Three Centenary Student-Athletes Among SCAC Representation At 2023 NCAA Convention
The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference will be represented by 23 student-athletes at the 2023 NCAA Convention. The convention will run from Wednesday, January 11 through Saturday, January 14, and is being held in San Antonio, Texas.
SUWANEE, Ga. – The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference will be represented by 23 student-athletes at the 2023 NCAA Convention. The convention will run from Wednesday, January 11 through Saturday, January 14, and is being held in San Antonio, Texas.
Student-athletes from all nine SCAC member institutions are scheduled to attend, including: Max Danielsen and Taylor Levan of Austin College; Avery Gilbert, Haleigh Gangloff and Devan Martin of Centenary College; Quinn Guevara, Max Lyski and Devon Ortman of Colorado College; Paiten Baesa, Kaitlyn Cline and Antonio Gachineiro of University of Dallas; Blair Drought-Villarreal and Tyler Juarez of Schreiner University; Dominik Izydorczyk, Samantha Martinez and Kortlyn Staub of Southwestern University; Rachel Bejarano and Kayleigh Deakle of University of St. Thomas, Wynter Flores of Texas Lutheran University; and Kai McClelland, Samantha Miller, William Powell and Ashlyn Zingelmann of Trinity University.
Made possible through the NCAA Division III Strategic Initiative Grant, the 23 student-athletes will participate in activities ranging from education sessions to business sessions to the NCAA Honors Celebration.
This marks the fourth time the SCAC has taken a contingent of student-athletes to the NCAA Convention and this year's cohort of 23 will the largest yet.
"Providing our student-athletes the opportunity to experience the educational and networking experiences associated with attending a NCAA Convention has proven to be a very popular endeavor," said SCAC Commissioner Dwayne Hanberry. "In addition to this being the largest group we've taken to Convention, the SCAC will have the most student-athletes at Convention of any Division III conference."
Eighteen student-athletes attended the league's initial trip to the NCAA Convention in 2012, followed by 22 to the 2016 event and 16 in 2018.
Hanberry said the grant from the NCAA provides the conference an annual vehicle to focus on different areas of social responsibility and integration. For the 2022-23 academic year, the focus is Student-Athlete Well Being and many of the students selected for this year's intiative have expressed an interest in a potential career in athletics administration.
Many conferences now sponsor similiar initiatives but in 2012, the SCAC was one of the first conference's at any level to bring a large contingent of student-athletes to the NCAA Convention.
Those interested in keeping up with the activities of this year's NCAA Convention attendees can follow along via the conference's various social media platforms: Twitter (@SCAC_Sports) and Instagram (@SCAC_Sports). You can also monitor the week's activities by using the hashtag #SCACatNCAA.
