Rogers and Bevillard Named 2011 Scholar Athletes of the Year

STATESBORO, Ga. - Georgia Southern Athletics honored its Scholar Athletes of 2010-2011 at the annual awards banquet on Monday (April 11th) evening in the Nessmith-Lane Ballroom on the campus of Georgia Southern University. Football's Chris Rogers (Dublin, Ga.) and Swimming and Diving's Caroline Bevillard (Bishop, Ga.) were named as the 2011 Georgia Southern Scholar-Athletes of the Year for their outstanding work in the classroom and on the playing field.

Football's Rogers claims the first Scholar-Athlete of the Year honor, the first to represent the gridioron since 2007. The Eagle placekicker sports a 3.76 GPA and graduates this spring with a degree in Biology. Next fall, Rogers will enroll at Mercer Medical School with a full scholarship to pursue his dream of becoming a surgeon. He is active in Georgia Southern's community outreach program with the Boys and Girls Club as well as the Bulloch County School System. Rogers is a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Board.

Bevillard, a senior member of the Swimming and Diving team, has a 3.96 GPA in Sport Management and won this award last year. Bevillard was honored as one of 13 NCAA Postgraduate Scholars. The four-year letterwinner has one individual GSU record and four others as a member of relay teams. Last spring, based on her leadership, academic excellence and athletic achievement, she was selected as a recipient of the Southern Conference's Coleman Lew Leadership Award. She currently serves as the president of Georgia Southern's Student-Athlete Advisory Board.

At the banquet, Georgia Southern Athletics also honored 10 Scholar-Athletes as nominated by the head coach of each sport.

Eric Phillips (Carrolton, Ga.) was a second-team All-Southern Conference selection last season for the Eagle Baseball team and has a 3.35 GPA in general studies. Women's Basketball junior guard Samantha Williams (Kingsport, Tenn.) posted a 3.93 GPA as an accounting major. Sara Curry (Lawrenceville, Ga.), a sophomore on the Georgia Southern Cross Country team, recorded the third-best 5K cross country time in Georgia Southern history and posted a 3.67 GPA.

From the Eagle Golf team, Logan Blondell (Lakeland, Fla.) is a senior finance major with a 3.56 GPA and finished second at the 2010 NCAA Southeast Regional Tournament in Alpharetta, Ga. Morgan Springer (Mandeville, La.) from the Women's Soccer team and Steven Hunter (Douglasville, Ga.) from Men's Soccer were also recognized. Springer is a sophomore exercise science major with a 3.57 GPA. Hunter has already graduated with a degree in construction management and has a 3.13 GPA.

Mark Paetz (Munich, Germany), represented the Men's Tennis team and is a three-time Dean's List member with a 3.39 GPA in hotel and restaurant management. Shaunta Hamilton (Macon, Ga.), a six-time career All-SoCon selection and two-time SoCon champion in Track & Field, graduated with her degree in multimedia communications.

Volleyball's Moriah Bellissimo (Blackstone, Va.) has a perfect 4.0 GPA while majoring in nutrition with a minor in marketing. A starter on the 2010 SoCon Championship team, Bellissimo was named to the ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDa Academic All-District second team. Ali Beavers (Kingsport, Tenn.) from the Eagle Women's Tennis team will graduate this spring with a degree in marketing. She is the Vice President of the Student-Athlete Advisory Board and will enroll in law school next fall.

Matt Lombardi served as master of ceremonies for the event which included remarks from Georgia Southern President Brooks A. Keel and Director of Athletics Sam Baker.

Men's Scholar-Athlete of the Year:
Chris Rogers, Football

Women's Scholar-Athlete of the Year:
Caroline Bevillard, Swimming and Diving

Scholar-Athlete of the Year Nominees:
Eric Phillips, Baseball
Samantha Williams, Women's Basketball
Sara Curry, Cross Country
Logan Blondell, Golf
Morgan Springer, Women's Soccer
Steven Hunter, Men's Soccer
Mark Paetz, Men's Tennis
Ali Beavers, Women's Tennis
Shaunta Hamilton, Track & Field
Moriah Bellissimo, Volleyball

Category: Athletics

Published on Monday, 11 April 2011 21:40