About W&M Athletics

06/27/03

- For the William and Mary Athletics NCAA Self Study click here

Few colleges in America can boast of the combination of athletic and academic excellence that is found at the College of William and Mary. Each year, more than 500 Tribe student-athletes, competing on 23 Division I teams, prove that it is possible to simultaneously excel at the highest levels of athletics and academics.

"Exercise and recreation ... are as necessary as reading; I will say rather more necessary, because health is worth more than learning. A strong body makes the mind strong."
—Thomas Jefferson, W&M Class of 1762

Athletic Excellence
The 2004-05 season was another outstanding year for W&M athletics, as the Tribe added five CAA titles to push its conference-leading total to 81, 30 more than the next closest competitor. Seven teams competed in their respective NCAA Championships, highlighted by the football team’s appearance in the I-AA semifinals. It has become typical for W&M to win at least five conference championships and send seven or more teams to the NCAA Championship each season.

Each year the goal of the athletics department is to finish in the top-100 nationally in the NACDA Directors’ Cup standings and in recent years W&M has far exceeded that standard. In 2004-2005, the College finished 76th, and was the highest-ranked team in the CAA and was third among all schools in the state of Virginia, making this the ninth time in the 12-year history of the Directors’ Cup that the College has finished both in the top four in the state of Virginia and first or second in the CAA.

William and Mary fields Division I teams for both men and women in basketball, cross country, golf, gymnastics, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, and indoor and outdoor track and field. There are also field hockey, lacrosse and volleyball squads for women of the College, while there are two additional sports (baseball and football) for men.

Academic Success
The Tribe’s athletic accomplishments do not come at the expense of its students’ academic responsibilities, as W&M has produced 36 Academic All-Americans since 1992.

In the NCAA’s inaugural Academic Progress Rate scores for all Division I institutions, William and Mary once again excelled in its mission of fostering true student-athletes. The College boasted the fourth-best APR score (992) among 328 active and provisional institutions, and W&M leads all programs that offer performance-based grants and financial aid to scholar-athletes.

Additionally, W&M had four student-athletes recognized as CAA Scholar-Athletes of the Year in 2004-2005: Pat Comstock (Men’s Cross Country), Megan Bishop (Women’s Cross Country), Keith Bechtol (Men’s Track and Field) and Lena Sherbakov (Women’s Tennis).

William and Mary - A College of Champions

NCAA Championships (2)
Men's Tennis (2) 1947, 1948

CAA Championships (84)
Baseball (1) 2001
Men’s Cross Country (13) 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
Women’s Cross Country (13) 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2005
Men’s Golf (1) 1985
Women’s Lacrosse (1) 1992
Men’s Soccer (6) 1983, 1987, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000
Women’s Soccer (9) 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003
Men’s Tennis (3) 1988, 1990, 2005
Women’s Tennis (18) 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005
Men’s Track and Field (4) 1992, 1993, 2003, 2004
Women’s Track and Field (7) 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
Volleyball (8) 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 2001

Atlantic 10 Football Championships (3)
1996, 2001, 2004

ECAC Championships (7)
Men’s Gymnastics (2) 1992, 1994, 2006
Women’s Gymnastics (4) 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003

Southern Conference Championships (48)
Men’s Cross Country (15) 1955, 1956, 1957, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975
Football (4) 1942, 1947, 1966, 1970
Men’s Soccer (1) 1976
Men’s Indoor Track and Field (11) 1957, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975
Men’s Outdoor Track and Field (12) 1957, 1958, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975
Wrestling (5) 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1977