By: Houston Taylor
MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Mallory McKee and James Schroeder were honored Wednesday with the coveted Auburn Smith Awards at the annual Southern Arkansas All-Sports banquet in the Grand Hall of the Donald W. Reynolds Center. Also receiving laurels were Sarah Bell and Jack Crowley, being named this year’s Scholar-Athlete Award winners. Director of Athletics, Jay Adcox, presented the annual honors.
The Auburn Smith Award, given annually to both a women’s and men’s student-athlete, is the most prestigious honor a student-athlete can receive at SAU. The award is named in memory of Auburn Smith, who served as athletics director, administrator, coach, and instructor at Southern Arkansas. Athletic ability, performance, character, and scholastic achievement are all considerations by a selection committee of head coaches and athletic administrators at the university who select the honorees.
McKee (Coppell, Texas) is a 5-4 libero for the Lady Mulerider volleyball team, and is also a two-year member of the golf team. A senior, she holds a 3.61 GPA in criminal justice, with a minor in psychology.
McKee was a Second Team All-Gulf South Conference selection this season in volleyball. Four times she was named the GSC West Division Defensive Player of the Week over her four-year career, including twice this past season. McKee currently holds the Gulf South Conference career record of 55 matches with 20-plus digs. Over her four years, she shattered the SAU record book for digs. McKee finished her career as the all-time leader in total digs with 2,297 and averaged 5.47 digs per set over her four seasons. She owns the top four seasons all-time for digs per set, averaging a school-record 6.08 in 2007. McKee posted four of the top five matches all-time at SAU for digs in a match, setting the school record of 44 against Ouachita Baptist in 2007. During her career she recorded 18 matches with 30-plus digs, including four matches of 40-plus digs.
McKee is a four-time member of the GSC Academic Honor Roll and is a six-time member of the SAU Dean’s List.
A 6-0, 205-pound third baseman and starting pitcher on the Mulerider 
baseball team, Schroeder (Montgomery, Texas) is the third consecutive baseball student-athlete to win the Auburn Smith honor. A senior, Schroeder holds a 3.55 GPA in physical education, wellness & leisure.
With a .365 batting average and an 8-2 won-loss record on the mound this year, Schroeder has helped lead Southern Arkansas to a 44-9 record, a school record 23-game winning streak, a national No. 1 ranking, and to its 11th consecutive, and 12th overall, Gulf South Conference tournament appearance.
Schroeder is a three-time GSC West Division Player of the Week, including once this season in which he has also received the league’s pitcher of the week honor, one of only six players in the conference’s history to do so. Last year, Schroeder was a second team All-GSC selection and was named to the Natural State baseball honorable mention All-Arkansas team. Schroeder is tied at second all-time at SAU for hits in a game with five, accomplishing that feat three times in his two-year career, including twice this season. He stands third all-time for at-bats in a season with 225 last year. His 18 home runs this year are three shy of the school record, and with 75 RBI, needs 13 more to tie the school mark in that category.
Schroeder is a member of the GSC Academic Honor Roll and a two-time member of the SAU Dean’s List.
The esteemed Scholar-Athlete Award is also given to both a women’s and men’s student-athlete. The nominee must have a minimum of a 3.00 GPA, have completed at least 56 semester hours, with at least one semester at SAU. Selection of the honorees is done by a committee considering GPA, athletic accomplishments, and citizenship.
Bell (Houston, Texas), a senior with the Lady Mulerider volleyball team, carries an impressive 3.68 cumulative GPA in exercise science, with a minor in Spanish.
Bell was named in the fall to the prestigious ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VI Third Team. She is a four-time member of the Gulf South Conference Academic Honor Roll, a two-time member of the Southern Arkansas President’s List carrying a 4.00 GPA for both those semesters, and is a four-time member of the SAU Dean’s List.
On the court, Bell was second on the squad this season with 282 kills, 2.54 kills per set, 239 digs, and 328 points scored. She matched a career-high with 16 kills against Ouachita Baptist, and finished her four-year career with 524 kills and 606 digs.
A senior, Crowley (Dryden, Mich.) sports a 3.83 GPA in business administration-finance. He is a past member of the Gulf South Conference Academic Honor Roll, a three-time member of the SAU 
President’s list, garnering a 4.00 each of those semesters, and is a four-time member of the SAU Dean’s List, carrying at least a minimum of a 3.50 in each of those terms.
On the course, Crowley was the second leading scorer on this year’s squad, and was the team’s highest finisher at the GSC championship. He also led SAU at the Harding Natural State Classic, and finished fourth with a two-round total of 151 in the SAU Invitational.
A cancer survivor, Crowley sat out a season before resuming play in his senior season for the Muleriders.
In other honors, outstanding athletes were named in their respective fields by their head coaches or sponsors. Hannah Sutton received the accolade for athletic training, Jill Fennell for women’s golf, Peyton Mitchell in men’s golf, Payden Emmett for men’s rodeo, Caitlin Korensek in tennis, Kendall Mears in both women’s cross country and women’s track, Kevin Perez for men’s cross country, Michael Wooten in men’s track, Brandon Graves for baseball, Katie Lenderman in softball, Xavier Johnson for cheerleading, Justin Stuart in men’s basketball, Shanaye Davis for women’s basketball, Ryan Terry in football, and McKee received the volleyball honor.
Dan Gregory, with KVMA/KVMZ radio served as emcee for the evening’s event.
Photos by Houston Taylor, SID
