ATHLETICS NEWS AND NOTES

Student Spotlight: Miracle Walters ’20

Miracle Walters '20

Miracle Walters ’20 earned her second straight Academic All District V recognition from the College Sports Information Directors Association and her third consecutive All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) commendation this spring. The honors are the latest in a long list of recognition earned by the Mathematics major from Elkin, N.C. Miracle, who led Guilford’s women’s basketball team in scoring for the second straight season, ranked among the ODAC’s leaders in scoring, rebounding and field-goal percentage. The three-time team captain is the sixth women’s basketball player in school history to earn All-ODAC recognition for three consecutive seasons.

Off the court, Miracle is a seven-time Dean's List student and three time Academic All-ODAC pick. She serves on Guilford’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and received the 2019 Nereus C. English Athletic Leadership Award, along with the 2019 Jack Jensen Ideal StudentAthlete prize. She won the school’s Nereus and Oriana Mendenhall Math Scholarship in 2018 and the Boyd Mathematics Scholarship in 2019. After graduation, Miracle looks to attend graduate school for Biomedical Engineering.

Jermaine Russell '21

Jermaine Russell Earns Football All-America Honor

Jermaine Russell ’21, of Durham, N.C., represented Guilford on the D3football.com All-America team as an honorable mention selection. He made the team as a kick returner and is the seventh All-American in Coach Chris Rusiewicz’s nine seasons as Guilford’s Head Coach. A D3football.com Second Team All-South pick, Jermaine led the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) and ranked third nationally with 177.7 all-purpose yards per game. His 16.4- yard punt-return average stood second in the ODAC and sixth in NCAA Division III. Jermaine’s 25.0-yard kickoff average was third-best in the conference and 37th in the nation. He tallied 10 total touchdowns, fourth-best in the ODAC, and returned two kickoffs for scores, which topped the nation. Jermaine amassed 821 combined kick return yards, fifth-best in Division III.

As a wide receiver, Jermaine earned Second Team All-ODAC honors and ranked fourth in the league with 64 receptions and seven touchdown catches. His 949 receiving yards stood third in the league and 53rd in Division III.

Guilford could return as many as 19 starters in 2020, including Jermaine.

Volleyball Team Enjoys Historic Season

Guilford's Women's Volleyball Team

The 2019 volleyball team had a 19-8 record and was 9-3 in ODAC matches, the Quakers’ best season since 1993.Guilford notched its first ODAC Tournament victory since 1997 with a quarterfinal win over the University of Lynchburg before being eliminated by the eventual champions, Virginia Wesleyan University, in the semifinal round. Tina Eucker’20 andChristian Ritter’20 earned spots on the College Division AllState Volleyball Team and All-ODAC honors for the third-straight season. A third Quaker, Khaira Bolden ‘21, was named to the All-ODAC Third Team for the first time in her career. Head Coach Emily Gann hopes to return 13 letterwinners from the 2019 squad.

Guilford Pair Reaches Scoring Milestone

Miracle Walters ’20 of the Quakers’ women’s basketball team and Kyler Gregory ’20 of the men’s basketball team both reached the 1,000 career points plateau this season.

Miracle scored her 1,000th career point in a January contest against Randolph College. Miracle, whose sister, Heaven ’17, also played at Guilford, is the 21st women’s basketball student-athlete to reach the milestone. Lauren Ramsey ’18 was the last Quaker woman to score 1,000 career points.

Kyler, a 6-6 forward/center from Yadkinville, N.C., hit the mark January 8 in a game at Ferrum College. He became the 35th Guilford men’s basketball player to score 1,000 career points and the first since current Assistant Coach and former teammate Marcus Curry ’19.

Student-Athletes Excelled in the Classroom Last Fall

More than half of Guilford College's student-athlete population earned spots on the school's Fall 2019 Student-Athlete Honor Roll. The 236-member list is comprised of varsity student-athletes who achieved a grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher for the Fall 2019 semester. The list includes 141 students who earned Dean's List commendation for maintaining at least a 3.5 GPA. In addition, six Guilford squads (men’s lacrosse, men’s soccer, women’s swimming, volleyball, women’s soccer and women’s tennis) recorded their highest team GPA since 1997 and 12 units had team GPAs of 2.99 or better. The department’s overall GPA was its highest since 2009.

Game-Winning Buzzer Beater Gets Guilford on SportsCenter Again

History somewhat repeated itself nearly 14 years after Jordan Snipes’ ’07 miraculous full-court heave. Thanks to multiple replays on ESPN’s SportsCenter, the play became known as the “Shot Seen Around the World” and triggered national publicity.

The latest acclaimed buzzerbeater happened in Atlanta, where the Quakers tangled with Emory University, the secondranked team in NCAA Division III. In a frantic final minute, the lead changed hands three times. Moments after Emory’s three-point shot with 3.4 seconds remaining in regulation gave the Eagles the lead, Guilford inbounded the ball to Jaylen Gore ’21. He hastily dribbled up the court before releasing a floating shot from about 25 feet out. The ball hung in the air as time expired before swishing through the net and setting off a celebration by the Quakers’ bench that spilled out onto the floor. Jaylen’s game-winner gave the Quakers a 70-69 upset of the previously unbeaten Eagles.

The Quakers’ publicity team reached out to Guilford alum Katharine Weikel ’13, an ESPN employee and sister of forward Liam Ward ’22. SportsCenter showed Jaylen’s game-winner twice and ranked the basket on its daily list of top-10 plays.