High Point's Sydney Horn Voted 2022-23 Wanda Watkins Female Athlete of the Year
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – High Point women’s pole vaulter
Sydney Horn (Lancaster, Pa.) has been voted the Big South Conference Wanda Watkins Female Athlete of the Year for the 2022-23 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.
Horn captured First-Team All-America honors in the outdoor pole vault for the third time, as she was fifth overall with a clearance of 4.30m at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships -- recording the program’s highest finish by an individual. She tied for first at the NCAA Preliminaries with a height of 4.22m, and was the Big South’s pole vault champion with a clearance of 4.26m. Horn posted an outdoor season-high 4.41m at the Liberty Twilight Qualifier in early May, and also had a clearance of 4.32m at the Vertklasse Meet. Horn capped her indoor season with Second-Team All-America distinction with her clearance of 4.20m at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships. She won the conference indoor title with a Big South-record height of 4.50m, which was third-best nationally. Horn won the indoor pole vault three additional times, and cleared 4.45m at the Virginia Tech Invitational in January. Now a six-time All-American in the pole vault (five First-Team honors, one Second-Team), Horn was honored with her third consecutive Big South Women’s Field Athlete of the Year Award in June. She received College Sports Communicators (CSC) Third-Team Academic All-America status last month, finished seventh at the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships July 9, and will represent Team USA at the upcoming U23 North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletics Association (NACAC) Championships that will be held in Costa Rica.
Horn is High Point’s third consecutive recipient of the conference’s Wanda Watkins Female Athlete of the Year Award and the first track & field athlete to be honored since 2016-17. She received 74 points and eight first-place votes, ahead of Gardner-Webb basketball player
Jhessyka Williams, who was second with 63 points (five first-place votes). Campbell track & field athlete
Chastity Pickett was third with 59 points (five first-place votes).
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 Watkins Female Athlete of the Year honorees are listed below.
WANDA WATKINS FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
2022-23 - Sydney Horn, High Point (track & field)
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)