Monday Motivation: Virginia Golf sets an event record en route to a title

Happy Monday, Wahoos! I hope you all enjoyed your first weekend full of both NCAA and NFL football. This week was a little rough with both the men’s and women’s soccer teams picking up their first losses of the season, but there were still plenty of things to celebrate and acknowledge!

Rapid Fire

- Former UVA baseball standout Sean Doolittle spent some time at the Palo Alto Veteran’s Affairs hospital visiting with service members recovering from injuries. For Doolittle, a relief pitcher with the Oakland A’s, this is the latest in a long list of volunteer and community activities that he’s participated in.

Doolittle is a nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award, an award given to the player who “best represents the game through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field.”

Also a finalist? UVA alum and Washington Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman. His work with the ziMS Foundation, created in 2006, aims to eradicate the disease Multiple Sclerosis.

To vote for Doolittle and Zimmerman, tweet with either #VoteDoolittle or #VoteZim (or both!).

- JB Reynolds was last week’s Thursday Hero. Check out his story here:

- Virginia’s Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and recent UVA grad Danielle Collins each brought home their respective titles in the American Collegiate Invitational. Because of their victories, both players earned a bid for the qualifying draws at the 2017 US Open. Congrats!

Team of the Week

The Virginia Men’s Golf team not only won the Carpet Capital Collegiate event, they set an event record in the process. The Hoos shot a 31-under 833 for the event, six strokes ahead of Auburn, and eight strokes ahead of the previous event record (set by Alabama).

Fourth year Derek Bard, an All-American, led the way for Virginia with a 10-under 206, good for second place. Three UVA players – Thomas Walsh, Jimmy Stanger, and Danny Walker – all notched an eagle on the 12^th hole (a par 5).

The win is a great way to start off the season for the Cavaliers, who head to Ohio for the Inverness Intercollegiate September 19^th.

Wahoo of the Week

Although the outcome on the scoreboard wasn’t what we’d like to see, I’m giving this week’s StLMMWotW to fourth year running back Albert Reid.

Reid rumbled to a career best 126 yards and one touchdown on Saturday evening against No. 24 Oregon on the road. He saw the field well, hit his gaps, and churned his legs for extra yardage after contact. With just 15 carries, he averaged an impressive 8.9 yards per carry, something that was nice to see after the anemic running game against Richmond in the season opener.

As a whole, the running game was impressive, with second year Jordan Ellis adding 46 yards on six carries, and Smoke Mizzell having 48 yards on 10 carries. After only 38 total yards against the Spider, the new production was a welcome sight.

Go Hoos!