Hall of Fame
Sandra Holmes ’96 was a pioneer in the early days of both the track and field and basketball programs at Washington and Lee.
Holmes earned four letters in track & field, serving as a team captain for her junior season. She garnered three more letters in basketball, where she was a two-year captain and one of the founding members of the program.
In track & field, Holmes competed in the throwing events and announced her presence from the very start, setting a new school record in the indoor shot put during her first collegiate competition. She went on to finish second in the shot put at the ODAC Indoor Track & Field Championship twice. Outdoors, she won the ODAC title in the javelin three times, was second in the shot put three times, and second in the discus two more times in leading the Generals to a pair of conference titles (unofficially in 1994 and officially in 1995).
Holmes graduated holding school records in the indoor shot put (36'04.50"), the outdoor shot put (38'4.00'') and the outdoor discus (118'5.00'').
In basketball, Holmes was a two-year team MVP at the forward position, and she graduated holding the program record in nearly every scoring and rebounding category.
After playing her rookie season as a member of the club team, Holmes was the leading rebounder (6.6 rpg) and second-leading scorer (9.8 ppg) for the first varsity women’s basketball team at W&L, leading the Generals to a winning season (11-10) in their first year.
As a junior, she became the first woman to earn All-ODAC honors in basketball, garnering honorable mention recognition after averaging 12.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game.
Holmes once again led the team in scoring (11.4 ppg) and rebounding (9.2 rpg) as a senior, when she was named the Team MVP for the second straight campaign. She completed her varsity career as the program’s all-time leading scorer with 775 points. She also tallied 545 rebounds and 121 steals, while shooting 43.3 percent from the field.
