SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Southern Conference announced its January athletes of the month for men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s indoor track and field, rifle, men’s and women’s tennis and wrestling Thursday, highlighting excellence among student-athletes during the month.
 
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Greg Parham, VMI, Sr., G
VMI’s Greg Parham earned the first monthly basketball honor for the Keydets since November 2015 by averaging 23.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game in eight January contests, helping the squad to a 4-4 conference mark. Parham scored at least 23 points in his first seven games of the month, highlighted by a 29-point outing in a two-point loss to Wofford on Jan. 13 after opening the month with 25 in a win over Chattanooga. The senior guard from Richmond, Virginia, had 27 points and nine boards in a 110-103 win over rival The Citadel, following that up with 27 points against ETSU. Parham then notched 24 in a 74-73 win over Furman on Jan. 20 as the Keydets handed the Paladins their first league loss and capped his streak of 20-plus games with 26 points against Mercer and 23 against Western Carolina before seeing the streak come to an end against UNCG on Jan. 30. For the month, Parham shot a league-best .553 from 3-point range, converting 26 of his 47 attempts, and was 66-for-125 from the floor overall, good for a .528 percentage. He shot 82 percent from the free-throw line (27-for-33) and posted a nearly 2:1 assist-to-turnover ratio with 25 helpers and just 13 miscues. Parham was twice named the SoCon Player of the Week presented by General Shale in January, claiming the honor on Jan. 19 and Jan. 26.
 
Others nominated: Hayden Brown (The Citadel), Damari Monsanto (ETSU), Mike Bothwell (Furman), Ross Cummings (Mercer), Isaiah Miller (UNCG), Christian Guess (Samford), David Jean-Baptiste (Chattanooga), Mason Faulkner (Western Carolina) and Storm Murphy (Wofford).
 
 
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Andrea Cournoyer, Samford, Jr. G
Samford guard Andrea Cournoyer averaged 22.1 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 3.3 steals per game as the Bulldogs finished the month 7-1 and 6-1 in SoCon play. The Merryville, Louisiana, native scored at least 16 points in all eight games, eclipsing 20 points four times and 25 points three times. She shot 47.2 percent from the floor, 45.1 percent from beyond the 3-point line and 91.9 percent from the free-throw line on the month, leading Samford in scoring the last five contests. Cournoyer began the month with 17 points, eight assists and a pair of steals in just 19 minutes as Samford downed Birmingham-Southern 135-60 and set a SoCon single-game scoring record. The junior began SoCon play with 16 points, six rebounds, four assists and five steals in a win over Mercer. She scored 17 and 20 in the two contests at Western Carolina, finishing with 12 rebounds, seven assists and six steals as Samford left Cullowhee, North Carolina, with a pair of wins. Cournoyer netted 26 and 19 as the Bulldogs split a pair of conference contests at Chattanooga, adding seven rebounds, seven assists and five steals in the series. She finished the month with a game- and career-high 34 points, a SoCon best this season, in a win over Furman, and followed that up with 28 points in the second contest against the Paladins, earning her SoCon Player of the Week honors on Feb. 1.
 
Others nominated: Jasmine Sanders (ETSU), Jaron Dougherty (Mercer), Eboni Williams (Chattanooga), Zanoria Cruz (Western Carolina) and Jamari McDavid (Wofford).
 
 
MEN’S INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD
Track
Cameron Ponder, Furman, Jr.
Furman’s Cameron Ponder was named the indoor track athlete of the month for January after posting a sub-4:00 mile at the Samford Invite on Jan. 22, winning the event in a meet-record 3:59.34, which was also a facility record for the Birmingham Crossplex. The junior from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, who also earned track athlete of the week honors for that effort, leads the SoCon by more than 10 seconds in the event and is fifth on the NCAA Division I Indoor Qualifying List.
 
