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����ֱ�� student-athletes continue to impress with high scoring and high marks

Villanova’s student-athletes not only stand out in their arena of competition, they continue to garner the highest accolades nationally and within the BIG EAST Conference for their success in the classroom.

In the latest set of data released by the NCAA, ����ֱ�� , its highest ever. This data measures the percentage of student-athletes who entered college on institutional aid between those years and graduated within six years. Twelve ����ֱ�� athletic programs—seven women’s and five men’s—posted a perfect 100 percent graduation success rate for the cohort that entered ����ֱ�� between 2011 and 2014.

“Overwhelmingly, ����ֱ�� student-athletes are high achieving in the classroom and in their sports. They are passionate, dedicated and driven,” says Jennifer Brophy, director of Academic Support for Athletics. “As athletes, they learn important skills such as discipline, work ethic, communication, teamwork, sportsmanship, time management and leadership. Those skills complement what they are learning in the classroom.”

The Office of Academic Support for Athletics offers a range of services and programs to support student athletes, including advising, tutoring and an alumni mentor program. Partnering with faculty and other academic resources on campus, the office provides each student-athlete with holistic support to help them achieve their goals.

In addition to the collective academic success of ����ֱ�� athletic programs, five student-athletes —the highest number of ����ֱ�� student-athletes to receive the award in a single year. This prestigious honor is presented to one student-athlete from each of the 22 sports sponsored by the BIG EAST, recognizing academic credentials, athletic accolades or performances, and volunteer service to the community.

The winners from the Wildcats include seniors Collin Gillespie (Men’s Basketball), Lydia Olivere (Women’s Cross Country) and Ryan Henry (Softball); and graduate students Katie Comerford (Women’s Lacrosse) and Jadyn Anczarski (Men’s Outdoor Track and Field).

2021–22 Athletic Highlights

MEN’S BASKETBALL

As of press time, the Men’s Basketball team was headed into the Final Four of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament for the third time since 2016. Graduate students Collin Gillespie and Jermaine Samuels were standouts during the tournament and throughout the season. Gillespie became the first student-athlete to sweep the BIG EAST’s major awards–Player of the Year, Scholar Athlete of the Year and Most Outstanding Player for the conference tournament—and Samuels was named Most Outstanding Player at the South Regional of the NCAA Tournament.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Junior forward Maddy Siegrist of Women’s Basketball was named BIG EAST Player of the Year and Denise Dillon ’96 CLAS was Coach of the Year, leading the team to the BIG EAST tournament final and to its first NCAA Tournament bid in four years.