1780 – The Official Blog of Transylvania University

1780 | The Official Blog of Transylvania University

Athletics

Transylvania first Kentucky school to offer women’s varsity collegiate triathlon

Posted on by Office of Marketing and Communications

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USA Triathlon and Transylvania University Athletics today announced Transylvania is the first school in Kentucky—and the 15th in the nation—to add women’s collegiate triathlon as an NCAA varsity sport. The NCAA Division III women’s triathlon team will begin competing in the 2018-19 season. The addition of women’s triathlon to Transylvania’s varsity sport offerings was made possible through a $70,000 grant from the USA Triathlon Foundation. The USA Triathlon Women’s Emerging Sport Grant is distributed to select NCAA membership institutions to develop, implement and sustain women’s triathlon programs at the NCAA varsity level. The sport’s competitions include stages of cycling, running and swimming. “With a multitude of existing events and recruitable athletes in the region, as well as its proximity to other varsity women’s triathlon programs, Transylvania University was a perfect fit to add NCAA women’s triathlon,” said Tim Yount, chief operating officer at USA Triathlon. “More importantly, the Transylvania Women’s Triathlon program was made possible by leaders within the athletic department and the school as a whole who believe in the future of this sport at the collegiate level.” “We are so excited to have the opportunity to start a women’s triathlon team at Transylvania,” said Holly Sheilley, Transylvania vice president for enrollment and student life and director of athletics. “As we were exploring the possibilities, the support received from local triathletes and USA Triathlon made this an easy decision in the end. Dedication, passion, hard

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Former Transylvania coach C.M. Newton receives highest AD honor

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—C.M. Newton, who began his pioneering athletics career at Transylvania University, has been inducted into the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Hall of Fame.  The NACDA lauded Newton for his achievements as player, coach and administrator, saying he “enhanced the game’s integrity and helped ensure basketball’s success.” After playing under Coach Adolph Rupp at the University of Kentucky, Newton coached Transylvania’s men’s basketball team for 12 seasons. He led the Pioneers to their first postseason competition in 1963 and recruited the university’s first African-American player. Newton went on to coach at the University of Alabama and Vanderbilt before returning to UK as director of athletics, helping turn around the basketball program and hiring the school’s first African-American men’s and women’s basketball coaches. “C.M. Newton has made his mark on collegiate athletics both as a coach and an administrator,” said Holly Sheilley, Transylvania’s vice president for enrollment and student life. “He has never been afraid to lead the way, and one of the ways he did that was through racial integration,” Sheilley added. “His accomplishments at UK—from facility expansions to his hires—are to be commended. It is a rarity to see an individual with such a high degree of success as a player, coach and administrator. It is a great delight for Transylvania that he began his career here.” In 1992 Newton was inducted into Transylvania’s Pioneer Hall of Fame. His other accomplishments include serving as manager of

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Transylvania to host 2019 NCAA DIII Men’s Golf Championship

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—The NCAA on Tuesday announced Transylvania University will host the Division III Men’s Golf Championship in 2019 at the Keene Trace Golf Club in nearby Nicholasville. The four-round event is scheduled for May 14-17.  “This is a wonderful opportunity for Transylvania University and central Kentucky,” said Holly Sheilley, vice president for enrollment and student life. “It is an honor to be considered and selected by the NCAA to host this prestigious event, and we now look forward to the rewarding process of preparing to bring a championship event to Lexington and Nicholasville.” The Transylvania men’s golf program is no stranger to competing in the national NCAA Championship. The Pioneers are one of four teams that have qualified for it the last 10 years in a row, finishing as the national runners-up in 2012 and 2013. Last season, the Pioneers won their 10th-straight Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference championship and placed 12th nationally at the championships in Rochester, N.Y. “To see our golf program grow to national prominence over the last decade has been unbelievable,” said Brian Lane, now in his 12th year as head coach of the Pioneers men’s golf team. “I am excited that we can now share that national exposure with the people here in central Kentucky. It is a big-time, weeklong event that will bring impressive teams from all over the country to the Bluegrass.” Keene Trace served as the site of the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf

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Transylvania inducts sports standouts into Pioneer Hall of Fame

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University inducted three alumni and the 2000-01 men’s basketball team into the Pioneer Hall of Fame on Saturday during an evening ceremony in the Beck Center. The individual inductees and years they graduated are Heather Adams-Blair ’95, Judy Henry ’82 and Michael Ray ’03. “Each year our Hall of Fame ceremonies present us a list of exceptional individuals with remarkable achievements, both during their careers at Transylvania and after, but this year’s group is in a class unparalleled,” said Holly Sheilley, vice president for enrollment and student life. “Heather, Judy, Michael and the members of the indelible 2000-01 men’s basketball team have forged legacies that speak to the types of students that we are fortunate to have in our community and as our alumni.”  2016 Pioneer Hall of Fame inductees Heather Adams-Blair lettered all four years in basketball and two years in softball. As a senior captain on the basketball team, she left her mark with 808 career points, 292 rebounds and 180 assists. She finished her Ph.D. in 2000 and is a professor at Eastern Kentucky University in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science. Judy Henry was a multi-sport athlete, lettering in field hockey, basketball, softball and cross country. She was a four-year starter in field hockey who scored the final game penalty stroke to win the state tournament for the Pioneers, and she was instrumental in winning the Kentucky Women’s Intercollegiate Conference (KWIC) Championship her

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Sheilley inducted into Asbury Hall of Fame

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Holly Sheilley, Transylvania’s vice president for athletics and student affairs, has been inducted into Asbury University’s Hall of Fame. She graduated from the Wilmore, Ky., school in 1994. Read the exerpt below from the Asbury news release about Sheilley’s accomplishments. Received Asbury’s Gamble-Walker Award as a senior for the top graduating senior in athletics and academics while participating in volleyball, basketball, and softball for Asbury College. Led softball team in hits, doubles, triples, homeruns, RBIs and batting average her junior season and hit .543 as a sophomore. Four-time coach of the year during stints as the head volleyball and softball coach at Lindsey Wilson College from 1996-2001. Also became just the third female Athletic Director in the State of Kentucky when hired in the role at Transylvania.