W&L's Kurkis and Mathews, BC's Rhodes Win Top Scholar-Athlete Awards
FOREST, Va. --- Three student-athletes
earned the conference's top awards in a vote of the ODAC Board of
Directors at the annual league meetings earlier this week.
Washington and Lee University's Greg Kurkis was recognized as
the Harry G. "Doc" Jopson Award winner. Bridgewater College's
Christina Rhodes and the Generals' Emmy Mathews will share the
Marjorie Berkley Award., marking the first tie in Berkley Award
history.
Inaugurated in 1984 and 1981, respectively, the Marjorie Berkley
and Harry G. "Doc" Jopson Scholar-Athlete Awards are given each
spring to member college seniors and conference sport participants
who exhibit the highest athletic, academic, and extracurricular
achievements. Ms. Berkley began her collegiate teaching
career at Lynchburg College. Several years later after
leaving Lynchburg, Ms. Berkley moved to Hollins University where
she coached tennis, field hockey and soccer, and served as the
athletic director for 30 years. The Jopson Award is named for
the Bridgewater College professor and coach who retired in 1981
following 45 years at the college. Dr. Jopson, who initiated and
directed the Eagles' cross country and track programs, led his
teams to ODAC indoor track titles in 1979, 1980 and 1981, and
outdoor crowns in 1978 through 1981.
Rhodes, a liberal studies major from Dayton, Va., starred as
a track & field student-athlete for the Eagles. Rhodes is
the winner of the first two NCAA Elite 88 Awards for women's
outdoor track & field, recognizing her as the student-athlete
with the highest cumulative grade point average competing in both
the 2010 and 2011 NCAA Division III Track & Field
Championships. She is a member of the Omicron Delta Kappa
(leadership) honor society and the Chi Alpha Sigma Athletic
Chapter. She is the winner of 2010 Outstanding Presidential
Citation, and was nominated to Teachers of Promise this past
season. Just recently, Rhodes was named to the Capital
One Academic All-District III Women's Track & Field College
Division First Team presented by CoSIDA. It is the second
year she has earned such a distinction. In 2010, Rhodes went
on to receive Academic All-America status.
Rhodes is a four-time champion in the pole vault at both the ODAC
Indoor and Outdoor Track Championship Meets. She competed in
her second straight NCAA Division III Track & Field
Championships pole vault competition at Ohio Wesleyan University
last month. She finished sixth in the 2010 national meet,
which earned her All-America recognition. She holds indoor
and outdoor school records in the pole vault, and has twice been
named an Eagles' team MVP. She tabbed the ODAC/Farm Bureau
Insurance Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards for women's outdoor
track each of the past two years by votes of the league's sports
information directors.
In her community, Rhodes is a volunteer for several organizations
including the Blue Ridge Christian School, the Mount Clinton United
Methodist Church, Mountain View Elementary School, and the
Salvation Army. She has served on the ministry service team,
as well as a student peer minister. Earlier this spring,
Rhodes enjoyed a guest speaking opportunity in front of the Salem
Rotary Club in Salem, Va.
Mathews, a Philosophy and Business Administration major from
Baltimore, Md., excelled as a dual-sport student-athlete for the
Generals' field hockey and women's lacrosse teams. She is a
three-time honoree on the All-ODAC Academic Team, as well as being
a W&L Scholar-Athlete. She was named to the ESPN/CoSIDA
District III College Division Academic All-District Second Team in
2010. Mathews is a member of Phi Beta Kappa (national
academic), Omicron Delta Kappa, Beta Gamma Sigma (international
academic) and Phi Eta Sigma (freshman) honor societies. In
2009, Mathews was one of three statewide winners of the Virginia
Foundation of Independent Colleges (VFIC)/Norfolk Southern
Scholarship.
On the field, Mathews is a five-time All-ODAC First Team honoree,
having earned three honors for lacrosse and two for field hockey.
She also was tabbed to the field hockey second team once and
was named the sport's ODAC Rookie of the Year in 2007. She
added to her awards mantle this spring as she was named the 2011
ODAC Women's Lacrosse Player of the Year in a vote of the league's
coaches. Mathews was later named to the IWLCA All-Chesapeake
Region First Team for the third-consecutive season. She concluded
her career ranked third in career goals (161) and fifth in career
points (199) in W&L program history. Her contributions to
both the field hockey and lacrosse programs helped her to earn the
"Pres" Brown Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year for Washington
and Lee.
Mathews has been active in her community as well. She has
been a Teach for America Campaign Coordinator and a volunteer tutor
at the Waddell Elementary School. She has also volunteered
for Campus Kitchens. Mathews has served as treasurer of the
Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, and is a member of Kathekon,
Washington and Lee’s student alumni association.
Kurkis, a Biochemistry major from Roswell, Ga., received the
"Pres" Brown Outstanding Male Athlete of the Year following four
years as a letterman on the Generals' football team. He added
the William D. McHenry Scholar-Athlete of the Year accolade to his
resume, becoming the first W&L student-athlete to sweep the two
honors since 1997. Kurkis, who also minored in Poverty and
Human Capability Studies, received an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship
following the fall campaign. He is a member of several honor
societies including Phi Beta Kappa, Omicron Delta Kappa, Phi Eta
Sigma, and Alpha Epsilon Delta (national pre-medical). In
2009, Kurkis was named to the CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine Academic
All-America Second Team, but trumped that by one in 2010 as he was
selected to the Academic All-America First Team.
On the gridiron, Kurkis started every game of his four
seasons (40 total), helping the Generals’ offense set
numerous school and conference records while earning All-ODAC
honors every season. The 2007 ODAC Rookie of the Year, he was
a Second Team All-ODAC honoree as a freshman, sophomore and junior,
and a First Team All-ODAC choice as a senior when he earned first
team all-state and third team all-region accolades. Kurkis
also won the 2009 and 2010 ODAC/Farm Bureau Insurance
Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards for football.
In the community, Kurkis served several roles including as a
student board member for Habitat for Humanity and a University Peer
Tutor. He was also philanthropy chair for the Kappa Alpha
Order, as well as a volunteer for the Rockbridge Area Free Clinic.
During the summer of 2009, Kurkis completed an internship
through the Shepherd Poverty Program with the Fan Free Clinic in
Richmond.
2011 Harry G. “Doc” Jopson Award Nominees
Cole Hawthorne, Hampden-Sydney College
Benjamin Phelps, Lynchburg College
Eric van Staalduinen, Randolph College
Justin Tuma, Roanoke College
Greg Kurkis, Washington and Lee University
2011 Marjorie Berkley Award Nominees
Christina Rhodes, Bridgewater College
Morgan Andrews, Guilford College
Morgan Logue, Lynchburg College
Emmy Mathews, Washington and Lee University
Sport by Sport History of Winners
2003-04 Individual Sport Scholar Athlete Award Winners
2004-05 Individual Sport Scholar Athlete Award Winners
2005-06 Individual Sport Scholar Athlete Award Winners
2006-07 Individual Sport Scholar-Athlete Award Winners