On the course she was equally impressive, winning the 2016 PBC
Cross Country Championship and helping UM to their third consec-
utive team title. She becomes one of only 10 PBC student-athletes
to be named All-Conference all four years in cross country. In track,
she won five event championships in the last three PBC meets in-
cluding gold in the 2017 steeplechase and 1,500m. Thompson was
also named the 2015 and 2017 female Track Athlete of the Year.
Thompson becomes the third and final Montevallo athlete to be
named the female Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Nick Ward has been named an Academic All-American and
won the 2016 PBC Elite 15 Award for men’s golf. A native of
2016-17
Eastbourne, England, he graduated in May from Georgia South-
western with a degree in business management and carried a 3.891
cumulative GPA. Named to the PBC All-Academic team four times
he is also a a four-time PBC Presidential
Honor Roll Gold Scholar. Ward received
four academic scholarships including the
Wheatley Leadership Scholarship for four
years.
On the course, Ward won three tour-
naments over the course of his career
and played in the 2015 and 2016 NCAA
regionals. The 2016-17 team captain he
was named PBC All-Conference twice
and an All-American in 2015. He was
third on the team in stroke average this
season and finished in the top 10 at the
2017 PBC Championships.
Ward becomes the second Hurricane
to ever be named the PBC male Schol-
ar-Athlete of the Year, joining Christo-
pher Horton-Cook, who won in 2007.
UNC Pembroke Wins SunTrust Foundation Connect-
ing Communities Award
HILTON HEAD, SC – The University of North Carolina at Pembroke
was named the winner of the 2017 SunTrust Foundation Connecting
Communities Award at the PBC annual awards dinner in Hilton
Head on Tuesday. UNCP received the honor for ‘Braves Buddies:
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