The South Atlantic Conference Announces Men's and Women's Athletes of the Year

June 28, 2017

ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – The South Atlantic Conference Council of Athletic Directors has named Catawba's Luke Setzer and Lauren Wade from Carson-Newman as the 2016-17 South Atlantic Conference Athletes of the Year, the League announced today.

Setzer, a junior from Salisbury, N.C., finished the season as a first team ABCA All-America selection, while earning second team honors from the NCBWA and D2CCA. He closed out the year ranked second in the nation with 102 hits and No. 1 in D-II with 178 total bases. He scored 69 runs for the Catawba Indians to rank No. 12 in Division II, while his 18 home runs were good for No. 13 in the country. Setzer finished the 2017 campaign at No. 21 in the nation with a slugging percentage of .724 and a .415 average at the plate. Setzer earned the NCBWA Regional Hitter of the Week on a pair of occasions during 2017 campaign to go along with 33 multiple hit games on the year.

Wade, a junior from Coleraine, Northern Ireland, finished the season as a D2CCA first-team All-American after earning D2CCA Southeast Region Player of the Year honors. Wade's year saw her top the SAC with 20 goals and 51 points, totals that ranked her seventh and sixth in the country, respectively. Her 11 assists also tied her for the most in the SAC and 12th in the NCAA. She closed out the season at No. 1 in D-II with 3.00 points per game and ranked second in Division II in goals per game at 1.18. Her year also included a five-goal performance against USC-Aiken on Sept. 12th , which stands as the second-most goals in a game in Division II this season. She also added two assists in that match, giving her 12 points, the second-highest total in a game in 2016. She scored multiple times in four games on the year, including hat tricks against Tusculum and Coker. Wade's 51 points are the third-most in a season in program history and her 20 goals tie her for fifth.

Setzer's award marks Catawba's fourth male Athlete of the Year honor, while Wade picked up Carson-Newman's sixth overall women's plaudit.