Athletics Year in Review - 2018-19

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Southern Miss enjoyed a 2018-19 athletic season that involved winning campaigns from its football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, softball, soccer, volleyball and women's tennis programs.

This year marked the first time the Golden Eagles posted winning records in the five major sports of football, men's and women's basketball, as well as baseball and softball since the 1999-2000 academic year.

The Golden Eagle athletic programs also finished with the highest Learfield Athletic Director's Cup standing among Conference USA members with a 121, as they have bettered their finish in each of the last four years.

The following is a quick look back at the Golden Eagle sport successes during the last year:

FOOTBALL
6-5 overall, 5-3 C-USA West / Tied for Second in C-USA

Recorded fourth-straight winning season and 22^nd over the last 25 years
Finished the season by winning three of its last four contests
Ranked No. 3 in FBS in total defense (278.4 ypg), marking the third-straight year they have finished in the top 20
Had two sophomores, WR Quez Watkins and DL Jacques Turner, each earned first-team All-Conference USA Honors

BASEBALL
40-21 overall, 20-10 C-USA / 2^nd regular season, C-USA Tournament Champion

Earned the automatic bid for Conference USA by winning its third league tournament title in the last four years
One of five Division I program to record 40 or more wins in at least each of the last four seasons
Reached NCAA Tournament for fourth-straight year and 16^th time overall
OF Matt Wallner named All-America by five media organizations and becomes highest MLB Draft pick in school history

MEN'S GOLF
9^th in C-USA Championships

Captured two first-place finishes and one second-place showing in 12 tournaments during the year under the first-year coach
Had three players win individual medalist honors in three events: Matt Lorenz, Walker Kesterson and Brian Richards
Walker Kesterson earned Academic All-Conference honors – the first USM player to do so since 2015

WOMEN'S GOLF
Finished 11^th at the C-USA Championships

Valentina Haupt, SAAC President, earned All-Tournament honors with a career-low 2-under 214 at the C-USA Championships. It was her second top-5 finish of the year
Henriette Syr's career-low 68 in the first round of the ICON Invitational tied for the third-best in school history
The team carded a program-record 872 in head coach Lucy Nunn's debut at the USA Intercollegiate (Sept. 15-17)

WOMEN'S SOCCER
13-6-1 overall, 5-4-1 C-USA / Finished sixth overall in C-USA, tournament runner-up

Advanced to the C-USA Tournament Title Match for the first time in school history, and the first tournament semifinal victory and the first visit to the tournament for the first time since 2007
Finished the season with a school-record 13 wins and 11 shutouts
Ola Akinniyi and Miah Zuazua became the first players in the history of the Southern Miss women's soccer program to be selected to the 2018 United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Women's All-South Region Teams
Sophomores Kendell Mindnich, Miah Zuazua and Jenny Caracheo became the first Southern Miss women's soccer players to be named to the C-USA All-Tournament Team
Ola Akinniyi became the first two-time C-USA All-Conference First Team selection in the history of the Southern Miss women's soccer program
Midfielder Miah Zuazua was named a C-USA All-Conference Second Team selection
Midfielder Olivia Durham landed a spot on the C-USA All-Freshman Team
Goalkeeper Kendell Mindnich became Southern Miss' all-time individual shutouts leader after notching seven shutouts over the course of 2018 season

SOFTBALL
30-22 overall, 13-11 C-USA / Finished third in C-USA West and fifth overall

Southern Miss recorded a 30-win season and qualified for the C-USA tournament for the first time since 2016
Junior shortstop Lacey Sumerlin was selected to the NFCA Division I South Region First Team. Sumerlin became the first Southern Miss player to garner NFCA All-Region First Team honors since Megan Hill in 2009
Sumerlin and sophomore center fielder Destini Brown were all tabbed C-USA All-Conference First Team selections. Sophomore right fielder Karley Nichols was named to the C-USA All-Conference Second Team
Team had the C-USA Pitcher of the Year, marking the first time that a Southern Miss pitcher has received C-USA Pitcher of the Year honors since 2001
Senior catcher Samantha Papp was named a NCAA Division I Softball Google Cloud Academic All-American, becoming the first Southern Miss softball student-athlete to earn All-America honors since Charity Butler in 2006

VOLLEYBALL
17-15 overall, 7-7 C-USA

Senior Kylie Grandy earned AVCA All-American Honorable Mention, becoming the sixth Golden Eagle to earn the honor
Down C-USA Power Western Kentucky in five sets at the C-USA Championships for the first time since 1988
Senior Sarah Bell became the all-time leader in career assists at Southern Miss with 5,251
Recorded its sixth-consecutive winning season

WOMEN'S TENNIS
12-5 overall, 0-2 in C-USA

Started the season as winners of seven of the first eight matches
Defended the Southern Miss Tennis Facility with a perfect 6-0 record
Sophomore Katia de la Garza paced the Golden Eagles with a team-high 10 wins
Senior Tjasa Jerse was named to the C-USA All-Academic Team for the second-straight season

