VOLLEYBALL
ASU player up for NCAA Woman of the Year
Former Arkansas State University two-time volleyball All-American Markie Schaedig was nominated by the NCAA on Tuesday for the organization's Woman of the Year award for 2017.
Schaedig, who collected honorable mention All-American honors from the American Volleyball Coaches Association in 2014 and 2016, is one of 543 total nominees and just one of nine representatives from the Sun Belt Conference. ASU's former team captain is the third candidate from ASU in the past four years, joining Sharika Nelvis (2014) and Aundrea Gamble (2016).
A graduate of Little Rock Christian Academy, Schaedig became the second player in Sun Belt history to win the league's Defensive Player of the Year award. She volunteers at a number of local events and was named to the Sun Belt commissioner's list three times for earning a 3.5 or higher GPA and has made both the chancellor's and dean's list.
Established in 1991 and now in its 27th year, the NCAA Woman of the Year award honors graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers. Nine finalists will be announced in September, and the winner will be announced in Indianapolis on Oct. 22.
ATHLETICS
Harding wins GAC All-Sports Trophy
Harding University secured the Great American Conference's 2016-2017 All-Sports Trophy, which is awarded using a point system that adds together an athletic department's overall success.
Harding finished the academic year with 85 points, 7½ points ahead of second-place Arkansas Tech. The Bisons won regular-season GAC championships in football, volleyball and women's basketball. The men's and women's soccer teams added GAC Tournament titles, and the men's golf team went to the NCAA regionals for the first time in program history.
It was Harding's first GAC All-Sports Trophy, although the university has won a total of seven in different conferences. It was the first since Harding won the men's All-Sports Trophy in the Gulf South Conference in 2011.
UAFS lands several on honor roll
More than 57 percent of athletes at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith were named Monday to the Heartland Conference president's and commissioner's honor rolls for the spring semester.
Thirty-five UAFS athletes were named to the president's honor roll (maintaining a GPA of 3.5), and 36 more were named to the commissioner's honor roll (maintaining a 3.0 GPA). In their respective sports, baseball had 11; men's basketball 3; women's basketball 7; men's cross country 6; women's cross country 7; men's golf 5; women's golf 6; men's tennis 8; women's tennis 6; and volleyball 12.
Sports on 06/28/2017