A team of four students from the David B. Falk College of Sport has advanced as one of six finalists in the inaugural Women with Drive Case Competition at the Women with Drive V Summit, to be held Dec. 8-10 at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis.

The Falk team includes captain Piper Moskow ’26 (double major in sport analytics and mathematics); Abigail Rodriguez ’27 (sport management major, psychology and marketing minor); Gracie Tolbert ’28 (esports major, sport analytics minor); and Victoria Daly ’27 (broadcast journalism major, sport management minor).

“I think our team really benefited from being made up of people from different majors,” says Moskow, who also works as the video coordinator for the Syracuse women’s ice hockey team. “Combining the skill sets we have from sport management and sport analytics allowed us to create a well-rounded presentation that was creative and practical. Moving forward, I know this will help us handle any challenges we come across in the second round.”

The virtual first round involved teams from 21 schools, including Clemson, Indiana and Temple from the United States; Queen’s University from Canada and Oxford Brookes University from the United Kingdom. Each team was provided with the same case “prompt” to solve a real-world motorsports business problem and submitted a 10-minute response video that was reviewed by a team of judges to determine the six teams that will participate in the Women With Drive Case Competition “Final Lap.”

The six finalists—Syracuse, Belmont Abbey, Clemson, Northwestern Ohio, Purdue and Virginia Tech—will compete in Indianapolis with a different prompt in a live round before a new panel of judges comprised of industry professionals from McLaren, Formula 1, ABB Ltd., a global technology leader in electrification and automation, and Quarles, a national law firm. Women in Motorsports North American Executive Director Cindy Sisson secured a $5,000 scholarship from ABB that will be split among the top three teams.

The Women With Drive V Summit–Driven by Mobil 1 is the premier annual event that brings together professionals, students and leaders across all sectors of motorsports to celebrate progress, build connections and drive opportunity. The summit precedes the PRI Show (Performance Racing Industry), the leading convention in motorsports that hosts 70,000 attendees in Indianapolis.

“Falk College of Sport has a reputation for being one of the top academic programs for sports related professions and a reputation for being dominant in the realm of case competitions,” Moskow says. “This conference is unique in that it focuses solely on women in the industry, therefore we’re not just representing Syracuse but specifically the women of Falk College. Knowing this, it’s an honor to represent Syracuse as a team, and we want to make sure to continue its track record of success.”

The idea for the Women with Drive Case Competition was developed by Department of Sport Management Assistant Teaching Professor Alexia Lopes and Sport Analytics Program Manager Jackie Dorchester, who both attended the 2024 Women with Drive Summit with two Falk College students. Inspired by their trip, they worked with conference leaders to create a case competition to raise student awareness and involvement in the conference and the world of motorsports.

Lopes and one of last year’s student attendees, sport management major Jessica Aftergut ’27, wrote a two-part case prompt based on conversations with Sisson and her goals for the industry. Sisson wanted the case competition to focus on building momentum for women in motorsports and driving the future.

“While many students naturally gravitate toward the more established sports, this competition introduces them to the dynamic motorsports industry—a space where sport and technology converge in ways that mirror the future of our field,” says Lopes, who first met Sisson during her time working in professional motocross/supercross. “As pioneers and the first college of sport, we have a responsibility to continuously innovate and create opportunities that challenge conventional thinking.”

“We’re not simply teaching students about the industry; we’re inviting them to reimagine its possibilities through diverse perspectives and collaborative problem-solving that transcends traditional academic boundaries,” Lopes adds.

With previous experience in competing in, creating and organizing case competitions, Dorchester led the executive team in the planning and execution of the inaugural Women with Drive Case Competition. The competition’s executive team includes Dorchester, Lopes and Sisson along with students who are driven to this industry: Aftergut; Whitney Fung, a motorsports engineering major at Purdue University; and Lindsay Storz, a mechanical engineering major from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

Rounding out the executive team is Sheri Panabaker, founder of Driven, which helps professionals in tech and motorsports thrive in high-performance careers by applying research-driven, human-centered leadership and career strategy. Panabaker, a former Microsoft senior director, became connected with the sport analytics program at Falk College through Department of Sport Analytics Chair and Professor Rodney Paul.

Visit the Case Competition webpage for more details about the Competition. To learn more about the sport management, sport analytics, esports, exercise science, and nutrition programs at Syracuse University, visit the Falk College of Sport website.