Kaitlyn Brunworth wins Prestigious SAC Presidents Award
Date Posted: 6/8/2017
Rock Hill, S.C.----Wingate University 2017 graduate and women's soccer standout Kaitlyn Brunworth (Littleton, Colo.) has been awarded the prestigious South Atlantic Conference President's Award, league officials announced Thursday morning. The two-time Academic All-America® honoree earns the honor for the first time in her illustrious career. The Presidents Award is the highest individual honor presented annually by the South Atlantic Conference.
"This award caps off a tremendous career for Kaitlyn," head coach Chip Wiggins says. "In my opinion, her commitment to excellence on the field and in the classroom is second to none to anyone in the NCAA."
The SAC Presidents Award is voted on by the league's Faculty Athletic Representatives and to be eligible, student-athletes must exemplify excellence in athletics, academics and community service. Further, to be nominated for this prestigious award, the individual must have been honored as the Scholar-Athlete of the Year during the year in one of the league's 18 sponsored sports.
This award will be added to Brunworth's overflowing trophy case. The two-time SAC Scholar-Athlete is a four-time All-SAC honoree and three-time All-Region selection. Brunworth was named a second team All-American by the NSCAA in 2016 to go along with third team Academic All-America® recognition. She followed by earning first team Academic All-America® accolades as a senior, after leading the Bulldogs to their seventh consecutive SAC Tournament championship match.
A member of the President's List every semester at Wingate, Brunworth was a member of the University Honors Program. She earned Academic All-District accolades during each of her final three seasons, while being named the SAC Scholar-Athlete as a sophomore and a senior. A member of the SAC Honor Roll every year of her career, Brunworth earned the SAC Elite 18 Award in 2016, while also being named an NSCAA Scholar All-American.
Brunworth collected several impressive awards on the Wingate campus, including earning the Geddings Award as the top overall student-athlete as a junior and a senior at the WUSPYS. She also earned the Haskins Award at the 2017 WUSPYS, joining three other senior student-athletes with a perfect 4.0 GPA. She earned the C.C. Burris Outstanding Senior Award, the Dr. Patricia Williams Plant Award for Excellence in Biology and the Helen E. Cowsert Award for Excellence in Spanish. Brunworth was also one of two Wingate students that received the GlaxoSmithKline Women in Science Scholarship recipient.
With all of her honors on the field and in the classroom, Brunworth has had just as big of an impact on campus, in the community and even traveling to other countries. A Biology lab assistant and Gateway Peer Mentor at Wingate, she also spent time as a Spanish tutor. The two-year team captain worked with United Way Day of Caring and also spent two years volunteering at local medical clinic, translating and scheduling appointments for Spanish speaking patients. Brunworth spent a week in Honduras building a school for kids in an impoverished neighborhood. She also led a group of eight Wingate students on a service trip to Peru to assist in local medical clinics and help with community development projects. Brunworth was the chapter president of Wingate MEDLIFE.
After her incredible career at Wingate, Brunworth will be moving on to the next chapter of her life. She is on her way to medical school at the University of Colorado after scoring in the 98th percentile on her Medical College Admission Test (MCAT).
Brunworth is the 14th Bulldog to earn this prestigious honor and the first since quarterback Robbie Nallenweg was honored in 2014. The last female student-athlete to earn the honor at Wingate was volleyball All-American Liz Willis in 2012. Wingate's 14 Presidents Award winners are the most in the conference. The Bulldogs also lead the league in Scholar-Athlete winners and Academic All-America® honorees.