Athletic Highlights

Catawba Women’s Swimming earned the highest team GPA of all Division II swimming programs for the Spring 2023 semester, with a team GPA of 3.85, continuing their hold on that spot from the Fall of 2022 when they topped the rankings with a team GPA of 3.77. The College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America announces the rankings each semester.

Alexis Devlin, a politics major from Orlando, FL and member of Catawba’s Track & Field team, has been selected to serve as the South Atlantic Conference representative of the NCAA Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). Her service in that role is in effect through January 17, 2026. She currently serves as the SAAC President for Catawba Athletics on campus, with the SAAC Advisor, Head Women’s Lacrosse Coach Caitlyn Corace, commending her on the job she has been doing as president. Alexis will serve a non-renewable, three-year term as the South Atlantic Conference’s representative to the SAAC. The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee is a nationwide, highly selective committee that includes student representatives from every Division II conference who act as student-athlete liaisons monitoring and discussing happenings on campuses, within conferences, and at the national level.

Three Catawba Track & Field athletes took to the national stage to compete on day one of the NCAA Outdoor Championships at Colorado State University-Pueblo. In the initial round of events held Thursday, May 25th, senior MeKayla White of Salisbury, NC competed in the women’s long jump, finishing tenth with a jump of 5.95m to become All-American, the last competitive jump of her outstanding career at Catawba. Catawba freshman Madison Clay of Morganton, NC competed in the women’s 10k finals, finishing fourteenth with a time of 36:06:52. Junior Samantha Payne of High Point, NC and Barja Walter, a senior from Charlotte, NC, competed in preliminary rounds of the 200-meter event for their respective groups on day two, Friday, May 26. Barja finished in 20.81 in the men’s 200-meter, earning All-American, Samantha finished in the women’s 200-meter in 23.92. Samantha qualified for the finals heat of the women’s 400-meter event, competing a second time on Friday, where she finished ninth-fastest in 53.63, earning her a slot in the final day of the competition May 27. In the women’s 400-meter event on Saturday, she placed 4th with a time of 53.40, securing All-American and setting a new school record in the women’s 400-meter, beating the record she set previously. (L-R: MeKayla White, Samantha Payne, and Barja Walter)