LSU student-athletes honored by TAF for athletic, academic and community service performance
LSU honored 153 athletes Saturday for their performances on the field, in the classroom and in the community.
LSU gymnast Lainie Fleming and baseball player Sean McMullen were named as the female and male Scholar-Athletes of the Year by the Tiger Athletic Foundation at the Academic Excellence Gala in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center Tuesday.
Fleming, a four-time member of the Scholastic All-America team, and McMullen were among the 153 LSU athletes honored for achievement on the field, in the classroom and in the community during the 2012-13 school year. Student athletes qualify by making the SEC Academic Honor Roll, LSU Director’s Cup Award for Academic Excellence, or being inducted into the National College Athlete Honor Society (Chi Alpha Sigma).
“We, in the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student-Athletes are very proud of our young men and women,” Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Executive Director of the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student-Athletes Kenneth Miles said. “The Academic Gala represents scholarship in action. It is our signature event to highlight the academic and community engagement of our student-athletes.
“We aspire to be the premier provider of transformative student-athlete support services thus we must celebrate and affirm the collective efforts of the fruits of our labor.”
There were 27 student-athletes named to Chi Alpha Omega, while 152 made the SEC honor roll and 153 student-athletes received Director’s Cup Awards.
LSU student-athletes combined to contribute more than 4,475 hours of community service, led by the softball team with 507, which earned that program the community service cup. The softball team’s Strikeout Ovarian Cancer event and Geaux Teal Ovarian Cancer Walk raised more than $17,000.
Rheagan Courville, the 2013 NCAA champion in the vault and the all-around runner-up, was TAF Female Athlete of the Year, and track and field’s Damar Forbes was the TAF Male Athlete of the Year. Forbes swept the SEC Outdoor and NCAA Outdoor titles in the long jump in 2013, while also claiming All-America honors as part of LSU’s 4x-100 meter relay team.
Sheila Boykin of women’s basketball claimed the “Eye of the Tiger” Award for the overcoming great adversity with perseverance, dedication and determination. The gymnastics and softball teams shared the Tiger Cup Award, for combined on-field, academic and community participation success.
Laura Carleton was honored with the Bengal Belles Academic Excellence Award. Six other Tigers – Alexandra Boulet (3.989 gpa in mathematics), Philip Dempsey (4.0 gpa in biological science), Lainie Fleming (3.948 gpa in microbiology), Audrey Lawson (3.91 gpa in kinesiology), Mikayda Mills (3.9 gpa in political science), Dylan Supak (4.0 in kinesiology) – received the Wally Pontiff Award for third-year athletes with a 3.9 cumulative grade point average or better.
The men’s tennis team (3.0569 grade point average), and women’s tennis team (3.2816 GPA)were recognized for having the highest grade point average of all LSU athletic squads.
Other honors handed out at the gala included: men’s basketball coach and former Tiger standout Johnny Jones (alumnus of the year), Jodi Calloway of the women’s soccer team (female volunteer of the year), and football’s Lamin Barrow (male volunteer of the year). Calloway accumulated 130 hours of community service, while Barrow contributed 199 hours of his time in the community in 2012-13.
Source: http://www.nola.com/lsu/index.ssf/2014/02/lsu_student-atghletes_honored.html