2022-23 Year in Review
7/1/2023 10:00:00 AM | Baseball, Football, Men's Basketball, Men's Golf, Men's Tennis, Softball, Track & Field/Cross Country, Women's Basketball, Women's Golf, Women's Soccer, Women's Tennis, Women's Volleyball, Beach Volleyball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The inaugural year for the Sun Belt Conference proved to be a rewarding one for the Southern Miss Golden Eagles.
The Golden Eagles captured four Sun Belt conference titles, starting with women's cross country, followed by regular season crowns from both men's and women's basketball, as well as a tournament league title from the baseball team.
The football squad returned to a bowl game for the first time since 2019 and registered its first win since defeating Louisiana 28-21 in the 2016 New Orleans Bowl.
Baseball reached its seventh-straight NCAA Tournament in the spring as well as a second consecutive Super Regional appearance. The team, which recorded 46 victories, sent out long-time retiring skipper Scott Berry on a positive note.
Cameron Clarke became the school's first men's golfer to reach an NCAA Regional since 2011 and the fifth overall, while track and field sent 11 student-athletes to the NCAA preliminary, while Zayne Palomino reached the NCAA championships in the men's high jump. The women's cross country team finished with its highest ever placing in the NCAA Regionals with an eighth-place showing.
The women's volleyball enjoyed a run to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship Final Four, while men's basketball earned a spot in the NIT.
Here is a sport-by-sport look over the last academic year for Golden Eagle athletics:
Baseball (46-20, 22-8 Sun Belt)
* Ended Scott Berry's 14-year run with a Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship in its inaugural season
* It was the seventh-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament
* The Golden Eagles won their third regional championship at Auburn and hosted a super regional for the second-straight year
* The program now has 40 wins for seven-straight seasons, the most in Division I
* The Golden Eagles hit 88 home runs as a team, marking the only time in school history they enjoyed at least 80-plus homers in three consecutive seasons
* Tanner Hall, a consensus All-America selection, also earned SBC Pitcher of the Year honors, winning the award for the second-straight year in the school's conference
Beach Volleyball (18-24)
* Shattered program records in both individual and team categories, en route to a program-best 18-win season and Cinderella run to the final day of the Sun Belt Conference Championships in Huntsville, Ala.
* Kellie Garraway moved to the top of the career games played leaderboards
* Sophomore pair Ola Chudzik and Vanessa Hurnikova enjoyed a 20-win season at the top flight, the second-best season performance by any pair in program history
Cross County (Sun Belt Champions)
* Captured the inaugural Sun Belt Conference championship with four Golden Eagles notching All-Conference honors, and Oliwia Wawrzyniak earning the league's Freshman of the Year accolade
* The team recorded its highest placing in the NCAA Regional with an eighth-place team mark, while Isabela Ross set a school record of 20:03.3 to finish 15th and Wawrzyniak finished in 20:11.3 for 17th place
Football (7-6, 4-4 Sun Belt Conference)
* Enjoyed first winning season since 2019 in Sun Belt Conference inaugural season
* First bowl game victory since 2016 as they defeated Rice 38-24 in the LendingTree Bowl in Mobile
* Won five of six games at one point during the year including the Battle for Bell over Tulane in New Orleans
* Saw Frank Gore, Jr., averaged 264 yards over his final two games, including a school- and bowl-record 329 versus Rice
* Gore, Jr. was first-team All-Sun Belt Conference as all-purpose back and second-team running back, while WR Jason Brownlee, LB Santrell Latham, DBs Malik Shorts and Jay Stanley, along with kicker Briggs Bourgeois and punter Mason Hunt were third-team
Indoor Men's and Women's Track
* Safiya John set a new school record in Pentathlon with 3,876 points, finishing second in the event at the Vanderbilt Invitaional
* Reset the women's indoor 4x400 meter relay record as Trinity Benson, Trinity Flagler, Destiny Charles and Savi'a Varnell finished in 3:43.42
* Mar'Ques McCray and Dylan Evans each set the program record in the 600-meter run with Evans topping McCray with a time of 1:20.04
* Omar Austin earned First Team All-Sun Belt Conference honors
Men's Basketball (25-8, 14-4 Sun Belt Conference)
* Crowned Sun Belt Regular Season Champions after beating Texas State on the road on Feb. 24
* Won the Cancun Challenge with wins of Winthrop and Purdue Fort Wayne in Cancun, Mexico
* Jay Ladner was named the Joe Gottfried Coach of the Year by the Sun Belt Conference
