LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – In exclusive voting
by the senior woman administrators of the conference, Nick Lammers
of Colorado College has been selected as the 2013 Southern
Collegiate Athletic Conference Man of the Year.
The SCAC Man of the Year honor was created prior to the 2012-13
academic year and, moving forward, will be announced annually in
conjunction with the league’s Woman of the Year award.
Lammers, a defender on the Colorado College men’s soccer
team, anchored the Tigers’ back line and helped the team post
a 0.60 goals-against average and 12 shutouts. He was second on the
squad with 1,934 minutes played and scored a pair of goals on set
pieces. His play helped lead CC to a second-place regular season
finish in the SCAC, a 14-5-3 overall mark, and the program's first
appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2004.
Following the 2012 campaign, Lammers was recognized with several
post-season awards, including being named the SCAC Defensive
Player-of-the-Year - the first Colorado College player to win SCAC
Defensive POTY honors since the Tigers joined the conference in
2007. He was also selected as a Capital One Academic
All-America® Third Team honoree.
After being selected as the team’s Most Improved Player
following his sophomore season, Lammers earned CC’s Defender
of the Year award as both a junior and a senior and was voted the
team’s Most Valuable Player following the 2012 campaign. He
is a two-time All-SCAC selection as well as a two-time NSCAA
All-West Region honoree.
“It is an honor for Colorado College to have Nick Lammers
selected as the inaugural SCAC Man of the Year,” said
Colorado College head men’s soccer coach Horst Richardson.
“He combined academic rigor with a high level of soccer
talent to become an outstanding student and a stellar defender on
our men’s soccer team. From an unassuming newcomer four years
ago, he developed into a pillar of strength on defense and a leader
on and off the field. His tenacity certainly contributed to an
undefeated home season and a trip to the NCAAs in 2012. We are
extremely proud of him as an Academic All-American who double
majored in physics and philosophy. I am looking forward to having
him back at CC next year as a paraprofessional in our Physics
Department.”
A Physics and Philosophy double major who graduated with a 3.88
GPA, Lammers was awarded the Wilbur Wright Memorial Prize by the
Colorado College Physics Department as well as the Cowperthwaite
Award for Excellence in Physics.
In addition to his fine work on the field and in the classroom,
Lammers has been engaged in several service activities away from
campus. He served as a volunteer coach with a local little league
football team in Colorado Springs the past four years, and in
his hometown of San Antonio, Texas, he volunteered for two hours
twice a week with the Animal Defense League during the summer of
2010. The following summer, he went to Peru and volunteered at a
kindergarten in Cuzco daily for three weeks.
“While I developed a number of ‘marketable’
abilities as a double major in Physics and Philosophy – from
writing skills to mathematical acumen, argument analysis to
quantitative problem solving – the lessons I value most from
each concern the importance of living curiously, of always
questioning, of constantly examining and reexamining the principles
upon which I build my life, and by which I understand the
world,” said Lammers. “Volunteering as a kindergarten
teacher in Cuzco, Peru provided a powerful occasion for just such a
reexamination of my guiding principles, reminding me of the way in
which living with, by, and for others can lend meaning and
direction to life.”
Lammers was one of four outstanding nominees considered by the
SCAC Man of the Year Committee. The other candidates were:
- Erick DelaFuente, tennis, Trinity University
- Alen Michael, basketball, Austin College
- Evan Perkins, soccer, Southwestern University
The SCAC Man of the Year award recognizes senior student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service and leadership.
