University of Richmond Athletics
Women’s Basketball, Football Named Finalists for 2024 RVA Sports Awards
12/30/2024 | Football, Women's Basketball
RICHMOND, Va. – Addie Budnik, Zach Palmer-Smith, Aaron Roussell as well as the Richmond women's basketball and football programs have been named as finalists for the 2024 RVA Sports Awards. Budnik and Palmer-Smith are in the running for the Female and Male Athletes of the Year categories, respectfully, while Roussell is a Coach of the Year nominee. The Women's basketball program's 2024 Atlantic 10 Conference Championship is up for Moment of the Year, while football's 2024 CAA Championship squad is a nominee for Team of the Year. The event recognizes local athletic achievements and honors those who aim to better the Richmond region through sport.
Fan voting is now open and will run through January 15. Winners will be announced at the RVA Sports Awards at the Altria Theater on Saturday, February 8, 2025. Click here to purchase tickets for the show.
Budnik became an A-10 Regular Season and Tournament Champion in her senior campaign (2023-24 season). She continued to collect hardware, including A-10 Defensive Player of the Year, A-10 Tournament Most Valuable Player and Second Team All-Conference. In the record-breaking season for Richmond, she saw action in all 35 games with 35 starts and posted 417 points, 140 rebounds, 87 assists and 21 steals. Budnik finished the 2024-25 season, leading the league in three-point percentage (42.4%), good for 14th nationally, as well as in blocks (87), 10th nationally, and blocks per game (2.49), good for 13th nationally. Following the conclusion of the season, she bumped her career point total to 1,523 slotting her into No. 7 of all-time leading scorers at Richmond. She is third of all active NCAA DI players in career blocks with 295.
Roussell led the Richmond women's basketball team to one of the most successful seasons in program history, guiding the Spiders to the Atlantic 10 regular-season title and their first-ever A-10 Championship crown, marking the program's first conference championship since the 1991 Colonial Athletic Association title. Under Roussell's leadership, the Spiders achieved a program-record 29 wins, finishing 29-6 overall and 16-2 in A-10 play, including an unblemished 14-0 record inside the Robins Center—the first undefeated home season in program history. Along the way, Roussell picked up his 400th career victory against Loyola Chicago, the program's 1,000th program win, and moved into fourth place in Richmond history for coaching wins (94).
Roussell's efforts earned him 2024 A-10 Coach of the Year honors. He also led the Spiders to their fourth NCAA Women's Basketball Championship appearance and first since 2005, entering the tournament as the No. 10 seed and facing Duke in the first round in Columbus, Ohio. Along with Budnik's accolades, Rachel Ullstrom was named A-10 Sixth Woman of the Year, the first Spider to earn the award since 2022, while Maggie Doogan and Grace Townsend secured spots on the All-Conference First Team.
The defining moment of the Richmond women's basketball season came when the Spiders claimed the program's first-ever Atlantic 10 Championship title, a crowning achievement that marked the team's first conference championship since 1991. The Spiders showcased their dominance by defeating Rhode Island 65-51, securing not only the championship trophy but also an automatic bid to the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship—their first appearance since 2005. The victory capped a record-breaking season for the Spiders, who set a program-best 29 wins and an undefeated home record, and it symbolized a turning point for the team as a force in the Atlantic 10. The celebration following the final buzzer captured the joy and pride of a team that had rewritten Richmond basketball history, making the A-10 Championship victory a defining moment not just for the season, but for the program.
Palmer-Smith etched his name into the Richmond football record book weekly during his junior season in the fall of 2024. He finished the gridiron campaign with six games with 100-plus rushing yards, 150-plus yards in three consecutive games, and became the first Spider to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a single season, the most since 2015. Palmer-Smith finished the season with 1,382 yards, ranking fifth all-time in program history, while his 13 rushing touchdowns is fourth all-time and 14 total touchdowns is seventh all-time in Richmond football history. Palmer-Smith had his number called 25 times against North Carolina A&T, the most since 1987, rushing for 200 yards which was the most in a single game since 2015.
