UNC Asheville Wins 2021-22 Big South Institutional Sportsmanship Award
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – UNC Asheville has been declared the winner of the Big South Conference’s annual Institutional Sportsmanship Award for the 2021-22 athletic season, the league announced Thursday. Asheville receives the honor for the second consecutive time since the award was established in 2005-06, and is just the third different back-to-back winner.
The Institutional Sportsmanship Award winner is determined on a system that recognizes the highest percentage of the maximum points an institution is capable of receiving for each Team Sportsmanship Aaward. The team awards were voted on by Big South student-athletes following each conference championship, and eight different institutions were honored for the 2021-22 campaign, which are listed below. No Institutional Sportsmanship Award was conducted in 2019-20 and 2020-21 due to incomplete/abbreviated seasons caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
UNC Asheville, which was honored with three Team Sportsmanship Awards in 2021-22, was tops among the Big South membership with a 33.33 percentage of the maximum points received in its sponsored league sports. The Bulldogs were voted by Big South student-athletes as the top sportsmanship team in men’s cross country, women’s soccer and baseball. Longwood finished second in the Institutional Sportsmanship standings with a 26.34 percentage, followed by Charleston Southern at 24.12 percent.
2021-22 Big South Team Sportsmanship Award Winners:
Fall Sports
Men’s Cross Country – UNC Asheville
Women’s Cross Country – Longwood
Women’s Soccer – UNC Asheville
Men’s Soccer – Longwood
Football – Robert Morris
Volleyball – Gardner-Webb
Winter Sports
Men’s Indoor Track & Field – Campbell
Women’s Indoor Track & Field – Campbell
Women’s Basketball – Presbyterian
Men’s Basketball – USC Upstate
Spring Sports
Men’s Golf – Gardner-Webb
Women’s Golf – Gardner-Webb
Men’s Tennis – Campbell
Women’s Tennis – Longwood
Women’s Lacrosse – Gardner-Webb
Men’s Outdoor Track & Field – Campbell
Women’s Outdoor Track & Field – North Carolina A&T
Softball – Longwood
Baseball – UNC Asheville