ATLANTA, Ga. (May 10, 2023) – Back-to-back Southern Athletic Association champion Berry earned two major awards while Centre and Hendrix picked up athletes of the year honors, it was announced by the conference office on Wednesday.
 
Centre senior JP Vaught was voted the Track Athlete of the Year while Hendrix standout Ethan Armour was named Field Athlete of the Year. Berry’s Ethan Smith was earned Newcomer of the Year honors and his coach Luke Syverson was named SAA Coach of the Year.
 
Conference awards were voted on by the league’s eight head coaches.
 
Vaught becomes a three-time SAA Track Athlete of the Year and is coming off a stellar weekend at the SAA championship. He won the 200 meter dash in a record time of 21.26 and was runner-up in the 400, posting a time of 47.66, which was faster than the previous SAA best. The senior also anchored the Colonel’s winning 4x100 meter relay team to a time of 41.75. Vaught is currently ranked eighth in the nation in the 200, 19^th in the 100, and 23^rd in the 400.
 
Armour was the SAA Male Athlete of the Meet, competing in six events and racking up 32.5 points at the championship. In field events, he won the javelin with a throw of 53.32 meters and took silver in the high jump with a clearance of 1.89 meters. The senior was also sixth in the discus and tied for fourth in the pole vault. Armour is currently the 27^th ranked decathlete in the nation.  
 
Smith won the 1500 at the SAA championship, posting a time of 3:58.47 that was less than two seconds off the championship record. The freshman also earned a third place finish in the 800 meter run, stopping the clock at 1:55.75, and ran a leg for the Vikings runner-up 4x400 meter relay team (3:21.19).
 
Syverson is in his eighth-year leading Berry’s program and has led the Vikings to a pair of SAA Championships. This season, Berry led the way with 18 All-SAA performers and seven gold medals at the conference meet. Vikings also set three conference records at the championship. Four Berry athletes are ranked nationally in six different events heading into NCAA competition, led by Jahari Jones sitting 12^th in the 100 meter dash and 13^th in the 400 meter dash.
 
Men’s Track Athlete of the Year – JP Vaught (Centre)
Men’s Field Athlete of the Year – Ethan Armour (Hendrix)
Men’s Newcomer of the Year – Ethan Smith (Berry)
Men’s Coach of the Year – Luke Syverson (Berry)
 
Note: Track & Field All-SAA teams are determined by finish at the conference championship. Event winners are first team, runner-up second team and third place honorable mention. Athletes are only listed on their highest team achieved.
 
First Team All-SAA
David Almona (Centre)
Ethan Armour (Hendrix)
David Billiard (Berry)
Jared Briant (Rhodes)
Chris Butler (Millsaps)
TJ Clayton (Rhodes)
Logan Isaacs (Centre)
Jahari Jones (Berry)
Bradshaw Lathbury (Berry)
Dawson Livingston (Berry)
Jeremy Olliges (Centre)
Henri' Ransefore (Rhodes)
Ethan Smith (Berry)
Michael Smith (Centre)
Hugh Stokes (Rhodes)
Maurice Sutherland (Birmingham-Southern)
Justin Thompson (Rhodes)
JP Vaught (Centre)
Ethan Weatherspoon (Centre)
 
Second Team All-SAA
Jeremiah Cook (Rhodes)
Dom De Lillo (Berry)
Dirk Gambrel (Centre)
Luke Gerzon (Rhodes)
Spencer Harvey (Centre)
James Keith III (Berry)
Will Lovell (Centre)
Alden McDonald (Berry)
Jordan McQueen (Oglethorpe)
Mason Robinson (Berry)
Jackson Sears (Berry)
Deiondre Wilson (Berry)
 
Honorable Mention All-SAA
Troy Blackwood (Berry)
Kearon Brown (Hendrix)
Bruce Davis (Birmingham-Southern)
Ashton Deriso (Oglethorpe)
Owen Foster (Rhodes)
Dez'Tavien Frank (Millsaps)
Ben Hanlon (Berry)
Peter Ivester (Berry)
Sam Leonard (Sewanee)
Jordan McQueen (Oglethorpe)
Jaiden Maddox (Birmingham-Southern)
Javy Martinez (Oglethorpe)
Rainey Morris (Oglethorpe)
Philippe N’Dia (Centre)
Hayden Raikes (Berry)
Christian Rivera (Berry)
Andrew Rexrode (Berry)
Justin Stewart (Oglethorpe)
Will Weber (Millsaps)
Marcus Wilson (Berry)