DALLAS – Conference USA announced its Winter Spirit of Service Award winners Thursday. The award honors student-athletes 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 Thursday’s honorees representing track and field, swimming and diving and basketball. Recipients are nominated by the institutions.
 
2021-22 Winter Spirit of Service Award Recipients
Riley Felts, Charlotte Track and Field, Gr.
Julia Miranda, FIU Swimming, Sr.
Kirsten Hobson, Florida Atlantic Swimming and Diving, Jr.
Nariah Parks, Louisiana Tech Track and Field, Fr.
Courtney Whitson, Middle Tennessee Women’s Basketball, Jr.
Saylor Hawkins, North Texas Swimming and Diving, Sr.
Tara Enneking, Old Dominion Swimming, Sr.
Katelyn Crosthwait, Rice Women’s Basketball, Jr.
Lina May, Southern Miss Track and Field, Sr.
Laci Turner, UAB Track and Field, Sr.
Kevin Hewitt, UTEP Track and Field, So.
Alanah Yukich, UTSA Track and Field, Jr.
Audrey Griffin, WKU Track and Field, Sr.
 
Charlotte graduate student Riley Felts spends her time away from the track volunteering with numerous organizations in Charlotte. She has spent time with Samaritan’s Feet, Meal Services with Roof Above, United in GOLD, Niner Varsity Club, the Boys and Girls Club along with participating in SAAC events throughout the year. The engineering major graduated with a 4.0 GPA and is a four-time Conference USA Honor Roll selection, a CoSIDA Third Team Academic All-American (2021) and a six-time Perfect Niner. She was the 2022 C-USA Indoor Pole Vault Champion, her fourth-straight C-USA crown after a record-straight clearance.
 
FIU’s Julia Miranda is working towards a Master’s of Finance as a member of the Panthers’ swimming squad. She has a 3.78 graduate GPA and spends her time in the community with Operation Christmas Child, an organization that helps box toys for children from poverty and war-stricken countries. In the pool, Miranda won gold at the C-USA Championships in the 200 medley relay, the 200 free relay, the 400 medley, the 800 free relay and the 200 backstroke.
 
Florida Atlantic swimming and diving junior Kirsten Hobson holds a 3.67 GPA in biological sciences. Outside of the pool, Hobson is the FAU SAAC Community Service Chair, creating, promoting and volunteering in many events throughout the academic year. She has participated in numerous Beach Cleanups, FAU Campus Cleanups, the Project Thanksgiving Canned Food Drive and volunteered with Boca Helping Hands. She also found and partnered with a local dog shelter at the Big Dog Ranch and hosted volunteer-based pet-sitting events there. She is a C-USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll selection and has made the FAU Academic Honor Roll every semester. In the pool, she had the fastest 1,000 free time for FAU and the second-fastest 1,650 free time. Overall she has 17 top-10 individual finishes on the year.
 
Louisiana Tech freshman Nariah Parks competes on the track and field team and is majoring in computer science with a 3.675 GPA in her first year in Ruston. Parks is a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, served on the Techspys Planning Committee while also volunteering at the Jim Mize Track Meet and the LA Tech Mook 4 Invitational Cross Country Meet. She is on the Dean’s Honor Roll, earned the C-USA Academic Medal and is a 2-time AD Honor Roll selection. On the track, Parks was a member of the Lady Techsters’ 4x400 meter relay and competed in the 400 meter dash.
 
Middle Tennessee junior Courtney Whitson is working towards a degree in English and boasts a 3.71 GPA while competing on the women’s basketball team. Whitson spends her time serving with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the Read to Succeed program, Special Olympics and working with United Way. She was a recipient of the Dr. Pepper/College Football Playoff Foundation Tuition Scholarship and was named to the C-USA Women’s Basketball All-Academic Team. Whitson was named the All-Conference USA Second Team following a standout season averaging 12.4 points and a team-best 7.3 rebounds.
 
North Texas diver Saylor Hawkins is a senior majoring in kinesiology. She is the North Texas SAAC Co-Chair and has been instrumental in every SAAC initiative the last two years, which has included a department-wide food drive, student-athlete week of service and partnering with a local organization to promote a Special Olympics competition. Outside of her SAAC involvement, Hawkins has bought, sorted and distributed health and wellness necessities to local homeless citizens in Denton. She’s a multi-semester Dean’s List selection and has been a member of the C-USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll. Athletically, Hawkins has qualified for NCAA Zones in both the 1- and 3-meter springboard while setting the program record for Platform at the C-USA Championship, finishing fourth overall. She also set a program record while winning the bronze medal in the 3-meter springboard at the C-USA Championships.
 
