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50 Years of Women's Intercollegiate Athletics at Wake Forest
Presented by Blue Cross NC
50th Anniversary

The humble beginnings of some of the very best programs in the country and the unique stories of our female student-athletes will be highlighted throughout the 2021-22 academic year.
Wake Forest Athletics is excited to host several special reunions at individual sporting events culminating the year with a grand celebration event next spring.
For information on these events or a unique story that fans would like to be shared, email wfsports@wfu.edu. 

 


Director of Athletics John Currie announced Wake Forest's plans for this year-long celebration to the University and Winston-Salem community on August 19 through his bi-weekly newsletter, From the Quad.
Quote from John Currie:
"Scholars, trailblazers, leaders, and champions. 
 
"These adjectives, and so many more, describe the women who have worn the Old Gold & Black in athletics competition for Wake Forest over the past 50 years.
 
From the spirit of the White Jackets, who were talented and successful women that competed in intramural athletics prior to the 1971-72 academic year, through the leadership of Dorothy "Dot" Casey and Marge Crisp, later the first two women elected to the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame, and all the championships and honors since, our University community is excited to celebrate Wake Forest's proud history of women's athletics. 
 
"Wake Forest's achievements in women's athletics include 87 individual and 12 team Atlantic Coast Conference championships, three individual and three team NCAA championships and 16 ACC Players of the Year awards earned. Even more impressive is the character of these women and their impactful and accomplished post-graduate careers.
 
"The past year has reinforced the value of the student-athlete experience and the power of being a part of something far greater than oneself. With the support of dedicated coaches, Trustees, Deacon Club donors, faculty, and administrators, five decades of Wake Forest women student-athletes have played a significant role in strengthening our nine intercollegiate teams in pursuit of our goal of a World Class Student-Athlete Experience.
 
The humble beginnings of some of the very best programs in the country and the unique stories of our female student-athletes will be highlighted throughout the 2021-22 academic year. Wake Forest Athletics is excited to host several special reunions at individual sporting events culminating the year with a grand celebration event next spring. We encourage you to share in this celebration over the next year as we feature many of our incredible alumnae, sharing their journeys and perspectives in the form of feature articles, podcasts, videos and more. All content will be shared on GoDeacs.com and through our social media platforms and showcased at events this year."
 
PARTNERSHIP & EVENTS
 
50th Anniversary of Womens Athletics

In honor of 50 Years of Women’s Intercollegiate Athletics at Wake Forest presented by Blue Cross NC, Athletics is highlighting the WFU Women’s Center and its collaboration efforts to promote and empower women’s athletics.

In honor of the celebration, the Women's Center will be hosting four tailgates during the fall semester at different contests for the Wake Forest Athletics women's teams on campus. As Athletics continues the celebration of women's athletics all year long, there will be more tailgates put on by the Women's Center throughout the year. The current tailgate schedule is below:
  • Sept. 2 - Women's Soccer vs. Loyola at Spry Stadium
  • Oct. 15 - Field Hockey vs. North Carolina at Kentner Stadium
  • Oct. 27 - Cross Country at ACC Championships
  • Nov. 12 - Volleyball vs. Virginia in Varsity Arena
Plans for women's basketball, women's golf, women's tennis and women's track and field are also in the works and will be announced at a later date.

"It's important that we recognize and celebrate the achievements and participation of women in athletics at Wake Forest," Associate AD Ashley Wechter said. "Just a couple of decades ago, there was a stark difference in female participation in sports from what we have today. Our partnership with the Women's Center helps to amplify our efforts and voice, and provides intentionality by experts who are passionate about seeing women thrive. The goal is to get all of campus out and supporting our women's sports this year and beyond."

The Women's Center at Wake Forest University opened in January 2013 as part of Wake Forest's strategic plan for diversity and inclusion. Since opening, the Women's Center has worked to create strategic alignment across campus networks and partner offices to generate collaborative projects, in addition to developing signature initiatives. Moving out of the start-up phase, the Women's Center is focused on creating sustainable, measurable programs and services that support the mission of the Women's Center and Wake Forest University.
 
"The Women's Center is proud to support our women athletes through ongoing partnership with the Student Athlete Advisory Council and our Wake for Women initiative to recognize and amplify women's leadership on campus," Director of Wake Forest Women's Center Stephanie Trilling said.
 
Last year, the Women's Center reached 3,348 people through 109 trainings and events, and sponsored 10 student-led programs related to gender equity. Since 2015, they have increased their physical space and digital footprint 300% and secured more resources to support the work they are currently doing and hope to expand on in the future.
 
