Javelinas Win LSC SAAC Cup, Again

(07/31/11)


KINGSVILLE, TEXAS – Student-athletes and administrators from all eleven Lone Star Conference member institutions met in Kingsville, Texas, July 29-31, for the league’s sixth annual Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) Summer Retreat).  At a dinner banquet on Friday night, Texas A&M-Kingsville was awarded the LSC SAAC Cup for a second straight year.

The LSC SAAC Cup was awarded to Texas A&M-Kingsville for their efforts during 2010-11.  The purpose of the cup is to encourage participation in conference SAAC initiatives.  The Javelinas earned the most points of any school throughout the year to earn the third-ever cup along with customized t-shirts.  The Javelinas tallied 16,556 points, over 4,000 more than last year.  Abilene Christian (11,608) and West Texas A&M (9,667) rounded out the top three schools.  The award is based on involvement in six categories: LSC SAAC meetings, Campus SAAC meetings, Make-A-Wish, Community Service Month, other community service and the NCAA Legislative grid.

The three-day event, which took place on the campus of Texas A&M-Kingsville, is intended to help improve communication amongst LSC SAAC groups and to help energize student-athletes with ideas and “best practices” to be implemented during the academic year.

“We are very proud of our SAAC group,” said A&M-Kingsville Director of Athletics Kenneth Oliver.  “They do an outstanding job of getting their teammates involved in community service events throughout the year and this year they collected enough money to grant a wish to a child in South Texas.”

The participants arrived on Friday and met before having dinner, which was hosted by Dr. Steven Tallant, President of A&M-Kingsville, at Memorial Student Union Building due to possible inclement weather.


The LSC SAAC group put together a community service event at the Student Recreation Center on Saturday morning.  Then, they were able to tour the King Ranch before getting a chance to hit the beach in Corpus Christi.

The event concluded on Sunday with meetings. Topics discussed during the retreat included NCAA SAAC, community service ideas, the LSC tagline, LSC SAAC Cup and how to be a good leader on and off campus.

Ten of the LSC's 11 member institutions were represented at the meeting.  The student-athletes who attended the Summer Retreat were Abilene Christian's Erin Gilliland, Brent Schroeder and David Pillen; Angelo State's Kelsey Merritt and Alvin Johnson; Cameron's Alexis Williams and Sharna Hoosier; Incarnate Word's Danielle Suarez and Stephen Lucke; Midwestern State's Megan Richardson; Tarleton's Flynn Harrell and Hayden Eubanks; A&M-Commerce's Devon Herrman and Larry Horn, Jr.; A&M-Kingsville's Sherman Batiste, Beth Etter, Shonta Dobbins and Robert Guzman; Texas Woman's Jordan Readicker and Chaynade Knowles; and West Texas A&M's Erika Dupree and Thomas Harris.

Also attending as advisors were ACU's Ann Varner, ASU's Stacy Duffell; CU's Michelle Warner, UIW's Mark Papich and Stacy Nordquist, MSU's Kurt Portmann, Tarleton's Mary Domine-Schindler, A&M-C's Judy Sackfield, TAMUK's Amanda Knight, TWU's Charolette Hunt and WTAMU's Courtney Lee.
####
pr11273-smm