High Point's Abby Hormes Voted 2021-22 Wanda Watkins Female Athlete of the Year
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – High Point women’s lacrosse player Abby Hormes (Fallston, Md.) has been voted the Big South Conference Wanda Watkins Female Athlete of the Year for the 2021-22 season by the league’s Athletics Directors, Senior Woman Administrators and Sports Information Directors, it was announced today by the conference office. The candidates for the annual award consist of the Players of the Year from each sport, and must be deemed eligible for the honor by their respective school. Hormes is High Point’s second consecutive recipient of the conference’s Wanda Watkins Female Athlete of the Year Award and the first lacrosse player to be honored.
During the 2022 season, Hormes scored an NCAA single-season record 103 goals in her final year with HPU, which surpassed two-time Tewaaraton Award Winner Charlotte North from Boston College, who scored 102 in 2021. Hormes earned honorable mention All-American honors from both Inside Lacrosse and USA Lacrosse Magazine, and competed in the 2022 IWLCA Senior All Star Game. Hormes is the first three-time Big South Offensive Player of the Year honoree since the league began sponsoring women’s lacrosse in 2013. She finished the 2022 campaign as the national leader in goals scored, goals per game (5.42), points (124), and points per game (6.53) -- all of which set Big South single-season records. Hormes scored seven game-winning goals in 2022, collected the third-most ground balls per game in the conference at 3.05, and tallied 124 draw controls and a league-best 6.53 draw controls per game. Hormes posted 16 hat tricks in 2022 -- including 10 games with at least six goals, and tied the Big South single-match record with 10 goals against Radford on April 16. The five-time Big South Offensive Player of the Week scored 64 goals and 79 points in her nine Big South matches this past season -- 7.11 goals per game and 8.78 points per contest.
In March 2000, the Big South Conference Executive Committee voted to create an annual Male and Female Student-Athlete of the Year award, and named the male award in honor of former Charleston Southern Athletic Director Howard Bagwell, who was one of the founders of the Big South Conference and an inaugural inductee into the league’s Hall of Fame. In June 2022, the Executive Committee named the female award in honor of former Campbell women’s basketball coach and Big South Hall of Famer Wanda Watkins. The Athlete of the Year awards have been presented annually since 1999-00, with the exception of the 2019-20 due to the season being incomplete and eventually canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The annual honorees are listed below.
WANDA WATKINS FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
2021-22 - Abby Hormes, High Point (lacrosse)
2020-21 - Abby Bottomley, High Point (volleyball)
2018-19 - Lauren Proctor, Winthrop (tennis)
2017-18 - Lauren Proctor, Winthrop (tennis)
2016-17 - Marthaline Cooper, Winthrop (track & field)
2015-16 - Ednah Kurgat, Liberty (cross country/track & field)
2014-15 - Megan Baltzell, Longwood (softball)
2013-14 - Dequesha McClanahan, Winthrop (basketball)
2012-13 - Brooke Short, Longwood (softball)
2011-12 - Gabrielle Houston, Charleston Southern (track & field)
2010-11 - Natalie Pearson, UNC Asheville (track & field)
2009-10 - Kristen Shifflett, Radford (softball)
2008-09 - Megan Frazee, Liberty (basketball)
2007-08 - Megan Frazee, Liberty (basketball)
2006-07 - Aruka Felgueroso, Coastal Carolina (golf)
2005-06 - Tiffany Evans, Radford (track & field)
2004-05 - Katie Feenstra, Liberty (basketball)
2003-04 - Katie Feenstra, Liberty (basketball)
2002-03 - Amber Campbell, Coastal Carolina (track & field)
2001-02 - Heather Sagan, Liberty (cross country/track & field)
2000-01 - Amber Campbell, Coastal Carolina (track & field)
1999-00 - Anthonia Akpama, Liberty (volleyball)