Field
Jed Sisco, Samford, Fr.
Samford’s Jed Sisco earned a pair of wins in the pole vault in January to earn monthly field honors. The freshman from Morrow, Ohio, debuted at UAB’s Vulcan Invite at the Birmingham Crossplex on Jan. 16, clearing 4.95 meters (16 feet, 2 3/4 inches) for his first collegiate victory. Sisco made it two in a row the following week at the Samford Invite, clearing 5.05 meters (16 feet, 6 3/4 inches) to best the field by 0.20 meters and claim SoCon weekly field honors. Sisco leads the SoCon in the event by nearly half a meter and is 35th on the NCAA performance list in the event.
 
 
WOMEN’S INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD
Track
Ariana Ruffin, VMI, Sr.
VMI’s Ariana Ruffin had a busy January, competing in three home meets. The senior from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, turned in a time of 24.85 to win the 200-meter race at the VMI Winter Relays on Jan. 30 and clocked 57.09 to take first in the 400-meter dash, earning league track athlete of the week honors. Both times lead the SoCon this season. Ruffin opened her indoor season with a win in the 200m and a fourth-place showing in the 60-meter dash at the VMI Keydet Invitational on Jan. 16 before taking second in the 200m and seventh in the 60m the following weekend at the VMI Team Challenge.
 
Field
Megan Dunn, Wofford, Sr.
Wofford’s Megan Dunn earned field athlete of the month honors on the strength of her school-record performance at the Bob Pollock Invitational at Clemson on Jan. 30. The senior from Dorchester, Ontario, Canada, finished in the top three of all five events to win the pentathlon with a program-record score of 3,603 points. Dunn won the 800-meter run in 2:27.31, finished second in the shot put and high jump, and took third in the long jump and 60-meter hurdles. Dunn’s pentathlon total leads the SoCon this season and ranks 30th on the NCAA Division I Indoor Qualifying List. She also competed on the track at the VMI Team Challenge on Jan. 23, finishing fourth in the 200-meter run and eighth in the 60m hurdles.
 
 
RIFLE
Smallbore
Kimberlee Nettles, North Georgia, Sr.
North Georgia’s Kimberlee Nettles earned her third straight Smallbore Shooter of the Month honor this season after posting a score of 586 in the Nighthawks’ lone match of the month against conference opponent UAB, No. 1 Kentucky, No. 6 Memphis, No. 8 Nebraska, No. 9 Murray State, No. 12 NC State and No. 16 Jacksonville State. Her aggregate score of 1167 on Jan. 22 was a personal best, as she now holds the top three aggregate performances in the conference. The Waycross, Georgia, native leads the conference in smallbore (574.4), air rifle (585.8) and aggregate (1161.2) averages.
 
Others nominated: Bella Gamez (Georgia Southern).
 
Air rifle
Ashley Judson, Georgia Southern, So.
Ashley Judson, the 2019-20 SoCon Air Rifle Co-Athlete of the Year, received her second air rifle monthly honor of the 2020-21 season after the November award. Judson competed in one air rifle match during January against The Citadel’s co-ed and women’s teams. The Acworth, Georgia, native led the way against the Bulldogs with a career-best 589 on Jan. 31 to take home gold. Her performance on Sunday is the second-highest air rifle score in the conference and just one point shy of the league’s air rifle leader, Amy Kohan of UAB (590). Judson finished the day with a first-place aggregate score of 1153 as the Eagles picked up a pair of wins over The Citadel. The sophomore holds the conference’s fourth-highest air rifle average (583.29) throughout Georgia Southern’s seven matches, as the Eagles prepare for the 2021 SoCon Rifle Championship.
 
Others nominated: Jaden-Ann Fraser (UNG).
 
