By Ryne Rickman, UT Martin Sports Information Director
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – A total of 23 University of Tennessee at Martin student-athletes achieved an unblemished 4.0 Grade Point Average in 2020-21 as the Ohio Valley Conference released its annual Academic Medal of Honor list this afternoon.
The 23 honorees are the most in school history, passing the 22 student-athletes from the 2013-14 season. All in all, 330 Skyhawks have garnered an OVC Medal of Honor since UT Martin joined the league in 1992.
On an individual basis, Winston Cannon (baseball) and Mizuki Sakurai (women’s tennis) captured their fourth career OVC Medal of Honor. Amelia Campbell (women’s tennis) and Nick Wolf (men’s golf) accumulated the third OVC Medal of Honor of their career while Sina Albersmeier (women’s tennis), Paige Clark (softball), Catey Hunt (soccer), Bella Roberts (soccer), Luke Smith (men’s golf), Jule Streif (women’s tennis) and Maddie Waldrop (women’s basketball) collected their second career OVC Medal of Honor recognition today.
The Skyhawk women’s tennis program tied for the most OVC Medal of Honor winners (four) in its sport while the UT Martin baseball squad (four), men’s golf team (three) each had the second-most honorees in their respective sports. Eight different Skyhawk programs boasted at least one OVC Medal of Honor recipient, led by the soccer team’s five honorees.
Overall, 354 student-athletes nabbed an OVC Medal of Honor award for the 2020-21 season, which are the most in a single academic year in the history of the award. The OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll (at least a 3.25 GPA) will be unveiled on Wednesday, Aug. 4 while the OVC Team Academic Achievement honorees will be released on Thursday, Aug. 5.
UT Martin’s OVC Medal of Honor winners are listed below. Multiple asterisks indicate the number of years the student-athlete has been named to the prestigious list:
Soccer (5): Baylee Arnott, Catey Hunt**, Bella Roberts**, Isabelle Thibault, Emely van der Vliet
Baseball (4): Winston Cannon****, Sean Dixson, David Hussey, Boston Smith
Women’s Tennis (4): Sina Albersmeier**, Amelia Campbell***, Mizuki Sakurai****, Jule Streif**
Men’s Golf (3): Peyton Dix, Luke Smith**, Nick Wolf***
Softball (3): Emily Brown, Paige Clark**, Gracie Lusk
Football (2): Cru Birdyshaw, Takeem Young
Women’s Basketball (1): Maddie Waldrop**
Volleyball (1): Dylan Mott
Graphic courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information