CHARLOTTE, N.C. – High Point track & field athlete Sydney Horn (Lancaster, Pa.) has been voted the Big South Conference Female Athletes of the Year for the 2024-25 season by the league's Athletics Directors, Senior Woman Administrators and Sports Information Directors, it was announced today by the conference office.  The candidates for the annual award consist of the Players of the Year from each sport, and must be deemed eligible for the honor by their respective school.
 
Horn is High Point's fifth consecutive recipient of the conference's Wanda Watkins Female Athlete of the Year Award, and is the fifth multiple winner, as she was the 2022-23 winner.  She received 64 points and seven first-place votes, ahead of High Point volleyball player Dylan Maberry, who was second with 62 points (five first-place votes).  USC Upstate soccer player Dara Russo was third with 51 points (four first-place votes).
  
She became the first-ever, four-time winner of the Big South Women's Field Athlete of the Year award in 2024-25.  She earned All-America honors in the pole vault in both the indoor and outdoor seasons, and earned the Most Outstanding Performance at the Big South Indoor Championship with her clearance of 4.45m in winning her fourth consecutive pole vault title -- becoming the first four-time Champion in the event in Big South history.  Horn finished seventh at the National Indoor Meet with a height of 4.40m for her fourth career First-Team All-America honor.  During the indoor season, she cleared at least 4.40m four times, re-set her own Big South pole vault record when she cleared 4.57m at the Virginia Tech Challenge on Feb. 21, and was the event winner six times in her nine starts.  Horn won the pole vault three times during the outdoor campaign -- including the Liberty Twilight Qualifier with a Big South-record clearance of 4.46m.  She finished second at the NCAA Division I East First Round (4.24m) to qualify for the National Championship Meet in Eugene, where she finished 10th to earn Second-Team All-America accolades -- marking her ninth career All-America honor.
  
In March 2000, the Big South Conference Executive Committee voted to create an annual Male and Female Student-Athlete of the Year award, and named the male award in honor of former Charleston Southern Athletic Director Howard Bagwell, who was one of the founders of the Big South Conference and an inaugural inductee into the league's Hall of Fame.  In June 2022, the Executive Committee named the female award in honor of former Campbell women's basketball coach/administrator and Big South Hall of Famer Wanda Watkins.
 
The Athlete of the Year awards have been presented annually since 1999-00, with the exception of 2019-20 due to the season being incomplete and eventually canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.  The annual honorees are listed below.
  
WANDA WATKINS FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
2024-25               Sydney Horn, High Point (track & field)
2023-24               Dylan Maberry, High Point (volleyball)
2022-23               Sydney Horn, High Point (track & field)
2021-22               Abby Hormes, High Point (lacrosse)
2020-21               Abby Bottomley, High Point (volleyball)
2018-19               Lauren Proctor, Winthrop (tennis)
2017-18               Lauren Proctor, Winthrop (tennis)
2016-17               Marthaline Cooper, Winthrop (track & field)
2015-16               Ednah Kurgat, Liberty (cross country/track & field)
2014-15               Megan Baltzell, Longwood (softball)
2013-14               Dequesha McClanahan, Winthrop (basketball)
2012-13               Brooke Short, Longwood (softball)
2011-12               Gabrielle Houston, Charleston Southern (track & field)
2010-11               Natalie Pearson, UNC Asheville (track & field)
2009-10               Kristen Shifflett, Radford (softball)
2008-09               Megan Frazee, Liberty (basketball)
2007-08               Megan Frazee, Liberty (basketball)
2006-07               Aruka Felgueroso, Coastal Carolina (golf)
2005-06               Tiffany Evans, Radford (track & field)
2004-05               Katie Feenstra, Liberty (basketball)
2003-04               Katie Feenstra, Liberty (basketball)
2002-03               Amber Campbell, Coastal Carolina (track & field)
2001-02               Heather Sagan, Liberty (cross country/track & field)
2000-01               Amber Campbell, Coastal Carolina (track & field)
1999-00               Anthonia Akpama, Liberty (volleyball)

High Point swept the 2024-25 Female and Male Athlete of the Year awards as HPU baseball player Konni Durschlag was voted the Howard Bagwell Male Athlete of the Year. This is the fifth time one school swept the awards (1999-00 – Liberty; 2002-03 – Coastal Carolina; 2007-08 – Liberty; 2008-09 – Liberty).