Dear Friends of Tribe Athletics,

You've heard me say I wear a lot of hats as AD, but I had the chance to wear one of my favorites a couple of weeks ago during Traditions Weekend. Our department gave a tour of the Tribe's new and improved athletics facilities to the Class of '75 and I relished my role as tour guide! We started in Kaplan Arena and then walked to the future home of the Mackesy Sports Performance Center, the Laycock Football Center, and the Zable Stadium grandstand. Lunch in the President's Suite at Zable put a great exclamation point on the event!
 
I'm fortunate to have a chance almost every day to see how all the projects are progressing. Still, it brings me special pleasure to share firsthand with our alumni and donors the tremendous work being done on behalf of our more than 500 student-athletes. It also reminds me again how grateful we are for every person who has contributed to this magnificent project.  We are witnessing the future unfold before our very eyes!

Classroom Strong
In data released by the NCAA this week, the Tribe had strong numbers in the latest Academic Progress Rate, with an increase in both perfect APR scores and NCAA Public Recognition Awards, while ranking second nationally among all public universities in both categories.  

As a department, W&M's APR for 2023-24 was 996 among its 21 programs (indoor and outdoor track and field are combined), while its multiyear APR was 994.06, ahead of the national average of 984. We garnered 14 Public Recognition Awards, the most in the CAA and the state of Virginia. Only the University of Michigan's 15 Public Recognition Awards among public schools topped the Tribe nationally.  For more details on these rankings, click here.

Notable

• The Las Vegas Raiders selected Tribe All-America offensive lineman Charles Grant with the 99th overall pick in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft. He is the program's highest drafted player since Derek Cox, who the Jacksonville Jaguars selected with the 73rd pick in 2009. Tribe Scribe Dave Johnson has a great story about when Charles received the call from his new team.
• Three football standouts earned rookie mini camp invitations.  Hollis Mathis, who has played quarterback, wide receiver, and running back, will join the Pittsburgh Steelers. At the same time, wide receiver Matthew Akuchie and safety Marcus Barnes earned invites from the Indianapolis Colts and Cincinnati Bengals, respectively. 
• Lacrosse standout Paige Gilbert earned All-CAA honors when she was named to the second team.  It was the second consecutive season in which she garnered all-league distinction.
• Lacrosse also received another honor when Molly Delaney, pictured below, was honored as the CAA Rookie of the Week.

• Baseball freshmen picked up a pair of awards last week as RHP Zach Boyd was named the CAA Pitcher of the Week, while infielder Jamie Laskofski was the CAA Rookie of the Week. Zach pitched a complete game shutout vs. Stony Brook, the first Tribe hurler to do so since 2013. Jamie won his award on the week's strength when he batted .533 (8-for-15) with six runs, eight RBI, and a home run.
• Baseball center fielder Ben Parker, pictured below, broke the modern-era program record for longest hitting streak at 33 games in the Tribe's game vs. Charleston on Sunday. Ben went onto extend the streak to 34 games with three hits last night vs. George Mason. The graduate student is now tied for the longest hitting streak in CAA history!

• Track & Field's distance runners competed in the Hill City Twilight on Friday night, hosted by the University of Lynchburg. Zack Ericksen highlighted the day for the Tribe, earning an event win in the 3000m steeple.
• Three women's Track & Field athletes set new program records on Sunday at the Duke Twilight in Durham, N.C. Lauren Jones earned a runner-up finish with a record-breaking performance in the long jump with a mark of 6.04m on her fifth attempt. Elizabeth Strobach, pictured below, is the first W&M women's athlete to clear 4.01m in the pole vault. And Avery Glidden broke her old program record in the 400m hurdles when she crossed the line in 1:00.15 to set her new record mark.

• Women's Tennis advanced to the championship match in the CAA Tournament for the 10th straight time before dropping the final game to tournament champion Elon. The Tribe had dominated the championship the past three years by winning the title each year and with head coach Jessica Giuggioli being honored as the CAA Coach of the Year each season. Senior two-time reigning CAA Player of the Year Hedda Gurholt finished her storied career ranked 14^th all-time career singles wins (92), turning in a 20-13 overall mark in 2025, including a 13-5 ledger at No.1. Hedda will finish her career as a four-time All-CAA Honoree. Congratulations on a great run!
• After a storybook performance in the CAA and NCAA women's basketball tournaments, Bella Nascimento, pictured below, was invited to join the Brazilian National Team for a pair of high-profile exhibition match ups against the WNBA's Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever. Bella scored eight points and collected six rebounds in 23 productive minutes of floor time between the two games. 

 

17 members of the William & Mary men's gymnastics team were named to the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) All-Academic Team.

 

Kicking It The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) hosted its second annual Arc Kickball Game. More than 50 clients from Arc, which is an organization that serves adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, visited campus for a night to remember under the light at Zable Stadium. Student-athletes from 10 different teams came together to facilitate three games, and it was a great evening as we celebrated community, inclusion and fun!  A special shout out to Jonathan Hammond (Football) for leading SAAC's community service subcommittee to make the event run smoothly. Smooth Talker Please join me in congratulating Jay Colley, the longtime Voice of the Tribe, who was inducted into the Hampton Roads Sports Media Hall of Fame! This is a well-deserved honor that makes us all very proud of Jay.

 Go, Tribe!

Brian D. Mann
Director of Athletics