The Winston-Salem and Wake Forest community can learn more about some of the Women's Center's signature offerings, including Women's History Month, LEAVEs peer educators, and our workshop offerings. 
INSPIRING STORIES
 
50th Anniversary of Womens Athletics

Former AD Hooks Partnered with Marge Crisp & Dot Casey to Build Women’s Athletics at Wake Forest

"Marge and Dot were down at the old campus, teaching physical education," Dr. Gene Hooks recalls. "As a student, I graduated in 1950 and the school did not move until 1956. I remember them as the only two women's physical education teachers. So, when I came on the new campus and taught for a few years in the physical education department I became reacquainted with them."
 
After serving in the classroom and as Wake Forest baseball coach, Hooks took the helm as the fourth athletic director in Wake Forest's history in 1964. Just seven years later, he was faced with the exciting task of taking women's athletics to the NCAA Division 1 level, and to do so relied upon his relationships with Crisp and Casey. 
 
"I knew how much it was going to cost, just to have a bad program — much less good ones. So, we didn't have very good ones right off," Hooks shared.
 
The good programs came in time, as evidenced by the 87 individual and 12 team Atlantic Coast Conference championships, three individual and three team NCAA championships and 16 ACC Players of the Year awards earned. Even more impressive is the character of these women and their impactful and accomplished post-graduate careers.
 
On the golf course, Wake Forest's women's golf program has produced six ACC team championships and one individual NCAA title. 
 
"Marge and Dot were members at Old Town Golf Club," Hooks said. "They loved to play, and they loved to coach. The ability to play at Old Town, which is just a walk away from campus, was natural for that to be our best sport early on."  
 
As he began to work through the various pitfalls to transform women's athletics to the Division I level, Hooks leaned heavily on Crisp and Casey. 
 
"I had a great relationship with Marge and Dot," he said. "I told them I was not sure how we were going to do it, but I was willing to help in whatever way I could. We were in it together and were going to do whatever it took to make it work."  
 

 

A last-minute visit brought the Hall of Famer and three-time national champion a life-changing experience as a member of the Demon Deacon field hockey program.

Kelly Dostal already made up her mind that she wasn't going to attend Wake Forest, but took advantage of the recruiting trip to get away for the weekend, take in some high level college field and visit fellow New Englander Kelly Doton, who had become a Demon Deacon the previous year. 

"I visited Wake Forest and I loved it," Dostal said. "Meeting with (head coach) Jen Averill — she really epitomized what I was looking for in a program. One of the things that helped narrow my school choice was that I wanted a really phenomenal academic experience and I wanted that to be coupled with a strong athletic program as well. Wake Forest was really turning the corner at that point, creeping into the rankings and making the postseason. 

"The staff was really confident in the direction the program was headed in the coming years. I ultimately committed to Wake Forest and it obviously was a phenomenal decision."

The staff's confidence came to fruition. Dostal and the Demon Deacons made it to the Final Four all four seasons of her career — claiming three-straight National Championships from 2002-2004. That started an incredible run of nine-straight Final Four appearances for the program. 
 

Roxann Moody's legacy defined by relationships.


"This is home," Roxann Moody said. "It's not a job, if that makes any sense. You are a part of something bigger when you are in Athletics. Going somewhere else or doing something else has never appealed to me as much as this job has."
 
Moody's Wake Forest journey actually began at High Point, where she played basketball for coach Wanda Briley. When Coach Briley was hired as the head women's basketball coach at Wake Forest in 1980, Moody transferred and became a Demon Deacon.  
 
"I transferred here because of my relationship with Coach Briley," Moody said. "Additionally at the time, Ms. (Dot) Casey was in charge of all the women's programs. The two of them helped me find a place to live and made sure I had a room. It just all fell into place, but I had to have a job."
 
That's when Moody met Wake Forest Athletics equipment manager, David "Sarge" Tinga. 
 
"He gave me a job on the spot and I sat down on the floor and started putting decals on football helmets," Moody said. "I became an assistant in the equipment room." 
 
When Tinga announced his retirement in 2001, Moody put her name in the mix to potentially earn a promotion and to serve as his replacement.  
 
"I'm sure I bursted into tears," Moody said about how she responded to the offer. "I'm a very emotional, wear-my-heart-on-my-sleeve person. Ron Wellman had confidence in me and believed in me. That was really important. He helped us get more staff and fill our needs."
 
Moody detailed the key to thriving in her position over the last two decades has been the great people in the Wake Forest community and within Athletics.  
 

One of the best student-athletes to ever don the Old Gold and Black, Bea Bielik reflects on her time at Wake Forest.

By any objective measure, Wake Forest women's tennis player Bea Bielik had a historic junior season in 2002, winning an NCAA Singles Championship and earning numerous end-of-season awards. 

Bielek was awarded the prestigious Marge Crisp Award as the top Wake Forest female student-athlete. She was also named ACC Player of the Year, ACC Female Athlete of the Year and the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Player of the Year. Her NCAA title gave her the right to play in the 2002 U.S. Open as well. 

It's one of the greatest seasons of achievement for any Wake Forest student-athlete. 