* Austin Crowley was named Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year
* Crowley was named a Lou Henson All-American, NABC First Team All-District 23 and a finalist for the Howell Trophy
* Went 15-0 inside Reed Green Coliseum to tie for the best home winning percentage in program history
* Produced the biggest turnaround in NCAA Division I history after going from seven wins to 25
Men's Golf
* Enjoyed two team tournament championships, winning the Jim Rivers Intercollegiate and the Little Rock Invitational
* The team won three individual titles, including two from Ryan Dupuy (Little Rock Invitational and the White Sands Bahamas Invitational) and one from Thongpipat Rattanaynon (Jim Rivers Intercollegiate)
* Cameron Clarke became the fifth Golden Eagle to qualify for the NCAA Tournament and first since the 2011 season
* Clarke's season average of 71.47 is the lowest in school history
Men's Tennis (8-15, 1-6 Sun Belt Conference)
* Enjoyed a 6-1 win against Louisiana to earn the first Sun Belt win in program history
* Defeated Coastal Carolina in the opening round of the Sun Belt Tournament to get first postseason win since 2018
* Olimjon Nabiev posted a team-high nine wins
* Head coach Zubin Engineer is now at 123 career wins
Outdoor Men's and Women's Track
* Omar Austin and Warren Williams took the pole position in the 400-meter run and 110-meter hurdles, respectively, after the Florida State relays
* Safiya John recorded a new school recorded in the Heptathlon at the Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Championships with 5,432 points
* Zayne Palomino punched a ticket to the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Austin, Texas in high jump
* Palomino also earned Honorable Mention All-American honors
Softball (22-24, 6-17 Sun Belt Conference)
* Under first-year coach Natalie Poole, the Golden Eagles opened the season by winning 12 of their first 13 games
* The team reached their first postseason conference tournament since 2019
* Hannah Borden earned second-team all-conference honors
Volleyball (21-12, 10-6 Sun Belt Conference)
* Enjoyed a run to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship Final Four
* Picked up wins over Alabama State (First Round), UT Martin (Second Round) and Western Carolina (Quarterfinals) in the NIVC run
* Head coach Jenny Hazelwood became the winningest first-year head coach in program history in the win over UT Martin
* The Golden Eagles enjoyed a stretch of five wins in a six-game span against the likes of South Alabama, Troy and ULM
* Kenzie Smith And Mia Wesley were both invited to the U.S. Women's National Team Open Program
Women's Basketball (21-10, 13-5 Sun Belt)
* Captured first regular-season overall conference championship since 1994
* First 20+ win season since 2016-17, advancing to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Semifinals
* Junior Domonique Davis garnered All-Sun Belt Conference First Team honors, as well as a spot on the All-Tournament team
* Davis also earned recognition as a Gillom Trophy Finalist as she averaged 18.0 points per contest over 30 games
Women's Golf
* Captured the Hoover Invitational for the first team win since the 2017 season
* Seven different golfers produced top-10 finishes during the season
* Momoka Ando's second place finish at the Hoover Invitational was the best of any Golden Eagle
* Ando's 73.57 stroke average was the lowest in program history and Elena Melich's 73.90 average was the third-best
Women's Soccer (2-10-4, 2-5-3 Sun Belt Conference)
* Reached the conference tournament for the third-straight season
* Had one player, Ilana Izqiuerdo, earned second-team all-conference honors
* Opened up the season with five consecutive matches against SEC opponents, tying Ole Miss in the final match of that span 0-0
Women's Tennis (7-12, 2-9 Sun Belt Conference)
* Enjoyed a season-opening win for the second consecutive season
* Recorded three-straight wins in a week span against Nicholls, Jackson State and New Orleans
* Zenn Lim finished with a team-high 10 wins as a freshman
* Hannah Chambers and Maddison Ricardo each finished with eight wins
The Golden Eagles captured four Sun Belt conference titles, starting with women's cross country, followed by regular season crowns from both men's and women's basketball, as well as a tournament league title from the baseball team.
The football squad returned to a bowl game for the first time since 2019 and registered its first win since defeating Louisiana 28-21 in the 2016 New Orleans Bowl.
Baseball reached its seventh-straight NCAA Tournament in the spring as well as a second consecutive Super Regional appearance. The team, which recorded 46 victories, sent out long-time retiring skipper Scott Berry on a positive note.
