The Southern Conference announced today the Athletes of the Month for February. One athlete is chosen from each in-season sport: baseball (pitcher and player), men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s golf, softball (pitcher and player) men’s and women’s indoor track and field , men’s and women’s tennis and wrestling.

Baseball

Player of the Month

Georgia Southern’s Greg Dowling started all 12 contests for the Eagles in the month, commandeering a team-high batting average of .500 (21-for-42). The senior from Marietta, GA, plated 17 runs, drove in 10 and notched a .667 slugging percentage and a .621 on-base percentage in February. Dowling did not post an error in 99 opportunities (96 putouts, three assists) and cracked the school’s top 10 in hits last month.

Pitcher of the Month

Elon’s Lance Cole was 3-0 in February with a 1.31 ERA. A native of Asheboro, NC, Cole’s three wins included two wins over SEC schools in Auburn and nationally-ranked South Carolina. Cole, who struck out 12 batters in the month, threw 20.2 innings in the month and gave up just three runs on 12 hits, while also holding his opposition to a .167 batting average.

Georgia Southern’s Elton Nesbitt averaged 25.4 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game in the Eagles’ seven conests in February, helping to lead GSU to a 6-1 record and the No. 1 seed in the SoCon Men’s Basketball Tournament. Nesbitt’s exploits earned him SoCon Player of the Week plaudits twice in the month. The 2005-06 SoCon Player of the Year shot 45.9 percent from the field in the month and became the only Eagle to ever score 600 points in multiple seasons.

Appalachian State’s Kiki Conyers averaged 13.4 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game in the Mountaineers’ seven games in February. Appalachian State went 5-2 over the course of the seven games, ending the regular season on a five-game winning streak in which Conyers improved her points per game average by over two points at 15.6 points per game. Conyers acquired double-digits outputs in five of the contests in the month, including a 17-point performance against UNC Greensboro and a 24-point outpouring against Davidson.

Men’s Golf

Andrew Hewitt tied for third among all individuals with an 8-over par three-round total of 224 at Wofford’s spring-opening tournament, the Wexford Plantation Intercollegiate in Hilton Head, SC. A senior, Hewitt, who spent his first three years at Wofford on the baseball team, lowered his stroke average by more than three shots as well with the showing.

Women’s Golf

Elon’s Taylor Johnson fired a four-over par 77 on the final day to finish among the top 25 student-athletes and the top SoCon golfer in the 106-player Pat Bradley Women’s Golf Championship. Johnson’s three-round total of 230 tied her for 22nd overall, while Elon placed 11th out of 20 as a team.

Softball

Player of the Month

Elon’s Debbie Zeigler helped lead the Phoenix to a 7-2 record in February. Zeigler started all nine contests in the month for the Phoenix, registering a .433 batting average with 13 hits in 30 at-bats in the nine games. The sophomore had three doubles, one home run and 12 RBIs in the month, while also recording no errors and posting 15 putouts and five assists. In total in the month, Zeigler tallied five multi-hit games and four games with multi-RBIs.

Pitcher of the Month

Western Carolina freshman hurler Mendy McKenzie kicked off her collegiate career by going 3-0 with a 1.02 ERA in the month of February in 27.1 innings pitched. A two-time SoCon Pitcher of the Week in the month, McKenzie struck out 36 batters in February and gave up just 12 runs on 25 hits. McKenzie also claimed the victory in Western Carolina’s first-ever victory, a 3-1 win over Tennessee Tech at the Georgia State Tournament on February 11.

Western Carolina’s Zeb Johnson was tabbed the Most Outstanding Track Performer at the 2006 SoCon Indoor Track and Field Championships in February. The sophomore tallied two SoCon titles in the championship, earning top honors in the 60-meter dash (6.85) and the 200-meter dash (21.83). Johnson also came in second place in the finals of the 400-meter dash with a time of 49.34.

Women’s Indoor Track and Field

Chattanooga’s Shannon Wommack won her fourth SoCon indoor runner of the year award, winning three events and setting two SoCon records at the 2006 SoCon Indoor Track and Field Championships. She won the 3,000 meters in a record setting time of 9:34.1 and the mile in 4:48.01. She is a four time All-American and has provisionally qualified for the NCAA championships in the 5,000 meters with a time of 16:23. This is Wommack’s third Athlete of the Month honor for the 2005-06 school year, as she won the November 2005 accolade in cross country and the January 2006 honor for Indoor Track and Field.

Men’s Tennis

Elon’s Damon Gooch registered a 5-1 record (1-0 Socon) at No. 1 singles during the month of February. The Gauteng, South Africa, native suffered his only setback against South Carolina’s Geraldo Knorr (6-7, 6-2, 10-8) in his first outing of the Spring. Gooch ended the month by reeling off five consecutive victories. Gooch was also 3-2 in No. 1 doubles action in the month with partner Austin Fenn.

Women’s Tennis

Chattanooga’s Anastasia Zhukova went 5-0 in February in both singles and doubles action. Playing at No. 1 singles and doubles, Zhukova defeated UAB’s No. 1 player and tallied a win over Middle Tenneessee’s Marlene Chemin en route to earning Chattanooga’s first ever individual national ranking. Zhukova, the only SoCon singles player to be ranked, is currently ranked No. 100 in the FILA Collegiate Tennis Rankings by the ITA.

Chattanooga’s Israel Silva went 5-1 in February with a pin and a victory over nationally-ranked Tyler Shovlin of UNC Greensboro. Silva’s wins included victories over University of the Cumberlands, seventh-ranked Missouri and league wins over Appalachian State, Davidson and UNC Greensboro. The win against Missouri was a pin of heavyweight Sean Connole.