OLEMISSSPORTS.COM
(Courtesy: olemisssports.com)
BIRMINGHAM – Ole Miss seniors Abby Newton (Katy, Texas) and Alison Hovatter (Meridianville, Alabama) picked up some more hardware as they both earned accolades from the SEC office on Tuesday. Newton was named co-SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year, while Hovatter was named to the SEC Community Service Team.
Newton becomes the first Ole Miss player to win SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year honors and shares the award with Tennessee’s Lucia Polo, while Hovatter was named to the Community Service Team for the second consecutive season.
Newton has had a very successful collegiate career both on and off the course. She’s appeared on both the Dean and Chancellor’s honor rolls at Ole Miss and is a three-time Women’s Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholar. Additionally she’s a two-time SEC Spring Academic Honor Roll recipient and was a member of the SEC First Year Academic Honor Roll. This year, she was inducted into the 2015-16 Who’s Who of American Colleges and Universities and has been nominated for CoSIDA Academic All-District honors in three consecutive years.
On the course, Newton has had an impressive collegiate career. She became one of just 12 Rebels to earn medalist honors in their collegiate career by winning the Memphis FedEx Intercollegiate in the fall of 2014. Newton had a tremendous fall season in her senior campaign. She lead the Rebels with a 72.67 stroke average and tied the school record for single lowest round firing a 7-under par 65 at the CSU Fall Invitational. In that same tournament she set a new school record for two rounds with a two-round score of 135 (70-65—135) en route to her career low for 54 holes of 206. Over the course of her career, Newton has posted three top-five finishes. Newton qualified for the NCAA Regionals as an individual in 2014 where she fired a three-day score of 220 and was a member of the 2013 squad that participated in the NCAA Regionals.
Hovatter was named to the SEC Community Service team for the second straight year and joins members from each of the other 14 SEC institutions.
Hovatter, who is heavily involved with the Ole Miss chapter of Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), has been highly active in the Ole Miss and Oxford and Lafayette county communities since arriving at Ole Miss. Hovatter leads a weekly bible study with Ole Miss volleyball player Rachael Weathersby for high school girls at Oxford high school and, through her participation in FCA, has helped to build a home for an elderly resident in Oxford, while also spending time visiting with residents at a local nursing home. Hovatter is very devout in her faith and most recently was featured in the June issue of the FCA Magazine sharing her testimony. Additionally, Hovatter shared her testimony during the 2015 Ole Miss Rebel Intercollegiate Easter Service, sharing her story of faith with all the teams in town for the women’s golf Rebel Intercollegiate golf tournament.
Additionally, Hovatter has given back though the game of golf by serving as a camp counselor at the Ole Miss golf camps each of the past four years while also serving as a participant each of the last four years at the Ole Miss National Women’s and Girls in Sports Day program.
Hovatter was also a consistent performer for the Rebels on the course with a 74.75 stroke average and two top-10 finishes on the year. Hovatter also fired a career-low 69 at the Lady Bulldog Invitational to open the spring– an event she finished tied for first place.
The SEC names a Community Service Team for each of its 21 league-sponsored sports, looking to highlight an athlete from each school who gives back to his or her community through superior service efforts. All league-sponsored sports have had a community service team since 2004, with at-large teams for men and women’s sports being chosen from 1999-2003. The SEC began this concept with a football community service team in 1994.
