ROME, Ga.  The USA South Athletic Conference on Wednesday announced its 2024 Student-Athletes of the Year winners, with Methodist's Hunter Hollman taking home the Don Scalf Award (male) and fellow Monarch Maggie Williams as the Rita Wiggs Award (female) recipient.  

Prior to the 2019-20 academic year, a male and female earned the Don Scalf Awards. In the 2006-07 academic year, the NCAA began the NCAA Woman of the Year Award and each Conference selected its own "Woman of the Year". In 2005-06 the USA South Woman of the Year Award was re-named the Rita Wiggs Woman of the Year. Finally, in 2019-20 the USA South consolidated the honors into one male student-athlete of the year (the Scalf Award) and one female student-athlete of the year (the Wiggs Award).

Hollman is the second Methodist baseball student-athlete to earn the Scalf honor, the first being Alex Kachler in 2020. Methodist's baseball team in now tied for the most Scalf honorees within the Monarchs athletic department, with two, joining men's golf -- Larkin Gross in 2018 & Jered Gusso in 2001. Other Scalf winners that wore the Green and Gold were Lindsay Pritchard (2019, women's cross country/track & field), Max Reber (2014, football), and Christina Gipson (2005, women's soccer).
 
"I am deeply honored to be recognized as a recipient of the Don Scalf Award", said Hollman. "It is a privilege to be included among the previous winners and to have my name mentioned alongside Don Scalf himself. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to my coaches and teammates for their support and guidance, without which this achievement would not have been possible. This award is a testament to the hard work and dedication we have put in together as a team for the past four years. Forever a Monarch"

During his first three years on the team, Hollman split time at catcher and occasionally served as the designated hitter. In 2024 though, he had his best season as a Monarch, where he set new career-highs across multiple offensive categories. This led to him garnering All-Conference laurels, along with being named a first team honoree on the All-Region lists by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) and D3baseball.com.
 
Off the diamond, he maintained a 3.40 cumulative GPA and graduated this past May with degree in computer science. He was also a three-time member of the USA South Academic All-Conference Team, a three-time Methodist Scholar-Athlete, and a Methodist Senior Scholar-Athlete.
 
Williams, a member of the Methodist women's golf team, becomes just the second Methodist student-athlete to be bestowed the Wiggs award, the first since Pritchard in 2019.
 
"My four years at Methodist University was more impactful than I ever imagined," said Williams. "My team, my school, and my community became my family and encouraged me through the good times as well as the tough times. Methodist, and the USA South Athletic Conference, provided me with foundation and support to learn, to grow, and to be an engaged citizen. The Rita Wiggs Award represents the heart of what it means to be an NCAA Division III student-athlete, and I am very honored for this recognition."
 
As an athlete, Williams has accumulated multiple conference awards, which includes being a four-time USA South All-Conference honoree, a two-time USA South All-Tournament Team selection, and a core member of four USA South Conference Championship teams. The biggest accolade of all was when she helped her team capture the 2021 NCAA Division III Women's Golf National Championship, as a freshman.
 
Academically, she compiled a 3.92 cumulative GPA while majoring in marketing. She was a four-time academic all-conference team member, a four-time Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) All-American Scholar, a 2024 College Sports Communicators (CSC) All-District Women's At-Large team member, and found herself on the Methodist President's List five times as well as the MU Dean's List on three occasions. This past spring, Williams was named as one of Methodist's Scholar-Athletes of the Year.