40 / ’southern
ATHLETICS
Birmingham-Southern held its annual Athletic Awards Banquet in May and named the 2013 Newcomers, Athletes, Teams,
and Man and Woman of the Year, as well as the Johnny Johnson Most Inspirational Senior Student Athletes.
Junior sprinter
Tiarra Goode
and sophomore softball player
Taylor Bassett
were named Co-Larry D. Striplin Female
Athletes of the Year, while senior runner
RobertWillett
was named Larry D. Striplin Male Athlete of the Year. BSC’s Athlete
of the Year awards were named in honor of late benefactor Larry D. Striplin ’52, a member of the college’s Board of Trustees
and the BSC Sports Hall of Fame, who passed away last year at the age of 82.
Goode, who was also the Female Athlete of the Year in 2012, won three SAA individual titles at the 2013 Track & Field
Championships and qualified for the national championship in La Crosse, Wis. Bassett was the 2013 SAA Softball Player
of the Year after leading the nation in home runs and breaking the BSC career home run record as a sophomore. Willett
was also a three-time SAA champion at the SAA Championship and won the NCAA Division III men's outdoor 800-meter
national championship in La Crosse. (Read more about their accomplishments on page 42.)
Freshmen
Sara Cohen
of women's tennis and
Hannah Busk
of swimming and diving were Co-Female Newcomers
of the Year, and swimmer
Duncan Bonney
was the Male Newcomer of the Year. Cohen was 11-1 in singles and 10-2 in
doubles play this year and was undefeated against SAA opponents. Busk was the SAA Swimmer of the Year and Newcomer
of the Year, as was Bonney on the men's side.
The Johnny Johnson Most Inspirational Senior Student-Athlete awards went to
Raeann Lamere
of women's tennis and
Andrew Huffman
of men's lacrosse. The Johnny Johnson Award is named for the late vice president for business and
finance at Birmingham-Southern who was an avid supporter of BSC athletics.
The BSC Man and Woman of the Year—new awards this year—were seniors
Shelby Moore
of volleyball and track and
field, and
BlaiseWhite
of men's basketball. Moore was First-Team All-Conference in 2011 and 2012, and is also an All-
Conference athlete in track and field. White was the 2012 and 2013 conference Defensive Player of the Year.
BSC also named its Teams of the Year, giving the award to football, women's soccer, and women's golf. Football and
women’s soccer were SAA regular-season champions, while women's golf earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III
Women's Golf Championship.
Bassett, Goode, Willett named Athletes of the Year at annual
awards banquet
Senior Women’s Administrator and Head Women’s Tennis Coach Ann Dielen (far left) and Athletics Director Joe Dean Jr. (far right)
with the 2013 Larry D. Striplin Athletes of the Year: Tiarra Goode, Robert Willett, and Taylor Bassett (photo by Jimmy Mitchell).