"I had a lot of great individual achievements, but I would give it all back if we could have won a national championship as a team," Bielik said. "That just would have been the ultimate for me. I'm certainly super proud of everything I achieved on an individual level, but I always wanted that team title."
 

“My experience at Wake Forest was everything I would have hoped for and more.” - Amy Privette Perko

Amy Privette Perko often had an imaginary teammate while shooting hoops in her driveway growing up — Wake Forest basketball legend Skip Brown.

"Wake Forest is a family tradition," Perko said. "My father went to Wake Forest and played football there. I grew up a Deacon fan. My two older sisters also went to Wake Forest."

So as she got close to making her decision on where to play college basketball, the Demon Deacons always had the upper hand.  

"When it came time for me to make that decision, it was a great fit in all ways," Perko said. "You start looking at those things in a different way when you're a senior in high school, but it was a great fit for me academically and athletically. I had a great relationship with the coaching staff and head coach Wanda Briley. I enjoyed my teammates immensely."

And in addition to grabbing dozens of program records during her historic run at Wake Forest, those driveway hoop dreams became reality.  

"It's one of those really neat stories about having a dream when you're a kid, and then your dream coming to reality," Perko said. "When I was a student at Wake Forest, there were a couple of times during the offseason playing pick-up games where Skip came over and I got to actually be his teammate on the court. 

Perko was inducted in the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame in 2000, and was named to the ACC Legends team in 2005. When she graduated from Wake Forest, she was the program all-time leader in points, rebounds, assists and steals. Perko still ranks in the top-10 in those categories. 

"My experience at Wake Forest was everything I would have hoped for and more. I had great relationships with teammates," Perko said. "I learned how to set a goal and work toward that goal. You have to stay persistent to achieve that goal. Small things done over time yields big results. You have to continue to believe in the process and prove every year individually what I was able to contribute to the team. 

"There are qualities gleaned from the educational model of college sports, like motivation, discipline and teamwork — those types of attributes help you in all ways in life."
 

The two-time national champion and 2003 Player of the Year credits head coach Jen Averill as a main factor in post-graduate success.

Hailing from Greenfield, Mass., Doton was frequently around the UMass Amherst area, but her first trip away to a college campus as she pondered destinations was Wake Forest.  

"Wake was my first time going down to North Carolina," she said. "I remember getting mail from Wake Forest back when I had never heard of them before and didn't know anything about them. The assistant coach at the time was from UMass and had coached me in some camps. I got down, met Jen and fell in love with campus. I loved her coaching style and the team was great. 

"I went on four other official visits, but on every one of them I just realized it wasn't as good as Wake Forest. I had to discuss being 12 hours away with my parents, but they supported me. It was the best decision I've made in my life. I absolutely loved my time on that campus and in that community."

Doton decided on Wake Forest and excelled on the field, earning All-American honors three seasons, ACC Player of the Year twice and National Player of the Year in 2003. In 2015, Doton was inducted into the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame. 
 

Wake Forest led the nation with three representatives at the 41st Curtis Cup in Conwy, Wales.

Emilia Migliaccio, Rachel Kuehn, and Lauren Walsh represented their countries and Wake Forest on the biggest international stage in women's amateur golf at the 41st Curtis Cup this past week. Migliaccio and Kuehn, both North Carolina natives, played for Team USA, while Lauren Walsh, a native of Kildare, Ireland, played for Team GBI (Great Britain and Ireland).

"Rachel and Lauren are incredible competitors, but more importantly are amazing people. I'm so lucky to have developed such a special friendship with them both and have all three of us achieve one of our greatest dreams together," said Migliaccio. 
 

Nikeya Green earned All-American honors three seasons and claimed a pair of ACC titles in the 800-meter in 2004.

Nikeya Green, who has held a senior leadership position at Nike for a decade, was able to grow both athletically and academically during her four years at Wake Forest. 
 
"At Wake Forest, I remember feeling like individually as an athlete, I felt like an athlete," she said. "And in classrooms I felt like a student in that I wasn't really special. I came out this really solid and well-rounded person, because at the end of the day, sports aren't forever for anyone. I don't care who you are. And you have to know how to navigate the world. You have to be a person that takes any situation regardless of what it is and make the best of every situation."
 

The Demon Deacon pairing earned the national title on Sunday, defeating five ranked teams during the week of play.

Brylin and Killingsworth, who entered the week's action ranked No. 8 nationally, stormed back from a 5-2 second set deficit to defeat Old Dominion's No. 57 pairing of Yuliia Starodubtseva and Tatsiana Sasnouskaya 2-6, 7-6(6), 10-3 in the Championship Match. 

"This was an incredible performance by Brooke and Anya," said head coach Jeff Wyshner. "They have worked so hard to add to their games since the NCAAs last May, and the different things they could do were needed in the five unique matches they played here. It's the first Women's National Championship in doubles ever for Wake! They were just so poised despite being down so many match points."
 

