University of Memphis Athletics
Tigers celebrate excellence at 2021 PAWSCARS
Apr 28, 2021 | Baseball, General, Men's Basketball, Rifle, Men's Soccer, Men's Track and Field, Women's Basketball, Women's Soccer, Women's Track and Field
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The University of Memphis celebrated the accomplishments of its student-athletes during the 2020-21 season with the seventh annual PAWSCARS ceremony Wednesday afternoon.
This year's PAWSCARS was held on the Park Avenue Campus near FedExPark and was streamed live on Facebook, YouTube and GoTigersGo.com.
Paige Sandwell of the women's track & field team received the prestigious Elma Roane Award. The award was created in 1978 and named after the former women's athletic director at the University of Memphis. It is presented annually to the female student-athlete who possesses drive, enthusiasm and determination while maintaining a concern for others.
Sandwell is a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and she will graduate as part of the University's Honors College. She has participated as a tutor for the University of Memphis Engineering Tutoring Center, and her numerous service contributions include St. Jude Target House, Ronald McDonald House, the Puerto Rico Relief Fund and reading to students at Treadwell Elementary School.
Baseball's Alec Trela received the Zach Curlin Award, which is presented to the male student-athlete who holds those same characteristics. Curlin was the men's basketball coach from 1924-48. He coached the men's basketball team during the Great Depression and World War II, which included a stoppage in competition in 1943 so the student-athletes at the time could serve our country.
Trela graduated in the fall as an honors student with a 3.96 GPA, and he was a Student Marshall for the Herff College of Engineering in addition to being involved with Tau Beta Pi honors society, Phi Kappa Phi honors society and the AEMB Biomedical Engineering Honors Society. He is involved with Ronald McDonald House, the Jason Motte "K Cancer" Memphis Cornhole Event, Mid-South Mission of Mercy and the Step UP for Down Syndrome Walk.
Additionally, Trela was named one of 30 baseball candidates for the national 2021 Senior CLASS Award, which focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
Other awards given during the PAWSCARS ceremony include:
All-Around Tiger: Lanyce Williams (Women's Basketball)
Nominated by other teams on campus, Lanyce Williams' contributions to Memphis go beyond what she does on the basketball court. Williams is one of two student-athletes on the core group of UMADE (University of Memphis Athletics for Diversity & Equality), where she provides valuable insight for the school's efforts in this important initiative. Additionally, Williams helped organize and lead the athletic department's Unity Walk in the fall of 2020, and she is also a member of the American Athletic Conference's Athletes for Equlity working group.
Record Breaking Performance: Samantha Lenton (Track & Field)
Samantha Lenton broke the discus school record in the 2021 outdoor season with her 57.20m throw at the Joey Haines Invitational in Cape Girardeau, Mo. This performance earned her first place in the meet, and her continued success in the discus led her to three-consecutive top finishes after that. For the 2021 outdoor season so far, her average throw is 55.28m, and she has finished in the top-three for all meets. Lenton still stands at 10th in the NCAA with this record-breaking throw.
Best Win: Men's Basketball wins the NIT
With a 77-64 win over Mississippi State on March 28, the Tigers captured the NIT championship and finished the season with a 20-8 record. Boogie Ellis had 23 points in the win, D.J. Jeffries added 15 and DeAndre Williams and Landers Nolley II had 12 and 10, respectively. Nolley II was named the Most Outstanding Player of the NIT, and the Tigers finished the season with a 20-8 record for their fourth-straight 20-win season.
Men's Best Individual Performance: Hunter Goodman (Baseball)
Hunter Goodman put together arguably the best offensive series in Memphis Tigers history Feb. 28-March 1, 2020 against Western Illinois. Across three games, Goodman went 9-for-17 with four home runs, which included three grand slams, 22 RBI, two doubles and seven runs scored. Goodman hit a three-run home run and a grand slam in a 24-3 win in the series opener, hit a grand slam as part of an 8-5 win in the second game of the series and blasted another grand slam as part of a four-hit performance in a 23-8 win that secured Memphis' series sweep. His 11 RBI on March 1 set both a program and American Athletic Conference record for single-game RBI.
Women's Best Individual Performance: Taylor Gibson (Rifle)
After qualifying for the NCAA Rifle Championships as a freshman as an individual, Taylor Gibson helped lead the Tigers to nationals as a team in her sophomore season. The trip to the NCAA Championships was Memphis' first since 2014, and the Tigers finished seventh in the nation. Gibson ended the competition 15th in the country in individual smallbore.
Men's Best True Freshman: Brandon Brackett (Men's Soccer)
Brandon Brackett was a key contributor for the Tigers in his debut season on the pitch. He started all 10 matches for Memphis and registered a trio of shots on goal in eight tries. Brackett averaged nearly the full 90 minutes per outing, playing less than the full game just twice, and he battled all 108 minutes in a 2-1 double-overtime win at USF on April 2.
Women's Best True Freshman: Grace Stordy (Women's Soccer)
Right from the start of her career, Grace Stordy has impacted the Tigers in major ways. She scored three times this season on just nine shots, which tied for the team lead, and she was part of a Memphis defense that allowed just eight goals this season, good for third in the conference. Stordy was named the American Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year and was voted to the All-Conference First Team.
Men's Breakthrough Student-Athlete: Austin Jackson (Track & Field)
Austin Jackson has consistently competed in sprints throughout his two years at Memphis, where he has established himself as a breakthrough athlete. In the 2021 season, he has competed solely in the men's 100m and 200m dashes and the 4x100m and 4x400m relays, where he posted his personal bests for the 100m dash at the Ole Miss Classic (10.80) and for the 200m dash at the War Eagle Invitational (21.69). With these events in this season alone, he has posted two first-place finishes three top-five performances.
Women's Breakthrough Student-Athlete: Lauren Metzger (Track & Field)
Lauren Metzger has emerged as a breakthrough athlete during her time with the Memphis cross country and track & field teams. After redshirting her first year with the team and then having her first true season cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Metzger posted two personal bests in the current outdoor season – one at the War Eagle Invitational in the 5000m run (18:36.19) and another in the 10000m run at the Joey Haines Invite (40:40.55). The latter gave her a top-10 finish at seventh place, and her other top-10 finish from the season came from the Ole Miss Classic in the 3000m run (10.54.07).
Comeback Student-Athlete: Grace Duncan (Women's Soccer)
After missing her sophomore season due to an ACL injury, Grace Duncan returned to the soccer pitch this year and was a valuable part of Memphis' NCAA Tournament team. She appeared in eight matches and registered an .800 shot-on-goal percentage, helping the Tigers to an 8-3 regular season record. Memphis earned a bid to its third-straight NCAA Tournament and fourth in the last five seasons.
Players Mentioned
