Dear Friends of Tribe Athletics, 

Last Thursday night, the roar of the W&M crowd wasn't at a sporting event but in a hotel ballroom in Washington, D.C., where hundreds of alumni, students, parents, and friends gathered for the kickoff celebration of one of the University's most popular events—W&M Weekend 2026.

President Katherine A. Rowe hosted a conversation with Sean McDermott '98, former coach of the Buffalo Bills, on the intersection of sports, leadership, and innovation. It drew a sellout crowd, and both the conversation and the energy in the room were fantastic. What a way to start a weekend that brought the best of W&M to our nation's capital. If you missed it, check out the schedule of events and start planning to attend the next one!
 
Track Changes
I have exciting news to share about Alex Heacock '09, our longtime director of Track & Field and Cross Country. He's decided to transition into our Advancement team , where he will focus on T&F and XC fundraising, with an emphasis on alumni and annual giving. This is a big move for Alex and one that we are very excited about, as his 10 years of work with the program's supporters like Rick Platt '72 and Randy ('67, J.D. '70, MLT '71) and Shelby ('67, MA Ed. '75 ) Hawthorne, as well as Tribe coaches and student-athletes, have given him unmatched knowledge about T&F and XC.
 
Alex's teams have won multiple championships, and his student-athletes have earned numerous All-American, Rookie, Player of the Year, and Most Outstanding Performer awards, along with academic and leadership accolades. He helped set a standard of excellence during his tenure, and we are grateful that he will continue his career with the Tribe!

Notable

• Baseball's Louie Bartletti, Witt Scafidi and Jamie Laskofski were named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Team.
   
• Track & Field finished competing at the 2026 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field East First Round, with Uriah Harris, pictured below, concluding his outdoor season in the men's discus when he placed 34th against one of the top regional fields in the country.

 

• Track's Jonathan Kumer also competed in the NCAA East First Round Regional in the men's 800m, where he advanced to the quarterfinal round after posting a personal best 1:47.19 in the first round, the second-fastest in W&M program history.
   
• Also competing at the NCAA East First Round were Amelia Bawcombe, who finished 16th in the hammer throw, and Elizabeth Strobach, pictured below, who competed in the pole vault and cleared 3.92m. Hayes Trapp ran the men's 10,000m, finishing in 30:22.62. 

 

• Seven former Men's Soccer players will play in TST 2026, the world's premier 7v7 soccer festival. They are Ricardo Acosta, Marcel Berry, Phil Breno, John Eskay, William Eskay, Zachary Hosseinian, and Danilo Nikcevic. The event includes clubs and players from around the world and features more than 160 matches across six days.
   
• Men's Golf concluded its season with a program-record 21-under 54-hole total at the Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club during the Golfweek National Golf Invitational, finishing sixth in a 10-team field. Freshman Talon Dingledine finished the tournament in a share of ninth place at 8 under 208, marking his eighth top-10 showing. He also set another school record with his 17th round of par or better this season. Junior Preston Burton, pictured below, tallied his 15th round of par or better this season and finished the tournament at 2-under 214, ranking 27th in the field.

Healthy Minds 
The Tribe has long been a leader in mental health services and took another step forward with the dedication of the Dr. Deidre Connelly Mental Performance Suite in the Mackesy Sports Performance Center (the Mack). Dr. Connelly, the school's first in-house sports psychologist, retired from W&M last year after more than three decades at the University. She said the school has always done an admirable job in mental health performance. She added that there is now greater openness around the topic, thanks to many athletes who discuss their personal struggles publicly. In addition to honoring Dr. Connelly, the new suite is a testament to the impact of two other individuals, Marc ('88, P'21, P'26) and Kirsten ('90, P'21, P'26) Elim, who provided the financial support for the new suite and have a long-standing commitment to student-athlete welfare. Read more about their thoughts on the importance of mental health services for student-athletes, along with those of Zellessia Ejalonibu, MA, LCPC, the Tribe's Director of Mental Health and Performance.
 
Go Tribe!




Brian D. Mann
Director of Athletics