From the Dominican Republic to North Carolina, Wake Forest Became Home for Women’s Golf Hall of Famer

"We were looking for a relatively small school. I wanted to be somewhere where it felt like a familiar place. I wanted a school with a good business program. Believe it or not, golf was at the bottom of the list. I just needed someplace I could play."
 
Corrie-Kuehn was looking for fun competition on the golf course, but it was the education and atmosphere at school that were the most important in her decision-making process. 

"Oh my gosh," she said she felt at the time. "This is it. It was beautiful and I loved it."
 

“I’m really thankful. She’s been more than a coach. She’s been a mentor, friend and support system.”

"How badly do you want to go to the Olympics?," Averill asked Kasold. "You have to be so good that they have no reason not to take you." 

"You have to be so good that they have no reason not to take you."

That comment really stuck with Kasold, who instead of quitting redoubled her efforts to be as technically sound and physically fit as she could as she continued to chase her dream. 

"If you give me a little seed of hope, I will fight until I get it. I'm extremely competitive, and she lit a fire under me. 

"I had a renewed enjoyment of field hockey."
 

"I wanted to be driven, but kept in check. It was a great atmosphere of which I wanted to be a part. It was nearly instantaneous once I stepped on campus that it was the place for me." 

"No matter what, I'm going here," she said. "This is where I'm going to achieve great things, and the team is going to achieve great things. I wanted to be in this community of student-athletes, both academically and athletically. There was nowhere else I could imagine being. To me that decision almost happened on my recruiting visit. 

"The number one reason I chose to come to Wake Forest from a very small rural Vermont community is Jen Averill," Everett said. "You won't find a more passionate, tactically-intelligent, relationship driven coach who will make you the best person and player you can be. I was excited and honored to join that team and be part of building the tradition instead of maintaining the legacy that Wake Forest field hockey has. 

"It feels like vindication, honor and legacy," Everett said. "That's why I joined Wake Forest, to be part of something larger than myself. I was just a small part of the puzzle and there's more to go. There's absolutely more championships and national championships in the future for Wake Forest Field Hockey. 
 

Jill Kerr won four ACC championships and earned seven All-ACC awards, competing in the Mile, the 800-meter and the distance medley relay.

"I even considered transferring," she said. "I was really unhappy, mostly because of the injury. But I really loved my teammates. I knew I had some communication challenges with my coach. But I knew I needed to be all in or not — I couldn't be riding the fence or do my own thing. I ultimately decided that this was the team I wanted to be a part of."
 
"I worked through it, went home and regrouped — and I stuck it out."

"We sorted it out," Kerr said about the conflict as a sophomore. "I just worked really hard to keep the lines of communication as an athlete. I've been a coach since I graduated, and the frustrations on the communication piece impacts what I do everyday. I know how important that is, being on the same page as your athletes."

"Kerr won four ACC championships and earned seven All-ACC awards, competing in the Mile, the 800-meter and the distance medley relay."

 

Deac2Deac Podcast: Episode 21 -- Amy Privette Perko

During her time at Wake Forest, Kupcho broke her own scoring record as a junior and claimed an NCAA Championship.

"I really wasn't looking at many schools out of Colorado," Kupcho said. "I took a visit and just fell in love with Wake Forest. I knew it was going to be really great for trying to go professional. Wake has all the resources for that.

"Going out of state was a big move for me. I'm very much a homebody. It was a tough freshman year. I was really homesick."

"After setting a program scoring record as a sophomore while earning multiple All-American awards, Kupcho faced a difficult decision. A key component to helping her push through her early homesickness was the relationship she'd built with Diaz and his entire family."

"It was a tough decision," Kupcho said. "We got really close and the one person I was close to was leaving. I did get close with the rest of the team my junior and senior year, and it all worked out in the long run."
 
"The NCAA Championship that I did win — to have my team there with me and have us all come together was really exciting," she said. "When our team took second my senior year, to have a team competing for the national championship was really special."
 

"Bersagel had a tremendous college career, named first team All-ACC seven times and national All-American four times. She became a three-time ACC champion — claiming titles in both the 5,000 meter and 10,000 meter."

"I took all five of my recruiting trips," Bersagel said. "I was looking at one close to home and the other four were kind of all over. I took a trip to Wake Forest and also applied for the Graylyn Scholarship, so I had the interview for that the same time I took my recruiting trip. 
 
"That ended up working well for me. I was offered an academic scholarship. That was nice. I loved track and field, and was very motivated, but that was just icing on the cake. That meant the team could be a little better, with one scholarship that could go right back into the team."

