2021 was filled with momentous occasions featuring team and individual accomplishments, made all the more precious considering the turmoil and loss of competition from most of the previous year. The Bullets were ready to return to action when the call was made and the results speak for themselves.
 
Return to Play
By far the biggest news story of 2021 was the return to collegiate competition. From March 13, 2020 to March 19, 2021, there were no games played by Gettysburg varsity athletic programs. Games were cancelled in the spring of 2020 with the onset of the pandemic and restrictions continued to prevent intercollegiate competition through the fall and winter seasons. The Centennial Conference along with leadership from member institutions announced a return to play on March 5 and two weeks later the spring teams were back on the fields to compete. It was a tumultuous time in college athletics, but the absence undoubtedly made the heart grow fonder and seeing student-athletes compete once again provided hope and positivity amidst a still uncertain climate. Wins and losses became secondary notions behind the thrill of competing once again.
 
Conference Champions
Softball stood atop the mountain in 2021 with its fifth Centennial title. The Bullets went 13-5 overall and 7-3 in conference play to clinch the crown for the second time in four seasons. The team's magical run continued in the NCAA Division III Regional with wins over Penn College and sixth-ranked Moravian College between setbacks at the hands of 10th-ranked TCNJ. Gettysburg just missed adding to the conference title list in a number of other sports in 2021 with runner-up performances by women's lacrosse, men's lacrosse, men's golf, and men's soccer.
 
NCAA Bound Again
A year off from competition didn't slow the men's soccer program, which made its second-straight appearance in the national playoffs. The Bullets surged into the conference playoffs and knocked off both Swarthmore and No. 25 Johns Hopkins before a loss to Washington in the CC title match. Gettysburg continued dancing into the national playoffs as a record five Centennial teams made the field. The Bullets dropped a 3-1 decision to Kean and finished the year sporting a 13-6-2 overall record.
 
The End of an Era
The end of the 2021 lacrosse season marked the final campaign for one of the most successful coaches in NCAA history. Hank Janczyk announced his retirement in the final weeks of the season after four decades on the sidelines, including the last 34 at the helm of the Bullets. During his tenure guiding the Orange and Blue, Janczyk led the team to 26 NCAA Division III Championship appearances, 19 conference titles, and a school-record 432 victories. His 477 career coaching wins rank him second in NCAA history.
 
National Honors
Despite the shortened spring season and a return to fall competition after a long absence, Gettysburg student-athletes shined among the nation's best in 2021. Eleven Bullets were named All-Americans, including four in men's swimming (Aedan Collins '21, Jack Edelson '21, Sam Nonemaker '22, Oliver Yancey '21), three in men's lacrosse (Andrew Horn '21, Kyle Howard '23, Alex Ulrich '21), three in women's lacrosse (Sara Howard '21, Kerry McKeever '21, Bri Stokes '21), and one in volleyball (Zanze Kuba-McCoy '23). Gettysburg also featured three Academic All-Americans for the first time in five years with Meredith Brown '21 (women's basketball), Justin Lessel '21 (football), and McKeever all securing recognition from CoSIDA.
 
New Coaches
Gettysburg welcomed a pair of new head coaches in 2021. Jason Badecki took over the helm of the men's golf program as former head coach Nate Davis slid into a new role as an assistant athletics director. Badecki was previously the head coach at Penn State Harrisburg and Denison University. Peter Toner was brought in to try to fill the lofty shoes vacated by the retiring Hank Janczyk in men's lacrosse. Toner has enjoyed success at all levels of NCAA lacrosse and most recently spent the last decade as the associate head coach at Penn State University.
 
Hall of Famers
Several members of the athletics staff were honored by their peers away from campus. Head softball coach Annette Hunt-Shepherd was selected to the inaugural class of the Seneca Valley High School Athletic Hall of Fame in mid-October. Shepherd was a three-sport standout in softball, basketball, and football at Seneca Valley before capping a collegiate playing career at the University of Maryland. In eight seasons at Gettysburg, she has guided the Bullets to two conference titles and a 167-99-1 record.
 
In early November, Senior Associate Director of Athletics Susan Fumagalli Mahoney was one of five inductees into the South Central Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. Fumagalli Mahoney has been instrumental in Gettysburg's athletic success over the last two decades and was given the Lester Jordan Award, which recognizes exemplary service to the Academic All-America Award program and the promotion of the ideals of being a student-athlete, by CoSIDA in 2018.
 
Head women's lacrosse coach Carol Cantele '83 was inducted into the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) Hall of Fame on Nov. 18. Cantele is one of the most successful collegiate women's lacrosse coaches in NCAA history, ranking third overall in career wins (451) and leading Gettysburg to three national titles and 12 conference titles during her 30 years at the helm.
 
Additionally, former Sports Information Director Bob Kenworthy '59 was inducted into the Delone Catholic High School Hall of Fame in April. Kenworthy spent 40 years serving as the lead athletic communications expert at Gettysburg.
 
A Community of Support
Whether it was raising money to support the athletics department or student-athletes and coaches raising money to support great causes, the Orange & Blue faithful showed out in 2021.
 
A number of teams spent their time off the field supporting a number of causes. The baseball team raised over $35,000 and surpassed its long-term goal of $100,000 for Take ALS Yard in support of Project ALS. In November, members of the men's lacrosse team sported mustaches and collected funds to support the HEADstrong Foundation's Mustache Madness. The team finished third in the country with over $21,000 in donations. Both soccer programs remained steadfast in their determined effort to support the community with the women continuing their quest alongside the non-profit organization Universal Promise to build a playground in South Africa and the men partnering with Soccer Without Borders to help refugees transition to life in America. The football team continued its partnership with the Andy Talley Bone Marrow Foundation and Be The Match and members of the team shaved their heads to donate hair to Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society.
 
Other local community initiatives involving a plethora of Gettysburg teams included the Adams County Mason-Dixon Heart Walk, donations to the Gettysburg Soup Kitchen, and Christmas gifts for families through the Adams County Rescue Mission. Gettysburg athletics also dove head-first into the "It's On Us" campaign with approximately 600 student-athletes signing the pledge to stop sexual violence on college campuses.
 
The fundraising effort culminated in the Bullets Teams Challenge organized by the Orange and Blue Club near the end of the semester. The 36-hour challenge saw 1,500 donors contribute a record-breaking $250,000 in gifts toward the athletics program to support facility upgrades, equipment and uniform purchases, transportation, and a range of team needs heading into 2022.