DALLAS - Conference USA has announced its 2021 Winter Spirit of Service Award winners. The award honors one student-athlete from each of the league's 14 members with significant community service endeavors, good academic standing and participation in their sport. The Spirit of Service award is presented three times throughout the season, with these honorees representing men's and women's basketball, men’s and women’s indoor track and field, cross country and football.
 
2021 WINTER SPIRIT OF SERVICE HONOREES
 

Name	Sport	School
Maya Singletary	Indoor Track and Field	Charlotte
Kyla Nelson	Women's Basketball	FIU
Kara Wilkins	Women's Swimming and Diving	Florida Atlantic
Jada Branch	Indoor Track and Field	Louisiana Tech
Taylor Pearson	Women's Basketball	Marshall
Courtney Whitson	Women's Basketball	Middle Tennessee
Joseph JJ Murray	Men's Basketball	North Texas
Jacob Cobb	Men's swimming	Old Dominion
Noah Hutchins	Men's Basketball	Rice
DeAndre Pinckney	Men's Basketball	Southern Miss
Amy Kohan	Mixed Rifle	UAB
Jonna Warnken	Rifle	UTEP
Karrington Donald	Women's Basketball	UTSA
Dartez Hamlin	Indoor Track and Field	WKU

 
Charlotte junior Maya Singletary competed in five meets in the 300m, 400m and 4x400 relay events, taking home fifth with a personal record 300m time of 38.69 at the Virginia Tech Invitational, which ranks second in school indoor history.  She qualified for the 400m finals with the top prelim and personal record time of 53.80 at the C-USA Championships, which ranks second in school indoor history.  Singletary gained the gold in the 400m after running a time of 53.85 at the C-USA Championships, which helped the women’s team to a third-place finish and was on the gold-winning 4x400 relay team, who ran a 3:41.28 time to rank second in school indoor history.  Singletary came up with an idea to help Charlotte’s homeless population with a 24 hour donation drive for families/singles living in “tent city” in Charlotte, who were in dire need of supplies to move from their current location within 48 hours.  She helped raise $3100 dollars for the homeless population, along with securing blankets and bags for storage.  Singletary is also a two time Athletic Director's List member (3.0 or higher semester GPA).
 
FIU Women’s Basketball is represented by senior Kyla Nelson, a Communications Arts major who was named to the Conference USA All-Academic Team after earning a 3.78 GPA.  She donated her time this year by writing Valentine’s Day cards and brightening the spirits of sick children at St. Luke’s Hospital in Miami.  On the court, Nelson was FIU’s second-leading scorer after averaging 13.9 points per game last season and topping all of C-USA in three-point shooting percentage with 42.8% on the year. She broke FIU’s single-season record for most made three-pointers with 74 last season.
 
Florida Atlantic senior swimmer Kara Watkins is a three-time C-USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll Recipient (2018-2020) and six-time FAU Honor Roll member (Fall 2017, 2019, 2020; Spring 2018, 2019, 2020), majoring in psychology.  She volunteered in FAU’s WOW Day of Welcome Service, SAAC Beach Clean Up and Campus Clean Up, Boca Raton Walk to End Alzheimer’s, Project Thanksgiving Canned Food Drive, MLK Day of Service and Night to Shine during this academic year.  Watkins has also been a member of FAU’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and served as the Community Service Chair for the 20-21 academic year.  In the pool, she placed 21st in 200 Back (2:08.95), 25th in 100 Back (59.48) and 32nd in the 50 Free (25.44) at the 2021 C-USA Championships in her first and only meet this season (due to very shortened season due to the COVID-19 pandemic)
 
Jada Branch of Louisiana Tech indoor track and field is a junior who is majoring in Kinesiology & Health Sciences.  She is a One-time President’s List; three-time Dean’s List; six-time AD Honor Roll; three-time C-USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll and one-time C-USA Academic Medal recipient.  Branch served as the SAAC Diversity Equity and Inclusion Co-Chair and a One Love Peer Educator.  She also held roles with the SAAC Book Catalog Organization, Athletic Tutor Training Preparation, FYE Athlete Representative Presentation, More than an Athlete Initiative, Black History Month Coordinator, Dogs With A Cause Character Education Program and Special Olympics.  Branch has placed/helped a relay team place inside the top-five 14 times during her college career, including two first-place finishes.  She finished seventh overall in the 400m dash in the 2021 C-USA Indoor Championships after finishing eighth the previous two years.
 
Marshall senior Taylor Pearson played in more than 100 games for Marshall and had 97 career triples, a figure that is tied for 13th on school’s all-time list.  Her 39.6 three-point percentage as a junior was good for sixth in the Thundering Herd’s all-time single season records and this past season, Pearson was also second on the team in free throw percentage at 82.4 percent.  She carries a 3.67 GPA in Biomechanics and has been a member of the C-USA Commissioners Honor Roll.  Pearson facilitated a sock and shoe drive for NECCO, a multi-state child welfare organization offering a broad array of services, including Adoption, Foster Care, Mental Health Counseling, Independent Living and Residential Living.
 
Middle Tennessee sophomore Courtney Whitson is honored after just being named to the C-USA Women’s Basketball All-Tournament Team. She averaged 15.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and shot 52 percent (12-of-23) from 3-point range in C-USA Championships, including a game-high 22 points and title game record six 3-pointers in the championship game win vs. Rice.  She has started every game of her collegiate career (54) and nearly averages a double-double with 10.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.  Whitson is an English major who carries a 3.787 GPA and has been a member of the C-USA Commissioner honor roll.  She has made an impact around the Middle Tennessee campus through her work with Special Olympics, Reading Across America, United Way and Stuff the Bus.
 
