The capacity crowd saluted the 2016-2017 season with a Coke toast.
The Oglethorpe Athletics rounded out the season with the Fifth Annual Petey Awards on Sunday, hosted at the Turner Lynch Campus Center on Oglethorpe’s campus. The event, which is produced by the Oglethorpe Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), allowed Oglethorpe student-athletes to honor the best and brightest performances of the year while reflecting on the 2016-17 athletic year as a whole.
Awards were given out in a variety of categories:
Female Breakthrough Stormy Petrel – Kayla Trice, Soccer/Track and Field
Male Breakthrough Stormy Petrel – Omari Miller, Cross Country/Track and Field
Most Spirited Team – Baseball
Men’s Scholarly Petrel Team Award – Cross Country
Women’s Scholarly Petrel Team Award – Basketball
Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year – Delaney Abood, Tennis
Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year – Erik Marquez, Soccer
Most Talented Team – Women’s Soccer
Most Improved Team – Women’s Tennis
Stormy Petrel Women’s Team Coach of the Year – Peter Howell, Tennis
Stormy Petrel Men’s Team Coach of the Year – Jon Akin, Soccer
Stormy Petrel Women’s Team of the Year – Tennis
Stormy Petrel Men’s Team of the Year – Soccer
Female Stormy Petrel of the Year – Lauren Ransom, Basketball
Male Stormy Petrel of the Year – Topher Marshall, Soccer
Stormiest Petrel of the Year – Connor Sigrist, Men’s Basketball
Female Athlete of the Year – Caroline Johnson, Tennis
Male Athlete of the Year – Josh Hoeft, Soccer
In addition, student-athletes earned SAA recognition. Seniors earned their framed “O” senior awards, commemorating their time as members of the Stormy Petrels.
The athletic department also bade farewell to men’s basketball assistant coach Branden Jovaag, who is getting married to Oglethorpe volleyball alumna McKenna Bondarenko and moving to Colorado over the summer. Laura Castellanos, who served as Petey the Petrel during the past two years and is set to graduate in May, was also honored at the event.
Oglethorpe SAAC President Stephen Johnson outlined all the endeavors the organization undertook over the course of the academic year, including the talent show, Division III Week, National Girls and Women in Sports Day, and a holiday toy drive.
At the end of the night, Rebecca Spry, this year’s SAAC vice president, was introduced as SAAC president for the 2017-18 academic year, with Caleb Feibus taking on the role of vice president.