"I had a mindset shift in the freshman spring season, to where I wanted to build the team I wanted to be around," she said. "It's not going to be served up to me, but that's what we're going to build. By my junior season was when we started contending as a top-10 team in events. We were contending in the ACC and regional meets. At that point, I was contending to be that person toward the top, but we also started having that depth on the team. It evolved over time." 
 
"Once you start to have success, it attracts people who are looking for the same level of commitment," she said. "This is a team that's really focused and has high ambitions. They want to do the work and this is what they want to build. I want to be a part of that. It helps to set a standard and try to recruit people that way. You want someone a little gritty and scrappy, who is going to work for it."
 

"When it came to decision day, I thought I was supposed to go to Wake Forest, because I was so familiar with the program. I wanted to play at a school where I could play pretty quickly and have an immediate impact."

"Wake Forest was the closest ACC school to my hometown," Connor-Riddick said. "When my parents started to see some basketball potential, they would take me to Wake Forest games every Saturday or Sunday, just whoever they were playing. I would see them every weekend when they had a home game."

"Coach Joe Sanchez reached out my sophomore year," Connor-Riddick said. "Every time I was on campus, he told me he had a place for me. When some of the bigger players like Stanford, Duke and Virginia stepped, my eyes got real big. It was an honor, but Wake Forest always felt like home."

"It's beyond just basketball that continues to impress Connor-Riddick, both from her time on the court as a player to her time now as an involved alumni member."

"Then globally, just being a part of Wake Forest off the court — I was exposed to incredible professors that got me to think about things that weren't connected to the basketball court," she said. "I'm most proud of Wake Forest for that recent Trailblazer Award. I was part of that planning committee that honored the first Black football players to suit up for the Deacs. It really gave me the sense that Wake Forest really did something right and something special, today during a time of racial and social injustice and back then during a time of segregation."

"Wake Forest really got it right. There's a lot of things of which I'm proud of from my time at Wake Forest, but that Trailblazer Award is at the top of the list."
 

"Growing up in the area, I watched the Wake Forest team a lot, there was always something personal for me in regard to Wake Forest Volleyball."

"I really never thought that I would stay close to home for college. I figured I would go away, but I had fallen in love with the people at Wake Forest, especially the coaching staff. They were wonderful, thoughtful people, and took an interest in my career from the time I was 15 and 16 years old. So, when it came time for me to make a decision, I really couldn't imagine going anywhere else, honestly."

"I always just thought I would go away," she said. "Academics were really important to me, so Wake Forest and Virginia really stuck out to me. I remember when Virginia made the offer, my heart just wasn't in it, because I'd fallen in love with Wake. It almost felt like there wasn't any other option."

"But I just went in and worked hard to earn that spot on the court, which I didn't necessarily expect as a freshman. I just built on that, and it was the hard work every day that earned me that starting spot."

"I didn't anticipate this, but many of the things I learned at Wake Forest and in athletics have totally translated into my life now as a surgery resident, which is pretty cool," Williamson reflected. "There are basic things like teamwork, leadership, goal-setting, hard work and being present every moment. Then a big one is that through volleyball I learned to perform well under pressure. That comes into play almost every day as a surgery resident."
 

"I was so happy to have the opportunity to compete and study at Wake Forest. What is so unique is everyone’s investment in each other. The student-athletes felt seen and important to the administration."

"They were such a successful program before I got to Wake Forest and I just wanted to be a part of that," Kozniuk said. "To be able to bring back a championship was a big deal. We worked so hard and were so deserving of that championship. 

"Everything just clicked. We were a pretty young team my sophomore year with a big incoming class. It was so much fun. I always look at that ACC Tournament, because every play we'd worked on the previous two years, everything just clicked. It was a really special experience to be a part of that." 

"The only reason I found out about Wake Forest was because both my sister and I wanted to play in the Atlantic Coast Conference, just to play with the best and compete against the best," Kozniuk said. "We wanted to develop to be our best and then the academic institutions are quite good in the ACC. 

"We watched them play in the Final Four in 2007 and I knew then I wanted to play for Wake Forest." 

"It's a family community," she explained. "When you're in these high pressure programs you forget sometimes to look at the big picture and to just have fun. When I got there as a freshman, there weren't any expectations other than to just work hard. 

"I knew going to Wake Forest was one of the top-five programs in the country, so my mindset going in was just to work as hard as I could and learn. Jen made every practice fun and interesting. Everyone just got along so well, all four years. I worked really hard to make an impact and get playing time, and it just fell into place."
 

Katherine Winstead lost a tooth in the historic upset of North Carolina in 2000.

Read more ⤵️https://t.co/jgVGg1SrGO

— Wake Women's Soccer (@WakeWSoccer) January 18, 2022

"I called Tony back and told him Wake was where I wanted to be. So I accepted the offer at Wake Forest and it ended up being the best decision I ever made."