Cameron Clarke became the school's first men's golfer to reach an NCAA Regional since 2011 and the fifth overall, while track and field sent 11 student-athletes to the NCAA preliminary, while Zayne Palomino reached the NCAA championships in the men's high jump. The women's cross country team finished with its highest ever placing in the NCAA Regionals with an eighth-place showing.
The women's volleyball enjoyed a run to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship Final Four, while men's basketball earned a spot in the NIT.
Here is a sport-by-sport look over the last academic year for Golden Eagle athletics:
Baseball (46-20, 22-8 Sun Belt)
* Ended Scott Berry's 14-year run with a Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship in its inaugural season
* It was the seventh-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament
* The Golden Eagles won their third regional championship at Auburn and hosted a super regional for the second-straight year
* The program now has 40 wins for seven-straight seasons, the most in Division I
* The Golden Eagles hit 88 home runs as a team, marking the only time in school history they enjoyed at least 80-plus homers in three consecutive seasons
* Tanner Hall, a consensus All-America selection, also earned SBC Pitcher of the Year honors, winning the award for the second-straight year in the school's conference
Beach Volleyball (18-24)
* Shattered program records in both individual and team categories, en route to a program-best 18-win season and Cinderella run to the final day of the Sun Belt Conference Championships in Huntsville, Ala.
* Kellie Garraway moved to the top of the career games played leaderboards
* Sophomore pair Ola Chudzik and Vanessa Hurnikova enjoyed a 20-win season at the top flight, the second-best season performance by any pair in program history
Cross County (Sun Belt Champions)
* Captured the inaugural Sun Belt Conference championship with four Golden Eagles notching All-Conference honors, and Oliwia Wawrzyniak earning the league's Freshman of the Year accolade
* The team recorded its highest placing in the NCAA Regional with an eighth-place team mark, while Isabela Ross set a school record of 20:03.3 to finish 15th and Wawrzyniak finished in 20:11.3 for 17th place
Football (7-6, 4-4 Sun Belt Conference)
* Enjoyed first winning season since 2019 in Sun Belt Conference inaugural season
* First bowl game victory since 2016 as they defeated Rice 38-24 in the LendingTree Bowl in Mobile
* Won five of six games at one point during the year including the Battle for Bell over Tulane in New Orleans
* Saw Frank Gore, Jr., averaged 264 yards over his final two games, including a school- and bowl-record 329 versus Rice
* Gore, Jr. was first-team All-Sun Belt Conference as all-purpose back and second-team running back, while WR Jason Brownlee, LB Santrell Latham, DBs Malik Shorts and Jay Stanley, along with kicker Briggs Bourgeois and punter Mason Hunt were third-team
Indoor Men's and Women's Track
* Safiya John set a new school record in Pentathlon with 3,876 points, finishing second in the event at the Vanderbilt Invitaional
* Reset the women's indoor 4x400 meter relay record as Trinity Benson, Trinity Flagler, Destiny Charles and Savi'a Varnell finished in 3:43.42
* Mar'Ques McCray and Dylan Evans each set the program record in the 600-meter run with Evans topping McCray with a time of 1:20.04
* Omar Austin earned First Team All-Sun Belt Conference honors
Men's Basketball (25-8, 14-4 Sun Belt Conference)
* Crowned Sun Belt Regular Season Champions after beating Texas State on the road on Feb. 24
* Won the Cancun Challenge with wins of Winthrop and Purdue Fort Wayne in Cancun, Mexico
* Jay Ladner was named the Joe Gottfried Coach of the Year by the Sun Belt Conference
* Austin Crowley was named Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year
* Crowley was named a Lou Henson All-American, NABC First Team All-District 23 and a finalist for the Howell Trophy
* Went 15-0 inside Reed Green Coliseum to tie for the best home winning percentage in program history
* Produced the biggest turnaround in NCAA Division I history after going from seven wins to 25
Men's Golf
* Enjoyed two team tournament championships, winning the Jim Rivers Intercollegiate and the Little Rock Invitational
* The team won three individual titles, including two from Ryan Dupuy (Little Rock Invitational and the White Sands Bahamas Invitational) and one from Thongpipat Rattanaynon (Jim Rivers Intercollegiate)
