Athletics Award Banquet highlights accomplishments of MC’s 2024-2025 student-athletes

An annual tradition at Maryville College is the Athletics Award Banquet. Focusing mainly on seniors, the award ceremony also honored high-achieving underclassmen in conference awards earned throughout the season. This year, it was hosted April 22 in the Nutt Theatre and Clayton Center for the Arts foyer, upon student requests for a more formal event. 

“Everyone pretty much agreed that a bigger, fancier gathering was the way to go to celebrate all of our new achievements,” said Director of Athletics Andrew Wu.

Dr. Bryan Coker spoke at the ceremony, mentioning that many of the highlights of his five years with the college have been athletic moments. Out of eight regular seasons this year, MC has secured four championship titles, and Coker added that we will be stepping away from the CCS with as many trophies as possible.

Assistant Athletics Director for Communications John Painter spoke as well, saying his goodbyes to the program as he enters retirement.

“It’s been my pleasure to watch you play – I never worked, I never had a job,” he choked out on stage in an impromptu speech. “Coming here has been such a joy. I got my four years, and I’m graduating. Thanks for letting me watch and keep score,” Painter said.

Awards were announced by Heath Dunkel, “the Voice of the Scots”. The award ceremony named the first “All-Scots” team, which recognizes the top overall MC student-athletes.

The team is selected by the Maryville College Athletics Administration Team for “outstanding athletic performance, leadership, and contributions to their respective teams throughout the academic year,” said Dunkel.

The All-Scots Team for 2024-2025 consists of: softball player Brecca Williams (‘25), baseball player Colin Dunworth (‘26), volleyball player Reese Bailey (‘25), men’s basketball players Reed Kemp (‘25) and Chase Morgan (‘26), football players Grant Henderson (‘25), Bryson Rollins (‘26) and Owen Sacks (‘26), and women’s soccer players Sierra Lee (‘25) and Hannah Smoot (‘26).

In addition to this new accolade, MC also names two recipients of the J.D. Davis award, which “seeks to honor male and female senior student-athletes who excel in leadership, athletic ability, Christian values and academic achievement,” said Dunkel.

The J.D. Davis award winners for this year are women’s soccer player ​​Caelin Cole (‘25) and football player Tyler Bost (‘25).

“First and foremost, I want to thank God for giving me the opportunity to be a Scot,” said Bost. “Playing football at Maryville has given me more than I could ever ask for – from brothers, to mentors, to opportunities – this place is truly special to me.”

“Tonight was an amazing accumulation of all the hard work and dedication my team and I put in this season. I am beyond honored to receive the J.D. Davis award this year, but I would not be in the position I’m in without my teammates and coaches lifting me up throughout my career. I’m most proud of my team’s achievement of being the best Maryville College Football Team in its extensive history. It is a testament to how hard we push ourselves. I couldn’t ask for a better way to graduate from this College,” Bost added.

Cole also spoke about her pride in her teammates and their accomplishments over the last four years, noting the last two seasons, which have brought them conference championship titles.

“I feel so thankful to be chosen from such an amazing group of seniors this year at MC,” Cole said. “I will never forget my relationships made here and all the hard work that went into making the most of my time here. It’s an honor to be recognized in honor of J.D. Davis. This award was a cherry on top of a great 4 years at Maryville College.”

In addition to these athletes being honored, Athletic Communications Student Assistant Connor Gahagan (‘25) was also presented an award for his contributions and dedication to the program.

This year has brought a number of awards and titles to MC athletics. These acknowledgments were shared at the ceremony and highlighted softball, baseball, football, women’s soccer and men’s basketball.

The Scots will begin the transition into a new athletic conference next season, beginning with football in the fall, as well as women’s golf. Another year and the rest of the sports will transition as well, bringing a new wave of competition to our campus and athletic program.