EVANSVILLE, Ind. – In an evening that celebrates the accomplishments of the University of Southern Indiana student athletes during the 2024-25 year, senior Vanessa Shafford (Women's Basketball) graduate student Garland Hall (Men's Soccer), and senior Quinten Gillespie (Men's Tennis) were honored with Screaming Eagle Pride Awards at the USI Archie Awards sponsored by Old National Bank Monday evening.

The ONB/USI Screaming Eagles Pride Award winners, who have been role models on the women's basketball and baseball teams and in Athletics, were selected in a vote by the Athletics staff.
 
Shafford, a four-year starter on Women's Basketball and a major in sport management, helped lead the Eagles to dominance in the Ohio Valley Conference. Shafford earned All-OVC Second Team honors after posting 12.1 points per game and pacing the squad and the top 10 of the OVC with 6.4 rebounds per contest. She also was named CSC Academic All-District.
 
For her career, Shafford appeared in 124 games, starting 98, in addition to averaging 11.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per contest. She also landed in seventh in USI scoring history with 1,429 career points.

Hall, a four-year starter and a master's candidate in business administration, has been a fixture on the Men's Soccer team. The graduate midfielder/defender and 2024 USI graduate in business administration appeared in 65 matches over four years, finishing his career with seven points on a goal and five assists. The goal was a game-winner over Northern Kentucky in 2023.
 
Hall earned College Sports Communicators All-District, OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll, and the OVC Academic Medal of Honor.
 
Gillespie, a four-year player and mathematics major, has appeared in 162 singles and doubles matches over four seasons on Men's Tennis, accumulating 70 victories. The senior has been named to the OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll, Horizon League Academic Honor Roll, and CSC All-District academically.
 
Gillespie also helped 2024-25 Men's Tennis to its first post season appearance since USI made the move to Division I.  

Previous winners of the Pride Award were Ginnie Roberts (softball) 2003; Mike Arnold (men's basketball) 2004; Brian Kendall (men's cross country/track) 2005; Angie Davis (softball) 2006; Geoff Van Winkle (men's basketball) 2007; Kathy Wood (softball) 2008;  Austin Inge (men's track) and Brittany Neuman (women's basketball) 2009; Jeron Lewis (men's basketball) and Sara Loete (softball) 2010; Lauren Meneghetti (women's basketball) and Mohamed Ntumba (men's basketball) 2011; Susan Ellsperman (women's soccer) and Brendan Devine (men's cross country/track) 2012; Ellena Stumpf (women's tennis) and Scott Ernstberger (baseball) 2013; Stephanie Carpenter (women's basketball) and Jeff Neidlinger (men's soccer) 2014; Austin Davis (men's basketball); and Mary O'Keefe (women's basketball) 2015; McKinsey Durham (women's soccer) and Lucas Woodford (men's soccer) 2016; and Kendyl Dearing (women's basketball) and Bobo Drummond (men's basketball) 2017; Olivia Clark-Kittleson (softball) and Adam Zehme (men's soccer) 2018; Claire Johnson (softball) and Alex Stein (men's basketball) 2019; Callie Gubera (volleyball) and Manny Lopez (baseball) 2021; and Mary Bean (softball) and Tyler Henry (men's basketball) 2022; junior Morgan Beyer (women's soccer) and senior Jacob Polakovich (men's basketball) 2023; senior Vanessa Shafford (women's basketball) and junior Ricardo Van Grieken (baseball).
 
Olga Donnelly, instructor in Mathematics in Pott College of Science, Engineering & Education, was presented the Dr. Jane Davis-Brezette Faculty Excellence Award. The award is presented to a USI faculty member who has contributed to the success of USI Athletics by mentoring student athletes and helping them achieve their goals in the classroom and beyond.  Previous winners of the award were Dr. Jane Davis-Brezette, the former chair of Kinesiology and Sport and instructor in the Pott College of Science, Engineering and Education (2008); Tim Mahoney, an instructor in the Romain College of Business (2009); Patti Marcum, an instructor in the Pott College of Science Engineering, and Education (2011); Dr. Lacie Rogers, an instructor in the Romain College of Business (2012); Dr. Darrin Sorrells, an instructor and learning specialist in Academic Skills (2013); Chris Croft, an instructor in Pott College of Science, Engineering, and Education (2014); Timothy Bryan, an instructor in accounting (2015);  Dr. Brandon Field, an associate professor of engineering (2016); Jamie Seitz, an associate professor of accounting (2017); Dr. Kimberly Delaney, an assistant professor of biology (2018); Dr. M. Catherine (Katie) Ehlman, an associate professor of gerontology/director (2019); Dr. Daria Sevastianova, an associate professor of economics (2022); Dr. Kent Scheller, a professor of physics (2023); and Dr. Tim Schibik professor of economics.
 
USI Softball earned the USI Female Team GPA Award (3.58), earning the honor for USI Athletics' best sixth time, while Men's Soccer received the USI Male Team GPA Award for the first time (3.49). The team GPA awards were separated by men's and women's varsity sports in 2024.
 
Softball (2012, 2014, 2021, 2022 2023, 2025) has won a team GPA award a record six times, while Volleyball (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2015) has collected a team GPA award five times. Women's Cross Country/Track & Field (2013, 2016, 2017, 2024) and Women's Soccer (2006, 2018) round out the multiple award winners with four and two times, respectively.
 
Women's Basketball (2011) and Women's Tennis (2019) have earned the honor once. Men's Tennis (2024) and Men's Soccer (2025) also have received the award once.


The award for the top GPA by an individual in a men's and women's varsity sport was presented to Kiera Moore (Volleyball), who had a 4.0 through 101 credit hours, and Landen Swiney (Cross Country/Track & Field), who had a 4.0 through 80 hours. Any ties for the award that was created in 2024 are broken by credit hours earned.
 
Previous individual GPA award winners are Joseph Russler (Men's Cross Country/Track & Field) and Mackenzie Bedrick (Softball).