Atlantic 10 conference

Schar School’s Aly Rayle Nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year

Andrew J Schappert — Thu, 13 Jul 2023 14:24:37 +0000

Schar School’s Aly Rayle Nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year Andrew J Schappert Thu, 07/13/2023 - 10:24

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Schar School of Policy and Government student athlete Aly Rayle has been nominated for the prestigious NCAA Woman of the Year Award. Rayle, who is enrolled in the Schar School’s Global Commerce and Policy master’s program, is a standout pitcher on ��AV’s softball team, which won its first-ever Atlantic 10 conference championship in the season that concluded in June. She is the first Schar School student to be nominated for the honor.

Rayle, who was named A-10 Pitcher of the Year, helped the team to the championship with a 19-9 record, posting a 2.01 ERA. She set the all-time single-season strikeouts record and became the only Patriot pitcher to have struck out 200 batters in a single season. She led the conference in overall strikeouts (242) and looking strikeouts (72). She finished the A-10 tournament with a 4-1 record, pitching 33 innings and recording 39 strikeouts to earn the A-10 Championship's Most Outstanding Player award.

The NCAA Woman of the Year Award was created in 1991 to celebrate the achievements of women in intercollegiate athletics. Now in its 33rd year, the award honors graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service, and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.

Rayle, who came to Mason after an undergraduate career at the University of Virginia, has set softball records in her one year as a Patriot. She is tied for first in no-hitters pitched (3) alongside Lisa Davis (1997-2000) and Marsha Boyd (1990-93), who both took four years to reach the same goal. Her 2.01 ERA puts her tied for seventh all-time with Shannon Hiltner (1997-99).

In addition in her master’s degree studies, the Herndon, Virginia native has been a leader in the softball program’s community relations efforts, donating countless hours of to a variety of causes, including mentoring students in Mason softball's partnership with Willow Springs Elementary.

In her four years at UVA, Rayle volunteered with Virginia's youth at the Madison's House, the Boys and Girls Club of Central Virginia at summer camps, and as a “buddy runner” at the local Girls on the Run races. She has been involved with the Capital Area Food Bank at both schools, packaging boxes of food for families in need.

Rayle has experiences on leadership councils and advisory committees, having been elected to Athletics Advisory Council for the 2019-20 school year and served on the team Leadership Council for two years.

—Additional Reporting by Buzz McClain/Schar School of Policy and Government

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Basketball star Josh Oduro puts hard work on display

Colleen Rich — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 18:49:47 +0000

Basketball star Josh Oduro puts hard work on display Colleen Rich Mon, 03/07/2022 - 13:49

Photo by Shelby Burgess/Strategic Communications

Josh Oduro isn’t much for statistics.

But for the record, the star forward on ��AV’s men’s basketball team finished the regular season as the Atlantic 10 conference’s top scorer (18 points per game), and tied for seventh in rebounding (7.4 per game) and blocked shots (1.7 per game).

All of which makes him a strong candidate for conference player of the year.

Asked about the numbers, Oduro, a 6-foot-9 junior forward, shrugged them off.

“I don’t really care about stats. Stats are whatever,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s really just trying to get wins. That’s my whole motivation—team success.”

Photo by Shelby Burgess/Strategic Communications

Mason (14-15) has a chance to create that success at the Atlantic 10 tournament that begins Wednesday at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.

The ninth-seeded Patriots—who received a first-round bye and whose season includes a victory over then-No. 20 Maryland—face eighth-seeded Fordham (15-15) at noon on Thursday.

“I feel we can play against anybody,” Oduro said.

Oduro admitted he had some “baby fat” on him when he came out of Paul VI Catholic High School in Chantilly, Virginia. And he chuckled as he remembered a coach who he said once told him that he was a high-level player, “but I just had to wait for my body to catch up to my skillset.”

So before his sophomore season at Mason, Oduro cut carbs and sugars out of his diet, lost 20 pounds and then added 15 pounds of muscle.

The results: a nice shooting touch (53% from the field, eighth-best in the conference), and greater assertiveness on the boards and as a team leader.

“His work ethic, his toughness, his will to show up and get better every day,” Coach Kim English said, describing what makes Oduro effective. “And he’s incredibly talented. I say all the time, he’s only scratching the surface.”

Oduro said working with English, a former NBA player, helped him to hone his game. But he also applied lessons of hard work and responsibility from his mother, Kris, and father, Kofi, who ran track and played soccer in his native Ghana.

“They’ve always taught me there is no substitute for hard work,” Oduro said. “I feel that kind of discipline has been a catalyst for what I’m doing now and being able to move forward and become a more developed player.”

The hard work doesn’t stop on the court. Oduro is majoring in business with a concentration in management.

Though Oduro’s goal is to play basketball professionally, “I want to have that good degree to fall back on,” he said.

Besides, he said, “I feel that business and sports go hand-in-hand because there’s a lot of teamwork and you have to be able to work with different kinds of people to achieve one overall goal.”

“He works hard to prepare himself for life after basketball,” said Michael Ouellette, academic coordinator for Mason Athletics. “He’s committed to his education and values the opportunity he has to receive a Mason degree. Josh is another example of Mason student-athletes striving both on the field and in the classroom.”

For this week, though, Oduro’s focus is on the court.

“I think we’re going to surprise a lot of people,” he said of the Atlantic 10 tournament that provides the winner with a spot in the NCAA tournament. “I’m excited just to do that.”

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Mason student-athletes honored for academic success by Atlantic 10 conference

Colleen Rich — Fri, 09 Jul 2021 16:25:51 +0000

Mason student-athletes honored for academic success by Atlantic 10 conference Colleen Rich Fri, 07/09/2021 - 12:25

The Atlantic 10 Conference announced in June that 332 of ��AV’s student-athletes earned the Commissioner’s Honor Roll distinction for the 2020-21 academic year. Mason recorded the second highest number of honorees behind University of Massachusetts, which had one additional student honored. Overall in the A-10 there were 3,849 student-athlete honorees.

Despite the pandemic, Mason also set a record for the number of its student-athletes being honored, up 84 from the prior record-setting year.

“It is inspiring to learn about the achievements of our student-athletes in their academic programs. I am proud of our student-athletes and delighted by their being recognized as members of the Atlantic 10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll, especially during this very challenging year,” said Provost Mark Ginsberg. “This very impressive honor is a tribute to their success in the classroom.”

A student-athlete in an Atlantic 10-sponsored sport must have a 3.0 GPA for the academic year to be selected for the Commissioner's Honor Roll. Freshmen and graduate students are eligible to receive the award. This year, 218 of Mason’s 332 student-athletes honored achieved a 3.5 GPA or higher and 23 of them had a 4.0 GPA.

"Our student-athletes continue to achieve an impressive standard of academic excellence within the Atlantic 10," said Brad Edwards, assistant vice president and director of Athletics. "We are so proud of their record-breaking efforts in the classroom. Additionally, despite extraordinary challenges, our 22 athletic programs thrived—as each posted a spring cumulative team grade point average of over 3.0.”

Mason has a long history of honoring and encouraging the academic success of its student-athletes. Mason student-athletes with a GPA of 3.75 or higher who have completed at least three academic terms earn the Peter N. Stearns Provost Scholar Athlete Award. But after a particularly challenging year for students, the Atlantic 10 announcement was especially impressive and spoke to the student-athletes’ dedication to their academics, said Nena M. Rogers, Mason Athletics’ senior associate AD for academic services.

Rogers said that the success of the students was a “testament to the caliber of student-athletes recruited by our university, as well as to our Athletics academic support staff, coaches and administrators that continues to assist, engage and lead our students to achieve academic success and honors.”