April 3, 2013
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina’s nominees for the 2013 H. Boyd McWhorter SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year are Whitney Avers of the swimming team and LB Dantzler of the baseball team, the league office and the university announced today. As the Gamecocks’ selections, each will receive $7,500 to use toward a graduate program within the next five years and is eligible to be the overall SEC winner of the award, which grants $15,000 for postgraduate education.
Avers is a captain on the Gamecock swim team and counts four top-10 times in school history among her career finishes. Those times came over three different events – 200 butterfly, 400 IM and two different free relay teams. Avers competed in three events at the SEC Championships and posted two wins in the 500 free this season. Out of the pool, Avers has a 3.858 grade point average in exercise science and plans to pursue her doctorate in physical therapy at the University of Maryland-Baltimore. She is a McKissick and Capstone Scholar, a three-time honoree on the President’s Honor List (4.0 GPA) and has made the SEC Academic Honor Roll every year. Avers is also active in the community, organizing her teammates to serve dinner to the homeless monthly at Transitions, teaching water skills and safety at Camp Sunshine, assisting local physicians with fitness testing for area youth teams and volunteering at Ronald McDonald House.
A captain on the baseball team, Dantzler leads the squad with a .353 batting average, 10 home runs and 33 RBI through 29 games. He earned second-team All-SEC honors in 2012 when he was second on the team in home runs (10) and RBI (48) while committing just five errors in 69 starts at third base. The defensive effort made him the team’s Gold Glove winner. Dantzler is one of 40 senior baseball players in the nation on the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Watch List this season for his efforts in the classroom and community as well. With a 3.641 GPA in sport and entertainment management, he has been on the SEC Academic Honor Roll and spent two semesters on the Dean’s List. Dantzler has volunteered more than 50 hours at the Epworth Children’s Home, working on various projects. He also helped organize a fundraising effort for the orphanage through an area restaurant, and has made speaking appearances for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
The overall male and female winners of the H. Boyd McWhorter SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year are selected by a committee of Faculty Athletics Representatives from the 14 SEC institutions and will be announced on Fri., April 5, by the SEC. The award was first presented in 1986. The honor was renamed for H. Boyd McWhorter in May 1990 to honor the former commissioner who served the conference 1972-86.
2013 H. Boyd McWhorter SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year Nominees
Alabama – Kayla Braud, Softball / Barrett Jones, Football
Arkansas – Hope McLemore, Softball / Dylan Breeding, Football
Auburn – Blanche Alverson, Basketball / Ashton Richardson, Football
Florida – Betsy Smith, Volleyball / Max Lang, Track and Field
Georgia – Shayla Worley, Gymnastics / Ty Frix, Football
Kentucky – Chelsea Oswald, Track and Field / Morgan Newton, Football
LSU – Madie Jones, Volleyball / Joseph Caraway, Track and Field
Ole Miss – Neal Tisher, Track and Field / Adrian Forgerg Skogeng, Tennis
Mississippi State – Stephanie Becker, Softball / Sam Frost, Baseball
Missouri – Allison Hu, Soccer / Nathan McCormick, Wrestling
South Carolina – Whitney Avers, Swimming / LB Dantzler, Baseball
Tennessee – Jasmine Brown, Volleyball / Brent Sterling, Diving
Texas A&M – Lindsey Miller, Volleyball / Case Cochran, Golf
Vanderbilt – Gabby Smith, Basketball / Richard Kent, Football
