LEXINGTON, Ky.\u2014Men\u2019s soccer All-American Matt Vogel, two-sport standout Liz Meredith, and All-Heartland Conference golfer Rhea Badgett were named\u00a0 male and co-female Pioneer Athletes of the Year during Wednesday\u2019s 15th annual Transylvania Athletic Awards ceremony.
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\nVogel, a native of Lexington and a graduate of Lexington Christian Academy, was a two-time All-American and a three-time All-Region choice for the Pioneers. He was also the HCAC Player of the Year this season after leading Transy to its third straight NCAA Division III Championship appearance, where the Pioneers advanced to the round of 16.
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\nFor the third time since the award has been given, there were co-female Pioneer Athletes of the Year in Meredith and Badgett.
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\nBadgett, a Madisonville North Hopkins product, was a four-time member of the All-HCAC first team and was the conference\u2019s Freshman of the Year, when she finished second in the league tournament. A two-time team captain, she never finished lower than seventh in the HCAC Championships.
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\nMeredith was a starting outfielder on the softball team and a team captain on the swimming and diving squad. She played on the first Transy softball team to qualify for the NCAA Championships in 2006 and scored points in all three of her individual events at the Bluegrass Mountain Conference Swimming Championships. She also established personal best times in all her events as a senior.
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\nBrent Roach, a four-year member of the baseball team, received the George H. Stopp Award for the Transylvania student athlete with the highest grade point average.
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\nAn eight-time Dean\u2019s List student with a 3.83 grade point average, Roach is a biology major who intends to go to medical school. A native of Georgetown, he was named to the HCAC All-Academic team four times.<\/p>\n
The athletic award ceremony was held at the William T. Young Campus Center gym for Transy\u2019s 276 intercollegiate athletes, coaches, administrators, student managers, athletic trainers, and sports information assistants.<\/p>\n
Also recognized were seniors who participated in athletics in each of their four years and the field hockey team, which had the highest collective GPA for a Transy varsity sport at 3.34.<\/p>\n
Meredith, a native of Johnson City, Tenn., also won the Senior Leadership Award, presented annually by the Student Athlete Advisory Committee. This award is presented to a senior athlete who demonstrates leadership on and off the playing field and in their conduct as a student athlete. <\/p>\n
Cancer survivor Ben Luking, a Louisville Ballard product who is the winningest pitcher in the history of the Transy baseball program, was presented with the Pioneer Inspiration Award.<\/p>\n
Highlights of the 2007-08 season were appearances by the men\u2019s soccer, men\u2019s tennis, men\u2019s golf, and baseball teams in the NCAA Division III Championships, three regular season HCAC team championships, and four HCAC tournament titles.<\/p>\n
Three Transy coaches, Brian Lane (men\u2019s golf), Chuck Brown (men\u2019s tennis), and Brandon Bowman (men\u2019s soccer) were named HCAC Coach of the Year and three student-athletes were HCAC Players of the Year: Parker Gregory (men\u2019s tennis), Matt Vogel (men\u2019s soccer), and Bradley Sutherland (men\u2019s golf).<\/p>\n
A total of 45 Transy student-athletes were named to All-Conference teams and 31 were chosen for All-Academic recognition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LEXINGTON, Ky.\u2014Men\u2019s soccer All-American Matt Vogel, two-sport standout Liz Meredith, and All-Heartland Conference golfer Rhea Badgett were named\u00a0 male and co-female Pioneer Athletes of the Year during Wednesday\u2019s 15th annual Transylvania Athletic Awards ceremony. \u00a0 Vogel, a native of Lexington and a graduate of Lexington Christian Academy, was a two-time All-American and a three-time All-Region choice for the Pioneers. He was also the HCAC Player of the Year this season after leading Transy to its third straight NCAA Division III Championship appearance, where the Pioneers advanced to the round of 16. \u00a0 For the third time since the award has been given, there were co-female Pioneer Athletes of the Year in Meredith and Badgett. \u00a0 Badgett, a Madisonville North Hopkins product, was a four-time member of the All-HCAC first team and was the conference\u2019s Freshman of the Year, when she finished second in the league tournament. A two-time team captain, she never finished lower than seventh in the HCAC Championships. \u00a0 Meredith was a starting outfielder on the softball team and a team captain on the swimming and diving squad. She played on the first Transy softball team to qualify for the NCAA Championships in 2006 and scored points in all three of her individual events at the Bluegrass Mountain Conference Swimming Championships. She also established personal best times in all her events as a senior. \u00a0 Brent Roach, a four-year member of the baseball team, received the George H.<\/p>\n