Dear Friends of William & Mary Athletics,
Earlier this month the nation celebrated National Girls and Women in Sports Day, making our "Power Play" feature story in the winter issue of WM Magazine especially timely. The article focuses on Mashea Mason Ashton '96, M.A.Ed '97 (soccer), Molly Ashby '81 (tennis), Katy Neumer '07 (basketball) and Jennifer Tepper Mackesy '91 (soccer) and how their experiences as Division I athletes contributed to their success. A companion piece furthers the point by looking at an additional athletics alumnae group and their achievements in the business and nonprofit sectors.
Katy Neumer '07 used many of the same skills she developed as a key contributor on the Tribe's Women's Basketball Team to build her business career.
Katy is currently the founding member and managing director at J. Wood Capital Advisors in San Francisco.
I am proud to know several of the women personally, but reading the articles has given me a new appreciation of how they have propelled themselves into great careers. It's also awesome to realize that many of our 258 current female student-athletes will be following similarly successful journeys into their chosen professions.
In this same issue is a terrific piece on another former student-athlete, Russell "Buzz" Wincheski '90, M.S. '96, Ph.D. '99, who drew from many similar experiences in his time as a William & Mary Athletics Hall of Fame wrestler to fashion a remarkable engineering career. With over 20 patents to his name and distinguished service as an instrumentation scientist, Wincheski's work was recently honored by his recent induction into the 2022-2023 NASA Inventors Hall of Fame!
Nice Openings
Spring, as usual, boasts a full array of sports. Last weekend women's lacrosse played its home opener vs. ODU and came away with a 12-8 victory. Sophomore Kate Draddy helped power the win by scoring a career-high four goals.
Baseball used a great balance of pitching and hitting to get its 2024 season off to a successful start by winning three of its first four games, including a series win over Holy Cross this past weekend - and a 10-1 victory over Richmond this past Tuesday.
Senior Joe Delossantos has helped the Tribe to a 3-1 start to the 2024 season by hitting .500, with a pair of HRs and eight RBIs.
Notable Performances
- Sophomore Ashton Temme was named CAA Men's Swimmer of the Week after a dominant weekend at the Cavalier Invitational, ranking in the league's top 15 in three events.
- Men's tennis rallied past Dartmouth to finish in fifth place at the ECAC Championship. The Big Green of Dartmouth will be looking to even the score when they come to Williamsburg this weekend for a Saturday match.
- Junior Hedda Gurholt was named the CAA Women's Tennis Player of the Week, the league announced Feb.13. It was the second straight week that a Tribe player was honored as Yu Chen was named the CAA Player of the Week on Feb. 6. Hedda, the reigning CAA Player of the Year, notched her first career nationally ranked win at the top singles position last Sunday (Feb. 18), but William & Mary suffered a 4-1 setback to West Virginia.
Hedda Gurholt was named the CAA Women's Tennis Player of the Week playing in the No. 1 singles position for the Tribe.
- Head women's basketball coach Erin Dickerson Davis was selected as a B1G Impact Pioneers Class of 24, which honors those who make an impact on their schools, sports and communities. Coach E was a standout guard and captain during her four years at Northwestern. After the Tribe's road victory over Hampton on Super Bowl Sunday, she became the fastest head coach to reach 20 conference wins in program history, reaching the milestone in just 29 career CAA games.
- Another head coach earning recognition is baseball's Mike McRae, who was named one of the top 100 most influential Canadians in baseball by Canadian Baseball Network, an honor he has earned for 17 consecutive years!
- Men's gymnast Aidan Cuy was selected as the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Co-Gymnast of the Week after a standout performance in the Tribe's virtual meet with Cal, where the team scored its second-best point total this year.
Looking Ahead
By my count, we have 18 events from today through Sunday! The best way to keep track is through our
composite calendar.
- Men's basketball plays UNCW tonight and tickets to the CAA Men's Basketball Championship (March 8-12) are now on sale, as are tickets to the CAA's Women's Championship, which runs March 13-17. Both tournaments are in Washington, D.C. We encourage you to use the links above to purchase tickets to help ensure our Tribe community is together in the venue!
- W&M President Katherine Rowe has invited W&M faculty to join her at the women's basketball game vs. Elon tomorrow night. Attendees will have group seats behind the Tribe's bench, plus special treats before, during and after the game! Over 40 members of the Staff Assembly enjoyed a similar outing a few weeks ago.
- Our track & field teams are off to the CAA Indoor Championships in New York. Our own Tribe Scribe, Dave Johnson, caught up with a pair of seniors, sprinter Jackson Cooley and vaulter Elizabeth Upright, who are looking to make the most of their final seasons of competition!
- Women's soccer starts its spring season this weekend with a home contest vs. James Madison University.
- Finally, our football program started its spring practice schedule earlier this month and you can get an early peek at Tribe football during its spring game at 1 p.m., March 9 in Zable Stadium!
In Exchange
Not only are multiple sports playing during the Spring, but all of our coaches are continuously engaged in scouting and recruiting. A wonderful way to support them and all of our programs is through the Green & Gold Exchange, which helps connect you with our student-athletes and our Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) program.
As always, thank you for everything you do for W&M Athletics!
Go Tribe!
Brian D. Mann
Director of Athletics
