RUSSELLVILLE -- Kori Bullard was one of two Academic All-Americans announced by the Great American Conference on Monday to receive its 2017-18 Scholar-Athletes of the Year honors.
Bullard, now a graduate of Lake Hamilton and Ouachita Baptist in Arkadelphia, became the first GAC female student-athlete and just the second student-athlete in conference history to repeat as a Scholar-Athlete of the Year. She completed her time at Ouachita with a perfect 4.0 grade point average in Biology/Pre-Med, claimed the Crafton Tull Elite Scholar Athlete award in both volleyball and basketball, and she added Google Cloud Academic All-America honors in both sports as she made the first team in volleyball and the third team in basketball.
The league's faculty athletic representatives or designees voted on both awards. They could not vote for their own student-athletes.
Bullard said she is humbled and grateful to receive the honor.
"Our conference is full of the most talented and exceptionally smart student-athletes," Bullard said. "To be able to represent a pool of kids that are so talented in many ways is a very huge honor."
Also nominated was Henderson State graduate Bethany Allen, starting shortstop for the softball team. The conference's other nominees were Ashton Currey, senior, Arkansas-Monticello; Madison Nagel, senior, Arkansas Tech; Deanna Rudasill, senior, East Central; Bethany Sutherland, junior Harding; Audrey Estes, senior, Northwestern Oklahoma State; Emily Sechrist, junior, Oklahoma Baptist; Destiny Riddle, junior, Southeastern Oklahoma State; Helle Leed, senior, Southern Arkansas; Bailee Turang, sophomore, Southern Nazarene; and Erica Brunet, junior, Southwestern Oklahoma State.
Arkansas Tech senior quarterback Ty Reasnor became the school's first student-athlete to garner a GAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award. Previous GAC student-athletes to earn a Google Cloud Academic All-America of the Year honor include Southern Nazarene's Amy Madden in 2013; Henderson's Kevin Rodgers in 20145; Ouachita's Haley Hatcher in 2015; Harding's Ewa Zaborowska in 2015; and Southern Arkansas' Maddie Dow in 2017.
Reasnor led the Wonder Boys to an 8-4 record with 2,483 yards, ranking third in the GAC with 21 passing touchdowns. He also rushed for 377 yards and eight touchdowns to rank fourth in total offense in the conference. He maintained a 4.0 GPA as a Mechanical Engineering major.
Nominees for the Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year award were Henderson football player John Laubacher and Ouachita baseball player Chandler Blake. Also nominated were Kinley Lee, junior, Monticello; Larry Filer, junior, East Central; Lucas Goodspeed, senior, Harding; Daschal Johnson, sophomore, Northwestern; Michael Stewart, sophomore, Oklahoma Baptist; Trevor Proctor, senior, Southeastern; Kile Pletcher, junior, Southern Arkansas; Jacob Spady, junior, Southern Nazarene; and Brandon Roe, junior, Southwestern.
Bullard was the starting middle blocker for the volleyball team, finishing her final season with 330 kills for a 3.03 kills per set average. She also finished the season with a .282 hitting percentage, 85 blocks, 89 digs and 24 service aces. She ranked eighth in the GAC by averaging 3.76 points per set.
In basketball, Bullard averaged six points and 5.3 rebounds in her final season. She is one of 15 players in league history with at least 900 points and 500 rebounds.
Bullard graduated summa cum laude and completed the Ouachita Baptist Honor Society Thesis. She represented the senior class at commencement as selected by the university president.
Bullard also volunteered at the humane society throughout her four years in Arkadelphia and served on the Alpha Chi National Honor Society and the Tri Beta Biological Honor Society. She said she is more than satisfied with her time at Ouachita.
"I hope that, if nothing else, I can demonstrate to younger athletes what is most important in their upcoming careers," Bullard said. "Athletics can take you so far, and for me they definitely did, but academics are something that nobody can take away from you. You may have a career ending injury in the blink of an eye, but nobody can take away your diploma and the grades you put behind it. I think I was able to successfully balance my plate in college by looking at the task at hand and putting my whole heart into it.
"No matter what else was going on in life, I found my escape in whatever I was doing, be it basketball, volleyball or my studies, and I put my best effort into it in that moment or hour. I loved OBU, and I love the people I gained not only there but in the GAC and in our community of Hot Springs who kept up with my process. It's been an absolute pleasure playing my four years, and I couldn't think of a better award to top it off with than one that encompasses both my athletics and academics."
Sports on 07/03/2018