ASHEVILLE, N.C. – A record-number of 1052 student-athletes earned 1997-98 Southern Conference Academic Honor Roll honors as announced today by Commissioner Alfred White. The total surpassed last year’s 928 honor roll selections.
“Academics is one of the prime features of the collection of Southern Conference institutions,” according to White. “We are pleased to recognize the academic achievements of the student-athletes of the Southern Conference. The fact that these numbers continue to increase is a testament to our institutions and their athletics programs.”
To qualify for the honor roll, a student-athlete must pass 24 hours in two semesters during the academic year and have at least a 3.0 grade point average on a 4.0 scale for those semesters. Graduating student-athletes whose class loads did not require them to take 24 hours also qualified
Davidson paced league institutions with 216 student-athletes qualifying. Three other schools had at least 100 representatives on the honor roll — Appalachian State (118), Furman (109) and Chattanooga (108). Georgia Southern added 87 qualifiers followed by East Tennessee State (75), Wofford (74), UNC Greensboro (73), The Citadel (72), Western Carolina (65) and VMI (55).
Southern Conference athletic directors established the academic honor roll prior to the 1988-89 athletic year as a way to recognize the league's outstanding student-athletes. Since its inception, the number of qualifiers has increased in seven of nine subsequent years. The initial honor roll in 1988-89 had 364 qualifiers. The number increased to 393 in 1989-90, 467 in 1990-91, 507 in 1992-93 and 747 in 1993-94. The honor roll had 723 members in 1994-95, 818 in 1995-96 and 928 in 1996-97.
The honor roll included 21 student-athletes who posted 4.0 grade point averages in 1997-98, including seven Mocs and five Paladins. Those 4.0 honorees are Matthew McMillan, The Citadel, Baseball; Justin Scruggs, The Citadel, Soccer; Dalton McLean, Davidson, Men’s Tennis; Matthew Farkas, East Tennessee State, Men’s Track and Field; Megan Fischer, Furman, Women’s Cross Country/Track & Field; Andrew Foy, Furman, Men’s Soccer; Kelly King, Furman, Volleyball; Stuart Rentz, Furman, Football; Mahaley White, Furman, Women’s Tennis; Susan George, Georgia Southern, Women’s Cross Country; Lindsey Grossman, Georgia Southern, Women’s Soccer; Jacob Lord, Georgia Southern, Football; Karl Mitchell, UNC Greensboro, Men’s Golf; Terri Brock, Chattanooga, Women’s Basketball; Kelly Hoyle, Chattanooga, Women’s Cross Country/Track; Mary Jane Middelkoop, Chattanooga, Women’s Cross Country/Track; Ivan Poullaos, Chattanooga, Men’s Tennis; Spencer Thomas, Chattanooga, Football; Ana Wright, Chattanooga, Women’s Cross Country/Track; Cathy Wright, Chattanooga, Women’s Cross Country/Track; Manoj Pariyadath, Wofford, Men’s Tennis.