Old Dominion senior Tara Enneking is a swimming student athlete who is working towards a degree in civil engineering. On campus, she is a member of SAAC and is part of the Championship Effort Committee. Her community service efforts include working with the For Kids program Thanksgiving food basket drive, the HACE and ODU police Christmas toy drive and is a regular pen pal for the ODU kids club. Additionally, she’s helped create and distribute blessing bags for Valentine’s for Veterans while volunteering at the 9/11 dinner, the fan zone at sport evenings and helping with Monarch move-in. She’s a five-time C-USA Honor Roll and Dean’s List selection and two-time C-USA Academic Medal honoree. In the pool, she placed third in the 200 individual medley at the C-USA Championships and sixth in the 100m backstroke. She was also the C-USA Swimmer of the Week on Jan. 19.
 
Rice’s Katelyn Crosthwait is a junior on the women’s basketball squad pursuing a degree in psychological science & sport management. She has spent her time off the court working with the License to Eat Program, an organization raising money for the homeless and preparing lunch bags to personally hand out and interact with the homeless Houston community. She has also worked with Nora’s Home, an organization assisting families on the transplant list, helping be a resource to navigate temporary homes and holding virtual trivia nights for the families and children. She also helped raise the most money in this year’s golf classic. Crosthwait is a three-time C-USA Academic Honor Roll selection and a two-time Rice President’s Honor recipient. She was averaging 9.1 points through nine games as the lone returning starter from last season’s WNIT Championship team before suffering a season-ending injury.
 
Southern Miss’ Lina May is a senior Kinesiology major on the track and field team. Outside of her academic and athletic responsibilities, May helps fundraise for the Edwards Street Fellowship Center, is a volunteer at the Edwards Street Thrift Store and works with Meals on Wheels. She has a 3.745 GPA and has been a member of the AD honor Roll. At the C-USA Indoor Track and Field Championships, she finished sixth overall in the 5,000m (17:01.05) and eighth in the 3,000m (9:43.76).
 
UAB’s Laci Turner is a senior track and field student athlete who has maintained a 4.0 GPA all four years in Biomedical Sciences. While at UAB, she has volunteered over 178 hours of her time in the Birmingham community. Many of her hours have been contributed to Bundles of Hope Diaper Bank, which provides diapers to families during times of financial hardship. She has recruited numerous other student-athletes to get involved with the organization as well, while organizing numerous diaper drives in the community. She’s a member of SAAC and is the lead of the UAB’s Mental Health and Wellness Committee. Turner competes in the pentathlon and heptathlon for the Blazers.
 
UTEP sophomore Kevin Hewitt is a political science major with the track and field team in El Paso. Hewitt spends his time in the community working with the El Pasoans Fighting Hunger Food Bank, a local organization dedicated to combating the hunger crisis in the region by strategically procuring and distributing nutritious food. He is a Conference USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll selection with his 3.09 GPA. On the track, Hewitt was a member of the 4x400m relay that won gold at the C-USA outdoor championship and he competed in the 2021 NCAA D1 West Preliminaries.
 
UTSA junior Alanah Yukich is a member of the track and field team and graduated with her Bachelor’s degree in December of 2021. She is now working towards her Master’s degree in Science and Business. Away from the track, Yukich volunteers her time with the San Antonio Food Bank, CANtoberfest, Roadrunners Give Back, Roadrunner Days and San Antonio Fashion Week. She is part of the Roadrunner Excellence and Leadership Institute and currently serves as the publicist on the UTSA SAAC EBoard while also being the team captain. Additionally, she has been on the C-USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll in each of her years at UTSA. Yukich was a member of the bronze medalist 4x400m relay team at the 2022 C-USA Indoor Championships and was a 2021 NCAA West Preliminary Round qualifier in the 400m hurdles. 
 
WKU’s Audrey Griffin is a senior track and field athlete with a 3.88 GPA in strategic marketing. Griffin has logged over 100 community service hours since the start of the 2021-22 season working alongside Curbside Ministries, Special Olympics, Read Across America, Curbside Bag of Blessings and National Girls and Women in Sports Day. She created the high school ‘next step’ programming within the Curbside Ministry that helps develop career programming, resume building, personal growth, professionalism and more. She is a three-time team captain, a two-year SAAC representative, a seven-time WKU President’s List member and was nominated for Outstanding Senior in Marketing at WKU.