Terrier Club News
Wofford Volleyball Player Woodlee Earns Rhodes Scholarship
SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Rachel Marie Woodlee, a Wofford College senior volleyball player from Greer, S.C., was selected Saturday for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship and will attend the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom as part of the Class of 2013.
She is Wofford’s sixth Rhodes Scholar.
Woodlee and fellow Wofford student Brian Novak McCracken, a senior student-athlete from Anderson, S.C., both were invited to St. Louis, Mo., this weekend as two of the 12 finalists for the scholarship representing District 12 (South Carolina, Arkansas, Kansas, Mississippi and Missouri). They competed against nearly 200 national finalists from a pool of about 830 applicants from more than 300 American colleges and universities for the oldest and most celebrated international fellowship award in the world.
McCracken is a member of the varsity track and field team.
“I’ve never been so excited about anything in my entire life,” Woodlee said Saturday by telephone after her selection. “This is such a life-changing experience. I looked around that room (at the other finalists) and I knew everyone there was deserving; everyone there will be hugely successful. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Wofford President Benjamin B. Dunlap said of Woodlee and her selection:
“’Fighting the world’s fight’ is what the founder of the Rhodes Scholarship said he wanted its recipients to undertake. As a star athlete in volleyball – and before that, in basketball – Rachel knows all about fighting. As someone who has lived and studied in China and other distant lands, she knows a great deal about the world. And, as a Wofford student leader with a perfect academic record, as someone with wit and energy and verve, as a person intensely committed to the well-being of others, she is perfectly equipped to make this world a better place. All of us should rejoice, for I promise you, she will.” Dunlap himself was a Rhodes Scholar in 1959.
Woodlee is one of 32 students selected for the Rhodes Scholar Class of 2013, who will attend the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Rhodes Scholars are chosen not only for their outstanding scholarly achievements, but for their character, commitment to others and to the common good, and for their potential for leadership in whatever domains their careers may lead. The Rhodes Trust, a British charity established to honor the will and bequest of Cecil J. Rhodes, provides full financial support for the Rhodes Scholars to attend Oxford. The first American Rhodes Scholars entered Oxford in 1904.
Woodlee is majoring in business economics and Chinese and is a graduate of Mauldin High School. She is the daughter of Timothy and Joan Woodlee of Greer. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
This season, Woodlee has started 20 of 26 matches, is third on the team with 289.5 points, and is second with 258 kills. In 2011, she started all 33 of the team’s matches and was second on the team with 266 kills and a 2.40 kills per set average. She was second on the team with 33 points and three points per set. She earned Southern Conference Academic Honor Roll honors in 2009, 2010 and 2011 and was named to the SoCon Fall Academic All-Conference Team in 2010 and 2011.
Woodlee was a four-year varsity started at Mauldin High School and earned 2009 4A All-State honors as well as Region II 4A All-Region. She received the Martin Luther King Award for Excellence in Athletics and was awarded the Maverick Award for Leadership in Volleyball in 2007. She lettered in basketball as well. She was a member of the National Honor Society, was an AP Scholar with Distinction and served as a Junior Marshal in 2007. She was named a Palmetto Fellow in 2008.
Last year, Wofford student Joseph Hiram McAbee of Woodruff, S.C., was a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship.
Wofford has had five previous Rhodes Scholars: John Lee Hydrick, 1908; J. Lyles Glenn, 1912; Edwin F. Mosley, 1916; John Q. Hill, 1947; and C. Edward Coffey, 1974.
Eric Breitenstein Named 2012 Walter Payton Award Finalist
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The race for the 26th annual Payton Award presented by The Sports Network has been narrowed to a final three for the Football Championship Subdivision’s top individual honor. The 2012 finalists are fullback Eric Breitenstein of Wofford, quarterback Taylor Heinicke of Old Dominion, and running back Miguel Maysonet of Stony Brook.
Breitenstein, a senior from Valle Crucis, North Carolina, has been named Southern Conference Offensive Player of the Year in 2011 and 2012. He is just the fourth player in conference history to earn the honor in back-to-back seasons. He led the Southern Conference in rushing for the second straight season with 1,653 yards, a school record. He had 16 rushing touchdowns to lead the conference and was second in scoring.
Last season he ran for 1,474 yards and was fifth in the nation in scoring at 9.50 points per game. He was named All-American by the Associated Press, Sports Network and Phil Steele. Currently he has a school record 5,348 career rushing and is second in career rushing touchdowns. He is the NCAA FCS active career leader in rushing and rushing touchdowns. Breitenstein finished 14th in the voting in 2011 and 19th in 2010. He is the first player from Wofford to be named a finalist for the Walter Payton Award.
Ballots were voted upon by a national panel of sports information and media relations directors, broadcasters, writers and other dignitaries following the regular season on Nov. 19. The top three vote-getters are invited to The Sports Network FCS Awards Presentation on December 17 in Philadelphia.
The Sports Network also presents the Buck Buchanan, Jerry Rice and Eddie Robinson awards. The Buchanan Award honors the FCS defensive player of the year, the Rice Award goes to the FCS freshman of the year and the Robinson Award honors the FCS coach of the year. Those three winners will join the top three Payton finalists at the national awards banquet.
Celebrating 25 Years of Mike Ayers at Wofford this Saturday
Saturday night marks the 25th home opener in the career of head football coach Mike Ayers at Wofford and to mark this special occasion, there will be 300 Mike Ayers “25 Years of Excellence” commemorative posters (see photo) available for fans entering the stadium. Plus, there will be another 250 of the classic Mike Ayers “face fan” giveaways (last seen in 2006) available to fans as well!
With 163 wins at Wofford since taking the reins in 1988, including last week’s season opener on the road at Gardner-Webb, Ayers is the winningest head coach in school history. During his tenure, Wofford has reached the NCAA playoffs 7 times (1990, 1991, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011) and earned three SoCon championships in 2003, 2007 and 2010. In the last decade, the Terriers have risen to the top of the Southern Conference with an overall mark of 82-39 and a 53-23 mark against league foes.
Former Terrier Drew Crowell Headed To Denmark
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Former Wofford basketball standout Drew Crowell has signed a professional contract to play with Team FOG Naestved in Denmark. Crowell started 32 games last season as the Terriers advanced to the postseason for the third-straight season.
A native of Charleston, South Carolina, Crowell averaged 9.2 points per game and 5.5 rebounds per game during his senior season. His field goal percentage of 60.8 was second in the Southern Conference and 30th in the nation. For his career, Crowell scored 434 points and had 283 rebounds in 117 games played. Wofford won the Southern Conference Championship in 2010 and 2011 and reached the NCAA Tournament. He graduated in May as a double major in economic and finance. The team is based in Naestved, Denmark, and began play in 1962. In 2009 and 2012 the team reached the Danish League Semifinals. The league begins play in October. Crowell is the third member of the class of 2012 to sign professionally, joining Kevin Giltner (Iceland) and Brad Loesing (Hungary).