ASC Scholar-Athletes of the Year


RICHARDSON, Texas - Outstanding individual achievement in the classroom and within athletic competition earned 10 American Southwest Conference student-athletes recognition as the Distinguished Scholar-Athlete of the Year in their respective winter or spring sport.

Named as 2017 Distinguished Scholar-Athletes are Conner Combs, East Texas Baptist, in baseball; Jeff Martin, LeTourneau, in men's basketball; Candler Gregory, Belhaven, in women's basketball; Jarrod Brown, Mary Hardin-Bayor, in men's golf; Alisa Wilson, LeTourneau, in women's golf; Stefanie Polderman, UT Dallas, in softball; Arthur Fagundes, UT Tyler, in men's tennis; Kate Bramlett, East Texas Baptist, in women's tennis; Derek Gainey, McMurry, in men's track and field; and Shantel Thomas, McMurry, in women's track and field.

ASC Distinguished Scholar-Athlete of the Year award recognizes student-athletes who attain a high level of academic achievement while competing as a starter or important reserve on his or her athletic team. The conference sports information directors select the Distinguished Scholar-Athlete within each sport from nominees submitted by the institutions.

Conner Combs (Southlake, Texas/Carroll HS) is a two-time ASC Distinguished Scholar-Athlete in baseball, earning the honor in both the 2016 and 2017 seasons. A graduate student completing studies for a master's degree in business administration, Combs has twice been named CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year for NCAA Division III baseball (2017, '16), and was both a CoSIDA Academic All-American and ASC Academic All-Conference honoree this spring. On the field, Combs led ETBU to a runner-up finish in the ASC Baseball Championship Tournament Series and was voted ASC Player of the Year for a second straight year after leading the league in total bases and batting .403 over the regular-season. President of the ETBU Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Combs is active in service projects with several organizations.

Jeff Martin (Katy, Texas/Stevens Lakes HS) graduated cum laude from LeTourneau with a degree in business administration. An ASC Academic All-Conference honoree, Martin was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District First Team and D3hoops.com South Region team. He became the first player in LeTourneau men's basketball history to be named ASC East Division Player of the Year in addition to All-ASC First-Team honors. Martin led the YellowJackets to their first ASC East Division title, a team record 22 wins, and a runner-up finish in the ASC tournament. Martin ranked sixth in Division III assist-to-turnover ratio (3.6) and listed second in the ASC in assists (171). The LeTourneau Male Athlete of the Year, Martin took part in many community service activities including Longview Green and Clean and volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club.

Candler Gregory (Hampton, Ga./Strong Rock Christian HS) was a four-year starter and two-time captain for the Belhaven women's basketball team, compiling 986 career points and 419 rebounds. She led the Blazers in three-point field goals for three seasons, closing her career with 134 three-point field goals to rank third all-time in program history. A 2017 graduate with a degree in chemistry, Gregory was the Belhaven recipient of the ASC Scholar-Athlete Medal of Honor. She is a two-time member of the ASC Distinguished Scholar-Athlete Team and ASC Academic All-Conference honoree, and a National Christian College Athletic Association Scholar-Athlete. Gregory was president of the Belhaven Student-Athlete Advisory Committee for two years, a chemistry tutor and a Bible Study leader at Jackson Academy.

The Mary Hardin-Baylor recipient of the ASC Scholar-Athlete Medal of Honor, engineering science graduate Jarrod Brown (Groves, Texas/Port Neches Groves HS) earned GCAA Cleveland/Srixon All-American Scholar-Athlete accolades in addition to selection for CoSIDA Academic All-District VIII First Team and ASC Academic All-Conference citations. Brown finished in a tie for 35th at the NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championships after leading UMHB to an 11th-place finish. He was selected to Ping All-American and All-West Region honors. Brown also helped the Cru to the 2017 ASC Championship, its third in four seasons, and earned ASC All-Conference Second Team honors. He finished the year with a 73.11 stroke average and recorded four individual runner-up finishes and nine top 10 finishes in 11 tournaments.