MEN'S TENNIS
8-9 overall, 0-3 in C-USA / Reached Quarterfinals

Jorman Reyes finished with 63 singles wins, good for No. 10 in school history
Went 48 days between home matches, finishing a grueling road swing with sweeps of UNC Greensboro and Appalachian State
The team is 29-5 at home since the start of the 2017 season

BEACH VOLLEYBALL
11-21 overall, 0-8 in CCSA

One of four Division I programs to record at least 10 wins in its inaugural season
Against Tulane on March 5, the Golden Eagles became the first university to host a collegiate beach volleyball match in the state of Mississippi
Cyan Blackdeer and Abbey Wilson became the first Southern Miss pair to record a win, defeating Coastal Carolina's No. 2 pairing on Feb. 22
The first win in Southern Miss history came from a 5-0 defeat of Huntingdon on March 1

MEN'S BASKETBALL
20-13 overall, 11-7 in C-USA / Tied for 2^nd in C-USA

One of five teams nationally to improve their league win total each season over a five-year stretch
Became the third team in the last 10 years to earn a C-USA Championships bye after starting 0-3 (finished 11-7 and tied for second)
Earned its first postseason bid since 2012, fulfilling recovery from NCAA sanctions (fifth 20-win season since 2000)
Point guard Tyree Griffin finished nationally as No. 5 in assists per game, and his 434 assists over two years ranked as the No. 3 in school history
Cortez Edwards set the all-time steals record with 201, and is the only player to rank in the top-20 for scoring, top-15 for rebounds and top-10 for assists at Southern Miss
LaDavius Draine, the league's Sixth-Man of the Year, broke the single-season record with 46.3 percent three-point shooting (77 makes)

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
18-14 overall, 9-8 in C-USA / Tied for 7^th in C-USA

Made it to the quarterfinals in the WBI tournament, playing in the postseason for the first time since the 2016-17 season
Senior Megan Brown scored her 1,000^th point on her senior day against UTSA (Mar. 2), making her the 27^th player in the 1,000-point club. She also sits at No. 2 for games played, and is No. 3 for consecutive games played
Junior Shonte Hailes was named Preseason All-Conference and then First Team All-Conference postseason. Megan Brown was named to C-USA's All-Academic Team
The team had two named Freshman of the Week in Daishai Almond and Kelsey Jones; Shonte Hailes was named Player of the Week as well

TRACK & FIELD – INDOOR
Men – 4^th in Conference / Women – 5^th in Conference / 35^th at NCAA Championships

Highest NCAA Championships finish ever at 35^th and had four All-American honors
Three C-USA records broken on the men's side at the Conference Meet, along with a school record by Eric Richards in the High Jump, Danisha Jones in the shot put, and Sandra Szpott in the mile
Six gold medals at the Conference Championships along with one silver and five bronze
John Ellis was named Assistant Coach of the Year for the South Region by USTFCCCA

TRACK & FIELD – OUTDOOR
Men – 5^th in Conference / Women – 5^th in Conference / T-24^th at NCAA Championships

Had seven athletes win gold, two silver and four bronze at the Conference Championships, along with the Women's High Point Scorer of the Meet and the Male Field Athlete of the Meet; John Warren was also named Male Field Athlete of the Year
The women's 4x400m relay set a new school record at Mississippi State's Bulldog Relays
Had school records set at the NCAA Championships; in the triple jump and in the 110m hurdles
The men finished in the Top-25 at the NCAA Championships for the first time in school history and came away with four All-American honors; three of the four athletes finished in the top-5 of their respective events

CROSS COUNTRY
4^th in C-USA / 11^th in NCAA DI South Region

Finished in fourth at the Conference Championships with the lowest team score in school history and three All-Conference honorees
Placed 11^th at the DI South Regionals with the lowest score in school history and with the first runner to be named All-Region from Southern Miss after finishing 13^thin Sandra Szpott

Athletics Year in Review - 2018-19

Players Mentioned

Ola Akinniyi

Daishai Almond

Sarah Bell

Cyan Blackdeer

Destini Brown

Megan Brown

Jenny Caracheo

Katia de la Garza

LaDavius Draine

Olivia Durham

Cortez Edwards

Kylie Grandy

Tyree Griffin

Shonte Hailes

Valentina Haupt

Tjasa Jerse

Danisha Jones

Kelsey Jones

Walker Kesterson

Matt Lorenz

Kendell Mindnich

Karley Nichols

Samantha Papp

Jorman Reyes

Brian Richards

Eric Richards

Lacey Sumerlin

Henriette Syr

Sandra Szpott

Jacques Turner

Matt Wallner

John Warren

Quez Watkins

Abbey Wilson

Miah Zuazua

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