ROCK HILL, S.C. – After winning the program's first South Atlantic Conference Scholar Athlete of the Year honor in 2019, Caleb Agee added another plaudit Thursday announced by the league taking home the SAC Elite 20 hardware.
The SAC Elite 20 is awarded by the league for outstanding work not only in the field of competition, but also in the classroom around the community. It is modeled after the NCAA's Elite 90 award as the league offers the award to the top cumulative GPA on a minimum of 48 credit hours to an individual competing in the league's 20 championships. This season is the fourth year of the honor.
"We are so proud of Caleb," Carson-Newman coach David Needs said. "He truly represents our program on so many levels. He is a phenomenal student who is a three-time conference champion in the 400 hurdles. That alone is exceptional but when you see his faith and character, we realized how blessed we are as a program."
Agee is the first male to win the honor while the program has seen a pair of women earn the honor. Rebekah White won in 2018 and Tori Gaul captured the title in 2017, the first season it was handed out.
The Floyd, Va. native posted a 3.91 GPA as a biology major. He has been on the Carson-Newman Dean's List for three years, is a three-time SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll selection and was a Gold Scholar Eagle for the last three years.
On the track, Agee won the 400 meter hurdles in each of his three campaigns during the SAC Outdoor Championships holding the conference record for the event with a time of 53.78 in 2018. He earned U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-Region nods in each of those three seasons.
During the 2019-20 indoor track season, Agee finished in the top 10 of various events seven times taking home top 10 finishes in all three events, 400, 4x400 and Distance Medley Relay at the 2020 SAC Indoor Track Championships.
Off the playing surface, Agee participated in Operation Inasmuch, "a national nonprofit that employs proven models to motivate, train, and equip churches to move more congregants out of the sanctuary seats and into the streets to serve the neediest in their communities.
- CN -
