2019 Pete Tolbert Night of Champions Photo Gallery

MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama Department of Athletics celebrated the 10th annual Pete Tolbert Night of Champions Thursday at the Mitchell Center, honoring the accomplishments of numerous Jaguar student-athletes from the 2018-19 academic year.

Emilie Berge (Iveland, Vest-Agder, Norway) and Yannick Schütz (Friolzheim, Germany) were named the Jaguar Female and Male Student-Athletes of the Year, respectively, while Ethan Wilson (Andalusia, Ala.) was selected the Auralia Crowell Freshman Scholar-Athlete Award winner.  The department's NCAA Woman of the Year Award nomination went to Hannah Godfrey (Thornton-Cleveleys, England), with Morgan Stalcup (Roswell, Ga.) and Sean Collins (Mobile) receiving the Female and Male Perseverance Awards.  Lexi Worrell (Milton, Fla.) and Herb McGee (Reserve, La.) picked up the Female and Male Jaguar Athletic Fund Awards, and the Matt Smith Award winner was JT Crabtree.

A second-team All-American during the indoor track season after placing 10th in the pentathlon at the NCAA Championship, Berge was also named the Women's Field Most Outstanding Performer after winning the event at the Sun Belt Championship in February.  The junior — who currently leads the league and is fourth in the country in the heptathlon during the outdoor season — has set both school and Sun Belt records this season with 4,203 points in the pentathlon and 5,718 points in the heptathlon.  In the classroom, Berge is majoring in biology and has a 3.96 cumulative grade-point average.

Schütz leads the Jaguar golf team this year with a 72.40 scoring average, which ranks among the top 15 in the Sun Belt in score against par, as well as with five top-20 finishes and 14 rounds (out of 25) at or below par; he was also the lone individual in the program to go 2-0 at the Jerry Weeks Match Play.  The junior was South's top individual finisher at three of four tournaments during the fall campaign — he accomplished the feat twice in the spring too — while helping the Jags record nine top-10 results as a team.  Schütz has a 3.38 grade-point average and is a business administration major.

Entering the final month of the regular season, Wilson is pacing South's baseball team this spring with a .329 batting average, 12 home runs, 40 RBI, a .665 slugging percentage and a .443 on-base percentage to earn the award given to the school's most outstanding freshman based on excellence in academics and athletics.  He leads the conference in homers and slugging percentage, and is also among the top five in runs scored and runs batted in while recording a 3.19 grade-point average as an exercise science major.

Godfrey has twice been voted first-team all-Sun Belt — first earning the honor her junior year when she also was chosen the league's Defensive Player of the Year and was a third-team all-region selection — and was a second-team honoree following the 2016 campaign.  As a senior, the soccer defender posted three goals and two assists while helping the Jaguar defense rank third in the conference allowing 1.07 goals per match.  Godfrey has a 3.85 cumulative GPA and is set to receive a degree in leisure studies from the university at May's graduation ceremony.  NCAA Woman of the Year candidates need to be a varsity letterwinner completing their intercollegiate eligibility by the end of the spring sports season, while excelling in academics, athletics, service and leadership with a minimum cumulative 2.5 grade-point average.

Stalcup recorded 87 kills and 66 blocks in 17 matches for the Jag volleyball team her first season at the collegiate level in 2017, but suffered a stress fracture in her foot and was unable to play at that fall's Sun Belt Conference Tournament.  Before tearing both the ACL and meniscus in her knee on Oct. 12, the middle blocker returned this year and had a team-best .347 hitting percentage, accumulating 123 kills and 70 total blocks including a .424 attack percentage in Sun Belt matches.

After earning All-America honors in the pole vault during the indoor track season as a freshman, Collins dislocated his ankle that spring at the Sun Belt Outdoor Championship.  He came back during the spring 2017 semester to claim the event at both the conference indoor and outdoor meets — qualifying for the NCAA Championship outdoors — while also having to overcome a hamstring injury this winter to once again earn all-league honors during the indoor season.

A senior on the women's golf team and junior from the men's basketball program, Worrell and McGee were recognized for their overall support of Jaguar Athletics.  Crabtree was presented the award that goes to a member of the athletic staff who consistently goes the extra mile, has the spirit of commitment, strong work ethic, and a deep sense of pride in their job; it is named in memory of former USA Sports Information Director Matt Smith, who passed away in December 2004.

Head coaches of 12 Jaguar teams presented program awards at the ceremony also.  The winners of those honors included: Jaguar Women's Basketball NCAA Award (women's basketball), Shaforia Kines (Birmingham, Ala.); Goldie Ungar Heart of Gold Award (men's basketball), Trhae Mitchell (Austell, Ga.); Female Outstanding Performer Award (cross country), Andonet Cheruiyot (Eldoret, Kenya); Male Outstanding Performer Award (cross country), Warno Potgieter (Benoni, Gauteng, South Africa); Jim Yance Heart of a Jaguar Award (football), Bull Barge (Moultrie, Ga.); Beth Barry Award (women's golf), Julie Hovland (Bergan, Norway); Heath Slocum Award (men's golf), Peter Staalbo (Lejre, Denmark); Lindsay Rogers Award (soccer), Justice Stanford (The Colony, Texas); Lubel Family Award (men's tennis), Clement Marzol (Toulouse, France); Most Outstanding Indoor Student-Athlete Award (women's indoor track & field), Emilie BergeBerge; Most Outstanding Indoor Student-Athlete Award (men's indoor track & field), Christian Ellis (Gainesville, Fla.); and, Kari Frazier Spirit Award (volleyball), Kelley Hartman (Woodstock, Ga.).

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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