Dillon Named Murphy Osborne Award Finalist

HARTSVILLE, S.C. – Coker College senior Becky Dillon (West Palm Beach, Fla.) has been selected as a finalist for the 2012 Conference Carolinas Murphy Osborne Award. The award is given to the conference student-athlete determined to have the most outstanding academic achievements. Dillon, a right-handed pitcher on the softball team, is one of 10 finalists.

“Becky is a prime example of a well-rounded student-athlete at Coker,” said athletic director Lynn Griffin. “She is an excellent nomination for the Murphy Osborne Award.”

A communication major with minors in business and Spanish, Dillon spent the fall semester studying in Costa Rica. She is currently completing an internship as part of her Spanish minor. By the end of the semester, Dillon will have accumulated 135 internship hours as a tutor with the English for Speakers of Other Languages of Darlington County public schools, a program coordinated by Valerie Nuñez.

To be eligible for the Murphy Osborne Award, a student must be a senior student-athlete with a minimum GPA of 3.25. The student must be a full-time student at the time of nomination, must have been a full-time student for at least two years at the member school and must be a starter or important substitute in a conference sport. The recipient is selected by the conference faculty athletic representatives, and the winner will be announced March 21.

The other finalists for the award are: Pier-Alexandre Desilets of Barton College; Steven Thiele of Belmont Abbey College; Shannon Bishop of Converse College; Vincent Chauvette of Erskine College; Ashley Pittman of King College; Milissa Rydzik of Limestone College; Lyndsey McIntyre of Mount Olive College; Garrett Dranichak of Pfeiffer University; and Chantel Dodge of Queens University of Charlotte.
 
Conference Carolinas is a NCAA Division II athletic conference currently made up of 12 teams from North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. These institutions consist of: Barton College, Belmont Abbey College, Coker College, Converse College, Erskine College, King College, Lees-McRae College, Limestone College, Mount Olive College, North Greenville University, Pfeiffer University and Queens University of Charlotte.

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Coker College readies undergraduates for personal and professional success through a distinctive four-year program that emphasizes a practical application of the liberal arts as well as hands-on and discussion-based learning within and beyond the classroom. Coker is ranked among the “Best Colleges” in the South by U.S. News & World Report as well as The Princeton Review. Located in Hartsville, S.C., Coker is within two hours of the cultural, financial and recreational resources of Charlotte, Columbia, Charleston and Myrtle Beach.

For more information, contact Chris Dougherty, Manager of Athletics Media Relations, at 843-383-8018 or cdougherty@coker.edu.