Guilford Honors Top Student-Athletes At Year-End Ceremony

Greensboro, N.C. (4/27/09) -- Guilford College honored its top student-athletes Sunday night at a year-end ceremony in the Ragan-Brown Field House. Six award winners nominated and selected by the school's athletic department were recognized at the ceremony. Former Guilford basketball standout Adonis "Sporty" Jeralds '81 addressed the group. A booking coordinator at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, Jeralds played basketball at Guilford and is a motivational speaker and author.

Senior Jennifer Abelin captured the Quaker Club's Ideal Student-Athlete Award. A four-year starter for coach Matthew Grosso’s lacrosse team, Abelin won Guilford's Nereus C. English Athletic Leadership Award in February, the school's highest athletic honor. She received Second Team All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) honors in 2008 and First Team All-ODAC laurels in 2007. The senior captain led the Quakers for the second year in a row with an ODAC-high 4.08 pickups per game. She also tops the conference through games of Apr. 27 with a school-record 31 caused turnovers. In 61 career contests, Abelin caused a school-record 90 turnovers and ranks second at Guilford with 217 ground balls. She ran with the cross country team last fall and recorded the second-fastest time in school history at the ODAC Championship mett. A dean’s list chemistry and biology double major, she is a three-time Academic All-ODAC selection and was named to the 2007-08 IWLCA Division III Academic Honor Roll. Abelin plans to pursue a doctorate degree in chemical biology at the University of Virginia.

 

Senior Tracey Croner of the basketball team won Guilford's Best Female Athlete Award. The 5-10 forward started all 26 games and led the Quakers in scoring for the second straight season (14.2 ppg.). She finished fifth among the ODAC’s scoring leaders and ranked 12th in the league with a team-best .463 field-goal percentage. Croner topped the Quakers with a career-high 6.0 rebounds per game and also contributed 1.6 assists per outing. She led Guilford’s scorers 14 times and scored in double figures 23 times. Croner hit for a season-high 27 points and added a career-high 17 boards in the Quakers’ 70-61 loss at Virginia Wesleyan College Jan. 17. She concluded her college career ranked 14th in school history with 1,021 career points and scored in double figures 46 times in 80 career games. A transferring from Coastal Carolina University in 2006, she earned All-ODAC honors three times and Guilford's English Award in 2008.

 

Also an English Award winner, junior Clay Henson won Guilford's Best Male Athlete Award after helping coach Tom Palombo's Quakers finish third in the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament. The 6-1 shooting guard earned first-team all-region honors from the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and D3hoops.com after scoring a team- and career-high 18.8 points per game. A First Team All-ODAC pick, he led the league in three-pointers per game (2.97) and ranked second among conference scoring leaders. Henson set school records for three-pointers in a career (189), in a season (95) and three-point attempts in a season (250). He notched 10 20-point games and became the 28th 1,000-point scorer in school history Feb. 21 versus Randolph College. Henson was named to the 2009 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship Series All-Tournament Team.

 

One of Henson's teammates, senior George Neville, claimed the Richard Joyce Sportsmanship Award. A starting forward, Neville averaged 9.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per contest in the finest season of his career. He represented Guilford on the ODAC's Men's Basketball Sportsmanship Team and played in the 2009 ODAC-USA South Athletic Conference Senior All-Star Game. Neville ranked 10th among the ODAC leaders in rebounds, third in offensive boards (2.72 rpg.) and 14th in free-throw percentage (.768). He appeared in all 117 career games, the third-highest total in school history, during which time Guilford compiled a 87-30 overall record, made three NCAA Division III Tournament appearances and won the 2008 ODAC Tournament title.

 

A tie in the voting meant the baseball team's Terrance Penn share the 2009 George Wynne Most Improved Athlete Award with Tyler Sanborn of the men's basketball team. Penn entered his senior season with a .214 batting average and three runs batted in (RBI) in 52 career games. He won the starting center-fielder's job this spring and enjoyed the finest season of his career with a .365 batting average and team-high 11 stolen bases (in 12 attempts) in 35 games. The speedy Penn led coach Nick Black's '02 Quakers with five sacrifice hits, scored 25 runs and drove in 14 runs, all career highs. With his dramatic turnaround, he concludes his Guilford career with a .321 batting average and 18 stolen bases in 21 attempts. Sanborn came to Guilford in 2006 as a 6-10, 255-pound center who averaged 3.3 points and 3.3 rebounds per game as the understudy to NCAA Division III Player of the Year Ben Strong '08. With Strong's graduation, Sanborn stepped into the limelight with the best of his three seasons. Now a 235-pound junior, he started all 32 games in 2008-09 and averaged 15.4 points, 12.9 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game, all career highs. Sanborn led the league in rebounds, blocks and double-doubles and ranked third among NCAA Division III in rebounding leaders. He earned Fourth Team All-America honors from D3hoops.com and was named the Web site's South Region Player of the Year. A Second Team NABC All-South District honoree, he was named the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament Sectional at John Carroll University after leading the Quakers to their first Division III Tournament semifinal berth. Sanborn averaged 17.3 points and 14.2 rebounds in the Quakers’ six NCAA Tournament contests.