Top Student-Athletes Honored at Guilford College

Greensboro, N.C. — Guilford College honored its top student-athletes Tuesday evening at a year-end ceremony in Dana Hall. Four award winners nominated and selected by the school’s athletic department were recognized at the ceremony. Guilford alumnus David Heggie ’98, Executive Director of the Bryan Family YMCA, addressed the audience.

Monroe,Smith,Phillips,Oglesby (l-r)
Brad Monroe, Johnathan Smith, Taylor Phillips, Gabby Oglesby (l-r)

Senior Brad Monroe (Asheboro, N.C./Eastern Randolph) received the Richard Joyce Sportsmanship Award. He also earned the basketball team’s Sportsmanship Award in addition to being named to the Old Dominion Athletic Conference’s (ODAC) Men’s Basketball Sportsmanship Team. Monroe started in all 26 games for the Quakers this season. He averaged 4.8 points per game and 7.2 rebounds per game, which ranked first on the team. The 6-4, 200-pound forward hit a new career high with 17 rebounds in a Nov. 18 win over Johnson & Wales University. He also had a career-high 17 points at North Carolina Wesleyan. Monroe played in all 116 games in his four seasons and ended his career with 493 rebounds, a .469 shooting percentage, and 3.3 points per contest. He earned Guilford’s Marion L. Ralls Scholarship for Academic Excellence in 2010 and also worked as a student athletic trainer at Guilford. Monroe is slated to graduate with his degree in exercise and sports sciences.

Sophomore Gabby Oglesby (Winston-Salem, N.C./Mount Tabor) collected Guilford’s Best Female Athlete Award and the George Wynne Most Improved Student-Athlete Award. She recently concluded one of the most decorated women’s basketball seasons in school history. For her accomplishments, she earned a spot on the D3hoops.com First Team All-South Region squad, the first Quaker so honored. Oglesby collected the ODAC Player of the Year Award and was named Most Outstanding Player of the league tournament after guiding Guilford to its first title since 2002. She led the Quakers in scoring, rebounding, field-goal percentage and blocked shots (66). Oglesby paced the ODAC in blocks per game (2.3 bpg.) and ranked 43rd among NCAA Division III leaders. Her .514 field-goal percentage stood third in the league and 44th nationally. Oglesby’s 14.7 points per game average was fourth in the conference and her 7.9 boards per outing figure placed sixth. The ODAC’s Player of the Week for the week ending Jan. 8 set another school record with seven blocks in a Jan. 6 win over Randolph-Macon College and broke her own Guilford mark for blocks in a season at the 2012 ODAC Tournament. She also broke Guilford’s all-time blocks record.

In her first season with the Quakers, Oglesby earned honorable mention All-ODAC recognition after setting Guilford’s single-season blocks record (59). She played each of the team’s 27 games, starting 15. Oglesby ranked second on the team in rebounds (7.70) and points per game (11.3).

Senior volleyball captain Taylor Phillips (Diamond Springs, Calif./Union Mine) won the Jack Jensen Ideal Student-Athlete Award named for Guilford’s former golf and basketball coach. She was received Guilford’s prestigious Nereus C. English ’26 Athletic Leadership Award this year. Phillips completed her fourth and final season with coach Emily Gann’s volleyball team last fall. The four-year captain and four-year starter began her career as a setter and ranks fourth in school history with 1,538 assists. She moved to libero as a junior and stands second all-time at Guilford with 1,217 digs. A two-time honorable mention All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) pick, Phillips garnered third-team all-league honors in 2011 after leading the conference with 4.69 digs per set. She also earned the volleyball team’s Most Valuable Player, Coaches’ and Rookie of the Year awards in her career. Phillips received Guilford’s 2011 Outstanding Sport Management Major of the Year Award, but could not accept the award in person as she spent the semester studying in Ireland. Phillips has worked four years in Guilford’s sports information office and served on the school’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. She also works in Guilford’s Physical Education Center and participates with the school’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Phillips is a sport management major with minors in business and communications.

Sophomore sprinter Johnathan Smith (Conyers, Ga./Salem) received Guilford’s Best Male Athlete Award. He became the school’s first Division III Outdoor Track All-American in 2011, finishing second in the 200-meter dash and sixth in the 100. Smith claimed the school’s first Division III Indoor Track All-America honor last March with his second-place finish in the 60-meter dash at the 2012 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. He was the first Guilford students to compete in both events.

A three-time ODAC Athlete of the Week this season, Smith has the top NCAA Division III times in the 100 and 200 this spring and has set school and ODAC records in both events. He won the 100 and placed second in the 200 at the VertKlasse Meeting Mar. 24 at High Point University. He defeated 15 sprinters, mostly from higher NCAA divisions, to win the 100. Smith took second in the 19-man 200 field, tops among Division III contestants. He also anchored the Quakers’ 4×100 relay that set the school mark with a sixth-place time of 44.39 seconds. He set school records Mar. 16 when he won the 200 in 21.26 seconds and placed second in the 100 in 10.53 seconds at the Wake Forest Open.

The men’s and women’s cross country teams and men’s and women’s track and field teams won the second annual Champs Life Skills Cup. The honor was created in 2009 to promote team unity and school spirit. Guilford student-athletes collected points for their teams by participating in activities ranging from community service to athletic event attendance to Guilford community involvement. Teams also were awarded for academic progress and attendance at Student-Athlete Advisory Committee meetings.