* Cameron Clarke became the fifth Golden Eagle to qualify for the NCAA Tournament and first since the 2011 season
* Clarke's season average of 71.47 is the lowest in school history
Men's Tennis (8-15, 1-6 Sun Belt Conference)
* Enjoyed a 6-1 win against Louisiana to earn the first Sun Belt win in program history
* Defeated Coastal Carolina in the opening round of the Sun Belt Tournament to get first postseason win since 2018
* Olimjon Nabiev posted a team-high nine wins
* Head coach Zubin Engineer is now at 123 career wins
Outdoor Men's and Women's Track
* Omar Austin and Warren Williams took the pole position in the 400-meter run and 110-meter hurdles, respectively, after the Florida State relays
* Safiya John recorded a new school recorded in the Heptathlon at the Sun Belt Conference Outdoor Championships with 5,432 points
* Zayne Palomino punched a ticket to the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Austin, Texas in high jump
* Palomino also earned Honorable Mention All-American honors
Softball (22-24, 6-17 Sun Belt Conference)
* Under first-year coach Natalie Poole, the Golden Eagles opened the season by winning 12 of their first 13 games
* The team reached their first postseason conference tournament since 2019
* Hannah Borden earned second-team all-conference honors
Volleyball (21-12, 10-6 Sun Belt Conference)
* Enjoyed a run to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship Final Four
* Picked up wins over Alabama State (First Round), UT Martin (Second Round) and Western Carolina (Quarterfinals) in the NIVC run
* Head coach Jenny Hazelwood became the winningest first-year head coach in program history in the win over UT Martin
* The Golden Eagles enjoyed a stretch of five wins in a six-game span against the likes of South Alabama, Troy and ULM
* Kenzie Smith And Mia Wesley were both invited to the U.S. Women's National Team Open Program
Women's Basketball (21-10, 13-5 Sun Belt)
* Captured first regular-season overall conference championship since 1994
* First 20+ win season since 2016-17, advancing to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Semifinals
* Junior Domonique Davis garnered All-Sun Belt Conference First Team honors, as well as a spot on the All-Tournament team
* Davis also earned recognition as a Gillom Trophy Finalist as she averaged 18.0 points per contest over 30 games
Women's Golf
* Captured the Hoover Invitational for the first team win since the 2017 season
* Seven different golfers produced top-10 finishes during the season
* Momoka Ando's second place finish at the Hoover Invitational was the best of any Golden Eagle
* Ando's 73.57 stroke average was the lowest in program history and Elena Melich's 73.90 average was the third-best
Women's Soccer (2-10-4, 2-5-3 Sun Belt Conference)
* Reached the conference tournament for the third-straight season
* Had one player, Ilana Izqiuerdo, earned second-team all-conference honors
* Opened up the season with five consecutive matches against SEC opponents, tying Ole Miss in the final match of that span 0-0
Women's Tennis (7-12, 2-9 Sun Belt Conference)
* Enjoyed a season-opening win for the second consecutive season
* Recorded three-straight wins in a week span against Nicholls, Jackson State and New Orleans
* Zenn Lim finished with a team-high 10 wins as a freshman
* Hannah Chambers and Maddison Ricardo each finished with eight wins
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Golf
Sprints
/ Track & Field/Cross Country
Sprints
/ Track & Field/Cross Country
C
/ Softball
PK
/ Football
WR
/ Football
/ Women's Tennis
Sprints
/ Track & Field/Cross Country
/ Beach Volleyball
G
/ Men's Basketball
Guard
/ Women's Basketball
/ Men's Golf
Mid-Distance
/ Track & Field/Cross Country
Sprints
/ Track & Field/Cross Country
/ Beach Volleyball
RB
/ Football
RHP
/ Baseball
P
/ Football
/ Beach Volleyball
Multis/Jumps
/ Track & Field/Cross Country
LB
/ Football
/ Women's Tennis
Mid-Distance
/ Track & Field/Cross Country
/ Women's Golf
/ Men's Tennis
Jumps
/ Track & Field/Cross Country
/ Women's Tennis
Distance
/ Track & Field/Cross Country
DB
/ Football
S
/ Women's Volleyball
SAF
/ Football
Sprints
/ Track & Field/Cross Country
OH
/ Women's VolleyballTrue Grit: Final Episode
Friday, October 20
Episode 1: War Damn Golden Eagle
Tuesday, August 22
Episode 5: Battle for the Belt
Thursday, August 17
Episode 4: Battle for the Belt
Saturday, August 12