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2015 BSC Scholar-Athletes of the Year

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WILLIAMSON, HUDGENS MAKE RADFORD HISTORY



CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Radford student-athletes Teresa Williamson (women's track and field/cross country) and Stephen Hudgens (men's soccer) have been voted the 2014-15 Big South Conference Female and Male Scholar-Athletes of the Year, respectively. The league office made the announcement Wednesday morning. Big South sports information directors conducted the voting.
 
For the first time in school history, the Highlanders swept both scholar-athletes of the year. Radford is the first institution to have both the men's and women's recipients in the Big South Conference in the same year since 2009-10.
 
The Big South's Male and Female Scholar-Athletes of the Year were selected from a pool of the conference's scholar-athletes who represent all of the individual sports' scholar-athletes, who were announced during the regular season.

In the voting, Williamson finished with 37 points, ahead of Liberty women's basketball player Ashley Rininger (30 points). Winthrop women's golfer Jennifer Dilger and Gardner-Webb women's soccer player Shelby Hooe tied for third with 23 points each.

On the men's side, Hudgens finished first in the voting with 42 points, followed by Gardner-Webb men's golfer Matt Yelverton (32 points) and Liberty baseball player Alex Close, who was third with 28 points.
 
"On behalf of the Radford University community, I offer Teresa and Stephen my congratulations on this tremendous accomplishment," said Radford University President Penelope W. Kyle. "Their selection as the Big South's Female and Male Scholar-Athletes of the Year is a historic milestone for Radford University athletics and is recognition of their commitment, dedication and tenacity. They represent the highest attributes of Highlander athletics' student-athletes, and we are very proud of them for what they have accomplished on the field and in the classroom."
 
Williamson is the third Radford female student-athlete to be honored in the past five years. Now a two-time Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-America® selection, Williamson is the second women's track and field student-athlete in Highlander history to earn Academic All-America® status on multiple occasions.
 
The Big South Scholar-Athlete of the Year honoree in women's cross country, indoor women's track and field and outdoor women's track and field concluded her junior season in 2014-15 with four Big South Conference titles (two indoor and two outdoor) on her way to setting two league championship records in the 1,500-meter run and the distance medley relay. She was named the outdoor season's Most Outstanding Track Athlete of the Year and was the conference's honorable mention for Women's Runner of the Year.
 
In the fall, Williamson placed fourth at the Big South cross country championship with an 18:01.37 to lead Radford to a third-place team finish and become the second Highlander since 2009 to earn all-conference honors in back-to-back years. She also finished fourth at the 2013 championship. The nursing major sports a 3.95 grade point average and was bestowed the prestigious Janet Hardy Boettcher Nursing Excellence Award in May.
 
Hudgens, a First-Team Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-America® honoree this past season and the lone member with a perfect cumulative 4.0 GPA, received the Big South's Christenberry Award for Academic Excellence this past May. He helped Radford win the Big South men's soccer regular-season championship – the Highlanders' first such title since 1998.
 
The Alpharetta, Ga., native led Radford with six goals and tied for the team lead with 13 points this past season en route to second-team all-conference honors. Hudgens, who was the Big South Men's Soccer Scholar-Athlete of the Year, was second in the Big South with three game-winning goals in 2014 and was named Big South Attacking Player of the Week on Oct. 13.
 
A two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District Team selection, Hudgens appeared in 66 career games for Radford with 47 starts, and scored seven goals and four assists for 18 points in 3,407 minutes on the pitch. He helped the Highlanders post records of 40-26-13 overall (.589) and 24-10-4 in the Big South (.684) during his four years, and was honored as Radford's 2014-15 Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
 
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Players Mentioned

Stephen Hudgens

#15 Stephen Hudgens

MF
5' 11"
Senior
Teresa Williamson

Teresa Williamson

Distance
5' 8"
Senior

Players Mentioned

Stephen Hudgens

#15 Stephen Hudgens

5' 11"
Senior
MF
Teresa Williamson

Teresa Williamson

5' 8"
Senior
Distance
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