FROM STAFF REPORTS

University of North Alabama student-athletes Jake Greer, an Oak Mountain High School graduate, and Nikki Brown are among the 16th annual Gulf South Conference Top Ten Award winners.

These awards recognize the top five male and five female student-athletes in the GSC based on athletic, academic and extracurricular achievement during the 2011-12 academic year. One male and one female from this group will receive the Commissioner’s Trophy, the Conference’s most prestigious honor.

Greer, a senior golfer from Birmingham, is among the male Top Ten recipients, while Brown, a junior soccer player from Bognor Regis, England, is a Top Ten recipient on the women’s side for a second straight year.

Each Top Ten designate will be honored, and the Commissioner’s Trophy winners named, at the league’s annual Awards Banquet on June 25 at the Hilton Birmingham Perimeter Park. The program begins at 6:30 p.m.

The Top Ten selections are chosen with the assistance of an advisory committee that consists of athletic directors, senior women’s administrators, sports information directors, faculty athletic representatives and presidents from randomly selected Gulf South Conference schools. The committee makes a recommendation the league’s commissioner, who has the final decision. Ties are not broken, so more than 10 student-athletes can be honored.

Greer has distinguished himself as both an outstanding golfer who has contributed greatly to UNA’s success and as an outstanding scholar who has earned conference, regional and national awards.

His contributions to UNA’s success as a team are unmistakable. Prior to Greer coming to UNA in 2008, UNA had never won a GSC golf title. During his four years with the Lions, he helped UNA win three (2009, 2010, 2012). He also helped lead the team to four straight NCAA Regional appearances and the 2009 South Region title.

Individually he won six tournaments during his career at UNA, was national Freshman of the Year and South Region Medalist in his first year of collegiate golf, was four-time All-GSC, three-time All-South Region and two-time honorable mention All-American (with this year’s teams still to be announced).

Academically, Greer is a three-time Academic All-GSC honoree, a Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-District selection, a second-team Capital One Academic All-America pick and a Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholar.

He has also volunteered individually and as part of his team in community service projects.