HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SC -- Davidson College and Elon University claimed the Southern Conference’s three most prestigious academic and sportsmanship awards that were handed out at the conference’s annual Honors Dinner, held at the Crowne Plaza Resort Wednesday evening.

Davidson earned the league’s Barrett-Bonner Award for the 2004-05 academic year by having the highest percentage of its student-athletes on the league’s academic honor roll.

In the Southern Conference, there were a total of 1,416, or 36 percent of all of the conference’s stdent-athletes, were represented on the Academic Honor Roll. To be named to the Academic Honor Roll, a student-athlete must maintain a 3.0 grade point average.

Davidson also received the Graduation Rate Award for maintaining the highest graduation rate of its student-athletes. The award, presented to the member institution with the highest graduation rate for its student-athletes over the past five years as recorded in the annual NCAA Graduation Rates Report, is the fourth straight honor for the Wildcats.

Elon was the recipient of the D.S. McAlister Award, named for Col. D.S. McAlister of The Citadel who served as Southern Conference secretary-treasurer for 38 years. The award is given annually to the Southern Conference school which is judged to have exhibited the highest degree of sportsmanship in the conduct of its athletic program.