University of Wyoming Athletics Partners With Career Athletes
UW set to provide career connections to current and alumni athletes.

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Aug. 3, 2010

KANSAS CITY, Kan. - 




University of Wyoming Athletics recently agreed to a multi-year partnership with Career Athletes.  The partnership between Career Athletes and the University of Wyoming athletic department provides a national representation of unique networking opportunities and career development resources for current and alumni athletes.


"We are excited about our new relationship with Career Athletes," said Josh Rebholz, UW Senior Associate Athletics Director for Development and Revenue Enhancement.  "We look forward to improving our efforts to connect with and further engage our alumni athletes in Wyoming Athletics. I believe that our partnership with Career Athletes will provide additional value to current W-Club members (University of Wyoming's letterwinners' club), and will give our alumni athletes the platform where they can reconnect and share their expertise with our current student-athletes."


This Online Career Community Network will provide benefits such as mentoring, professional networking, virtual career coaching and 12 years of best practices from the leading and largest career services organization assisting athletes, athletic departments and campus career centers.  The University of Wyoming "Community Network" consists of current and alumni athletes from the institution as well as local, regional and national employers all managed and monitored by Career Athletes at its home office in the Kansas City area.  Individual members of Career Athletes are also able to network with over 65,000 former college athletes from across the nation while having access to over 5,000 career opportunities exclusive to www.CareerAthletes.com.




			

			
			
www.CareerAthletes.com

			

					
			
			
			

			



DJ Washington at Career Athletes explains that beyond an athletic department's initiative assisting with career opportunities and educational resources; it also helps when there is already a foundation on campus toward academic success.


"We are pleased to assist The University of Wyoming Athletics with its commitment toward career development of athletes, but it is also just as important to recognize the program's culture of achievement in community service, academic performance and athletic success," shared Washington, Vice President, Career Education and Training.


The University of Wyoming is no stranger to success as indicated by additional achievements 2009-2010 academic year:

  • 	Wyoming's football team began the 2009-10 year by posting a 7-6 record and earning a bid to the New Mexico Bowl where they defeated Fresno State 35-28. The Cowboys had seven individuals earn first team, second team or honorable mention All-conference honors, and quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels was named the Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year.  Freshman safety Shamiel Gary became the first Cowboy in history to be named to the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) Freshman All-America team.

  • 	The Cowgirl Volleyball team also had one of its team members named MWC Freshman of the Year when Jodi Purdy earned that honor following her first year at UW.

  • 	Women's basketball posted a 21-12 overall record and advanced to the third round of the 2010 Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT).  It marked the fourth time in head coach Joe Legerski's seven seasons at UW that his Cowgirls advanced to postseason.

  • 	Cowboy Basketball was led by freshman Desmar Jackson, who earned third Team All-Conference honors his first season at the collegiate level and was also named a Freshman All-American by CollegeInsider.com.

  • 	Women's swimming & diving had its best season in school history, placing second at the Mountain West Conference Championships.  That was the highest team finish ever for the Cowgirls, and two individuals qualified for the NCAA Championships.  Senior swimmer Cassie Stelow and senior diver Stephanie Ortiz both competed in the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships for the first times in their careers.  Cowboy swimming & diving placed fourth in the conference meet.

  • 	Wrestling captured the 2010 Western Wrestling Conference (WWC) dual title and won its first NCAA West Regional title, finishing No. 25 in the national polls.  Four Cowboy wrestlers qualified for the NCAA Championships, including sophomore Joe LeBlanc, who placed fourth at 184 pounds.

  • 	Cowgirls tennis concluded the year ranked No. 73 out of 323 teams in the country in the final Campbell/ITA computerized tennis rankings.  The Cowgirls entered the 2010 Mountain West Conference Championships as the No. 3 seed -- their highest seed in the program's history.

  • 	Track & Field had two individuals, men's triple jumper Jeremiah James and women's 400-meter runner Afiya Walker, qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships. James also qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

  • 	The Cowboy Golf team had its first individual qualify for an NCAA West Regional since 2002 when Gabe Maier was selected as an individual qualifier in the spring of 2010.

    
Wyoming athletes were also extremely successful in the classroom with 124 student-athletes being named Academic All-Mountain West Conference, earning at least a 3.0 GPA while competing in 50% of their respective team's contests. Of Wyoming's 17 sports, each team's 2008-2009 annual Academic Progress Rate (APR) was above the 925 minimum.  


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