GSC Unveils 2022 Top Ten Honorees
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Gulf South Conference announced its 26th annual GSC Top Ten Award winners.
The award recognizes the top female and top male student-athletes for their athletic, academic, and extracurricular achievements during the 2021-22 academic year. The top male and top female from each group of honorees will be awarded the Commissioner’s Trophy, which is the conference’s most prestigious award.
PAST TOP TEN WINNERS
The female winners are Kwajelin Farrar (Valdosta State, Basketball); Anele Komani (West Alabama, Soccer); Celine Ritter (Lee, Cross Country and Track & Field); Johanna Wistokat (Christian Brothers, Cross Country and Track & Field); and Emma Young (Mississippi College, Soccer).
Farrar is the Blazers first female honoree since the 2019-20 academic year and is the 10th female from VSU to be selected all-time. Komani is the first female winner for UWA since Anna Shartzer and ends a seven-year drought for the Tigers. Ritter is the first female back-to-back Top Ten winner since Chloe Richards (North Alabama) in 2016 and 2017. Wistokat is the second-consecutive female student-athlete selection for the Buccaneers, as she follows the footsteps of last season’s honoree, Brynne Lytle. Young is the third-straight Lady Choctaw in three years to be selected and just the fourth for MC in the award’s history.
The male honorees are Beck Burnette (Lee, Golf); Andrew Elkins (Auburn Montgomery, Soccer); Zach Hancock (Alabama Huntsville, Track & Field); Gabe Poulin (Mississippi College, Cross Country and Track & Field); and Brian Saunds (Valdosta State, Football).
Burnette is the first male winner for the Flames in three seasons. The first-ever Warhawk to win the award last season, Elkins is now back-to-back Top Ten winner on the men’s side since Josiah Brooks (Lee) in 2018 and 2019. Hancock is UAH’s fourth-consecutive male honoree, and the third in the last four years from the Chargers’ track & field program. Poulin is the Choctaws’ second-ever male winner and first since Blaine Crim in 2019. Saunds is the Blazers’ third-consecutive male winner and fourth-overall in the last five years.
The GSC Top Ten Awards winners are selected with the assistance of an advisory committee representing the Athletic Directors, Senior Woman Administrators, Sports Information Directors, Faculty Athletic Representatives, and Presidents from randomly selected GSC schools, which makes a recommendation to the Commissioner, who has the final decision.
The ten winners are now up for consideration for the GSC Commissioner’s Trophy, which will be awarded to one male and one female, and will be announced Thursday, June 2 in Pensacola, Fla.