BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Gulf South Conference announced its Top Ten Award recipients for the 2022-23 academic year.
This year's selections represent eight member institutions and nine different sports. It also featured three student-athletes who have Top Ten accolades previously as well as Commissioner's Trophy winners from each of the last two seasons. This year's award also included an international flair with three foreign-born recipients.
The award recognizes the top female and top male student-athletes for their athletic, academic, and extracurricular achievements, during the 2022-23 academic year. The top student-athlete from each group of honorees will be also be awarded the Commissioner's Trophy, which is the conference's most prestigious individual honor.
Top Ten awardees and GSC Commissioner's Trophy winners, recognized and announced on Thursday, June 1 in Pensacola, Fla. The ceremony will be streamed at approximately 6:45 pm Central, at no charge, on the conference's YouTube channel.
On the women's side, Montevallo's Allie Dishman (volleyball), Mississippi College's Erin Hederman (soccer), Lee's Haley Schubert (basketball), Christian Brothers' Johanna Wistokat (cross country/track & field), and West Florida's Taylor Vaneekeren (volleyball).
Dishman is the Falcon's fourth woman to receive the award and fifth overall. She also became the first Montevallo volleyball student-athlete recognized. The junior earned various awards during the season including an AVCA All-America honorable mention nod, GSC All-Academic, D2CCA All-Region and College Sports Communicators Academic All-District® accolades.
Hederman became the seventh Choctaw recognized and is the fourth honoree from the women's soccer program. The senior earned a number of accolades including GSC All-Academic Team, United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-America, D2CCA All-America honors.
Schubert seventh consecutive woman from Lee to be honored and is the school's first basketball student-athlete to be recognized. A graduate student, Schubert was recognized on and off the court during the season earning GSC All-Academic Team, First Team All-GSC and was named a WBCA All-American.
Wistokat earned her second consecutive Top Ten Award. She is the Buccaneers' first two-time winner since men's honoree Trey Casey also won back-to-back awards (2014, 2015). She also made history becoming the first CBU runner to win an individual cross country title at the conference championship and the NCAA regional races. A cross country Champion Scholar-Athlete award winner, the grad student, was also a USTFCCCA Academic awardee and All-American on the trails as well as an outdoor All-Region honoree.
Vaneekeren is the 17th Argonauts woman awardee all-time and the first since Berta Bonardi (2020-21). A graduate student, Vaneekeren hauled in various on and off the court accolades during the season, including GSC Player of the Year, D2CCA South Region Player of the Year, AVCA Second Team All-American, and CSC Academic All-America® Team honors.
The men's honorees included Lee's Beck Burnette (golf), West Florida's Elias Haavisto (golf), Valdosta State's Luca Mack (tennis), Delta State's Patrick Shegog (football), and from West Georgia Michael Zabetakis (basketball).
Brunette picked his second consecutive Top Top Award and is the first men's golfer to be recognized in consecutive years since West Florida's Matthew Galloway (2007, 2008). He also won the Commissioner's Trophy in 2021-22. Burnette was named the D2CCA Scholar-Athlete of the Year. In 2023, he was named the GSC Golfer of the Year and was GCAA Ping All-Region selection
Haavisto became the first Argonaut awardee on the men's side since football's Tate Lehtio (2019-20) and the first golfer since Christian Bosso (2018-19). The senior made conference history becoming the first GSC golfer to win three individual titles. A First Team All-GSC and GCAA Ping All-Region selection in 2023, Haavisto received GCAA Academic and All-America laurels in 2022.
Mack became the seventh men's tennis student-athlete in conference-history to be selected and the first since 2016-17 (Alex Peyrot, UWF). He is also the 25th Blazer honoree all-time and the first from tennis since Philip Pakebusch (2010-11). A GSC Champion Scholar-Athlete and CSC Academic All-District honore, Mack was also named the league's Player of the Year.
Shegog is the first football honoree for the Statesmen since Tyler Sullivan (2016-17) and seventh all-time. He is also Delta State's first selection since golf's Zack Zediker (2019-20) and the 24th DSU student-athlete awarded. On the field, graduate quarterback led Delta State to a share of the GSC title en route to earning GSC Offensive Player of the Year, D2CCA All-Region, as well as postseason honors from Don Hansen Football and D2Football.com.
Zabetakis earned his second Top Ten honor and picked up the Wolves' ninth award all-time. He was previously awarded the Top Ten 2020-21, before winning the Commissioner's Trophy. The senior earned a number of individual accolades during the season including First Team All-GSC, D2CCA All-Region, NABC All-District, NABC/Reese's All-Star, while also being named to the GSC All-Academic Team.
The GSC Top Ten Award recipients are selected with the assistance of an advisory committee representing Athletics Directors, Senior Woman Administrators (SWA), Athletic Communication Directors, Faculty Athletic Representatives, and Presidents from randomly selected GSC schools, which makes a recommendation to the Commissioner, who has the final decision.
