NEWS ENMU Student-Athletes Among the Top in the Lone Star Conference The Lone Star Conference (LSC) announced in January that ENMU held the highest number of studentathletes with a 4.0 GPA. The final count included 330 students with a perfect GPA for the fall 2017 semester with 48 of those students being from ENMU. This was an increase from the spring 2017 semester when the Hounds placed third with 36 total students. The LSC announced that 1,213 student-athletes earned the Commissioner’s Honor Roll for the 2017 fall semester, with ENMU tying with UT Permian Basin for third place in the number of student-athletes on the honor roll. The Commissioner’s Honor Roll is announced at the conclusion of the fall and spring semesters. To be eligible, student-athletes must have a minimum 3.30 GPA for the current semester. “We are proud of our student-athletes and their dedication to their academic pursuits,” said ENMU Athletics Director Dr. Greg Waggoner. “They continue to put their priorities in place in addition to significant demands on their time, training and competing at the NCAA Division II level.”
The Greatest Greyhound Female Athlete: Lauren Frye By: Patricia Duran Lauren Frye (BS 17), who graduated in December with a biology degree, is the recipient of not just one, but two, Greatest Greyhound Female Athlete awards for 2015 and 2016. Thinking of all the female athletes who represent ENMU, she thought, “Wow, this is pretty cool. Out of all them, why would they choose me?” Towering at 6 feet tall, Lauren didn’t grow to her full height until she was a junior in high school. “I was really bad [at volleyball] when I was young.” Lauren’s love for sports began in fifth grade. She is from a little town in Virginia where eighth-graders were given the opportunity to play junior varsity or varsity for the public high school. “It was really funny because we didn’t know what we were doing. I remember this game where another team
ENMU Presents Midwestern State with 24Strong Donation
was crushing us, and coach put me in position to serve.”
On Nov. 11, ENMU
the other side a bloody nose causing the game to stop.
President Dr. Jeff Elwell presented Kyle Williams, the athletic director from Midwestern State University (MSU), a $5,000 check in memory of Robert Grays, a Lone Star Conference athlete. Grays was a 19-year-old sophomore at MSU who was tragically injured during a Sept. 16 football game against Texas A&M-Kingsville and passed away a few days later. ENMU started a campaign to honor the fallen studentathlete. Donations from students, faculty, staff and community members matched by the ENMU Foundation established the scholarship in Grays’ memory.
Lauren told herself, “I guess I’m going to put it over the net.” She served the ball hard and gave a player on “What did I just do?” she thought. “Coach was like, ‘It’s okay, you did a great job.’ I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, is this supposed to be great?’ After that, I thought, well maybe, I’m going to be really great.” Her senior year of high school, ENMU Coach Sia Poyer came to a tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada and saw her play. “He wanted me to be on his team. I had offers from Division I schools, so he was like ‘there’s no way she’s going to come here because we are a small D2,’” she remembered. “I don’t know what it is about this school, but everyone was so nice and welcoming that I felt comfortable here. This is where I wanted to go.” After earning her degree, Lauren plans to become an EMT and paramedic. She is in the process of lining up a job with the fire department back home in Virginia.
Green & Silver | April 2018
15
