Wingate Leads SAC Echols Award Standings after Fall Season

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Seven-time defending SAC Echols Athletic Excellence Award champion Wingate leads the 2013-14 award standings following the conclusion of regular-season play in the conference's fall sports.

The SAC Echols Athletic Excellence Award is named after former conference commissioner Doug Echols. Cumulative points are calculated based on final regular-season standings in men's and women's soccer, football, volleyball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's lacrosse, softball and baseball, while SAC Championship results are used in men's and women's cross country, men's and women's golf, and men's and women's track and field.

Wingate finds itself atop the standings after earning SAC titles in women's cross country and volleyball, along with runner-up finishes in men's and women's soccer.

Lenoir-Rhyne - which won SAC championships in football and women's soccer - is second in the fall standings, followed by SAC men's soccer champion Queens at No. 3 and SAC men's cross country champion Mars Hill at No. 4.

Lincoln Memorial and Tusculum are tied for fifth in the standings, while Anderson is seventh and Carson-Newman is eighth. LMU's point total was boosted by its volleyball and men's soccer programs that both tied for fourth in the league standings, while Tusculum's volleyball team finished second in the conference, Anderson men's cross country placed third and Carson-Newman football tied for second.

Completing the fall Echols Award standings are Catawba at No. 9, Brevard at No. 10, Newberry at No. 11 and Coker at No. 12. Catawba's best fall finish was fourth place in the conference's women's soccer standings, while Brevard men's cross country placed fourth at the conference championship, Newberry football tied for second and Coker men's soccer tied for fourth.

The Echols Award standings will be updated following the conclusion of the 2013-14 men's and women's basketball regular seasons.

2013-14 SAC Echols Athletic Excellence Award Standings (Fall)

1. Wingate (61.5)

2. Lenoir-Rhyne (51)

3. Queens (49.5)

4. Mars Hill (42.5)

t5. Lincoln Memorial (39)

t5. Tusculum (39)

7. Anderson (37.5)

8. Carson-Newman (37)

9. Catawba (32)

10. Brevard (28)

11. Newberry (27)

12. Coker (14)