SCAC Announces Team Sportsmanship Awards for Spring 2023

SCAC Announces Team Sportsmanship Awards for Spring 2023

SUWANEE, Ga. -- Ten Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference programs were recognized by the league as Spring 2023 Sportsmanship Teams in their respective sports.

The SCAC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee instituted the award prior to the 2016-17 academic year in an effort to honor the team that best portrays good sportsmanship and fair play from the players and coaches during the season. The spring awards are presented in baseball, men's and women's golf, softball, men's and women's tennis and men's and women's track and field.

Southwestern University and Texas Lutheran University collected two honors each, while Austin College, Centenary College, University of Dallas, Schreiner University, University of St. Thomas and Trinity University all collected one accolade each.

Trinity collected top honors in baseball for the first time in program history followed by Texas Lutheran and Schreiner.

In golf, Centenary collected the team sportsmanship honor for the third consecutive season on the men’s side. The Gents join TLU baseball (2017-19) and Southwestern women’s golf (2017-19) as just the third spring SCAC program to earn three consecutive team sportsmanship accolades. Centenary was the top choice with Southwestern finishing second and St. Thomas and Trinity tying for third.

For the women, Southwestern earned top honors for the fifth time in program history (2017-19, 2021), the most among any spring conference teams. Trinity and Schreiner finished second and third, respectively, in the voting.

Dallas secured top honors in softball for the first time in program history, followed by St. Thomas and Schreiner.

In tennis, Schreiner was voted to top spot on the men's side for the first time in program history, finishing just ahead of Austin College, Dallas and St. Thomas, who all tied for second. On the women’s side, Austin College and St. Thomas shared the top spot. It marks the second consecutive year the Celts have earned the honor while the ‘Roos are earning recognition for the fourth time (2018-19, 2021) in program history.  

Southwestern and Texas Lutheran tied for the top spot in men’s track and field. It is the second-straight year the Bulldogs have earned top accolades, while the Pirates have earned the honor for the second time in program history (2018).

On the women’s side, Texas Lutheran took home the top spot for the first time in program history, marking the third time in SCAC history that one institution has earned top marks in both men’s and women’s track and field. The Bulldogs join Colorado College (2017) and Southwestern (2018) in achieving the honor.

Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Spring 2023 Team Sportsmanship Award
Baseball: Trinity University
Men's Golf: Centenary College
Women's Golf: Southwestern University 
Softball: University of Dallas
Men's Tennis: Schreiner University
Women's Tennis: Austin College, University of St. Thomas
Men's Track & Field: Southwestern University, Texas Lutheran University
Women's Track & Field: Texas Lutheran University

The awards were voted on by each member institution's SAAC, with each individual group ranking the top three teams in each sport. The first place selections were awarded five points, second place earned three points and third place earned one point. Points were then totaled to select the conference's overall winner.

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