"I knew early on I wanted a strong academic school with a strong soccer program," she said. "Ultimately it came down between Wake Forest and Chapel Hill. I had a nice academic offer at UNC and I'd accepted. But I told Tony I needed a little more time and I sat on it for about a week or so. I just decided it didn't feel right. 

"One of the things that led me to Wake Forest was Tony and the soccer program," she said. "I wanted to have a chance to be an impact player and I wanted to make a difference on the field. Wake was just a better fit, and I was excited to be in a smaller school with more individual academic attention."

"I moved in and those seniors picked me up from my dorm and I never looked back," she said. "From the beginning, everybody at Wake was so welcoming and inclusive. I loved the soccer program and what Tony had to offer. Then I got into academics and the small classes were just a great fit for me. I value education so much."

"I'm grateful for everything Wake Forest has given me," she said. "I was lucky enough to have my education paid for between academics and athletics. I'm always so appreciative about all they did for me."
 

"I enjoyed the Wake Forest experience academically and socially. I made great friends and loved the small class sizes. With not being in a sorority, volleyball was my small niche where I felt I fit in".#GoDeacs🎩🏐https://t.co/98SyFinSWw

— Wake Volleyball (@WakeVolleyball) January 20, 2022

"I enjoyed the Wake Forest experience academically and socially. I made great friends and loved the small class sizes. You could speak to your teachers and get the help you needed. With not being in a sorority, volleyball was my small niche where I felt I fit in."

"I actually didn't get into Wake Forest until a week before school started," Charest said. "I was going to Furman and Furman started classes a month after we did. So, I was actually getting letters from my scheduled roommates at Furman while I was at Wake Forest, that my mother had forwarded."
 
With limited scholarships and limited resources for the volleyball program in the mid 80's, there was a need for players, and Charest realized she missed the athletic competition. 
 
"I realized I missed it and I walked on the second semester," she said. "They needed people. We weren't much of a team at that point, with limited scholarships. We didn't have much money to spend to bring players to Wake Forest."

"I was very happy when they brought it back and they were putting more emphasis on all the sports. Obviously, the revenue generating sports get more attention, but it was nice that they made it something special. Women's basketball, field hockey and golf were at the forefront for Wake Forest women's sports."
 
Having experienced the joy of participating in intercollegiate athletics at Wake Forest, and understanding the financial hurdles non-revenue generating sports encounter, Charest has made it her personal mission to help fuel the volleyball program and the student-athletes who become a part of it.
 
"I felt volleyball needed the money, where other sports didn't," she said. "That became my avenue to contributing when I realized I could be sport-specific."
 

.@gohaamm was the first indigenous Native American to start in the NWSL and the first indigenous Native American athlete to be highlighted on the main @Nike channel.

Read more on the journey of @WakeWSoccer alumni @gohaamm ⤵️https://t.co/4ATjylgKU9

— Wake Women's Soccer (@WakeWSoccer) January 21, 2022

Madison Hammond is the first indigenous Native American to start in the NWSL and the first indigenous Native American athlete to be highlighted on the main Nike channel.

"The NWSL was the first league to come back during the pandemic, and to be a part of that was pretty unreal," Hammond said. "Went to Montana trying to earn a contract. By the end of the month, I'd worked hard enough and done well enough to earn a contract. I've been playing professionally now for a year-and-a-half."
 
She didn't play during the Challenge Cup in Utah, but learned a lot that helped her solidify her role with the Reign. She was one of six players vying for two spots on the 2021 roster. She earned a spot and became the first Native American to play in an NWSL game on Sept. 26, 2021 and the first Native American to start an NWSL game on Oct. 10, 2021. 
 
"That day was just pure happiness," she said. "It felt just unreal. I soaked up that moment and was so happy. It was crazy, especially looking back at it all happening at the start of the pandemic."

Later came the Nike billboards and promo spot. 
 
"I'm on a billboard and that's really cool," Hammond said. "It's just been such a long journey and it's just been a year. That itself was a lot to take in. Once the billboards were up, it all felt really shook. Just to see how proud I've made people is something I can't even describe." 
 
"As indigenous people, we're not always accurately portrayed. To be on a gigantic billboard across from Staples Center shouldn't feel weird. It should feel normal, but it was so powerful to see it in person." 

 

“With my grandmother being a school teacher, the concept of being able to go to Wake Forest for free and graduate was really impactful.”

"After I went to Wake Forest, I verbally committed, which is early now that I look back at it," Jones said. "I only went to Charlotte and Wake Forest, and that was essentially it. I didn't take the time to look at different schools. I talked on the phone to different coaches, but didn't have anybody to help me navigate that process. I just went with what felt good and what felt right."

"I had to take a medical redshirt my freshman year, and that was probably a blessing," she said. "It gave me the opportunity to go to practice, watch, learn and get used to the structure. I had to be on time. I had the structure, but also had to learn how to balance a normal social college life. It was different than I thought, but was one of the best things that could have happened to me."

