Each
year the USA South Athletic Conference presents its most
prestigious awards by honoring one male and one female as the
Student-Athletes of the Year. These athletes receive the Don Scalf
Award. The 2003 winners are Christopher Newport runner Aimee Gibbs
and Averett golfer Janne Mommo. To be eligible for the Don Scalf
Award a student-athlete must be either a junior or senior, have
participated in a USA South sport earning at least All-Conference
recognition and have a minimum 3.00 GPA. The athletic directors
vote for the award winner each spring at the conclusion of all
Conference schedules.
This award is named in honor of Don Scalf, whose commitment to the
student-athlete, guardianship of the value of academic achievement
and devotion to the principles of Division III athletics set a
standard that holds steadfast in the Conference today. He taught
for 36 years and coached for 18 at N.C. Wesleyan. He also served as
Athletic Director for six years. During his coaching career his
teams won DIAC basketball and golf championships. He was a founding
father of the DIAC in 1963 and served as its Secretary-Treasurer
for 25 years.
Gibbs finished her junior year holding virtually every CNU distance
record. She has been the Conference cross country
champion
and First Team All-Conference all three years. She is also
the two-time reigning Mason-Dixon Conference champion. She
has qualified for the NCAA Championships all three years she has
competed at the collegiate level. Gibbs has been chosen as
the CNU Cross Country team MVP all three years, as well as been
honored with the Karen Humphrey Award for women's distance running
for two straight years. The biology major has succeeded in
the classroom as well. She has been named Verizon Academic
All-American the past two years and Conference All-Academic the
past three. She has made the CNU Dean's List all three of her
years there. Gibbs was named to the Cross Country Coaches
Association Academic All-American team in 2002.
Mommo has won nine individual titles in his golf career at Averett
and was named the Conference Rookie of the Year in 2000. He
is a three-time All-American selection. He has been named
First Team All-Conference twice and Second Team once. In 2003
he won the NCAA Division III Championship as an individual, with a
record setting score of 281 (75-65-69-72), while leading the
Cougars to a team title. It was the lowest four round total
in the history of the NCAA Division III Championship. His
second round score of 65 is also the lowest single round score in
an NCAA Division III Championship Tournament. In addition to
the national championship, Mommo also won the Pfeiffer Invitational
and finished in the top-15 in each of his seven tournaments played
this season. In 2003 he was honored by the Averett Cougar
Club as the Dr. Frank R. Campbell Male Sportsmanship Award
winner.