Fall 2015
Edition 5
On Friday, November 20th hundreds of Bulldog faithful gathered in New Haven to celebrate Yale Athletics and to proudly honor the recipients of the George H.W. Bush Lifetime of Leadership Award Recipients: Dick Baribault ’49, Josh Bekenstein ’80, Ginny Gilder ‘79, Jim Goodale ’55, Patrick Ruwe ’83, ’87 M.D. and David Swensen ’80 PhD. Each of these outstanding individuals were honored for their personal and professional leadership contributions to their respective fields. The evening featured a festive pre-dinner cocktail hour with signature cocktails, vibrant silent auction, and moving program with special announcements and honoree videos. You can read more about the special announcement on page 2
In honor of dedicated service and innumerable contributions to Yale Athletics over the past 22 years, the establishment of the Thomas A. Beckett Director of Athletics Fund was announced during the Blue Leadership Ball. Thanks to a dedicated group of leadership donors this unrestricted fund exceeded its initial target of $3mm by more than a million dollars — a true testament to the impact that Tom Beckett has had on the Bulldog family. The fund will be used at the discretion of the athletic director to meet the top needs of the department and the next leader of Yale Athletics will have the distinct honor of being the Thomas A. Beckett Director of Athletics. If you are interested in contributing the fund is still accepting donations and you can email Alison.cole@yale.edu for more information. Leadership donors of $10,000 or more will be recognized on a plaque in the Director’s office.
Yale Swimming & Diving traveled to Tobacco Road to take on elite competition in the Nike Cup. The women, currently ranked 13th nationally, finished the meet in third place while the men finished in fifth. Yale has broken team records and away pool records, and been victorious against some of the top times in the nation this season.
The men and women of Yale Cross Country had a banner fall — posting some of their best scores in recent history. At the Heptagonal Championships the men ran to a third place finish and the women placed second in the team competition. Four athletes placed in the top 10 of their respective races, each earning All-Ivy honors.
Yale Lacrosse added another leadership gift of $1mm to their effort to fully endow both programs, which approaches $9mm in total commitments The Yale Football Association shattered records by exceeding $200,000 in funds raised at their annual golf outing A Yale Alumna kicked off fundraising efforts for the approved Field Hockey/Softball facility with a $3mm leadership gift towards the project Yale Athletics launched the Bulldog Rewards program which allows fans to cheer on their favorite teams and earn points towards rewards Yale was selected as one of 100 athletic departments to participate in and benefit from a 4-year, $400,000 sponsorship deal with Nissan
Each year, Yale Athletic Associations host a number of special events including annual dinners, cocktail receptions, alumni/ae days, mentoring nights, anniversary celebrations, and more. These are incredible opportunities to reconnect with former teammates, engage with current Yale athletes and have fun while honoring your program!
Fall 2015 Events: Hockey Golf Outing, Football Golf Outing, Field Hockey Alumnae Weekend, Tennis Mentoring Weekend, Baseball 150th Celebration, Soccer Alumni Weekend, Lacrosse Alumni Weekend & Skillman Reception
UPDATE YOUR INFORMATION: The best way to ensure you are receiving invitations to these events is to update your information with AYA. You can do so easily, by visiting aya.yale.edu and following the instructions below:
Hover over ‘Connect’ on the top menu,
Select ‘Online Services,’
Select ‘Online Alumni Directory,’
Select ‘View/Update Your Alumni Directory Listing.’
Use your ID if you know it, retrieve it if you forgot it, or register for the first time.
