DICKSON, Tenn. — The Gulf South Conference announced Mississippi College’s Sofia Mendez as the 2026 Champion Scholar-Athletes for women’s golf. 

CHAMPIONSHIP SCHOLAR-ATHLETE HISTORY

Mendez, a sophomore from Bogota, Colombia, was recognized with the GSC Champion Scholar-Athlete Award after posting a 4.00 grade point average while majoring in business administration. Mendez is the first Choctaw golfer—male or female—to earn the award since its inception and is the school’s first honoree during the 2025-26 academic year.

The Gulf South Conference has presented the Champion Scholar-Athlete Award since the 2019-20 academic year. The award is given out at the final site of each GSC Championship event and awarded to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA among teams participating. Each student-athlete GPA is based on the most recently completed term, and the individual must have a minimum of 48 credit hours to be eligible for the award. Student-athletes are only eligible to win the award once per academic year.