CCGA Athletics holds year-end awards banquet
From The Brunswick News
The College of Coastal Georgia held it annual year-end athletics banquet Monday night to recognize the Mariners’ top student-athletes of the 2015-16 school year.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, the program recognized the Mariners men’s and women’s student athletes of the year. Coastal Georgia golfer Trevor Smith (pictured) received the honor on the men’s side. Volleyball player Kara Neisen (pictured) earned player of the year on the women’s side.
Smith, a senior from Newman, is a four-year letter winner on the two-time defending national champion golf team. As team captain, Smith led the Mariners to five wins, recording four top-five finishes and three top-10 results in nine tournaments. He placed third at the Southern States Athletic Conference tournament and earned all-conference honors for the second-straight season. He will play his final event with Coastal Georgia when the team competes in next month’s NAIA national tournament.
Neisen is a four-year letter winner for the Mariners, too, serving as team captain for the previous three season. Neisen has been named an all-conference performer three times, as well as being a three-time SSAC all-academic team selection. She was also named a two-time Daktronics-NAIA scholar athlete. Neisen helped the team to back-to-back conference championship and NAIA final-site appearances. She ended her career as the school’s all-time kills and digs leader.
The top men’s and women’s athletes are based on head coach nominations and athletic staff votes designed to award players based on the school’s SAILS acronym to honor scholarship, athleticism, integrity, leadership and sportsmanship.
The fifth year of the awards ceremony gave each team a chance to acknowledge its team MVP or Mariner award winner.
Diane Lim (women’s golf), Cayley Meiners (women’s volleyball), Daniela Caruso (women’s tennis), Dominic Early (men’s basketball) and Rhan Burton (men’s tennis) all received MVP honors. Janne Tullius (women’s basketball), Katie Warren (women’s softball) and Trevor Smith (men’s golf) were handed Mariner awards.
The banquet also gave the time to recognize the year’s letter winners.
In men’s basketball, Early, Joshua Thompson, Marquice Jones, Derrick Frye, Andrej Tomic, Hunter DeRuiter, Malik Channer, Milton Geddes, Jamaal Rhodes and Corey Harris earned letters.
In men’s golf, Dillon Board, Eamon Owen, Seth Sanders, Paxton Shuman, Harrison Stafford and Smith got recognized.
In men’s tennis, Josh Banks, Ben Dolan, Justin Seller, Brad Dunn, Dent Law, Joel Hunter and Burton got the honor.
In women’s basketball, Jamilla Mayfield, Katie Sayres, Breanna Walker, Kaci Palo, Ashanti Groover, Schyler Miller, Anissa Toumi and Tullius received letters.
In women’s golf, Lim, Molly Antor, London Stuckey, Madison Manning, Jessica Whitteker and Sarah Gilliard earned letters.
In softball, Kaycee Twomey, Annalyse deBruijn, Reily Oliver, Kaytlin Tucker, Breanna Burgett, Olivia Husted, Ceejay Ham, Kierstan Cox, Sutton Appling, Katie Warren, Kailey Kinzley, Katie Burns, Taylor Horne and Stewart were letter winners.
In women’s tennis, Lindsey Lawing, Emy Alphund, Samantha Lasslett, and Caruso received the honors.
In women’s volleyball, Leah Anderson, Alexis Downey, Kyra White, Regan Coughlin, Hannah Mitchell, Hailey Krotenberg, Carly Bland, Shelby Sullivan, Jennifer Johnson, Emma Anderson, Meiners, Rachel Amundson, Alyssa Keeve, Allie Shannon, Neisen and Jessica Fujimoto were recognized.