Pellissippi State Hosts First Annual End-of-Year Athletics Banquet
Knoxville, TN - The Panther Awards took place this past Saturday on the Hardin Valley Campus, honoring student-athletes, coaches, administrators, and professors who have helped the department achieve its heights this past year.
View the picture album here
The entire department gathered in the Goins building to celebrate the many achievements from the first year of Panther Athletics. Awards were given out for the following categories (descriptions and winners listed below each award)
Academic Apex Award
"The academic apex award is presented to the team who achieved the highest overall team GPA from the past year. This team shows commitment in the classroom in addition to their success on the field. Each individual on this team should feel honor and pride for their achievements, and continue to strive to learn on and off the field of play.
Winner: Women's Soccer
Standout Performance Award
"The Standout Performance Award is given to a student-athlete who excelled in an exceptional manner on the field of play during a game. These individuals who are finalists competed and achieved great heights in their sport and should all be celebrated.
Nominees:
Ruben Cardoza Vs. Johnson University (two Goals)
Suzanne Barker Vs. Motlow State (game-winner)
Sade Lee Vs. Columbia State (Last Second Game Winner)
Jarek Morton (Won Walters State Opener)
Winner: Sade Vs. Columbia State (Last Second Game Winner)
Game of the Year
"The Pellissippi State Athletics Game of the Year award is presented to the team that accomplished a great feat in a win and created an unmatched environment for the team and fans cheering them along."
Nominees:
Women's Soccer Win Vs. Ranked Motlow State
Volleyball Win Vs. Cleveland State
Men's Soccer Win Vs. Johnson U.
XC Performance at the Conference Championship (Won but ineligible)
Winner: Volleyball Win Vs. Cleveland State
Defining Moment Award
"The defining moment award is presented to a team or student-athlete who set the tone not only for the team but for the entire season with their performance. These performances stand out to us as staff and to the college as a whole as performances that made Pellissippi State Athletics stand out among our competition and made our entire department proud to be Pellissippi Panthers."
Sade Lee Last Second game Winning Goal Vs. Columbia State
Suzanne Barker's Goal against Motlow (1-0 Win)
XC men and women Win Walters State Opener & Jarek Morton Finishes First
Winner: XC men and women Win Walters State Opener & Jarek Morton Finishes First
Athletic Excellence Award
"The Athletic Excellence Awards are given to the Male and Female student-athletes who had a season-long display of excellence on the field of play. These individuals set themselves apart as leaders and dominated when they were competing."
Male Nominees
Jarek Morton (XC)
Mario Rivera (Men's Soccer)
Ruben Cardoza (Men's Soccer)
Coen Lovin (Men's Golf)
Winner: Ruben Cardoza
Female Nominees
Sade Lee (Women's Soccer)
Grace Adams (XC)
Winner: Sade Lee
Breakthrough Athlete of the Year
"The breakthrough athlete of the year award is presented to the student-athlete who showed the greatest improvement throughout their season. Not only did these student-athletes show improvement, but they also ended up being leaders on their teams and helping their teams achieve great feats"
Nominees:
Weston Robbins (Men's Golf)
Lauren Lemmo (Women's Soccer)
Stephen Scallion (XC)
Ruben Cardoza (Men's Soccer)
Winner: Lauren Lemmo
All-Panther Team 2024
"The All-Panther team is comprised of student-athletes who excelled on and off the field of play and represented the college and athletics department as outstanding individuals. Our first class of All-Panthers will hold a special place in the history of Pellissippi State Athletics."
5 Men:
Nathan Saraiva (Men's Soccer)
Stephen Scallion (XC)
Coen Lovin (Men's Golf)
Amadou Benjamin (Men's Soccer)
Jacob Eubanks (Men's Soccer)
5 Women:
Jocelyn Chipoco-Delgado (XC/Half Marathon)
Grace Adams (XC)
Lauren Lemmo (Women's Soccer)
Ava Smith (Women's Soccer)
Kelly Velasquez Cruz (Women's Soccer)
We also want to recognize everyone who won conference and national awards this past year:
NJCAA Women's Soccer All-American Honorable Mention - Sade Lee
NJCAA Men's XC Runner of the Week X2 Jarek Morton
TCCAA Women's Soccer Coach of the Year - Mariana Diaz
TCCAA Women's Soccer POY - Sade Lee
TCCAA Women's Soccer All-Conference Honorable Mention - Paige Janoyan, Yuri Garcia, Isabella Altorfer, Kelley Cruz
TCCAA First Team All-Conference - Sade Lee, Lauren Lemmo
TCCAA Volleyball All-Conference Second Team - Aubrey Pierce
TCCAA Players of the Week - Aubrey Pierce, Suzanne Barker, Henry Lyon, Elian Hernandez, Jocelyn Chipoco-Degrado, Diego Fernandes, Felipe Coehlo, Lizzie Bohannon, Jarek Morton, Grace Adams, Sameera Jaffery, Ruben Cardoza, Sade Lee, Ben Schulz, Lizandro Moradel,
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Amadou Benjamin Ba from the men's soccer team spoke about his journey and experiences while at Pellissippi State and touched the hearts of everyone with his amazing remarks.
Director Brock Evans spoke about the many accomplishments of the department and talked about what the future holds for our programs.
Dr. Anthony Wise, President of Pellissippi State Community College, spoke briefly about how proud he is of our teams and their accomplishments from the past year.
The first year of Pellissippi State Athletics has been one to remember and one for the history books. Going into year two, we are now eligible to compete in the postseason for all sports. We are excited to have our four new sports, baseball, softball, men's and women's basketball, and all of the new student-athletes and coaches it will bring to the college. The championship chase begins now!