From The Director of Athletics' Desk...
 

Greetings Wildcat Fans!
 
The topic of last month's Paw Prints was resolutions and we are now almost one month into 2016.  Everyone here at Daemen Athletics has been making the most of the New Year and new opportunities created by our NCAA Division II membership.  It seems fitting then that theme of this month's Paw Prints is opportunity. 
 
Daemen Athletics recently had the honor of hosting a local television news reporter who was doing a follow-up story on our Move to Division II announcement.  As I listened to Daemen President Gary Olson, Men's Basketball Coach Mike MacDonald and Volleyball student-athlete Amber Drzymala discuss their experiences to date, it became clear that the College, our coaches and out student-athletes are taking great advantage of all the positive opportunities that college athletics has to offer a small campus like Daemen. 
 
Daemen Athletics saw some outstanding performances in its winter sports.  Our men's and women's indoor track and field team broke four school records in its first competition on January 23 and standout distance runner Mackenzie Donahue moved ever closer to yet another appearance at an NCAA championship event.  On the basketball front, senior Torrence Dyck was named the Division II National Player of the Week for January 11^th through the 18^th.  The men's team in general found its groove and have been undefeated in their last six games, which includes beating conference behemoth LIU Post on their home court.  We also capped off our fall fundraising campaign surpassing our $10,000 fundraising goal by more than $2,000.  We are all so grateful for your support as we continue to build Buffalo-Niagara's only NCAA Division II Athletics program
 
Personally, I was thrilled to attend the NCAA Convention in January and cast our vote on legislation that hopes to make Division II programs true examples of academic success, athletic competitiveness and community engagement.  It is that last piece in which we find new opportunities.  The NCAA Division II membership adopted legislation that broadens the definition of community engagement.  This change will allow Daemen Athletics to fully embrace both the community engagement piece of the NCAA Division II strategic positioning plan and the College's long standing commitment to service for our students.  The change in legislation came at a perfect time as Healthnow/BCBS committed to financially supporting our plan to provide wellness programming to students and the community alike.  To see opportunities come together has been motivating for all of us at Daemen.  As we tell our student-athletes to #beFIERCE in their pursuit of academic and athletic success, we too are fiercely finding all possible opportunities to make Daemen Athletics a program the College and community can be proud of.
 
Our men's and women's basketball programs will carry-on with  #beFIERCE approach in February.  Both teams will play at home in Lumsden Gym on February 5^th, 7^th, 16^th, 19^th and 21st .  I invite you to check out the men's and women's schedules to see what they have left on their respective dockets as the exciting time of March Madness approaches!  We welcome back our alumni on Sunday February 21^st during senior day, and we will be hosting an NYC Alumni Event on Sunday February 28^th when we take on Queens College in Queens, New York.  More details on those events can be found at the links provided.  Track and Field continues to compete and bowling gets back into the swing as well.  Please don't forget our tennis program's second annual Tennis Carnival this Saturday, January 30^th.  We would truly love to see you at one or more of these events.

Continue working those resolutions and goals for 2016. Don't forget to fiercely pursue opportunities to meet them and as always feel free to contact me at bniland@daemen.edu with questions, comments or concerns regarding Daemen Athletics.  #beFIERCE
 

Bridget Niland
Director of Athletics