LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -- The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference announced today the eight finalists for the 2018 SCAC Man of the Year award. The award recognizes the conference’s senior male student-athlete who has best distinguished himself throughout his collegiate career in the areas of academic achievement, athletic excellence and service and leadership. Past Winners
Member schools were permitted to submit two nominations if at least one of the nominees was a man of color or international student-athlete.
This year's finalists include: Collin Vu of Austin College, Travion Kirkendoll of Centenary College, Theo Hooker of Colorado College, Keenan Gumbs of Schreiner University, Grant Gideon of Southwestern University, Alejandro Briseno of Texas Lutheran University, Dylan Drgac of Texas Lutheran University and Matt Love of Trinity University.
To be nominated, student-athletes must have completed intercollegiate eligibility in his primary sport by the end of the 2018 spring season, received his undergraduate degree prior to the conclusion of the summer 2018 term and had a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 2.500 (4.000 scale).
The 2018 Southern Collegiate Athletic Man of the Year will be selected and announced later this month.
Scroll below to read a quick bio on each of the eight finalists:
Collin Vu, Austin College
Men's Swimming & Diving
- Graduated as a Business Finance and Economics major with a 3.65 GPA
- Four-time SCAC Academic Honor Roll honoree (2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018)
- Two-time All-SCAC swimmer (2018)
- Men's Soccer Team Captain (2016-2017)
- Tim Jubela Award (given to a freshman Athlete of the Year) (2014-2015)
- Austin College Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (2015-2017)
- Daniel L. & Martha P. Nuckols Award (given to the most outstanding student in Economics) (2016-2017)
- Member of Omicron Delta Kappa Honor Society
- Lead Peer Tutor - trained new tutors in office management (2017-2018)
- Mentor for Students with Disabilities (2016-2018)
Travion Kirkendoll, Centenary College
Men’s Basketball
- Graduated as a Business Administration major with a 2.75 GPA
- Four-time All-SCAC selection (2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2016-2017 and 2017-2018)
- SCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year (2014-2015)
- SCAC All-Time leading scorer for the sport of men's basketball
- DIII News All-Freshman Team (2014-2015)
- D3hoops.com All-Region Team (2015-2016 and 2017-2018)
- NABC All-Region Team (2017-2018)
- Louisiana Sports Writers Association All-State Team (2015-2016 and 2017-2018)
- Men’s Basketball Team Captain (2015-2016, 2016-2017 and 2017-2018)
- Volunteer with Literacy Volunters at Centenary and the High Achievers Project at Plantation Park Elementary School
- Secretary of Alpha Xi Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity (2017-2018)
Theo Hooker, Colorado College
Men’s Soccer
- Graduated as a Mathematical Economics major with a 3.56 GPA
- Four-time SCAC Academic Honor Roll honoree (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017)
- USC Scholar All-American (2017)
- NSCAA Scholar All-American (2016)
- Van Diest Award (given to Colorado College's top male student-athlete) (2018)
- Thomas J. Watson Fellowship recipient (2018)
- Four-time All-SCAC selection (2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017)
- SCAC Co-Defensive Player-of-the-Year (2017)
- SCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year (2014)
- Three-time All-Region selection (2015, 2016 and 2017)
- NSCAA All-American (2016)
- Men’s Soccer Team Captain (2016 and 2017)
- Colorado College Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (2015-2018)
- SCAC Character & Community Award (2017)
- Colorado College Dept. of Economics & Business - Research Assistant (2016-2018)
- Colorado Springs Food Rescue - Research Assistant (2016-2018)
- Special Olympics volunteer (2017)
Keenan Gumbs, Schreiner University
Men's Basketball