 
MEN’S TENNIS
Dimitri Badra, ETSU, R-So.
ETSU redshirt sophomore Dimitri Badra went 1-1 in singles play and 2-0 in doubles action, all at No. 3, as the Bucs clashed with two ranked SEC opponents in the month of January. In singles, Badra fell to 13th-ranked Tennessee’s Giles Hussey in the season opener on Jan. 19 but rebounded to down Gabriel Diallo of 25th-ranked Kentucky 6-4, 6-4 on Jan. 24.  In doubles play, Badra and teammate Thiago Pernas began the spring season with a 6-3 win, taking down Hussey and Joel Gameroy of Tennessee before capping off the month with a 6-3 win over the Wildcats’ Millen Hurrion and Ying-Ze Chen. The native of Maracay, Venezuela, earned the first SoCon Player of the Week honor on Jan. 25.
 
Others nominated: Ivan Mitric (Furman) and Tomas Santantonio (Samford).
 
 
WOMEN’S TENNIS
Katarina Kozarov, Furman, Sr.
Furman’s Katarina Kozarov went 5-0 in singles play at the top flight, defeating four ranked opponents along the way, and was 3-1 at No. 1 doubles in the month of January. In singles, the native of Novi Sad, Serbia, ranked 15th nationally, began the month with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Auburn’s 62nd-ranked Selin Ovunc on Jan. 17 and defeated Tennessee’s Cary Briggs, ranked 118th, 7-6 (0-1), 4-6, 1-0 (10-2) the following day. On Jan. 24, she rolled to a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Mississippi State’s Tamara Racine before she closed out the month with wins over VCU’s Paolo Diaz Delgado, ranked No. 116, and No. 10 Duke’s Kelly Chin, ranked eighth. In doubles play, Kozarov and teammate Julia Adams, ranked 27th, dropped the opening match of the season against Auburn’s top duo but quickly rebounded to earn their first win of the season a day later, downing Tennessee’s No. 1 pair, 6-4. Kozarov and Adams beat Mississippi State’s duo 6-3 and swept VCU’s top pair 6-0. Kozarov was named the SoCon Women’s Tennis Player of the Week on both Jan. 25 and Feb. 1, earning her eighth and ninth honors of her career, the latter of which set a SoCon record.
 
Others nominated: Andrea Pascual-Larrinaga (ETSU), Emma Van Hee (Chattanooga) and Kata Foldeak (Western Carolina).
 
 
WRESTLING
Will Formato, App State, R-So., 165 pounds
App State’s Will Formato went from being unranked at the beginning of the season to No. 12 in the most recent FloWrestling rankings after going 11-1 during January. The Acworth, Georgia, native did not allow any takedowns in his 11 wins during the month and outscored his opponents 93-7 in those victories. Formato opened the month with a 4-0 shutout vs. then-No. 7 Thomas Bullard of NC State, which led him to being named the SoCon Wrestler of the Week on Jan. 13. The win against Bullard began a streak of five consecutive shutouts by a combined score of 37-0, with three against wrestlers from No. 4 NC State. The redshirt sophomore went undefeated during January’s SoCon duals (6-0), including wins against 2020 NCAA qualifier Dazjon Casto of The Citadel, Campbell’s Austin Kraisser, who won 27 matches last season, and Gardner-Webb’s RJ Mosley.
 
Others nominated: Benjamin Barton (Campbell), Michael McAleavey (The Citadel), RJ Mosley (Gardner-Webb), Franco Valdes (Chattanooga) and Josh Chishko (VMI).
 
 
Southern Conference January Athletes of the Month
Men’s basketball                                    Greg Parham, VMI
Women’s basketball                               Andrea Cournoyer, Samford
Men’s indoor track and field – track          Cameron Ponder, Furman
Men’s indoor track and field – field           Jed Sisco, Samford
Women’s indoor track and field – track     Ariana Ruffin, VMI
Women’s indoor track and field – field      Megan Dunn, Wofford
Rifle – smallbore                                    Kimberlee Nettles, North Georgia
Rifle – air rifle                                         Ashley Judson, Georgia Southern
Men’s tennis                                           Dimitri Badra, ETSU
Women’s tennis                                      Katarina Kozarov, Furman
Wrestling                                               Will Formato, App State