GREENSBORO, N.C. – Guilford College recognized 13 top student-athletes at the annual year-end ceremony in Dana Auditorium Sunday night. Guilford’s athletics staff selected its top performers from the past year and the school’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) presented the Quakies Awards for a second straight year. Remarks by former Major League Baseball player Tony Womack ’92 and athletics director Tom Palombo concluded the evening.
Back Row (left to right) John Todd, Levi Bruff, Zachary Houston, Joe Metts, Carson Long, Logan Jones, Heaven Walters. Front Row: Juliana Evans-Anfom, Amy Steller, Erin Ogden, Makayla Carver, Sammi Milbourn. (not pictured, Anais Weatherly) Credit: Emily Zegel / Guilford Athletics.
Seven outstanding upperclassmen received Guilford’s top athletic honor, the Nereus C. English ’26 Athletic Leadership Award: Levi Bruff, Juliana Evans-Anfom, Zachary Houston, Sammi Milbourn, Erin Ogden, John Todd, and Heaven Walters. Named for one of Guilford’s most loyal alumni, the annual prize recognizes students who display the highest ideals of athletic accomplishment, leadership and academic achievement.
Five additional departmental awards went to six athletes representing five different teams. Amy Steller of the women’s basketball team earned the Jack Jensen Ideal Student-Athlete Award. Steller’s teammate, Anais Weatherly, shared Best Female Athlete honors with softball standout Makayla Carver. Senior baseball players Logan Jones and Joe Metts collected the George T. Wynne Most Improved Athlete and Richard Joyce Sportsmanship Awards, respectively. Basketball standout Carson Long took home the Best Male Athlete Award.
Senior Levi Bruff (Lexington, N.C./Central Davidson) earned the English Athletic Leadership Award for his efforts as a member of Dave McCain’s tennis team. Bruff recently completed his fourth and final year and helped the Quakers to their most wins (12) since 1996. A three-year captain, he mostly played fifth singles and third doubles. He posted a 10-8 singles mark, 7-1 in league competition, and went 13-8 in doubles. His 23 overall wins (singles and doubles) shared the team lead. Bruff is a six-time dean’s list student, a three-time Academic All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Team member and was named a 2014-15 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division III Scholar-Athlete. He graduates later this month as a double major in biology and education studies.
Sophomore Juliana Evans-Anfom (Frederick, Md./Governor Thomas Johnson) completed her second campaign as part of Guilford’s women’s soccer team. The forward earned Third Team All-ODAC honors last fall after ranking among the league’s best as Guilford’s leader in goals (7) and points (17). She is a three-time dean’s list student and was named to the 2015-16 Academic All-ODAC Team. An honors student, Evans-Anfom has served as vice president of Guilford’s Amnesty International Chapter and treasurer of the school’s African Student Association. The exercise and sport sciences major helped organize the 2016 TEDxGuilfordCollege Speakers’ program.
Zachary Houston (Hickory, N.C./St. Stephen’s) completed his final year as a Quaker with the men’s basketball team. A two-time Third-Team All-ODAC selection, Houston captained coach Tom Palombo’s team three seasons from his guard post and appeared in each of the Quakers’ 109 games in his career (with 82 starts). The league’s sports information directors tabbed Houston for the Virginia Farm Bureau Insurance/ODAC Men’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete Award in each of the last two seasons, a first in program history. He also made the College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-District V team in 2016 and 2017. A seven-time dean’s list student, he helped Guilford win the 2016-17 regular-season and tournament titles and will graduate this month as a double major in health sciences and exercise and sport sciences.
Sammi Milbourn (Lake Zurich, Ill./Lake Zurich) recently completed her fourth and final year as the starting goalie for Guilford’s women lacrosse team. The senior captain earned Second Team All-ODAC laurels as a junior and ranks third among Guilford’s career leaders in saves (517) and goals against average (12.29). She was named to the ODAC’s Women’s Lacrosse Sportsmanship Team in 2015, a year after landing All-ODAC Tournament recognition. Milbourn was twice named to the Academic All-ODAC Team and is a dean’s list double major in health science and exercise and sports sciences. She will attend graduate school at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Erin Ogden (Spring Hope, N.C./Southern Nash) captained Guilford’s softball team in her recently completed senior season and helped the Quakers to a school-record 30 wins. A three-year starting catcher, she hit .366 as a senior and will leave ranked among the school’s career leaders in fielding percentage and putouts. Guilford won a school-record 108 games in Ogden’s career and made four ODAC Tournament appearances. She is a three-time Academic All-ODAC selection who has made the dean’s list six times. Also a resident advisor and SAAC member, Ogden will graduate this month with a degree in health science.
Senior John Todd (Falls Church, Va./Bishop Ireton) enjoyed the finest of his four baseball seasons this past spring. The right-handed pitcher leads NCAA Division III with 15 starts and stands among the ODAC leaders in wins (6), innings (80.2) and earned run average (3.12). He compiled a 12-12 record with three saves and a 3.87 earned run average in 58 career appearances, including 25 starts. An accomplished student with a meticulous work ethic, Todd has appeared on three Academic All-ODAC teams, seven Guilford Student-Athlete Honor Rolls and five dean’s lists. He will graduate this month with an accounting degree.
