Radford University athletes (from left) Annsley Eckert, Sydney Fisher, and Anthony Galati have been awarded the Big South’s Christenberry Award for academic excellence.
The Big South Conference has announced that three Radford University athletes, cross-country’s Annsley Eckert, softball’s Sydney Fisher, and baseball’s Anthony Galati, have been awarded the conference’s prestigious George A. Christenberry Award for Academic Excellence.
The trio was awarded the honor after maintaining perfect 4.00 GPAs through their college careers.
The award is given to the male and female student-athlete who attain the highest GPA during their undergraduate collegiate careers. It is the fifth consecutive year at least eight student-athletes in the Big South have been honored.
Big South member institutions nominate one male and one female undergraduate student-athlete for the annual award. The honor is named for George A. Christenberry, the former President of Augusta College (now Augusta University) and one of the founders of the Big South Conference. A member of the Big South Hall of Fame, Christenberry served as the league’s first president from 1983-86.
From Lynchburg, Eckert was this season’s Women’s Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year and is a two-time Women’s Cross Country All-Academic Team member. She has been a consistent competitor for the Highlanders her full four years and holds the third-fastest time in the 4k, the ninth-fastest time in the 5k, and the fifth-fastest time in the 6k in program history. Eckert set personal records in the 800m and 1500m races at this year’s Big South Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
From Appling, Ga., Fisher was the Big South’s Softball Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the 2021 season. In addition to earning First-Team All-Conference honors, Fisher is a Senior CLASS Award Top 10 Finalist. She has done research in soil sample analysis and aquatic insect identification and presented some of her research at Radford University’s Winter Creative Activities and Research Days (CARD). Fisher will be presenting her new research later in the year.
From Sparks, Nev., Galati, a junior outfielder, has been a strong contributor to the Highlander offense this season with a .244/.364/.348 slash line to go with five stolen bases and 22 RBIs.
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