Back-to-back CAA Champion, UR football finished the regular season on a 10-game winning streak and making the program's third-straight trip to the FCS Playoffs. The program's 8-0 undefeated conference record fueled the program's best regular season record since 2009 and was the first time since UR's Southern Conference 6-0 record in 1968 and became the league's seventh team in CAA history to finish conference play undefeated. The team posted dominant wins over FBS-transitioning Delaware and rival William & Mary and reached as high as seven in the coaches poll, its highest ranking since 2017.
Fan voting is now open and will run through January 15. Winners will be announced at the RVA Sports Awards at the Altria Theater on Saturday, February 8, 2025. Click here to purchase tickets for the show.
Budnik became an A-10 Regular Season and Tournament Champion in her senior campaign (2023-24 season). She continued to collect hardware, including A-10 Defensive Player of the Year, A-10 Tournament Most Valuable Player and Second Team All-Conference. In the record-breaking season for Richmond, she saw action in all 35 games with 35 starts and posted 417 points, 140 rebounds, 87 assists and 21 steals. Budnik finished the 2024-25 season, leading the league in three-point percentage (42.4%), good for 14th nationally, as well as in blocks (87), 10th nationally, and blocks per game (2.49), good for 13th nationally. Following the conclusion of the season, she bumped her career point total to 1,523 slotting her into No. 7 of all-time leading scorers at Richmond. She is third of all active NCAA DI players in career blocks with 295.
Roussell led the Richmond women's basketball team to one of the most successful seasons in program history, guiding the Spiders to the Atlantic 10 regular-season title and their first-ever A-10 Championship crown, marking the program's first conference championship since the 1991 Colonial Athletic Association title. Under Roussell's leadership, the Spiders achieved a program-record 29 wins, finishing 29-6 overall and 16-2 in A-10 play, including an unblemished 14-0 record inside the Robins Center—the first undefeated home season in program history. Along the way, Roussell picked up his 400th career victory against Loyola Chicago, the program's 1,000th program win, and moved into fourth place in Richmond history for coaching wins (94).
Roussell's efforts earned him 2024 A-10 Coach of the Year honors. He also led the Spiders to their fourth NCAA Women's Basketball Championship appearance and first since 2005, entering the tournament as the No. 10 seed and facing Duke in the first round in Columbus, Ohio. Along with Budnik's accolades, Rachel Ullstrom was named A-10 Sixth Woman of the Year, the first Spider to earn the award since 2022, while Maggie Doogan and Grace Townsend secured spots on the All-Conference First Team.
The defining moment of the Richmond women's basketball season came when the Spiders claimed the program's first-ever Atlantic 10 Championship title, a crowning achievement that marked the team's first conference championship since 1991. The Spiders showcased their dominance by defeating Rhode Island 65-51, securing not only the championship trophy but also an automatic bid to the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship—their first appearance since 2005. The victory capped a record-breaking season for the Spiders, who set a program-best 29 wins and an undefeated home record, and it symbolized a turning point for the team as a force in the Atlantic 10. The celebration following the final buzzer captured the joy and pride of a team that had rewritten Richmond basketball history, making the A-10 Championship victory a defining moment not just for the season, but for the program.
Palmer-Smith etched his name into the Richmond football record book weekly during his junior season in the fall of 2024. He finished the gridiron campaign with six games with 100-plus rushing yards, 150-plus yards in three consecutive games, and became the first Spider to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a single season, the most since 2015. Palmer-Smith finished the season with 1,382 yards, ranking fifth all-time in program history, while his 13 rushing touchdowns is fourth all-time and 14 total touchdowns is seventh all-time in Richmond football history. Palmer-Smith had his number called 25 times against North Carolina A&T, the most since 1987, rushing for 200 yards which was the most in a single game since 2015.
Back-to-back CAA Champion, UR football finished the regular season on a 10-game winning streak and making the program's third-straight trip to the FCS Playoffs. The program's 8-0 undefeated conference record fueled the program's best regular season record since 2009 and was the first time since UR's Southern Conference 6-0 record in 1968 and became the league's seventh team in CAA history to finish conference play undefeated. The team posted dominant wins over FBS-transitioning Delaware and rival William & Mary and reached as high as seven in the coaches poll, its highest ranking since 2017.
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