In his third decade as athletic director and head women's tennis coach at Mary Washington College, Ed Hegmann has observed an especially gratifying maturation process. In the case of women's tennis, not only has he coached three NATIONAL CHAMPION­SHIP TEAMS, but more importantly has been instru­mental in developing many true student-athletes.

While 10 of Hegmann 's teams have played in the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament in the past 11 years, he also takes great pride in the fact that many play­ers have be­come great suc­cess stories after graduation in fields such as medicine, den­tistry, physical therapy, busi­ness, computer science, chemistry, education, and coaching.

As the program strives for even greater heights in the 1990s - MWC captured its second NCAA title in 1991 and finished sixth last season - Hegmann has seen two of his players re­ceive MWC's prestigious Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award. In addition, 1991 All-American Christy Copper was also named the ITCA/Volvo National Senior Player of the Year, while Susan Myers was named Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) 1992 Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Both were also named CAC Players of the Year as seniors.

Myers (25-8 at #4 singles) was the lone graduate of the 1991-92 team, which although unsuccessful in defending its 1991 National Championship, provided much optimism for the future. Against a demanding schedule, the Eagles downed Division I George Ma­son and Georgetown en route to a 14-9 record, includ­ing two wins at the NCAA Division III Championships at Kalamazoo, MI. In her junior season, Laura Graham (Worcester, MA) was named to the 32-player NCAA singles field while also playing in the 16-team doubles draw for the sec­ond straight year. Her #1 doubles partner, Anna Jack­son (Vero Beach, FL), is a two-year top-six player. A third member of the 1991 National­ Championship team, Leslie Roland (Massillon, OH) is - like Graham and Jackson - a two-time CAC singles and doubles champion. At #5 singles in 1991-92, Pia Holm (McLean, VA) and Trish Whitefield (New­ark, OH) also won CAC champion­ships. Whitefield won 11 of her last 13 singles matches to finish at 15-8.