gymnastics team. Conor Sokolowski wasn't quite ready to give up his swimming career and head to investment banking after some great showings during his senior year. Read about how he will add to the more than 10,000 hours he's invested in his sport and why W&M and his future employer are on board. Dave writes regularly about our student-athletes and to make sure you see our most recent articles, click here!
Lord Botetourt Affair
If you haven't already gotten your tickets to our 35th annual Lord Botetourt Affair, please hurry! You don't want to miss out as we have our usual lineup of fabulous auction items, including some great gridiron gear and experiences, thanks to our many generous alums.
Also, virtual tickets for the silent auction went on sale today and bidding starts immediately! Check out the amazing lineup of items here! This year there will not be a zoom component for the live auction, so please plan accordingly.
On Tap
Gold Rush Weekend is just a couple of weeks away! The exciting weekend of Tribe hoops tips off with the men's eighth annual Gold Rush Game against Charleston on Saturday, Feb. 3, at 2 p.m. Women's basketball hosts Drexel for its own Gold Rush Game on Sunday, Feb. 4, at 1 p.m. We are encouraging all our fans to show Tribe pride by wearing GOLD – and arrive early for both games for your chance to get this year's free Gold Rush t-shirt. Also, you will want to stay in your seats at halftime on Saturday, as we will be looking to crown a new champion in the annual Gold Rush Diaper Derby (open to all babies of age, who can crawl – but NO walking/toddling!).
Also, men's and women's golf released their schedules and Tribe baseball and our women's lacrosse teams are both just a few weeks away from regular season play!
Most likely, as you are reading this our men's tennis team will be playing its first dual match of the season, hosting Florida Atlantic University. The men's basketball team will play at Hofstra later tonight. Details on how to watch or listen to these and all of the Tribe's games are on our composite schedule.
As always, thank you for all that you do for W&M Athletics!
We know how many demands there are on your time. We greatly appreciate that you choose to spend some of it cheering for the Green & Gold and supporting us through your philanthropy and in dozens of other ways. You are critical to the success of Tribe Athletics!
Go Tribe!
Brian D. Mann
Director of Athletics