Heaven Walters (Elkin, N.C./Starmount) captained Guilford’s women’s basketball team to the 2017 ODAC Tournament title, which clinched the Quakers’ second straight NCAA Division III Tournament appearance. She earned Second Team All-ODAC honors as a sweet-shooting forward who ranked fourth among the league’s field-goal percentage leaders. Walters averaged 11.8 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.4 assists in the finest of her four seasons. A health science and exercise and sport sciences double major, the senior has made the dean’s list all seven semesters and was a CoSIDA Academic All-District V selection last winter. She will attend Emory & Henry College for postgraduate studies in occupational therapy.
Walters’ teammate and classmate, Amy Steller (Advance, N.C./Davie County (Pfeiffer)), collected the Jack Jensen Ideal Student-Athlete prize as the student who best represents Guilford Athletics. A team captain and three-year letter winner, she started two seasons at guard and helped the Quakers to NCAA Tournament berths both years. One of the league’s top free-throw shooters, she averaged 9.7 points per game as a senior and earned 2017 All-ODAC Tournament honors. For the past two years the 2016 English Award winner exchanged her sneakers for track cleats and owns the eight fastest 400-meter times in school history. A member of the Tri-Beta National Honor Society the Omicron Delta Kappa National Honor Society, she will continue her education in the doctoral program for physical therapy at Western Carolina University.
Another part of the Quakers’ women’s basketball team, senior Anais Weatherly (Winston-Salem, N.C./Mount Tabor), shared the school’s Best Female Athlete Award. The senior forward also won the honor in 2016. Weatherly completed one of the finest careers of any Guilford student-athlete by averaging 13.7 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists and a school-record 4.1 steals per game last season. She earned her second All-South commendation from D3hoops.com and made her school-record third appearance on the North Carolina Collegiate Sports Information Association’s (NCCSIA) College Division All-State Team. Weatherly was a three-time All-ODAC performer and leaves Guilford ranked among the school’s all-time leaders in points (6th, 1359), steals (2nd, 320), field goals (3rd, 588), and rebounds (4th, 836).
Weatherly shared the Best Female Athlete prize with the softball team’s Makayla Carver (Granite Falls, N.C./South Caldwell), who becomes just the second sophomore so honored. Carver earned First Team All-ODAC laurels for her play as Guilford’s starting leftfielder. She hit .444 in 42 contests with 53 runs scored, four homers, a league-best 18 doubles and 36 RBI. Her 67 hits top the conference and rank second in school history. Carver also ranks among the top-five ODAC leaders in at-bats (151), runs, RBI, total bases (97), batting average and on-base percentage (.500). She stands fourth in NCAA Division III through games of May 7 with 67 hits and her 18 doubles rank10th. Carver also posted a 10-3 record with one save and a team-leading 1.95 earned run average, which ranks seventh in the ODAC.
Sophomore Carson Long (Pilot Mountain, N.C./Mount Airy) added Guilford’s Best Male Athlete Award to his fine collection of honors earned with the Quakers’ basketball team. He is the second sophomore so honored and the first since 2012. The forward was named First Team All- ODAC and earned Most Outstanding Player honors at the ODAC Tournament. He also received Third Team D3hoops.com All-South Region and Second Team All-South District laurels from the National Association of Basketball Coaches. NCCSIA recognized Long as a Second Team All-State (College Division) honoree. He scored a club-high 14.2 points per game, ninth-best in the ODAC, and a team-high 2.2 three-pointers per contest. Long scored in double figures 23 times, including five 20-point games and two 30-point outings.
Senior Logan Jones (Zebulon, N.C./East Wake) captured the George T. Wynne Most Improved Student-Athlete Award after a dominant pitching performance for the baseball team. He played five different positions around the field in his first three seasons before climbing the mound for his senior campaign. The right-hander turned into the team’s top relief pitcher and shared the team lead with a 6-1 record. Jones also recorded two saves and led regular pitchers with a 3.07 earned run average over 55.2 innings in a club-high 20 appearances. He ranks among ODAC leaders in appearances (5th), wins (5th) and earned run average (8th). Jones fanned 39 batters and his 6.31 strikeouts per game ranked 16th in the league.
Classmate and teammate Joe Metts (Asheville, N.C./Erwin) took home Guilford’s Richard Joyce Sportsmanship Award. The corner infielder is a two-year letter winner who appeared in 66 career contests and hit an even .300 for the Quakers with two homers and 39 RBI. An active member of the Guilford community, Metts serves as a resident advisor and is part of the school’s SAAC and Guilford Christian Ministry. He serves as treasurer for Guilford’s chapter of the Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society and is a student assistant in the school’s sports information office. The business administration major earned Academic All-ODAC honors as a junior.
Following the awards presentation, Womack addressed the 400-plus students and coaches in attendance. He encouraged the students to appreciate the opportunity to participate in college athletics and to savor the relationships established during their college years. The 2001 World Series champion also stressed the value of working hard to reach goals, much as he did in his 13-year professional career that included five major-league postseason trips.
Under the direction of head volleyball coach Emily Gann, Guilford’s SAAC announced its slate of officers for the 2017-18 academic year. Outgoing president Nick Eckstein (Dry Fork, Va./Tunstall) of the soccer team recognized his replacement, rising women’s lacrosse senior Kelly Martin (LaPlata, Md./North Point). The baseball team’s Logan Shortt (Advance, N.C./Calvary Day School), a freshman who emceed the awards program, will serve as vice president. Rising sophomore Morgan Tompkins (Galax, Va./Carroll County) of the volleyball team was named the group’s secretary and Dana Waskiewicz (Abingdon, Md./Harford Technical (Harford Community College)) of the soccer team will chair the group’s NCAA Division III Week Celebration Committee.