Washington and Lee has just introduced a new fan to appear at Generals athletic events: a trident mascot. The mascot, a human sized W&L trident, will begin appearing at games after spring break.

Athletic director Elizabeth LeRose said the mascot has been in the works since last fall after a student approached her, inquiring as to whether W&L already owned a mascot, and if not, whether they would be getting one soon.

“We talked with all of our Athletic Administrative Staff, we spoke with some Student-Athletes, and even Dean Evans about the idea,” LeRose said. “Everyone agreed it was a really cool idea, but we didn’t know which way to go with it.”

Originally, the athletic department was unsure what route to go with the mascot. “George and Bob” were originally considered for the role, as was Traveller. In the end, they chose to go with the most universally recognized symbol of W&L: the trident.

“[Student-athletes] really liked the idea of the Trident person because the trident is our athletics symbol and we are very proud of it,” LeRose said. “It means a lot to be able to put a trident on every day and play the sport you love here at W&L. Plus, it gets recognized all over the world, so we loved that it is unique.”

A female sophomore at W&L agreed to be the mascot, and put a lot of effort into making the mascot costume happen. She had no prior experience being a mascot, but her friend at another university became their school’s mascot, so this student decided to try this as well.

“I think mascots need to retain a certain level of anonymity, otherwise people will only be seeing me and not the actual costume,” the mascot, who asked to not be identified in this article, said. “People say that college is all about trying new things, and to me this is the very definition of that. There’s this ridiculous quality of being a mascot that is difficult to find elsewhere.”

The mascot is also excited about spreading school spirit with the costume.

“Besides the fun that comes with putting on a huge costume,” she said, “being able to make this mascot alongside the athletic department and hopefully be able to make it a part of the W&L community is something I’m really excited about and would be proud of doing.”

The mascot will not only be present at sporting events, as alumni relations also plans to have the mascot at their events.

“The Alumni Office saw the costume yesterday, LeRose said, “and already expressed interest in having it around pretty much all of Alumni weekend.”

The mascot costume took 18 weeks to produce, and came from a company in Utah called Alinco.

The athletic department plans to reach out to the community soon to help name the mascot, which is currently being called “Tridy.” The original response from the mascot has been universally positive.

“It was fun to take some pictures on campus the other afternoon,” LeRose said, “and having [the student] walk across the bridge to Wilson Field in the full suit, passing people, and the smiles and double-takes that she kept getting was great. Minus little kids, who might be afraid of it, I think it will be fairly popular.”