JOIN THE ALUMNI CAREER NETWORK Visit http://ocs.yale.edu/content/yale-career-network to fill out your profile and connect with fellow Athletic alumni and help create an invaluable resource for Yale’s current student athletes. The YCN allows users to search for alumni by geographic region, employer name, varsity sport, special interest area and Yale School, to name just a few. This system also has the capability to integrate with your LinkedIn Profile
BULLDOG REWARDS, THAT IS. Visit rewards.yalebulldogs.com. Click on “Join Now.” Enter your email address and password. Once you sign up, go to the Profile Page and link your social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest) to gain a significant amount of Bulldog Rewards points. By linking your social media, you will be able to earn points when you like/ share a Yale Athletics post. Be sure to download the mobile app (and earn even more points!) Check your Bulldog Rewards home page for upcoming events Come to a game and cheer on the Bulldogs! When you arrive at The Yale Bowl Class of 1954 Field, Reese Stadium, Ingalls Rink or John J. Lee Amphitheater, be sure to have your Bluetooth signal turned on your smart phone Enjoy the game! Collect Points & check the app on how to redeem them!
Men's Cross Country
Spencer Rymiszewski ‘17 CB - 1st Team All-Ivy; All-New England
Kevin Dooney ‘16 – USTFCCCA All-Region (Northeast); 1st Team All-Ivy James Randon ‘17 – USTFCCCA All-Region (Northeast); 1st Team All-Ivy
Deshawn Salter ’18 TB – Ivy League Co-Offensive Player of the Week (Lehigh); College Sports Madness Ivy League Player of the Week (Maine) Copache Tyler ’17 DT - 1st Team All-Ivy
Women’s Cross Country
Men's Soccer
Dana Klein ‘18 – USTFCCCA All-Region (Northeast); 2nd Team
Philip Piper ‘16 - All-Ivy Honorable Mention; Senior CLASS
All-Ivy
Award Candidate
Meredith Rizzo ‘17 - USTFCCCA All-Region (Northeast)
Nicky Downs ‘19 – All-Ivy Honorable Mention
Frances Schmiede ‘17 - USTFCCCA All-Region (Northeast); 1st
Cameron Kirdzik ’17 - CoSIDA Academic All-District I
Team All-Ivy Women's Soccer Field Hockey Sofia Griff ‘19 - 2nd Team All-Ivy Emilie Katz ‘17 – NFHCA 2nd Team All-Mideast Region; 1st Team All-Ivy
Michelle Alozie ’19 – All-Ivy Honorable Mention; Two-time Rookie of the Week (9/7, 9/14)
Nicole Wells ‘16 – All-Ivy Honorable Mention
Hannah Coy ’18 - All-Ivy Honorable Mention
Carol Middough ‘18 - 2nd Team All- Ivy
Keri Cavallo ’19 – Ivy League Rookie of the Week (10/12)
Football
Volleyball
Cole Champion ’16 SS – All-Ivy Honorable Mention
Kelly Johnson ’16 - 1st Team All-Ivy; Yale Invitational All-
Bryan Holmes ‘17 P/PK- 2nd Team All-Ivy; Ivy League Special Teams Player of the Week (Cornell); All-New England Luke Longinotti ’16 C– 1st Team All-Ivy Marty Moesta ’17 DE - All-Ivy Honorable Mention Matthew Oplinger ’18 LB - All-Ivy Honorable Mention; College Sports MadnessIvy League Defensive Player of the Week
(10/4); ECAC Player of the Week (Lehigh) Morgan Roberts ‘16 QB- Ivy League Offensive Player of the
Tournament team; Ivy League Player of the Week (10/6) Maya Midzik ’16 – All-Ivy Honorable Mention; Rhodes Scholarship Finalist; CoSIDA Academic All-District Team Kelley Wirth ’19 - 2nd Team All-Ivy; Two-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week (9/15, 10/20); San Francisco Challenge All-Tournament team
Kelsey Crawford ’18 – Named Colgate Classic MVP; Ivy League Player of the Week (9/15)
Week (Colgate)
The Ray Tompkins Associates Athletic Directors Excellence Fund addresses the top annual needs across all sports. Please consider making a gift in support of the RTA Fund. To do so, you can mail payment and the appeal form included with this newsletter to Yale Athletics P.O. Box 1844, New Haven, CT 06508-1844, or make a gift online at www.yalebulldogs.com/give.html. Thank you for supporting Yale Athletics!