UAM, Okla. Baptist split GAC football awards
RUSSELLVILLE — Arkansas-Monticello and Oklahoma Baptist split the Great American Conference’s fifth weekly football awards as UAM freshman quarterback Demilon Brown and senior kicker/punter Josh Marini earned offensive and special teams recognition, respectively, and Oklahoma Baptist junior quarterback Preston Haire and junior linebacker Josh Arnold took offensive and defensive awards.
Brown, a Luxora native, finished with a career-high 413 yards as the Weevils took a 49-46 win over East Central to split the offensive award with Haire. The young QB was 11-for-18 passing for 258 yards and two touchdowns while rushing 15 times for 155 yards and three scores.
Haire led the Bison from a 21-0 deficit to a 43-31 win over Arkansas Tech, accounting for five of the team’s touchdowns. He threw for 267 yards and three touchdowns while adding 149 rushing yards and two scoring runs of 84 and 50 yards.
Arnold earned the league’s defensive player award after 17 tackles and a sack for the Bison in their come-from-behind win over the Wonder Boys. This was the most tackles by a GAC player this season and the most since Arnold had 18 stops against UAM in 2018.
Marini converted on all seven of his kicks in the Weevils’ win over the Tigers for the special teams award. He averaged 44.0 yards between his two punts with both landing inside the 20.
Harding takes pair of weekly soccer awards
RUSSELLVILLE — Harding senior forward Melanie Spurgeon and senior goalkeeper Jessica Woessner earned the GAC’s fifth weekly offensive and goalkeeper awards while Ouachita Baptist junior defender Carmen Scott earned the league’s defensive award.
Spurgeon, of Bentonville, scored her first career hat trick in a 3-0 win over Southern Nazarene last week. She knocked in a rebound in the 18th minute before converting crosses from Emma Welch and McKenna Moore in the second half.
Scott led the Tiger defense as the team took a pair of wins over Oklahoma Baptist and Southern Nazarene. The Tigers handed the Bison their first regular-season GAC loss since 2016, and they limited the Crimson Storm to just four shots on goal in the Tigers’ second shutout of the season.
Woessner repeated as the league’s Goalkeeper of the Week with 22 saves against Southern Nazarene and Oklahoma Baptist. She recorded her third clean slate of the season with a career-high 13 saves against Southern Nazarene, and she leads the GAC in saves per game with 7.12.
*Southern Nazarene freshman forward Guy Esquivel earned the offensive player award from the GAC/MIAA while Rogers State junior defender Michael Turner and sophomore goalie Austin Wormell earned the defensive and goalkeeper awards.
Esquivel netted a pair of goals against Oklahoma Baptist for the Crimson Storm’s first GAC win of the season, snapping an eight-game losing streak to the Bison. He connected on a feeder from Angel Lopez for his first goal and off a pass from Caleb Gray for his first career multi-goal game.
Turner helped lead the Hillcats to a 2-0 win over Northeastern State Friday, the first time the RiverHawks were shut out in five GAC contests. Turner contributed to both goals on set pieces with the primary assist on both shots.
Wormell made nine saves in the win over the RiverHawks for his second shutout of the year, marking the third time Northeastern State had been shut out this season.
Arkansas Tech takes weekly golf awards
RUSSELLVILLE — Arkansas Tech sophomore Francois Jacobs and classmate Jacqueline Klemm earned the GAC’s sixth weekly golf awards of the season.
Jacobs repeated as the men’s award winner after tying for seventh at the David Toms Invitational. The Wonder Boys were the only non-Division I team at the 12-team event, and Jacobs led the team to third. He shot 10-under par in the 54-hole event and was one of just 10 players in the 69-player field to play three sub-par rounds.
Klemm earned her third golf award of the season with a third-place finish at the Golfweek DII Fall Invitational. Following her 6-over 78 in the first round, Klemm shot a 3-under 69 to move up 19 spots on the leaderboard as one of two sub-70 rounds in the tournament.
Harding freshman earns GAC weekly setter award
RUSSELLVILLE — Harding freshman Sarah Morehead earned the GAC’s fifth Setter of the Week award of the season while Oklahoma Baptist junior outside hitter Hayley Daniel and Northwestern Oklahoma State junior libero Sydnee Miller earned the league’s offensive and defensive awards.
Morehead tallied 77 assists in three-set wins over UAM and Southern Arkansas for a league-leading
12.83 assists per set. She added a double-double against the Cotton Blossoms with 39 assists and 12 digs and is third in the league in assists per set with
8.97.
Daniel helped extend the Bison’s win streak to 11 matches after they defeated Southern Nazarene and Southwestern Oklahoma State. Daniel hit .500 against the Crimson Storm and tallied 16 kills, 14 digs and five blocks against the Bulldogs.
Miller averaged 6.63 digs per set to help the Rangers add two more wins last week. She finished with
23 digs against Texas A&M-Kingsville and picked up her third match with at least 30 digs against SEOSU.
East Central runners earn league awards
RUSSELLVILLE — East Central freshman Emmanuel Bett and junior Aaliyah Regg-Wajid earned the GAC’s fifth set of weekly cross country awards.
Bett led the Tigers to fifth place at the Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville with his third place finish
(25:39.0). The Tigers defeated the five other GAC schools at the meet and set their best team finish in
11 years at the event.
Wajid was third overall, second among collegiate runners, at the Chile Pepper Festival for second place at the event. She finished in 17:56.1, moving from 11th after the first mile and fifth after the second.
Jessieville graduate Noah Eskew, a sophomore at Oklahoma Baptist, was also nominated for the men’s award.