Sidelines
Puigventos racks up 22-1 record in tennis
Juan Melian Puigventos has been named Southern Conference Men’s Tennis Player of the Year. Melian Puigventos was a perfect 10-0 at No. 1 singles in league play, winning eight of his 10 matches in two sets. The sophomore becomes the first player in Georgia Southern’s history to receive this prestigious award.
Puigventos, a native of Spain, won 16 straight singles matches on his way to a 22-1 record this season – Georgia Southern’s all-time best winning percentage in season singles play.
Miles named SoCon softball Freshman of the Year
Softball freshman pitcher Allie Miles of Dacula, Ga., has been named Southern Conference Freshman of the Year and earned second team All-SoCon honors and a spot on the All-Freshman team.
The league strikeout leader with 153, Miles posted a 14-8 record including a league-best 9-2 mark in SoCon games. On the season, she tossed two one-hitters, two two-hitters and four shutouts.
Rogers, Bevillard named Scholar-Athletes of the Year
Georgia Southern named football’s Chris Rogers of Dublin and swimming and diving’s Caroline Bevillard of Bishop as the 2011 Scholar-Athletes of the Year for their outstanding work in the classroom and athletic competition. The Eagle placekicker sports a 3.76 grade point average and graduated this spring with a degree in biology. Bevillard has a 3.96 grade point average in sport management.
Ferguson named to SoCon All-Freshman Team
Freshman guard Eric Ferguson was selected to the Southern Conference Coaches All-Freshman Basketball Team.
The son of Eagle alumni Cal Ferguson and Stella Washington, he is the ninth all-freshman team selection in program history and the first since Ben Drayton III was honored in 2009. Ferguson posted one of the best freshman seasons in school history with the second-highest scoring output among Georgia Southern freshmen with 368 points and third-best in blocked shots and steals with 26 blocks and 46 steals, respectively. He ranked eighth overall in the SoCon in steals (1.5 per game) and ninth in blocks (0.8 per game).
Also, the Southern Conference Media Association selected junior Ben Drayton to the All-Conference third team. Drayton is the Eagles’ 32nd all-time all-SoCon selection. Drayton ranks eighth among the active career scoring leaders and second among non-seniors.
New Athletic Foundation executive director named
David Beaubien has been named Eagle Fund executive director for the Georgia Southern Athletic Foundation. The 1996 alum possesses extensive experience in commercial and consumer finance with more than 15 years in retail and commercial banking markets. Beaubien and his staff have been charged with doubling annual campaign contributions and donors which will enable the Foundation to fully fund student-athlete scholarships, said Foundation President John Mulherin.
S&D squad selected as Scholar All-America team
Georgia Southern swimmers and divers accumulated an impressive 3.27 grade point average, finishing behind Notre Dame (3.30) and Harvard (3.28) to be named a College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Scholar All-America team.
The Scholar All-America program has been in place since 2008, and the Eagles have achieved CSCAA Scholar All-America status for all six semesters, including the most recent honor.
Two Eagles win track and field individual honors
Georgia Southern Track and Field student-athletes Ebony Carter of Rome, Ga., and Shaunta Hamilton of Macon, won individual titles at the Southern Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Carter won the 100 meter dash SoCon title with a time of 11.75 and Hamilton captured her second career long jump crown. Carter’s time was a personal-best time, and was the top time of the 2011 season, ranking second all-time in the Georgia Southern record books. Hamilton’s distance of 19′-8″ also marked personal best and stands as a season-best performance for Georgia Southern.
Two former Eagles added to Wall of Fame
Two former baseball Eagles joined the Wall of Fame this season in former pitchers Julio Ayala and Brett Lewis.
Lewis finished his career as the Eagles’ all-time leader in victories, innings pitched, strikeouts and games started. Playing from 1999-2002 he was a Lousiville Slugger Freshman All-American, a First Team All-Southern Conference selection in 2001, and the MVP of the 2002 SoCon Tournament.
Ayala, who played 1993-96, wrapped up his career with the Eagles by being named to Smith Super Team and a Baseball America All-American. He led the NCAA with 15 wins that year to help Georgia Southern advance to the NCAA Atlantic Regional. His 15 wins remains the second-best in school history to go along with his 143 strikeouts in 1996.
Teams post highest-ever GPA for semester
Georgia Southern’s Athletics teams posted their highest composite grade point average in department history with a 2.93 GPA for the spring 2011 semester and a 2.88 for the 2010-2011 academic year. The Eagle men’s teams tied their highest single-semester GPA, earning a 2.78 for spring 2011 to match their previous best GPA from the spring of 2009.
All 15 sports teams were represented among the list of 174 student-athletes who earned GPAs of 3.0 or higher. Twenty-three individuals achieved perfect 4.0 GPAs for President’s List honors with 61 taking Dean’s List honors (3.5 GPA or higher) for the recently completed semester.
Golf wins SoCon, finishes eighth in regional play
After winning the Southern Conference, the Georgia Southern Golf team recorded a 1-over 289 final round to cap off its season with an eighth-place finish in the NCAA Southeast Regional.
Senior Logan Blondell guided the Eagles to a 4-under 860 team total, finishing at -7 for the tournament to clinch a sixth-place tie. Florida, playing host to the 14-team field at the par-72 6,994-yard Golden Ocala Golf Club, won the tournament with an 18-under 846.