Bulldog Club

As the Gardner-Webb men's swim team prepares for the upcoming Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association (CCSA) championships later this month, the team received an academic honor Friday afternoon as the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) determined that the program ranks sixth among all men's teams in NCAA Division I. The Bulldogs had a cumulative GPA of 3.26 for Fall 2009, ranking the team sixth in the CSCAA Division I Team Scholar All-American list for this past semester. The top-five were American (3.47), Yale (3.36), Harvard (3.31), Lafayette (3.30) and Marist (3.30). (more)

The 2010 season appears to be one of both excitement and high expectations, as Coach Cole’s squad returns all but two players from last year’s team that went 19-27 overall and 6-12 in its first season as Big South Conference members. Heading into this season, the excitement rests on high expectations as the 2010 squad is perhaps the best mix of both experience and youth, veterans and newcomers, and offense and pitching Coach Cole has had since coming to Gardner-Webb nine years ago. “We have the best of both worlds, we are blessed with a veteran team, yet we are still a young team with 12 underclassmen,” commented Coach Cole. “While we have more seniors this season, our sophomores played a lot of innings last year and saw a lot of time for us as true freshmen. All have improved tremendously since last year and we are optimistic that the experience gained from last season will help us tremendously this season. (more)

The Gardner-Webb athletics department, in conjunction with Head Women's Soccer Coach Kevin Mounce are pleased to announce the signing of eight student-athletes that will continue their academic and athletic careers at Gardner-Webb University. Gardner-Webb has added Megan Loftin, Meagan Reynolds, Shaylyn Poppe, Jordan Hodge, Arielle McCarthy-Crum-Ewing, Erkia Lenns, Ele Margelos, and Jessica Casper to the roster for the upcoming 2010 season. In addition to this stellar recruiting class, the Bulldogs will be returning nine starters from the 2009 season, in which the team went 12-9-0. With this mix, Gardner-Webb will look to add to last year's success and make a run at its first Big South Conference championship. (more)

A familiar name is at the top of the College Swimming Coaches Association of America's (CSCAA) list of Division I Team Scholar All-American teams for Fall 2009 as the Gardner-Webb women's swim team is ranked first for having the best cumulative GPA for all women's swimming programs in NCAA Division I. This is the third time that Gardner-Webb has had the top GPA in the country, which is remarkable in that the program is currently in its eleventh year of existence. The team's cumulative GPA is at 3.52, just ahead of Akron (3.49), Illinois-Urbana-Champaign (3.49), George Washington (3.48), and Purdue (3.48). This news comes as Gardner-Webb prepares to compete in the Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association (CCSA) championships later this month in Knoxville, TN. (more)

Andrew Veeder (Junior), Men’s Tennis: During the 2009 season Veeder won eight singles matches (seven of which were as the team's number two player) and posted 11 victories in doubles play. For his performance on the court and in the classroom, Veeder was named to the Big South Presidential Honor Roll. As one of only four returning players, Veeder will be a key to the team's success in 2010. Originally from Brevard, NC, Andrew was the top singles player his junior and senior seasons at Saddlebrook Prep School where he won the district title in singles and was team captain his senior year. Andrew was also a member of the National Honor Society and was class president while at Saddlebrook. The men's tennis team's next match is at conference foe Presbyterian on Thursday, February 11th.

National Signing Day was fruitful for Gardner-Webb University’s football program, as 20 student-athletes signed to play for the Runnin’ Bulldogs. Head coach Steve Patton and his staff targeted the Southeast heavily, with 19 of the 20 signees hailing from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Florida. The Runnin’ Bulldogs inked 12 players who played high school football within a two-hour drive of campus. One signee, cornerback Terrance Thomas (5-11, 170) is already enrolled at Gardner-Webb and started classes in January. The speedy Thomas, from Pageland, S.C., led the state of South Carolina with 11 interceptions as a senior during the 2008 season – helping Central High to the Class 2A state finals. The class was balanced, with 10 signees slated for offense and 10 for defense – although several in the class could wind up on either side of the football. (more)

Gardner-Webb's opponent for ESPNU BracketBusters was revealed Monday, and the Runnin' Bulldogs will host old rival Elon on Saturday, February 20, at 7:00 pm in Paul Porter Arena.

Bulldog Club members can use their ticket for the women’s contest against Presbyterian (currently scheduled for 3:00 p.m. on the 20th)for admission to the men’s game as well. Please contact the Bulldog Club for questions regarding tickets for this contest.

The Gardner-Webb women’s basketball team continued to receive votes in the ESPN/USA Today Top-25 Coaches’ Poll and also broke into the Digital Sports Daily NCAA Women’ s Basketball Top-25 rankings this week. For the fourth straight week, and the eighth week overall, the Lady Bulldogs received votes in the ESPN/USA Today Top-25 Coaches’ Poll tallying 11 votes. The 11 votes, which is two more votes than last week’s results, ties the most that the Lady Bulldogs have received in the national weekly poll. (more)

Gardner-Webb University student-athletes had an outstanding semester in the classroom this past fall, with over half of the Bulldogs earning a 3.0 grade point average or higher for the semester. In fact, 57.8 percent of the student-athletes had a 3.0 gpa or greater, while 42.6 percent were either on the Dean’s List or the Honor Roll. In order to be named to the Dean’s List, a student that is enrolled for a minimum of 12 hours and fewer than 15 must have a 4.0 Gardner-Webb grade point average, and students taking 15 hours or more must have a 3.7 or better gpa with no grade below a C. (more)

Dominique Hudson (Junior), Women's Basketball: Dominique Hudson dished her way into the Gardner-Webb record book on the January 25th, as the junior guard became GWU's NCAA Division I career leader in assists in the Lady Bulldogs route of the Presbyterian College, 80-39 in Clinton, S.C. Hudson, originally from Rocky Mount, NC, attended Southwest Edgecombe H.S. where she was a two sport star (basketball and track). Following her senior campaign, the school honored Dominique by retiring her jersey number. Since coming to GWU, Hudson has earned A-Sun All-Freshman Team honors (2007-2008) and was named to the 2009 Advance Auto Parts Big South Women’s Basketball Championship All-Tournament team. Dominique is majoring in Sports Management.