RICHARDSON, Texas –– The athletic training staffs at Hardin-Simmons University and LeTourneau University were named by their peers as Division winners of the American Southwest Conference Athletic Training Staff of the Year awards for the 2009-10 academic year. The two member institutions were honored on Wednesday (Dec. 15) during the annual ASC Athletic Trainers meeting in Dallas.

Hardin-Simmons was presented with the West Division honor for the second time. HSU head athletic trainer DJ Gililland was assisted in 2009-10 by assistants Bert De La Garza and Dot Fero. Wade Green and Jessica Davenport served as graduate assistants.HSU was also honored in 2005-06.

LeTourneau took the East Division award for the first time. LETU’s head athletic trainer is Portia Phillips.

The ASC Athletic Training Staff of the Year award is presented by the Conference following voting by the membership’s athletic training staffs. All full-time athletic training staff members must be in good standing with professional organizations and be either NATA or state licensed, and the head athletic trainer must have been at the institution for a minimum of two years to be considered for the award.

The 2009-10 awards are the sixth presented by the ASC. Howard Payne University (West), University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (West), East Texas Baptist University (East), University of the Ozarks (East) Mississippi College (East) and University of Texas at Dallas (East) have also been honored before.