2012-13 Peach Belt Conference Yearbook | Página 4

the men’ s side, the teams were Simon Fraser University from Canada, Saginaw Valley State University, Mercyhurst University and Lynn University. West Florida won the women’ s championship while Lynn took the men’ s title.

Teams were treated to a variety of activities off the field during their stay in Columbia County including amusement park access, movie tickets and a banquet featuring former US National Team player Clint Mathis.

Student-athletes also participated in a community engagement activity, sorting food for the Golden Harvest Food Bank.

In all, more than 50 volunteers contributed to the efforts needed to bring the championships to life. The PBC will host the event once again in December of 2013.

PBC Establishes the Elite 15 Award with partner GradesFirst

AUGUSTA, GA- During the 2012-13 academic year, the Peach Belt Conference partnered with GradesFirst to create an award that epitomizes what being a Division II student-athlete means. The Elite 15, an honor similar to the Elite 89 award founded by the NCAA, recognizes the true essence of the student-athlete by honoring the individual who has reached the pinnacle of competition at the conference championship level in his or her sport, while also achieving the highest academic standard among his or her peers. The Elite 15 award is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the championship site for each of the 15 PBC championships. The 2012-13 academic year is the first of the award. The award is presented by GradesFirst.

The Peach Belt Conference will present an Elite 15 Award at each postseason event. Only student-athletes competing in the championship are eligible for consideration. Cross Country, golf and track & field are the only championships that allow every PBC team to compete, the rest allow only the top eight teams in the standings to participate.

GradesFirst provides the tools for athletic departments to monitor the academic performance of their student-athletes. The company is currently partnered with over 225 athletic departments that range from small private schools to large public universities.

2012-13 PBC Elite 15 Award Winners

Armstrong’ s Joe Roberts Becomes NCAA Division II Baseball’ s All-Time Winningest Coach

PEMBROKE, NC-- Armstrong Atlantic State University head coach Joe Roberts became NCAA Division II’ s all-time winningest head baseball coach with the Pirates’ Peach Belt Conference doubleheader sweep of No. 10-ranked UNC Pembroke on Sunday, April 21, at Sammy Cox Field in Pembroke, N. C. The Pirates won game one, 13-8, and took game two, 6-4 to sweep the weekend PBC series from the Braves.

The first win of the doubleheader was the NCAA-recognized 1,309th career coaching victory for Roberts, moving him ahead of Valdosta State’ s Tommy Thomas, who accumulated a 1,308-825 record in 40 seasons at Valdosta State. With the second win, Roberts is now 1,310- 635 at Armstrong in his 34 seasons as the head coach of Pirate baseball. Yesterday, in the first game of the series with the Braves, Armstrong won its 1,500th game in program history.

Armstrong will honor coach Roberts for his milestone achievement and the program’ s milestone win in a pre-game ceremony on Sunday, April 28, prior to the Pirates’ 1:00 p. m. Peach Belt Conference baseball game against Lander. All former Armstrong players are invited back to Savannah and Pirate Field to join the university in honoring both coach Roberts and the entire baseball program on its outstanding accomplishments.

PBC Hosts Fifth Women in Athletics Seminar

AUGUSTA, GA--Over 100 female student-athletes from all 14 Peach Belt Conference schools as well as from schools in Conference Carolinas, the South Atlantic Conference and the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference descended on Augusta, Ga., for the fifth annual Women in Athletics Seminar. The attendees were treated to a panel discussion featuring eight professional women and a keynote address from ESPN’ s

Kristi Dosh. The main themes of the seminar were strategies for beginning a career in collegiate athletics, ways to stand out and maintaining a balance between work and personal life.

“ It was very helpful, just to feel out what I want to do,” said Montevallo senior cross country runner Haley Evans.“ There’ s a lot of opportunities, but this helps give me some direction and some motivation.”

UNC Pembroke’ s Andrea Collen returned for her second seminar.“ I wanted to come back because it’ s a great experience and I’ m still considering where to go and what direction I want to go into. Listening to the women here has really given me a direction.”

The 2012 panel included:

• Joanna Britz, Manager of Legislation and Marketing for the Women’ s Basketball Coaches Association

• Jenna Davisson, Assistant Sports Information Director at UNC Pembroke

• Kimberly Ford, Director of Minority Inclusion at the NCAA

• Lauren Holtkamp, collegiate and professional basketball official

• Sue Patberg, Head Women’ s Soccer Coach at Emory University

• Armani Rice, Assistant Director of Iron Dukes Special Events at Duke University

• Marie Robbins, Associate Athletics Director and SWA at the University of Alabama

• Lisa Sweany, Athletic Director at Armstrong Atlantic State University

Dosh made her first appearance at the seminar.“ I wanted to get across how important it is to develop relationships,” she said after delivering her address.“ There are so many people who have great credentials in terms of their academics, or the schools that they went to or the jobs they have done and everyone wants to believe that that’ s enough. But so much more of it is about the relationship and the ones you cultivate along the way.”

Clayton State and Montevallo Play on National TV

Peach Belt Conference men’ s basketball was once again be in the national spotlight when Clayton State traveled to Montevallo in a game that was televised on the CBS College Sports Network on Saturday,. Feb. 16 It was the first time Clayton State had been featured on a national TV game and the first television broadcast from the Montevallo campus.

The University of Montevallo Opera Ensemble, which recently won the National Opera Association national championship, performed the National Anthem before the game. The University of Montevallo Pep Band and the Calera High School Band, which performed at the 2013 Presidential Inauguration last month, also helped entertain the audience. The game will featured a live performance by the Zooperstars!, presented by Coca-Cola.

The game was the fourth national television appearance in Montevallo men’ s basketball program history. Montevallo won the contest 63-50 in front of a packed house of 2,375 fans.

Montevallo’ s first appearance on national television came during the 2009-2010 season when the Falcons’ Peach Belt Conference contest on the road at Christenberry Fieldhouse on the Augusta State University campus Feb. 13, 2010 was televised by the CBS College Sports Network, which recently changed its name to the CBS Sports Network.

The Falcons’ second appearance on national television came last spring when the Falcons faced Bellarmine University in the NCAA Division II Tournament national semifinal March 22, 2012 at The Bank of

Kentucky Center in Highland Heights, Ky., which was televised by the CBS Sports Network.

Two days later, Montevallo played Western Washington University in the NCAA Division II national championship game in front of approximately 3.1 million viewers on CBS.

“ This national game is great exposure for our University, and our program,” said head coach Gordon Gibbons.“ We are excited CBS selected Clayton State.”