A leader on-campus and in the locker room, JJ Murray has worked to make a make a difference in the community at every turn for North Texas. He serves as a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and volunteered to lead the SAAC Community Service and Promotion Sub-Committee. In this role, Murray was instrumental in organizing community service activities with the local chapter of the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree Donation arm, and community Yard Sale to raise funds for the organization. He also works to organize service events due to his role as President of the UNT chapter of the American Society of Engineering Management and member of the National Society of Black Engineers.  As a Mechanical Engineering major and Business Administration minor, Murray has achieved considerable academic success. Since his arrival is Fall 2018, he has never had a semester GPA under a 3.0, and was named to the C-USA Commissioners Honor Roll for five straight semesters. He has been named to the Dean's List three times (Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2020). In addition, Murray was named to the President’s List in the Spring 2020 semester with a 4.0 GPA.  A former walk-on who later earned an athletic scholarship and played in 36 career games, he averaged 2.4 points per game and 1.6 rebounds per game.  Murray is the first substitute off the bench for the 2021 C-USA champion Mean Green that won a NCAA Tournament game for the first time in program history
 
Senior swimmer Jacob Cobb has made the Dean’s List each semester at Old Dominion and has earned the Conference USA Academic Medal and a spot on the C-USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll while carrying a 3.95 GPA as an Accounting/Business Analytics major.  In the Community, he has participated in our Norfolk Public School virtual reading campaign and was instrumental in the Thanksgiving food basket drive for the “For Kids” organization.  Cobb is involved in our Kids Club pen pal program and he supported our efforts for the annual September 11th dinner for the fire station on campus.
 
Rice men’s basketball player Noah Hutchins was unable to play his freshman season due to injury, but that did not slow down his off the court activities.  He organized projects to address food insecurity and encouraged fellow student-athletes to participate. Hutchins hosted a volunteer day in Houston in October, gathering a group of student-athletes from Rice to make bags of food to feed at least 100 homeless persons.  He also hosted a variety of youth events back in his hometown of Buffalo, N.Y., worked with The Unit Promise, a youth development program in the greater Western New York area to help guide the next generation through the game of basketball.
 
Southern Miss is represented by junior men’s basketball player DeAndre Pinkney, a Sport Management major who carries a 3.40 GPA and earned honor roll status in his first semester on campus.  He provided virtual reading to elementary schools in the fall, as well as helping build tables and benches for elementary schools.  Pinkney tutored middle school students in math back in Florida and graduated with 500 community service hours.  He joined team effort in November with Extra Table, packing and boxing 1,200 pounds of rice for those in need in Hattiesburg.  On the court Pinkney started 15 games, averaging 8.2 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.  He posted nine double-figure scoring games in C-USA play.
 
UAB sophomore Amy Kohan is a member of the Mixed Rifle team that carries a 3.77 GPA in Electrical Engineering.  Her academic honors include being named to the C-USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll (2019 -20), the UAB Athletic Director’s Honor Roll (FA 19, SP 20, FA 20), UAB Presidential Honors (4.0 GPA), SP 20; and the Deans List (3.0GPA +) FA 20.  Additionally, Kohan logged more than 15 hours of Community Service at various events.  She was named All-Conference First Team in both air rifle and smallbore, after leading UAB in both air rifle average (570.714) and smallbore (584.429).
 
UTEP also lists a member of the Rifle team as its rep, with Jonna Warnken named for the Miners.  The Education major has been recognized as a Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association (CRCA) All-Academic All-American in each of her first two seasons with UTEP and she was a member of the 2020 Conference USA Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll.  Warnken volunteered at Livestock shows and auctions in the summer of 2020 through the Mineral County 4H (in Montana) and also participated in Read Across America where she read to students virtually at North Star Elementary School in El Paso.  She shot both disciplines in all six matches on the season for the Miners, finishing the year with an aggregate average of 1125, with averages of 549 in smallbore and 576 in air rifle.
 
Representing UTSA women’s basketball is senior Karrington Donald, who has a 3.84 GPA in Computer Science.  She is active on several campus committees, including the SAAC Executive Board, Spirit Advisory Board and RowdyCrew Liaison. Donald plans and is active on campus events promoting Roadrunner spirit, pride and unity along with other Board members, was a four-year SAAC WBB Rep and a two-year member of Athletics Inclusive Excellence Board.  She has devoted Community Service time to Roadrunners Give Back, a San Antonio Food Bank Mission San Juan Farm and has been a Dreamrunners Speaker for multiple events over the past four years. Donald started 18 games for the Roadrunners, leading team in assists at 4.0 per game, while averaging 11.4 points and 4.1 rebounds an outing.
 
Dartez Hamlin fully serves his duty of being a student-athlete by representing WKU Track & Field on both the Student Athlete Advisory Council as well as WKU Athletics’ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council.  Hamlin served his hometown of El Paso last summer by volunteering in a homeless shelter, serving food to the men in the shelter four times a week.  He returned to El Paso over the winter break, serving food to the homeless and distributing toys to under privileged children in the community during the holiday season.  Hamlin is an Interdisciplinary Studies major with an Emphasis in Social and Behavioral Sciences.  The 2020 C-USA 200-meter champion was limited in indoor competition due to injuries, but recorded a fourth-place finish in the 200 at the C-USA Indoor Championships.