The South Atlantic Conference Announces 2019-20 Man and Women of the Year Award Winners

ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – The South Atlantic Conference announced its 2019-20 Women and Man of the Year Awards on Tuesday (August 11). Anderson women's basketball player Alexy Mollenhauer was named SAC Woman of the Year, while Tusculum women's tennis player Annie McCullough was named the SAC International Woman of the Year. In addition, Wingate football player Andrew Strickland was named the SAC Man of the Year. 

Mollenhauer, a senior guard, graduated with a perfect 4.00 GPA in English/Secondary English education and was named the 2019-20 SAC Presidents Award winner. She earned numerous accolades, both on and off the court, in her final season with the Trojans.  In the classroom, she was a 2019-20 a CoSIDA Academic All-America® Division II Women's Basketball First Team selection, a CoSIDA Academic All-District® honoree, as well as being a four-time Dean's List selection. She was named the 2020 SAC Women's Basketball Elite 20 winner and was a four-time SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll selection.

On the court, she was named SAC Player of the Year and SAC Female Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive season and was a first team All-SAC selection. She was named D2CCA Southeast Region Player of the Year for the second time, was a D2CCA First Team All-American, and WBCA First Team All-American. The five-time SAC AstroTurf Player of the Week earned United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) National Player of the Week honors on Feb. 4, 2020 and became the first player in Anderson program history to reach 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds for their career. She led the conference in both scoring (19.7 ppg.) and rebounding (12.4 rpg.) during the 2019-20 season.

A native of Lindale, Texas, Mollenhauer is active on and off of the court in the Anderson community. She has served in Hope Kids at Hope Fellowship Church for the last four years. She volunteers at two schools, Calhoun Academy of the Arts and Nevitt Forest Elementary, reading to the elementary students. Mollenhauer has also participated in Martin Luther King Jr. Day service project for the past two years and has helped with numerous girls basketball summer camps hosted at Anderson.

McCullough, a senior from Belfast, Northern Ireland, was named the 2019-20 SAC Women's Tennis Scholar-Athlete of the Year and has earned a 3.983 GPA in chemistry. All four years of her Pioneer career, she has been a member of the SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll, Tusculum's Athletic Director's Honor Roll, the Dean's List, the President's List, Charles Oliver Gray Honors List, and an ITA Scholar-Athlete.

The 2019 SAC Women's Tennis Player of the Year, McCullough is a three-time All-Conference selection in singles and a two-time first team in doubles with her sister Caitlin. Along with her sibling, McCullough has been a part of a nationally ranked doubles team for the past three seasons and becomes the first-ever ITA All-American in Tusculum history.

McCullough has been a member of the Pioneer Student-Athlete Advisory Committee as the team representative every year. She has also participated in Nettie Day of Service, a campus-wide community service project at Tusculum, and the Make-A-Wish Fun Run/Walk. McCullough has been a part of the tennis team efforts to assists a local family during the holiday season with Adopt-a-Family.

Strickland, a senior from Raleigh, N.C., earned CoSIDA Academic All-American honors and was a second team AFCA All-American, making him one of only three NCAA Division II football players to earn academic and athletic All-American honors. He started every game at right tackle for the Bulldogs posting 63 knockdowns, while earning D2CCA All-Region and SAC All-Conference honors.

An accounting major, recipient of the 2019-20 Bob McCloskey Insurance (BMI) Postgraduate Scholarship, Strickland holds a 3.795 GPA. Upon graduation, he plans on attending Wingate University where he will pursue a Master of Accounting degree.

An active member of the Wingate community, Strickland was a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, was a volunteer at the Boys and Girls Club of Union County, and assisted with the Wingate Football Special Olympics Day for the last four years. He also served as an instructor at Wingate Football camps and clinics. 

Mollenhauer and McCullough will move forward as the Conference's nominees for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award.

-#MakeSACYours-