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The 2016 winner of the Wildcat Top 21 was announced today by the Davidson Athletic Fund. While the top five teams remained close throughout the six-week challenge, women's tennis took the final lead in dramatic fashion, with several gifts coming in during the closing hours of the fiscal year. As the 2016 WCT21 champions, the women's tennis program will receive an additional $5,000 in this year's budget!
"I am so excited and humbled by the support of our program!," Head Women's Tennis Coach Sara Anundsen said. "Our team works extremely hard day after day to get better and to be competitive in the Atlantic 10 Conference and on a national scale. We have big goals for this program, and this support is going to have an incredible impact on our ability to reach those goals. Thank you to all of our donors who believe in us and share these same goals. I also want to thank the DAF for their help and support. We will continue to work hard, make the most of these gracious gifts and enjoy the opportunity to represent Davidson!"
This year's competition took on a new twist, with the insightful help of Associate Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science and CatsStats creator Dr. Tim Chartier, resulting in a change in the calculation on team rankings. Percent toward team fundraising goal was factored in, multiplied by two, added to percent participation and then divided by three. Alumni were encouraged to not only make a gift, but to consider the size of their gift in an effort to meet their teams annual goal and boost their ranking in the competition.
Men's and women's swimming and diving started off in the top three spots and remained there throughout the competition. All three top teams received a boost from matching gift challenges set up this spring by parents and anonymous donors, in an effort to meet the annual fundraising goal for each team. Women's lacrosse had the highest alumni participation rate with 42%, followed closely by football with 39% participation.
The Davidson Athletic Fund would like to offer congratulations, as well as a heartfelt thank you, on behalf of all of our coaches, scholar athletes and staff members. Director of Athletic Development and Assistant Athletic Director Gavin Viano stated, "Our incredible donors allowed the DAF to exceed its cash goal of $1.75 million via the Wildcat Top 21. In short, it was a fantastic year, and we greatly appreciate your investment. Special thanks are also in order to our board members as well as our alumni and parent volunteers. Thank you all for being difference makers!"
Here are the final standings.
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