Yesterday evening, April 22nd, Rhodes Athletics had the pleasure of hosting another year of the

annual Lynx Awards, honoring student-athletes and teams for their outstanding work and

dedication throughout their 2023-2024 seasons. After an online ceremony for the 2022-2023

school year, this years' in-person event was long awaited, and took place in McNeill Concert

Hall.

Jeff Brightwell served as the host for the event, and Rhodes athletic director Jim Duncan also

spoke. After a quick recap of the year in sports (so far) for the Lynx, the individual award

winners were honored.

Four awards were given throughout the night to four senior athletes representing three teams.

These awards are a huge deal for Rhodes Athletics, and sought to honor the most deserving,

most outstanding, and most hard working athletes.

The first awards given were the George Lapides sportsmanship awards. These awards were

given to the student-athletes who demonstrate outstanding work ethic, sportsmanship, attitude,

and effort.

The men's recipient of this award was Logan Luke from the baseball team. Logan is a Political

Economy major, a baseball captain, and a model student-athlete, always giving 100% effort,

showing dedication to his teammates, and embodying all the expectations of a player in the

Rhodes College Baseball Program.

The women's recipient was A'niya Lagarde from the women's basketball team. She is a Biology

major, a captain, and was selected to the SAA all-tournament team and honorable mention

all-conference team. She has always been a spark to the women's basketball team, and has

constantly been a great teammate and an outstanding player for the Lynx.

The final awards given out were the Walter E. Gay and Rebecca Rish Gay awards, which

recognized senior student-athletes for outstanding contributions on the field, court, or diamond.

The winner of the Walter E. Gay award was Dante Messina, also from the baseball team. Dante

is a Business major, 3x All-SAA, 2x Region Player of the Year, SAA Player of the Year (2023),

and has over 200 career hits. Dante has been an absolute mainstay for Lynx baseball over his

career, and has had a tremendous impact on the program and all the players around him.

The winner of the Rebecca Rish Gay award was Sophie Croci from the Field Hockey team. She

is a Business major, 3x First Team All-SAA, 3x SAA All-Tournament Team, 2x team captain, and

1st all time in career goals with 55.

The awards ceremony concluded with the honoring of all of the Senior student-athletes at

Rhodes.

Congrats again to this year's award winners, and thank you to everyone who attended the

ceremony! See you all next year!