Bridgewater, Va. – This year has no doubt been one of the toughest on all of us; but for athletics especially, the spring has been unprecedented.

From losing an entire season in the spring of 2020 and having a shortened season a year ago, spring athletes have had to deal with high levels of uncertainty. 

The first week of February is usually the opening week of practices for all spring sports and this year saw an unexpected and unthinkable hurdle with the events of February 1. Many sports paused their activities and put extremely young seasons on hold, but the true resilience from everyone in the athletics department – from administrators to coaches to athletes — has been evident. 

On a brighter note, many career milestones have been hit by spring season athletes already and we are not even out of March yet. 

Seniors Connor McLean and Chris Martel both crossed the 100 career point mark in the beginning of the men’s lacrosse season in one of the hottest starts in program history. The team currently sits on a four-game win streak and a 7-2 overall record. 

The men’s lacrosse team has also landed two players as the ODAC Player of the Week so far this season with sophomore Gabriel Alexander and senior Chris Martel. Senior Hunter Becker is making a name for himself as well; he was named to the USILA DIII National Team of the Week earlier this month.

On the baseball diamond, senior Kevin Navedo recently crossed the 100 career runs batted in mark. Navedo leads the Eagles in batting average (.400), RBIs (24), doubles (11) and home runs (3). Senior utility player Brett Tharp also ranks among the top five in saves in the ODAC and is yet to allow an earned run on the season. 

On the softball diamond, senior catcher Sarah Wimer crossed the 100 career hits mark this week. Wimer, much like Navedo, has accomplished much for the Eagles at the plate as she leads the team in average (.475), RBIs (26) and home runs (6). Wimer also was named ODAC Player of the Week on Tuesday, March 22 for her efforts.

At the Mapp-Whitelow Tennis Courts, the men’s tennis team is off to their best start under current coach Jordon Robinson at 5-1. The only loss for the Eagles is to DII Tiffin University, which currently has players among the Top 50 in the country. Senior Canon Secord currently has a 5-1 mark at No. 1 singles for the Eagles and has been named ODAC Player of the Week three times in the five times it has been awarded so far this season.

For many student-athletes, this is their first “normal” spring season. Only some of current seniors were around for the spring of 2019, which was the last time any spring sport played a full schedule without crowd limitations. However, regardless of year or sport, most athletes this season are playing with added fuel and extra pride wearing crimson and gold.