On Thursday, the American Southwest Conference announced the 12 Howard Payne University student-athletes were named to the 2021-22 American Southwest Conference Distinguished Scholar-Athlete Teams, the league office announced on Wednesday.
The Distinguished Scholar-Athlete Teams recognize student-athletes who achieve a high level of academic achievement (a 3.20 grade-point average or better) while competing as a starter or important reserve on their team. From that list – limited to one nominee per school in each ASC championship sport – the sports information directors from the 12 ASC member institutions and three affiliate members select a Distinguished Scholar-Athlete in each sport.
The 2021-22 Distinguished Scholar-Athlete of the Year recipients for Howard Payne University include Rylee McGee for baseball, Harold Myart for men’s basketball, Trynadee Greenwell for women’s basketball, Casey Dufner for football, Jake Angerstein for men’s golf, Mallory Garcia for women’s golf, Eduardo Flores for men’s soccer, Delaney Castor for women’s soccer, Alexia Perkkio for softball, Micah Hunter for men’s tennis, Zoe Sprayberry for women’s tennis, and Kaitlyn Elsten for volleyball.
An ASC Honorable Mention at catcher, senior Rylee McGee finished the regular season third in the American Southwest Conference in batting avg. of .394 overall, and .406 in conference play. McGee had 50 Stolen Base Attempts and threw out 12 and finished with a fielding percentage of .972. He finished with a 3.40 GPA in Engineering Science.
Junior Harold Myart, played in 23 games for the Yellow Jackets basketball team, averaging 4.9 points per game and recorded a season-high 16 points versus Concordia. Myart finished with a 3.41 GPA in Engineering Science.
Junior Trynadee Greenwell, started in 10 of 19 games for the Lady Jackets basketball team. She averaged 4.8 points per game and recorded a season-high 16 points and three steals in a win over McMurry. Greenwell finished with a 4.0 GPA in Kinesiology.
Junior Casey Dufner, played in all ten games for the Yellow Jackets football team. He recorded three touchdowns on five catches playing tight end for the Yellow Jackets. He received HPU’s Outstanding Male Scholar-Athlete Award for the highest GPA among upperclassmen at HPU. Dufner finished with a 4.0 GPA in Kinesiology.
Sophomore Jake Angerstein, played in ten tournaments for the Yellow Jackets golf team. Angerstein recorded a season-low round of 74 at the West Region Invitational. His best finish of the year came at the Crusader Invitational ending 21st out of a field of 85. Angerstein finished with a 3.70 GPA in Finance.
An ASC Honorable Mention All-Conference selection for the Lady Jackets golf team, sophomore Mallory Garcia received All-Conference honors for the second consecutive year. She finished in the top 10 in her last three tournaments leading up to the conference tournament which included a fourth-place finish at the Linda Lowery Invitational and a fifth-place showing at the West Region Invitational. Garcia finished with a 3.27 GPA in Mathematics.
An ASC Honorable Mention All-Conference as a Goalkeeper, senior Eduardo Flores started and played in nine games for the Yellow Jackets soccer team. He recorded 45 total saves, including a season-high nine saves in the 1-1 draw against Schreiner. Flores is third in saves per game in the American Southwest Conference, averaging five saves a game. He finished with a 3.52 GPA IN Software Engineering.
A 1st Team All-Conference as a Goalkeeper, senior Delaney Castor broke the school record for saves in a game with 24 in the 2-2 draw against Mary-Hardin Baylor. She ended the season fourth in the ASC with a .802 save percentage. She was also fourth in total saves with 85. Castor started in all 18 games for the Lady Jackets a logged 1351 minutes of action. She was named the ASC player of the week one time this season. Castor finished with a 3.94 GPA in History.
Starting in 36 of 38 games for the Lady Jackets softball team, sophomore Alexia Perkkio recorded 23 hits and seven RBI. She had a season-high three hits in a game at Ozarks this season. Perkkio finished with a 3.53 GPA in Mathematics.
Playing mainly number three singles for the Yellow Jackets tennis team, sophomore Micah Hunter had a 2-3 conference singles record. He partnered with Hunter Green in number one doubles play going 1-4 in conference action. Hunter finished with a 3.41 GPA in Kinesiology.
Sophomore Zoe Sprayberry, played number two singles for the Lady Jackets tennis team while partnering with Lexie Nave in number one doubles play. She finished with a 3.52 GPA in Mathematics.
Sophomore Kaitlyn Elsten was the only Lady Jacket to play in all 25 volleyball matches for Howard Payne. She recorded 286 assists as a setter with seven service aces and 98 digs. Elsten had a season-high 25 assists versus Randall University. She finished with a 3.96 GPA in Allied Health Science.