"It was a very long season," Jones recalled. "It was difficult. Being this local star and being in the newspaper, I probably started every game I'd ever played. Going from that to going to practice and games and not being able to do anything — I had to sit on the bench the entire season. It was difficult, but it built character. It helped me be a better teammate, a better student at Wake Forest and ultimately a more well-rounded adult."

"Pro Humanitate is huge at Wake Forest and that's something I've tried to base my life around, to use my passion and talents to be able to help myself and others. I'm thankful for the things I learned at Wake Forest."
 

"When you're younger, you always want to follow in your parents' footsteps," she said. "That feeling never went anywhere. Then, with my older sister already at Wake Forest, I was able to hear about all of her experiences. The positive things she had to say added into me wanting to go there."

"Having a chance to come in and help a program do some 'firsts' there was attractive. I wanted to make a difference while being part of something that was bigger than myself. Lew helped sell that."

"The first semester is typically always the toughest for everybody, just adjusting to being away from home," Zawacki-Holdren admitted. "I was fortunate enough to be put at No. 1 right away. I got my first big win in the spring semester against Duke, playing against Julie Exum, who was No. 1 in the country at the time." 

"That moment was when I fully felt comfortable and knew Lew saw something in me. It gave me confidence, for sure. I always wanted to be high in the lineup, but didn't expect to be at No. 1. The confidence, belief and excitement just continued to grow."

"I was proud to be a part of those teams that first started going to the tournament," Zawacki-Holdren noted. "When we made the NCAA tournament, there was a great deal of excitement. We were very disappointed when we didn't make it my first year. To play at No. 1 and lead the team to the NCAA Tournament was special."
 

As Ahrens became a prolific high school pole vaulter and started searching for the right college destination, she came to realize that not only was Wake Forest University an actual school, it was the right place for her.

"I had a long list of what I was looking for in a school, but I didn't really know where that would be," Ahrens said. "I was looking for a small school that had college football, Division 1 sports for track and small class sizes. I also hated the cold, so I didn't want anything North of the Mason-Dixon line."
 
"Her counselor at the small private school in Houston she attended looked at the criteria and suggested she apply at Wake Forest. The years of subliminal street-sign messaging took its toll, and Ahrens arranged a visit. "
 
"When you first step on campus, the overall beauty is incomparable," Ahrens said about both her visit and overall experience in Winston-Salem. "One of the biggest shocks for me was the changing of the seasons. Coming from Texas, seeing the leaves change was just phenomenal. We had four-or-five snow days my freshman year, which also was very new to me."

"Being an avid sports fan, she made the most of her time at Wake Forest not just competing on the track herself, but also in the stands celebrating the many successes across the athletic department during that era."
 
"You always wanted to experience as much of campus life as possible in the fall, because the schedule in the spring got so hectic with travel and track," Ahrens said. "I grew up really into sports, so I went to baseball, basketball and football games all the time with my friend group. We wanted to support the other teams."
 
"I always claim that I was at the heyday of Wake Forest Athletics. When I was there, we went to the Orange Bowl. We won the ACC Championship and I was there. I was going to Wake Forest during the Chris Paul era. We had some basketball brilliance and some heartbreak. We won the College Cup and the Field Hockey team was great as well. It was a fun time to be a Deac."
 

“I love Wake Forest, the flavor of that place and the community. I think it’s an amazing example of higher education. I think it offered me a tremendous opportunity.”

"I thought it was beautiful at Wake Forest," she said. "My running gave me the opportunity to go to an amazing school, and it paid for my school. It was amazing to have the opportunity for a liberal arts education. I'm an artist and a writer, so I loved running, but in my last couple years I realized I could go pretty much wherever I wanted."
 
"The opportunities afforded her at Wake Forest were appreciated from the day she stepped on campus as a freshman, and she reveled in every moment and each facet of being a Demon Deacon student-athlete. 
 
"I didn't grow up with much, so I'm a person who soaks up everything," Powell said. "I remember the freshman orientation. I remember the small campus. It was a great way for me to bridge from my background to an amazing education. I'm a total nerd, and I had so much at my fingertips to learn. The art department is where I kind of landed as a major."
 
"The people and the community were just incredible and the Pro Humanitate motto really fit with who I am as a person." 
 
"Athletically, she broke through as a senior, winning the 5,000m and 10,000m in the 1993 ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championships." 

"I love Wake Forest, the flavor of that place and the community. I think it's an amazing example of higher education. I think it offered me a tremendous opportunity." 
 

Four-time All-American golfer Stephanie (Neill) Harner was both consistent and ultra-competitive. She finished outside the top-10 in just four events her entire career from 1992-95. 

