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 and basketball. Recipients are nominated by the institutions.
 
2022-23 Winter Spirit of Service Award Recipients
Charlotte – Chris Smith, Track and Field
FIU – Zaida Gonzalez, Women’s Basketball
Florida Atlantic – Dahlia Barnes, Indoor Track and Field
LA Tech – Lotte Sant, Women’s Basketball
MTSU – Alexis Whittington, Women’s Basketball
North Texas – Maddie Cleary, Women’s Basketball
Rice – Malia Fisher, Women’s Basketball
UAB – Trinity Fellows, Track and Field
UTEP – Jordani Woodley, Indoor Track and Field
UTSA – Elijah Frizell, Indoor Track and Field
WKU – Alexis Mead, Women’s Basketball
 
Charlotte junior Chris Smith dedicated his time in the community to weekly packing and distribution for the Jamil Niner Food Pantry and on the Campus Cleanup and Metropolitan Stream and Street Cleanup teams. A marketing major, he was named to the C-USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll. Smith competed at five events during the indoor season, including posting a personal best in the 60m (7.07) at the Hokie Invitational.
 
FIU sophomore Zaida Gonzalez has maintained a 3.2 GPA in recreation and sports management while volunteering at a multitude of athletic department events and appearing in all 33 games for the women’s basketball team. She earned 13 starts and finished the year with 5.2 points and 2.7 rebounds per game. This past summer, Gonzalez was selected to play for Team Puerto Rico in the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup.  
 
Florida Atlantic senior Dahlia Barnes was a fixture at many campus and community service opportunities, such as Boca Helping Hands, Medical Mission Abroad, Read Across America and Girls on the Run. With a 3.63 GPA in biological sciences, she has been featured on the C-USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll all four years. Dahlia recorded a personal record of 5.37 in the indoor track & field long jump, which was the third best mark by an Owl this season.
 
LA Tech senior Lotte Sant takes pride in giving back to the community, utilizing her free time to volunteer with projects like Fall Picnic, Buddy Ball, Special Olympics, Trunk or Treat, L-TAC Thank-a-Thon and Dawgs for a Cause. Boasting a 3.89 GPA in interdisciplinary studies, she earned CSC Academic All-District honors this season while averaging 6.1 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. In C-USA play, Sant averaged 2.2 threes per game at a 47 percent clip.  
 
Middle Tennessee graduate student Alexis Whittington, a professional studies/nutrition major, is an active member in the Murfreesboro community and has helped with Special Olympics, Reading in School Days, hurricane relief efforts for the Bahamas and other on-campus projects. This season, she averaged 6.0 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists to help lead the team to C-USA regular-season and tournament titles and an NCAA Tournament appearance.
 
North Texas junior Maddie Cleary participated in a number of community service efforts such as a visit to the local mall to help buy Christmas presents for underprivileged youth in the Denton area. She also volunteered at Shiloh Field Community Garden in Denton. The kinesiology major’s 3.37 GPA has earned her multiple C-USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll nods. Cleary appeared in a career-high 19 games for the women’s basketball team this season.
 
Rice sophomore Malia Fisher serves as a member of the C-USA SAAC Health and Safety Subcommittee and helped with the planning of many SAAC-sponsored events such as Mental Health Awareness Week, Welcome Back Event and Movie Night. A C-USA Commissioner’s Academic Medal Recipient, she owns a 3.6 GPA in psychology. The Second-Team All-C-USA honoree averaged 11.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game this season.
 
UAB sophomore Trinity Fellows has proved to be a leader not only on the track & field team, but in the classroom and the community as well. She has logged nearly 40 service hours across 25 different events and has maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA in mass communication/ journalism, earning C-USA Commissioner’s Academic Medal recognition. At the Music City Challenge, her pole vault mark of 3.60m set a personal best and ranked fifth in program history.
 
UTEP sophomore Jordani Woodley logged more than 50 hours as a volunteer coach and with the USATF Border Association. She earned both C-USA Commissioner’s Academic Medal and Honor Roll laurels last year. Woodley set the school record in the 60m hurdles, clocking in a 7.80 at the New Mexico Collegiate Classic back in February, and she finished fourth in the 60m at the 2023 C-USA Indoor Track & Field Championships.
 
UTSA junior Elijah Frizell made an impact in the community working with the UTSA Food Pantry, Roadrunners Give Back, CANtoberfest and the Black Student-Athlete Summit. A member of the C-USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll, he owns a 3.19 GPA in kinesiology. The Dallas native posted an indoor season best 52.03 in the 400m at the Robert Platt Invitational in January.
 
WKU sophomore Alexis Mead, a health sciences major, has completed nearly 40 hours of community service since July with Stuff the Bus, Eastern Kentucky flood relief, Camp Happy Days, Curbside Ministries, Unified basketball game, Thanksgiving food deliveries, Toys for Tots and National Girls and Women in Sports Day clinic. The Toppers’ starting point guard, she led the team in assists (109) and ranked third in C-USA in assist-turnover ratio (1.85).