SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Southern Conference has hired two department assistants for the 2021-22 academic year, with Lanie Angel joining the league staff as the Media Relations Assistant and Cliff Conway serving as the Championships Assistant.
 
Angel comes to the SoCon after serving as a graduate assistant in Athletic Communications at King University in Bristol, Tennessee. There, the Kennesaw, Georgia, native assisted the department in handling communications efforts and game-day setup for all of King’s 29 athletics programs. Prior to that, she worked as a sports reporter at The White & Gold in Atlanta, Georgia, covering Georgia Tech athletics, and at Score Atlanta on the college football beat, covering the Yellow Jackets and Kennesaw State. While an undergraduate at Kennesaw State, Angel was a sports reporter for the Marietta Daily Journal, covering prep football and KSU football as well as conducting on-camera sideline interviews and hosting and filming Cobb County Football weekly update videos. Angel graduated from Kennesaw State in 3.5 years with a degree in journalism and emerging media in December 2018 and added a Master of Business Administration degree from King in 2020. Angel will start at the SoCon on Monday, July 19.
 
Conway comes to the SoCon from VMI, where he was a four-year starter on the Keydets’ wrestling team, competing at 125 pounds as a freshman, sophomore and senior and at 133 pounds as a junior. The Spotsylvania, Virginia, native was a SoCon All-Freshman selection in 2017-18, when he picked up nine wins on the season and went 3-1 in league action, and earned the Coach’s Award as a senior in 2021, when he served as a team captain. In addition to his work on the mat, Conway served as president of VMI’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and created a mentorship program for incoming high school freshmen. Over the summers during his collegiate career, Conway worked on the maintenance staff for Spotsylvania County Public Schools, serving on the construction and moving crews and doing office work. Conway will start at the SoCon on Monday, Aug. 2.
 
TRANSACTIONS: The Southern Conference hires Lanie Angel as Media Relations Assistant and Cliff Conway as Championships Assistant.