"I competed in several junior golf tournaments for the Carolinas Golf Association, then the AJGA certainly brought out coaches to observe," Harner said. "I still remember getting nervous that coach Dailey was watching. I felt very fortunate to be in a position to grow up playing golf and develop, competing with the boys in my high school on my home course. That helped me be determined and competitive."
 
"The recruiting process was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the coaches and players I met at a bunch of different schools, but quickly narrowed it down and took my five official visits. I was blessed to be in that position. I had the opportunity to brainstorm where I would be the most successful and most comfortable, for meeting my overall goals as a golfer and a person."
 
"It quickly became apparent to Harner that Wake Forest was her top choice."
 
"It was the people and the relationships," she said. "No teenager wants to be overwhelmed academically, so you want to know you're going to be supported and feel successful. Coach Dailey and Wake Forest put that in view for me. Everybody involved in the process was kind and outgoing."
 
"Wake Forest is such a special place. My experience at Wake Forest was really real. I'm just so grateful for that. It's about the relationships. You might forget the scores and the shots, but you remember how you feel when you're with those people."

"She earned All-ACC recognition all four years at Wake Forest and earned ACC Player of the Year in 1995 — largely because of her consistent championship-level performance."
 
"I do take a lot of pride in that," Harner said. "Every time I played, I was in it to win it. I always wanted to bring my best. I can thank my parents and coach Dailey for that approach to life. Everything I do I hope will bring glory to my Lord and Savior. If I have some ability that I've been given, I need to make sure my effort is there."
 

“It wasn’t my original plan to go to a college in North Carolina, but when I met the coaches and the team, I really saw the opportunity to develop as a student and an athlete there at Wake Forest. I just knew it was the right fit.”

"She's considered one the most decorated women's track athletes in Wake Forest history, finishing her four-year career as a four-time All-American, 11-time All-ACC and a five-time ACC champion. She captured the coveted Marge Crisp Wake Forest Female Athlete of the Year Award three times."
 
"I'm certainly very proud of all the individual titles, but I think my favorite memory is when our team qualified for the NCAA Championship my sophomore year," Kraus-Nadeau said. "It was a huge jump from where we were the year before. It was a lofty goal that we set as a team to qualify at the start of the season. For us to realize a goal that we had set together stands out the most. We were so proud to have gotten to that level."

"I come from a small school in Long Island. I was fortunate to have my high school coach Cliff Clark, who was an Olympic Tryout qualifier," she said. "He was a tremendous advocate for me. He helped me research schools and athletic programs that would be a great fit for me. I wasn't that well versed on what was out there at the time. He really reached out and spoke to a lot of coaches from competitive programs in our area."
 
"Kraus-Nadeau had very little knowledge of schools in the south or in the Atlantic Coast Conference, but Clark advised her to check them out."
 
"He reached out to the coaches at Wake Forest, and sometimes coaches can get leery when they get a call advocating for a student athlete," she said. "But I was fortunate that they were willing to listen to him. They invited me for a visit." 
 
"It wasn't my original plan to go to a college in North Carolina, but when I met the coaches and the team, I really saw the opportunity to develop as a student and an athlete there at Wake Forest. I just knew it was the right fit." 

“I had great teammates who kept me motivated.” - Porsche Jones

"Porsche Jones holds the Wake Forest women's basketball record for career assist-to-turnover ratio and has the only point-steal double-double in program history.  Her name also litters the Wake Forest record book for some of the top seasons in assists, steals, assist-to-turnover ratio and minutes played."

"Jones currently works for Norvant Custody and recently opened the BOND (Building on New Development) Center of Excellence, a community center in Winston-Salem that offers basketball courts, weight rooms and fitness areas, as well as classroom areas. Two years ago she purchased a company that deals with real estate and investments, and co-owns JMAC Hauling."
 

"Chrissy Dunn made an immediate impact once picking Wake Forest and arriving on campus to compete, winning the ACC Outdoor Championship in the 800m and then earning All-American status in the same event as a freshman in 1994."

"Chrissy (Person) Dunn knew she wanted to get away from her small Pennsylvania hometown when she left for college, and was introduced to Wake Forest by a high school track teammate who considered the Deacs but eventually decided on Bucknell."
 
"First time I heard about Wake Forest was from a high school teammate of mine," Dunn said. "I grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania. She was a senior when I was a freshman. I remember her talking about a school she was interested in and mentioned Wake Forest, I just liked the name. She ended up going to Bucknell, which is just 30 minutes from where we grew up."
 
"As I got into my junior and senior year where I started looking at schools and where I wanted to be, my coach was really good about helping her athletes get in touch with the schools they are interested in."

"I think I knew I wanted to go far away from home. Growing up in a small town, I was ready for something different and something warmer. I was excited about moving further south."
 
"She made an immediate impact once picking Wake Forest and arriving on campus to compete, winning the ACC Outdoor Championship in the 800m and then earning All-American status in the same event as a freshman in 1994."