
7 minute read
Spring Sports Recap
Baseball
The Big South Conference recognized the achievements of five Highlanders with end-of-season awards following the 2024 campaign. Lead-off hitter Cameron Pittman was named second-team all-conference. The Suffolk, Virginia, native recorded a .357 batting average and led the conference with eight triples, the fourth most in the NCAA. Zack Whitacre garnered second-team all-conference and all-academic honors. Right-handed pitcher Drew Staley also was named to the all-conference second team, while teammate Conner Butler received honorable mention all-conference. Highlander lefty pitcher Breckin Nace was selected to the all-freshman team.
Golf – men’s and women’s
The men’s team drove, pitched and putted its way to the Big South Championship semifinals in late April, finishing in a tie for third. Bryce Corbett, Patrick Gareiss, Bobby Dudeck and Mike Grant received post-season conference recognition. The women’s team placed fifth at its conference championship, shooting a program-history low +54 over three rounds. Macy Johnson and Grace Addison made the conference’s all-freshman team.
Lacrosse
Five Highlander lacrosse players received post-season accolades from the Big South: Mady Cheney (second-team allconference), goalie Olivia Hunter (second team), Lauren Davis and Emily Strother (honorable mention), and River Rupert (all-academic honors).
Softball
The Radford softball squad finished the 2024 season with a 24-23 record, and Big South Player of the Year Lexie Roberts helped lead the way. Roberts recorded a .475 batting average, scored 16 runs and smacked three triples, topping the conference in each of those categories. The Mebane, North Carolina, native was also named to first-team all-conference and allacademic, while Kari Shedrick, Abby Wilson and Rachel Smith earned all-conference honors. In July, Radford Athletics announced former pro football player and twotime Super Bowl champion Kevin Fagan as the team’s new head coach.
Tennis – men’s and women’s
The Highlander women’s tennis team advanced to the Big South tournament semifinals in 2024. Michaela Stephens earned second-team all-conference for singles, and Emily Brandow was named to the all-academic team.
On the men’s side, Evan Edwards secured the Big South Conference’s Newcomer of the Year award after a successful inaugural season with the Highlanders. Teammate Guilherme Severin was named to the all-conference first team for singles play, and Charles Courteau earned a spot on the Big South all-academic team.
Track
Criminal justice major Chloe Wellings paced the women’s track team throughout the 2023-24 indoor and outdoor seasons. At the Big South Outdoor Track and Field Championships in May, she won the 10,000-meter race time of 34:39.29, establishing a championship meet record, and repeated as the 5,000-meter champion with a time of 16:47.59. MegAnne Gilmore recorded a personal best in the 1500-meter race to place in the top five. Jaslyne Robinson and Elyssia Fisher both recorded personal record times in their hurdles events.

Radford Athletics celebrates 40th anniversary in Division I
For the past 40 years, Radford University student-athletes have made their mark as competitors in NCAA DivisionI and as founding members of the Big South Conference. During that time, the Highlanders have won 53 Big South championships, second most among active participants. Radford also has won conference championships in 11 different sports. The women’s soccer and women’s basketball programs are the most decorated, having won nine and 10 titles, respectively. Highlanders have earned numerous individual honors: 149 student-athletes were selected as Big South player of the year in their sports, and 55 coaches received conference coach of the year accolades. In addition, Radford teams have made 47 NCAA tournament appearances and have had 23 players named All-American and 31 national scholar-athletes.

Radford student-athletes make conference honor roll
An impressive 85.5% of Radford’s 269 student-athletes made the Big South Presidential Honor Roll for the 2023-24 academic year – tops among conference schools. Student-athletes must maintain a 3.0 or higher GPA (on a 4.0 scale) during the most recently completed academic year to achieve this honor. This was the second time in past three years that the Highlanders took the top spot. In addition, 35 Radford student-athletes earned the Commissioner’s Award, given to those who earn a 4.0 GPA. Radford’s women’s soccer team placed nine players on the Commissioner’s Award list.
Meredith Page joins NCAA student advisory committee
In January 2024, Highlander Meredith Page testified before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Innovation, Data and Commerce Subcommittee in a hearing concerning student-athletes’ NIL “deal-making rights.” Her testimony at the Washington, D.C., hearing resulted from her work with the NCAA’s Division I Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), to which she had been appointed in June 2023. Most recently, the Highlander volleyball player and Murfreesboro, Tennessee, native was appointed to the committee’s executive team, becoming the first Radford and Big South Conference student-athlete to do so. She also serves as the Big South’s SAAC chair, as well as on the Knight Commission for Intercollegiate Athletics. “Serving on the NCAA Division I SAAC is a profound honor for me,” said Page, a management major at Radford. “It means being the voice for my fellow student-athletes, advocating for their well-being and shaping policies that impact not only current student-athletes but the ones who come after me.”

Wellings runs away with Big South honor
Women’s track athlete Chloe Wellings ’24 had a spectacular spring season for the Highlanders. The criminal justice major won Big South Conference championships in the indoor 3,000-meter and 5,000-meter events and the outdoor 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter races. Those feats marked only the second time in Big South history that an athlete swept all four events. In recognition of her outstanding accomplishments, the Big South named Wellings the conference’s women’s track athlete of the year for the 2023-24 indoor and outdoor seasons. The Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, native is only the fourth Highlander to receive the award, following in the footsteps of Teresa Williamson (2014-15), Maurika Quarles (2004-05) and Kara Price (2000-01).
Highlander flies high with Toronto Blue Jays
“This is really happening,” Spencer Horwitz ’20 recalled thinking as his plane soared from Toronto, Canada, to Arlington, Texas, where he would soon make his Major League Baseball debut. Just four years removed from playing for the Highlanders, Horwitz was only hours from buttoning up, for the first time, his brand-new Toronto Blue Jays jersey with the No. 48 and his name stitched on the back. The Jays drafted the infielder in 2019, almost a year before he graduated from Radford with a finance degree. From draft day to the moment on the plane, Horwitz spent four years in the minor leagues, facing new challenges every day. “I definitely had thoughts of ‘What am I doing? Is this really working out?”’ he remembered.
When Horwitz arrived in the visitor’s locker room inside Globe Life Field, his new teammates congratulated him. He didn’t play that night or the next, but on Sunday, June 18, 2023, he was in the starting lineup, batting eighth as the designated hitter.
“My nerves really hit when I was on deck,” Horwitz said. “I had never played in front of that many people before.” In his first at-bat, he slapped a single to right field in the second inning. “It was really good to get that first hit out of the way,” Horwitz said.
His family was in the crowd, making for a truly exciting moment –and the perfect gift for his dad on Father’s Day. Playing primarily at second base, Horwitz finished the season batting .265, with 87 hits, 40 RBIs, 46 runs scored, 19 doubles and 12 home runs. In October, he was selected to MLB Pipeline’s All-Rookie Second Team.
Radford Athletics Hall of Fame
Radford Athletics honored some of its top athletes from the past during Homecoming week by inducting five new members into its Hall of Fame: Che’ Brown ’13 (women’s soccer), Roz Groce ’92 (women’s basketball), Alex Gregory ’09 (baseball), Nichole Beall ’12 (softball) and Greig Denny, who served as athletics director from 1996 to 2007 and as former baseball coach.