- Graduated as an Exercise Science major with a 3.72 GPA
- Four-time SCAC Academic Honor Roll honoree (2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2016-2017 and 2017-2018)
- CoSIDA Academic All-District (2017-2018)
- CoSIDA Academic All-American (2017-2018)
- Schreiner University Male Student-Athlete-of-the-Year (2017 and 2018)
- Men's Basketball Team Captain (2016-2017 and 2017-2018)
- Two-time All-SCAC selection (2016-2017 and 2017-2018)
- SCAC Men's Basketball Player-of-the-Year (2017-2018)
- Two-time SCAC All-Tournament Team (2017 and 2018)
- SCAC Tournament MVP (2018)
- D3hoops.com All-Region (2017-2018)
- NABC All-District (2017-2018)
- NABC All-American (2017-2018)
- Alpha Chi Honor Society
- Kappa Mu Epsilon Math Honor Society
- National Society of Leadership and Success (Sigma Alpha Phi Chapter)
- Schreiner University Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Vice-President (2016); President (2016-2018)
- SCAC Character & Community Award (2018)
Grant Gideon, Southwestern University
Men's Tennis
- Graduated as a Biochemistry major with a 3.93 GPA
- Three-time SCAC Academic Honor Roll honoree (2016, 2017 and 2018)
- ITA Scholar-Athlete (2016 and 2017)
- ITA West Region Arthur Ashe Leadership and Sportsmanship Award (2018)
- Turner M. Caldwell Scholar (2017-2018)
- Two-time All-SCAC selection (2016 and 2017)
- Men's Tennis team captain (2016-2018)
- Chi Alpha Sigma (2017)
- SCOPE Summer Research Program and St. David's Pre-Med Shadowing Program (2017)
- Volunteer at SPCA Animal Shelter (2015)
Alejandro Briseno, Texas Lutheran University
Men's Track & Field / Football
- Graduated as a Kinesiology major with a 3.65 GPA
- Five-time SCAC Academic Honor Roll honoree (Track & Field - 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018; Football - 2016)
- Football Team Captain (2017)
- Eight-time All-SCAC Track & Field athlete (2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018)
- Three-time SCAC Men's Track & Field Hammer individual champion (2016, 2017 and 2018)
- Two-time SCAC Men's Track & Field Shot individual champion (2015 and 2016)
- SCAC Men's Track & Field | Field Athlete-of-the-Year (2016)
- SCAC Men's Track & Field | Newcomer-of-the-Year (2015)
- USTFCCA All-Region Men's Track & Field (2016, 2017 and 2018)
- All-SCAC Football selection (2016)
- All-Conference, All-Region and All-American Football selection (2017)
- Volunteer with Lutheran World Relief (2015-2017) and Salvation Army (2014-2017)
Dylan Drgac, Texas Lutheran University
Baseball
- Graduated as a Molecular Biology major with a 3.59 GPA
- Four-time SCAC Academic Honor Roll honoree (2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018)
- Google Cloud Academic All-America Team (2018)
- Google Cloud Academic All-District Team (2018)
- Two-time All-SCAC selection (2017 and 2018)
- SCAC All-Tournament selection (2018)
- ABCA/Rawlings All-America selection (2018)
- D3baseball.com All-Region selection (2018)
- ABCA/Rawlings All-Region selection (2018)
- President of TLU Black and Gold Presidents Council (2017-2018)
- Peer Mentor (2015-2017)
- Day of the Dogs Volunteer - Group Leader (2014-2017)
Matt Love, Trinity University
Men's Track & Field
- Graduated as a Businesss Communication major with a 3.64 GPA
- Four-time SCAC Academic Honor Roll honoree (2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018)
- Google Cloud Academic All-District Team (2017 and 2018)
- USTFCCA All-Academic Team (2016 and 2017)
- Robert O. Blanchard Department of Communication Award (2018)
- Four-time All-SCAC Track & Field athlete (2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018)
- Three-time SCAC Men's Track & Field Discus individual champion (2015, 2017 and 2018)
- Two-time SCAC Men's Field Athlete-of-the-Year (2017 and 2018)
- USTFCCA All-American Men's Track & Field - Discus (2018)
- USTFCCA All-Region Men's Track & Field (2016, 2017 and 2018)
- USTFCCCA South/Southeast Region Field Athlete-of-the-Year (2017)
- Beta Gamma Sigma International Business Honor Society
- Volunteer at San Antonio Food Bank and Harris Middle School (2014 and 2016)