GSC Names Top Ten Award Winners
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Birmingham, Ala. — The Gulf South Conference is proud to announce its 16th annual GSC Top Ten Award winners. These awards recognize the top male and female student-athletes – five each – in the GSC based on athletic, academic and extracurricular achievement during the 2011-12 academic year. One male and one female from this group will receive the Commissioner’s Trophy, the Conference’s most prestigious honor.
Each Top Ten designate will be honored, and the Commissioner’s Trophy winners named, at the league’s annual Awards Banquet on June 25 at the Hilton Birmingham Perimeter Park. The program begins at 6:30 p.m. and will also include recognition of the University of West Florida, which won the GSC’s All-Sports Trophy for both men and women.
The Top Ten selections are chosen with the assistance of an advisory committee that consists of athletic directors, senior women’s administrators, sports information directors, faculty athletic representatives and presidents from randomly selected Gulf South Conference schools. The committee makes a recommendation the league’s commissioner, who has the final decision. Ties are not broken, so more than 10 student-athletes can be honored.
Two Top Ten honorees are making their second attempt to win the Commissioner’s Trophy. North Alabama junior Nikki Brown (women’s soccer, Bognor Regis, England) was a 2011 Top Ten selection while Alabama-Huntsville senior Josh Moshier (men’s cross country, Port Byron, Ill.) made the 2010 list.
Brown is the 14th student-athlete to earn consecutive Top Ten honors after she helped UNA to the school’s first GSC women’s soccer title and third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance while gathering All-American and Academic All-American honors. Moshier is just the third student-athlete to earn two non-consecutive Top Ten selections after he won individual medalist honors at the GSC championship meet and placed second at the NCAA South Region meet, leading the Chargers to the title in both races. He was also named to the Division II All-Academic Cross Country team.
The remaining eight Top Ten recipients are first-time honorees. On the women’s side, Alabama-Huntsville sophomore Mary Kelley (softball, Mobile, Ala.) is the only underclassman on the list. She is joined by Valdosta State junior Morgan Johnson (softball, Macon, Ga.), and Delta State’s Veronica Walker (basketball, Indianola, Miss.) and West Florida’s Anna Stoecklein (volleyball, St. Charles, Mo.), both seniors.
Kelley is looking to become just the second UAH student-athlete to earn the Commissioner’s Trophy. A two-time All-American, she hit .394 and drove in 52 runs for the Chargers this past season. Johnson earned All-Conference and All-American honors this season as she helped the Blazers win the first softball national championship in school and GSC history. Walker finished her career as one of the top women’s basketball players in the history of the GSC, a three-time GSC Player of the Year and All-American and one of just four players to score 2,000 career points and grab 1,000 career rebounds. Stoecklein earned All-GSC and All-Region honors in 2011 after leading the Argonauts to a fourth consecutive GSC title.
The remaining men’s honorees are all seniors. Delta State’s Micah Davis (football, Wesson, Miss.) looks to become the third Statesman football player to earn the award in the last six years. He finished third in the voting for the 2011 Harlon Hill Award, the most prestigious honor in Division II football. North Alabama’s Jake Greer (golf, Birmingham, Ala.) is the fifth consecutive Top Ten men’s honoree for the Lions and hopes to make it consecutive Commissioner’s Trophy winners after earning All-Region and Academic All-American honors. West Florida’s Sean Gunnels (tennis, Mobile, Ala.) is the ninth Top Ten men’s honoree for UWF as he helped the Argonauts to a GSC title and national runner’s-up finish. West Georgia’s Stuart Drew (baseball, Douglas, Ga.), after hitting .347 for the Wolves this season, looks to become the third UWG men’s student-athlete to take home the Commissioner’s Trophy.
TOP TEN HONOREES
WOMEN
|
Name
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School
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Sport
|
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Nikki Brown
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North Alabama
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Soccer
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Morgan Johnson
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Valdosta State
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Softball
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|
Mary Kelley
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Alabama-Huntsville
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Softball
|
|
Anna Stoecklein
|
West Florida
|
Volleyball
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|
Veronica Walker
|
Delta State
|
Basketball
|
MEN
|
Name
|
School
|
Sport
|
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Micah Davis
|
Delta State
|
Football
|
|
Stuart Drew
|
West Georgia
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Baseball
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|
Josh Greer
|
North Alabama
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Golf
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|
Sean Gunnels
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West Florida
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Tennis
|
|
Josh Moshier
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Alabama-Huntsville
|
Cross Country
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# GSC #