Sports

Eagles swimmer Joey Peppersack ’21 won a silver medal in men’s 100-meter backstroke at the Parapan American Games this summer in Lima, Peru. Peppersack is a seasoned national and international competitor, having broken the American Paralympic record in the 100-yard medley in 2018 and won two gold medals and a bronze at the Para World Series in Berlin in 2017. Also at the Parapan Games, UMW men’s swimming assistant coach Zach Shattuck won a silver and three bronze medals in four events – 100-meter breaststroke, 50-meter butterfly, 200-meter individual medley, and men’s relay. Peppersack and Shattuck swam for Team USA, coached by UMW swim coach Justin Anderson ’10. Team USA took 62 swimming medals at the games, in which 33 countries competed. … [Read more...]

The Athletic Hall of Fame will induct Coach Dana Hall, the 2002 Final Four women’s lacrosse team she coached, and several individual athletes in February. Basketball standouts Patricia Long ’84 and Justin Baker ’07, baseball All American Eric Fitzgerald ’08, and tennis All American Kevin Loden ’03 round out the 24th Hall of Fame class. Long was a women’s basketball superstar, becoming the first player to record 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds. Baker finished in the top five in program history in points, assists, and rebounds. Fitzgerald still holds UMW’s career records for hits, doubles, runs scored, and runs batted in. Loden helped men’s tennis evolve into a national power in the early 2000s, including the program’s first appearance in the Elite Eight. Hall led the field hockey and lacrosse programs for more than two decades. Her field hockey teams achieved 277 wins from 1990-2010, and the 1993 team advanced to the national championship game. In lacrosse, Hall’s … [Read more...]

Kelly Swiney has been named head baseball coach, just the third coach in Mary Washington baseball history. Swiney comes to UMW from coaching positions in Pennsylvania. He coached for two seasons at Westminster College and, before that, for nine seasons at his alma mater, Allegheny College. UMW Athletics also recently hired Scott Gerseny to coach women’s soccer and Alex Hinsey to coach volleyball. Both most recently coached in Pennsylvania: Gerseny at Washington & Jefferson College and Hinsey at Elizabethtown College. Associate Professor of Psychology Dave Kolar was appointed women’s golf coach, and Visiting Instructor of Business Dan Wolfe ’84 was named to coach men’s golf. … [Read more...]

Mary Washington 2018-19 athletics teams swept the Capital Athletic Conference awards, winning the Richard C. Cook All-Sports Award, the Women’s Commissioner’s Award, and the Men’s Commissioner’s Award. With eight team championships and seven additional top-three finishes, the Eagles amassed 156.5 points in the all-sports standings to edge second-place Christopher Newport University by 7.5 points. Maryland’s Salisbury University came in third. It was the 13th CAC all-sports trophy for the Eagles and first since the 2012-13 season. The Eagles’ eight conference titles were in men’s soccer; men’s and women’s swimming; men’s and women’s tennis; men’s and women’s outdoor track and field; and volleyball. President Troy Paino, Interim Athletic Director Patrick Catullo ’95, and Vice President for Student Affairs Juliette Landphair accepted the awards at a conference meeting at UMW last spring. “What an honor for UMW Athletics,” Catullo said. “Knowing how hard our student-athletes, coaches, … [Read more...]