Dear Friends of Tribe Athletics, 

When you work on a college campus, you learn something new every day.  Last week I expanded my vocabulary with a new word - Quants - shorthand for quantitative analysts. Women's Soccer player and "Quant" Chloe Ausburn, pictured below, received a big honor from Poets & Quants Undergrads and was named one of the 100 Best and Brightest Business Majors in the Class of 2026 by the prestigious organization that ranks business schools and their programs.   
 
The defender/midfielder from Thomasville, NC, who was team captain her junior and senior years, is set to graduate with a double major in Business Analytics Data Science and Government and a concentration in Finance from the Raymond A. Mason School of Business. Then she's off to start her career at Deloitte Consulting LLP in Arlington/Rosslyn, Virginia. 

As we get closer to this year's Commencement Weekend May 14-16, I will share more stories of our remarkable student-athletes.  They are an outstanding group and I couldn't be prouder of them! 

Tennis Everyone? 
Starting tomorrow, we are hosting both the Men's & Women's CAA Tennis Championships at the Mackesy Tennis Center at the Millie West Courts, pictured below, April 17–19. The women will play as the No. 2 seed and the men have earned the sixth seed.  Admission to all matches is free.
 
The men will open against No. 3 Campbell on Friday, April 17, at noon, while the women will receive a first-round bye and open play in the semifinals on Saturday, April 18, at 6 p.m., facing the winner of No. 3 Charleston and No. 6 Campbell.  

An automatic berth to the NCAA Men's Tennis and Women's Championships will be on the line, so please come out and cheer us on!  The following are links will take you to more info on Men's Championship and Women's Championship. 

Notable

• Brian Walsh is the 2026 CAA Men's Indoor Field Athlete of the Year.  He had a terrific performance at the 2026 CAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Boston, earning the Most Outstanding Performer in Field events after winning gold in the pentathlon with 3,774 points. He also placed third in the long jump and fourth in the pole vault, earning 21 points, the most of any individual performer at the meet. 

• Swimming's Haley Lehman, pictured below, is the CAA Women's Co-Rookie Swimmer of the Year. She earned three medals at the CAA Championships, including two gold medals in relay events. She was part of the 400 freestyle relay team that broke a program and CAA record and a member, with Flynn Truskett, Ellie Hunt and Caroline Burgeson, of the 800 free relay team that won gold. 

• Track & Field closed out the Duke Invitational with a series of standout performances, highlighted by a school record and multiple top 10 marks in program history. Tia Taylor broke the W&M record in the long jump and had a personal best in the 100m hurdles while scoring the fourth best time in Tribe history. 

• Reagan Garnsey of Women's Golf, pictured below,  was named the CAA Co-Women's Golfer of the Week earlier this month by placing fifth place at the Carolina Challenge Cup.  She is the first Tribe Women's Golfer to earn the honor since 2024.

• Talon Dingledine of Men's Golf led the way for the Tribe at the Golfweek/Stifel Spring Challenge, posting his sixth top 10 finish of the season. He registered all three rounds under par to finish seventh.  

• Seven Football standouts were selected to the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) 2026 Hampshire Honor Society . They are linebacker Jaden Boring; tight end Trey McDonald; tight end Sean McElwain; kicker/punter Andrew Piercy; offensive lineman Hayden Raley; safety David Roulley; and offensive lineman Joey Trainor. The NFF Hampshire Honor Society recognizes standout college football players from all divisions who completed their final year of eligibility and will graduate this spring, or have already graduated and have remaining eligibility, and maintained a cumulative 3.2 GPA or better throughout their college career. 

• Eight standouts from Men's Gymnastics will compete at the NCAA Championshipshosted by Illinois on April 17-18—Luke Tully, pictured below, (all-around); Niko Greenly (floor, vault, parallel bars); Gavin Zborowski (pommel horse, rings) Ricky Pizem (vault, high bar); Michael Weiner (floor); Jonathan Irwin (rings); Nicholas Kosarikov (parallel bars) and Evan Wilkins (high bar).  Ricky Pizem (pommel horse), Evan Wilkins (parallel bars), Sam Smith (pommel horse) and Evan Sikra (high bar) earned spots as alternates. 

• Six members of Men's Gymnastics also earned All-ECAC honors—Luke Tully received four individual All-ECAC honors; Niko Greenly and Evan Wilkins received multiple honors; and Gavin Zborowski, Jonathan Irwin and Ricky Pizem garnered all-conference honors, too, with Ricky Pizem W&M's recipient of the 2026 ECAC Sportsmanship Award.  

• Eight Swimmers were named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team on Tuesday afternoon. Men's swimmers Aiden Bond, Ian Cullicott, Thomas Duncan and Brock Rempe, along with women's swimmers Sophia Heilen, Erin Langenburg, Veronika Owen and Flynn Truskett were recognized for their academic and athletic achievements.  

• Track & Field had a strong showing at the Colonial Relays, finishing second in the team standings. Tia Taylor, pictured below, was the women's MVP after winning the 100m hurdles; placing second in the long jump; and being a member of the first place 4x100 relay team along with Katriel Amoyaw, Summer Mellow and Leah Gould.  Katriel also won an individual title in the high jump, and on the men's side, Jonathan Kumer won the 800m.  W&M also claimed the distance medley relay title with the quartet of Becca Harkness, Chloe Miller, Kelly Ann Sutterfield, and Madilyn Lewis, and Leighton McGee won the pole vault. Other Tribe winners included Amelia Bawcombe in the hammer throw, Summer Mellow in the 100m dash, and Kalli Knott in the pole vault. Raiden Lafortune won the javelin title. 

It's Getting Closer! 
One Tribe One Day, a day to show our Tribe pride while raising millions of dollars in support of the University, is set for April 29. This is always an inspiring day for our community, and this year promises to be even more exciting.

I'm really looking forward to the debut of our new Athletics Leaderboard Challenge. All 23 of our teams will be competing for $23,000 in bonus dollars to recognize excellence across multiple areas. It's a fun, competitive way to highlight the strength and spirit of Tribe Athletics while making a real impact on our student-athletes.

The four areas our programs will compete in are:

• Most dollars
• Most total donors
• Most improved in dollars from last OTOD
• Most improved in donors from last OTOD

On top of that, each of our 23 programs has a match or challenge in place, meaning your gift can go even further by unlocking additional funds and amplifying your impact.
Every contribution, no matter the size, helps enhance the student-athlete experience that makes W&M so special. April 29 will be here before we know it, and we can't wait to see the Tribe community come together once again. 
 
Going for the Gold 
As the semester winds down, many of our Spring sports are starting CAA Championship play, including and Women's Golf this weekend, while Men's Gymnastics heads to the NCAA Championships at the University of Illinois.  Track & Field will be at the Wake Forest Invitational and the Virginia Challenge this weekend, with the Penn Relays later this month. Baseball and lacrosse each host conferences foes this weekend, so please check out our composite calendar so you can catch all the action!
 
Go Tribe!




Brian D. Mann
Director of Athletics