From now until Jan. 1, the Carson-Newman Athletic Communications Department will debut the Frosty Award nominees for the fall semester. Here are the fall nominees for Male Athlete of the Year. Friday, we'll unveil the nominees for our final category Female Athlete of the Year to begin the New year.
The third annual Frosty Awards will take place in April and honor athletic excellence in Carson-Newman's athletic department.
- Coach of the Year
- Team of the Year
- Comeback of the Year
- Male Freshman of the Year
- Female Freshman of the Year
- The Plays of the Fall
- Male Newcomer of the Year
- Female Newcomer of the Year
- Female Performance of the Year
- Male Performance of the Year
- Game of the Year
- Male Athlete of the Year
- Female Athlete off the Year
Male Athlete
De'Andre Thomas: De'Andre Thomas finished his C-N career by becoming the first Eagle to ever throw for 400 yards in a game. Thomas finished 20-for-27 with 416 yards passing, besting Danny Sanders' previous mark of 380 yards set in 1978 against Lenoir-Rhyne. Thomas was a first team All-SAC quarterback. The Milledgeville, Ga.-native inserted himself into the Carson-Newman record books in his senior season. Thomas finishes his career with 43 rushing touchdowns, good for fourth all-time and first among C-N quarterbacks. His 2,592 yards rushing are 15thall-time. He ranks first in career completion percentage (56 percent) and his 4,751 yards passing are fourth all-time for C-N.
Damian Baker: Damian Baker, became the fourth Carson-Newman player to make it the Harlon Hill final round, and the second in as many years. Baker previously earned first team All-America honors from the American Football Coaches Association and second team honors from the Division II Conference Commissioner's Association. Baker became the first Eagle to earn an All-America honor from the AFCA since center Kevin Day was on his way to a Rimmington Trophy and consensus All-America honors following the Eagles' trip to the NCAA quarterfinals in 2012. Damian Baker finished the regular season ranked in the top 25 in the nation in five rushing categories and as the SAC Offensive Player of the Year and a first team all-SAC selection. He closed out the regular season slate with 1,403 rushing yards to rank No. 11 in Division II, while his 116.9 rushing yards per game was good for No. 20 in the country. Baker piled up 7.16 yards per carry to rank No. 9 in the nation and his 18 rushing touchdowns are No. 11 in D-II. The tailback averaged 9.8 points per game to finish at No. 20 in the nation to help the Eagles rank No. 5 in the country as a team with 43.3 points per outing. He turned in six 100-yard rushing games this season, including 249 yards on the ground vs. Mars Hill on Sept. 26 – the seventh highest single game tally in Carson-Newman historyWith his 1,403 rushing yards, Baker has the eighth highest single-season total in Carson-Newman history and his 18 rushing touchdowns are the seventh highest single-season total in school history. On top of that his 114 points scored this year are tied for sixth all-time in school history.
Andrew Hall (Knoxville, Tenn.) averaged 69.57 strokes per round during the fall season, which ranks second in the nation and is on pace to set a South Atlantic Conference record. He set a new SAC record with a three-round total of 202 to finish in a tie for second at the Saint Leo's Men Invitational in September and then tied his conference record with a win at the North Georgia Fall Invitational. Hall's three-round score was two strokes lower than the previous record set by Catawba's Todd Sapere in 1997. He fired a 65 during the second round of the Saint Leo event, which was his career-low, and tied the third-lowest round in conference history. The senior recorded seven rounds shot in the 60's.
Tom Read's (London, England) first season at Mossy Creek ended with selection to two All-Southeast Region teams and inclusion to the SAC's first team All-Conference team. Read set a new school record with 16 assists and added eight goals during his first season in the Orange and Blue and named a first-team All-SAC member. The London-native registered all 16 of his assists in the team's last 14 games, which ranked third in the NCAA. Against Catawba on Oct. 10th, Read recorded the first three-assist game by a Carson-Newman player in 11 years; he repeated the feat against Queens (N.C.) in the SAC Tournament semifinals. He led the team with 62 shots and tied for second with the eight goals.
Sindre Welo (Trondheim, Norway) finished the season as a two-time All-American, a two-time All-Southeast Region honoree and a SAC first-team All-Conference member. He became the first Eagle to be named an All-American since 2013. The Norwegian ended his career as the most-capped player in Carson-Newman history by appearing 77 games during his four years at Mossy Creek. During his senior campaign, the Norwegian tallied nine goals, which led the team, and an assist. Welo tallied his fourth multi-goal game of his career against Catawba on Oct. 10th and his penalty kick against Coker on Oct. 31st clinched Carson-Newman a share of the South Atlantic Conference regular season title. He finished his career with 28 career goals, which was sixth-most in program history, and seven game-winning goals. Welo placed seventh in school history with his 71 career points and is tied with four other Eagles for the school record with three made penalty kicks.
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