Lion Pause

Athletic Highlights: April 24 – May 4, 2017

With yet another athletic season beginning to wind down, the Mars Hill University Athletics Department showcased all the successes of the 2016-17 season at the annual Senior Awards Show on Tuesday, May 2. Blake Covington (Reidsville, N.C.) of men's tennis earned the male highest G.P.A. award, while soccer player Maslyn Greene (Dallas, Ga.) earned the honors for the ladies. Joe Hillin (Atlanta, Ga.) of MHU football and Adam Lumley (Coventry, England) of men's golf were named Male Co-Athletes-of-the-Year and Kathryn Boland (Charlotte, N.C.)  earned Female Athlete-of-the-Year. Casey Stanek (Winston-Salem, N.C.) garnered Woman-of-the-Year, while Nathan Jones (Lenoir City, Tenn.) took home Man-of-the-Year.

Hillin, a senior center, led the Lions to a 5-6 overall record in 2016 on his way to being named the Jacobs' Blocking Trophy Award Winner, given to the best lineman in the South Atlantic Conference. In addition, Hillin was also named to the First Team All-SAC, D2CCA All Super-Region II First Team, and the D2Football.com 2016 All-America Second Team.

Lumley turned in one of the best performances in recent memory for the Lions men's golf team, earning the South Atlantic Conference Golfer-of-the-Year award, the first time Mars Hill has ever claimed the prestigious title. Lumley is also a semi-finalist for the Jack Nicklaus DII National Player-of-the-Year award and will compete in the NCAA DII Southeast Regionals as an individual.

Boland went undefeated in individual events during the 2016-17 season and was named to the Appalachian Swim Conference All-Conference team for her efforts. She was also tabbed as the ASC Female Swimmer-of-the-Week on three separate occasions and helped guide her team to a strong fifth place finish at the conference championships, a meet in which she went 3-for-3 in solo events.

Stanek provided the offense the majority of the season for the Blue and Gold's softball team after batting a team-high .377 with 24 RBIs, which also was tops on the squad. Her 52 hits and 14 doubles led the team and she was second on the club with a .580 slugging percentage and fourth with 19 runs scored. She was named to the South Atlantic Conference First Team as a third baseman. Off the field, Stanek boasts a 4.0 grade point average as a Graphic Design Major. She is also a First Year Mentor, Student Support Services Tutor and a University Marshal

Jones has been a formidable runner for the Lions since his freshman year and culminated his career with the Individual South Atlantic Cross Country Championship this past season.  A three-time All-Region selection, Jones is a four-time All-Conference honoree and took home Freshman of the Year honors during his rookie season.  He currently owns both the 10K and 8K records at Mars Hill as he posted his fastest 8K time of his career this past season with a clocking of 24:07. As well as being named the SAC Runner of the Year, he was honored as the SAC Scholar Athlete for men's cross country on two occasions.

Football: Former Mars Hill football standout Marquez Williams was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the seventh round, pick 240 overall, during the 2017 NFL Draft on Saturday, April 29. Williams played three seasons at MHU and was selected to the All-SAC team twice before finishing his collegiate career with the Miami Hurricanes as a graduate student under the coaching of Mark Richt.

During his tenure with the Lions, Williams was named to the South Atlantic Conference All-Conference second team in 2014 and first team in 2015. In his time with the "U" he served as Miami's starting fullback in 2016 and saw action in all 13 games, making five starts. Williams made his debut for the Canes on September 3, against Florida A&M and caught the team's first touchdown of the season.

With his selection, Williams becomes the first Hurricane fullback drafted since the Cincinnati Bengals picked Nick Luchey in 1999. The Athens, Ga., native is just the second Miami fullback to be taken in the NFL Draft's modern era.

This is the third consecutive year that Mars Hill has had a former athlete drafted into the National Football League. Williams joins Denzelle Good (2015) and Johnny Maxey (2016) as the other players to make it to the next level in recent years.

Jamel Harbison has been invited to the Carolina Panthers Mini Camp to be held on May 12-15. Harbison ended the 2016 campaign with 1,095 rushing yards.

Harbison, a senior running back from Charlotte, N.C., ended his final season with the Lions as the South Atlantic Conference's statistical champion in rushing yards per game (109.5) as well as all-purpose yards (123.5) per game. He was fourth in the league in touchdowns scored (10). Harbison was a First Team All-SAC selection and was named to the 2016 Don Hansen Super Region Two Team. During the Lions' game against Newberry on October 8, he rushed for a season high 206 yards on 41 attempts

Upcoming schedule of events

Sat         13           Mars Hill University Graduation Ceremony              9:30 a.m.