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 2004 winners are Christopher Newport runner Aimee Gibbs
and Greensboro golfer Jonathan Dudley. Gibbs also won in
2003. 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.
During
her tenure at CNU, Gibbs has been dominant both on the cross
country course and in the classroom. She was on the
Dean's
List and USA South All-Academic Team all four years. Gibbs
was also named Verizon Academic All-American the last three
years. For her efforts, she was named Academic All-American
by the Cross Country Coaches Association in 2002, won the CNU
Athlete of the Year from the Peninsula Sports Club in 2004 and was
just awarded an NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship for Academic and
Athletic Excellence. She recently graduated with a 3.7 grade
point average in biology. Athletically, Gibbs holds virtually
every school distance record and ran 12 of the 20 fastest times in
CNU history. Each of her four years she was the USA South
champion, First Team All-Conference, an NCAA qualifier and the
team
MVP. The last three years she was All-South Region and the
Mason-Dixon Conference champion. Gibbs also won the Karen
Humphrey Award for women's distance running three straight
years. Her uniform was retired by CNU at the end for the 2004
season. This is Gibbs' second Don Scalf Award.
Dudley has excelled in the classroom, on the golf course and in
the community for the Pride. Academically, the senior posted
a 3.6 cumulative GPA. He double majored in Business
Administration and Economics. He has been named a Cleveland
Golf All-America Scholar the last two years. In 2004, he was
named First Team All-America after finishing third individually at
the Division III National Championship. His performance
helped GC finish third overall at the event. Dudley was also
All-Region and the Greensboro Team MVP this past season.
He led the team with a 73.59 stroke average and had four top-10
finishes on the year. In 2003, Dudley was the Pride Team
Co-MVP, All-Conference Second Team and All-Region. Dudley
served as President (03-04) and Vice-President (02-03) of the GC
Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. He has also been the
leader of the Golfers' Bible Study and a youth mentor at Christ
Community Church.