Alisa Wilson (Snohomish, Wash./Glacier Park HS) graduated summa cum laude from LeTourneau earning a degree in biology with a microbiology concentration. Voted the ASC Women's Golf Sportsmanship Athlete of the Year, Wilson played 62 career rounds for YellowJackets recording five top-20 and two top-15 finishes during the 2016-17 season. Wilson earned the LeTourneau women's golf academic award and the YellowJacket Award for exemplifying the characteristics of a great teammate, competitor and student-athlete. Wilson was also selected as one of five Outstanding Seniors from among the LeTourneau student body.

UT Dallas junior biochemistry major Stefanie Polderman (West Vancouver, B.C./Rockridge Secondary) earned CoSIDA Academic All-America and All-District First-Team awards in addition to ASC Academic All-Conference honors. An All-ASC First Team selection, Polderman went on to claim NFCA All-West Region Second Team honors. She played in all 46 games, sporting a .432 batting average with 32 stolen bases and eight doubles. She had 22 RBI and scored 30 runs while sitting second on the team with 60 hits as UTD won its first ASC softball championship and claimed a first-ever berth in the NCAA Division III Championship.

UT Tyler sophomore Arthur Fagundes (Curitiba, Brazil) posted a 14-3 overall record at No. 1 singles in his second season and earned a trip to the NCAA Division III Tennis Individual Championships for the second straight season. A civil engineering major, Fagundes claimed ASC Academic All-Conference and ASC All-Conference At-Large honors, and led the Patriots to the ASC men's tennis championship. He was named to the Intercollegiate Athletic Association All-America team and finished his season ranked No. 16 in the nation and with only one regular-season defeat. Fagundes also advanced to the ITA Fall 2016 National Tournament.

A CoSIDA Academic All-America Third Team and All-District First Team award recipient, Kate Bramlett (Granbury, Texas/HS) completed her East Texas Baptist kinesiology degree and tennis career in three years. Bramlett was named ITA All-Academic and claimed a second ASC Academic All-Conference award. During the 2016-17 season, she was selected ASC East Division Sportsmanship Athlete of the Year, All-Conference, All-East Division, and the ITA West Region Most Improved Senior after leading the Tigers to the ASC championship and a berth in the Division III Women's Tennis Championship. She totaled over 100 combined career wins in singles and doubles.

Derek Gainey (Colorado City, Texas/HS), a mathematics major with grades 8-12 concentration, is an ASC Academic All-Conference honoree and two-time National Christian College Athletic Association Scholar-Athlete. A long and triple jumper with the McMurry men's track and field team, Gainey placed third in the triple jump at the ASC Championships (12.86 meters), helping McMurry to the 2017 conference title. He posted a personal season-best long jump of 6.44 meters at the UT Tyler Marc Randle Classic, and a McMurry-season-best triple jump of 13.70 meters at the Angelo State David Noble Relays.

McMurry graduate Shantel Thomas (Highlands, Texas/Goose Creek Memorial HS) earned six gold medals in helping McMurry to the 2017 ASC women's track and field championship. Thomas scored 62 points to win the High Point Scorer award at the ASC meet. Thomas claimed three NCCAA Indoor Track and Field All-America honors in 2017, placing second in 60 meters hurdles and the 4x100m relay, and third in the 4x400m relay. A chemistry major and three-time ASC Academic All-Conference honoree, Thomas has twice been named a National Christian College Athletic Association Scholar-Athlete. Thomas served as the McMurry Student-Athlete Advisory Committee president and was a key organizer of the War Hawks Sports Clinic for special needs individuals. She is recipient of the 2016-17 McMurry Athletics Senior Scholar-Athlete award recognizing the top grade-point average among all four-year letter winners and is the McMurry recipient of the ASC Scholar-Athlete Medal of Honor.

Overall, 94 student-athletes were named to one of the 10 ASC 2017 Winter-Spring Distinguished Scholar-Athlete Teams.