COLLEGE STATION – Softball senior Tori Vidales was presented with the Distinguished Letterman Award on Monday evening during Texas A&M Athletics’ fifth-annual Building Champions Awards gala held in the Hall of Champions at Kyle Field. Athlete of the Year honors were awarded to Lindon Victor and Sydney Pickrem.
Awards were also presented for various academic, service, leadership and athletic endeavors. The recipients of the awards included the following.
Distinguished Letterman’s Award: Tori Vidales (Softball)
Athletes of the Year: Lindon Victor (Track & Field), Sydney Pickrem (Swimming & Diving)
Bill Erwin Scholar-Athlete: Nathan Hite (Track & Field), Lisa Bratton (Swimming & Diving)
Newcomer of the Year: Braden Shewmake (Baseball), Chennedy Carter (Basketball)
Selfless Service Award: Emily Gunderson (Track & Field)
Lohman Inspiration Award: Cason Sherrod (Baseball)
DISTINGUISHED LETTERMAN AWARD
The Distinguished Letterman Award is the highest award presented to a student-athlete once a year by the athletics department. The individual is someone who displays extraordinary talents in the areas of athletics, scholarship, leadership and service.
Vidales is a senior from La Porte, Texas, who earned softball All-American honors in 2016. She will graduate in May with a degree in Ag Communications and Journalism and currently has a 3.52 grade point average. Vidales, who works with 12th Man Productions, also represented Texas A&M during the SEC Career tour and has been named to the SEC Academic honor roll four consecutive years.
Last fall Vidales served as a panelist during a WE3 event held at Texas A&M as they discussed the importance of networking with a group of Aggie female athletes. The WE3 program is a student-athlete initiative that stands for Women: Encourage, Equip, Empower. Vidales is one of the founding members of WE3 as well as the chief marketing officer.
A team leader on the Texas A&M softball team, Vidales has been selected for All-SEC, All-SEC Defensive team and All-SEC Freshman team during her Aggie career. In 2016 and 2017 she was named to the second team of the NFCA South Region.
She started in all 60 games at first base during her junior season in 2017 as Texas A&M advanced to the College World Series. She batted .298 with 46 RBI and a team-high 17 home runs. During her senior campaign in 2018, Vidales is hitting .333 with 49 RBI in 52 games played with 10 home runs.
ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Texas A&M’s Athlete of the Year honors were awarded to Sydney Pickrem, for the second consecutive year, and Lindon Victor. This award is presented to the top male and female student-athletes based upon athletic excellence over the past year.
A finalist for the Bowerman Award, Victor defended his NCAA title in the decathlon during a senior campaign in 2017 that included breaking the collegiate record twice. Victor became the first Aggie to win the Texas Relays decathlon, producing a score of 8,472 points which bettered the meet and collegiate record of 8,465 set by Trey Hardee of Texas in 2006.
In defending his SEC decathlon title, Victor improved his conference meet record and bettered his collegiate record with a score of 8,539 points. He then scored 8,390 to win a second NCAA title. Producing three decathlon scores over 8,300 points in one season, as well as generating the best ever first day score (4,516) and second day score (4,174) by a collegian made Victor an overwhelming favorite in being selected National Field Athlete of the Year for a second consecutive season.
An All-American in swimming during her junior season, Pickrem placed third in three events during the 2018 NCAA Championships – 200 IM, 400 IM, and 200 breaststroke. She set school records in the pair of IM races. Last summer, Pickrem competed in the FINA World Championships and earned a bronze medal in the 400IM representing Canada.
Named SEC Swimmer of the Year and earning the Commissioner’s Trophy, Pickrem earned high point honors during the SEC Championships, which were hosted by Texas A&M, winning three individual events – 200 IM, 400 IM, and 200 breaststroke – while breaking SEC records in each.
BILL ERWIN SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Recipients of the Bill Erwin Scholar-Athlete of the Year are Lisa Bratton and Nathan Hite.
A senior from Richland, Washington, Bratton is a 15-time All-American in swimming who is majoring in Ocean Engineering with a 3.712 cumulative GPA. She was named the 2018 SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year and has earned first-team Academic All-American honors three consecutive years by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America.
A six-time Texas A&M AD Honor Roll recipient, Bratton serves as the Vice President of Omega Epsilon, the Ocean Engineering Honors Society on campus. She recently was named outstanding undergraduate student by the department of Ocean Engineering.
Bratton has twice been a team captain for the Aggies. She holds Texas A&M school records in the 200 backstroke and 400 medley relay while producing top five all-time marks in three other events – 100 back, 200 IM, 400 IM. Bratton is also a four-time SEC Champion.
Hite is a senior from Bellville, Texas, who is majoring in Mechanical Engineering with a cumulative GPA of 3.967. He has been named to the SEC Honor roll twice and earned a USTFCCCA All-Academic honor in 2017.
A junior athletically, Hite earned a bronze medal in the heptathlon during the 2018 SEC Indoor Championships, which were hosted by Texas A&M. His score of 5,592 points ranks as the second best performer and sixth best performance on the Aggie all-time list.
Competing in his first decathlon this spring for Texas A&M, Hite scored 7,491 points to finish seventh at the Texas Relays. That performance ranks sixth on the Aggie all-time list. Hite is currently ranked third in the SEC and 14th in the nation with his decathlon score.
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
Newcomer of the Year was awarded to Chennedy Carter and Braden Shewmake.
Carter, a freshman from Mansfield, Texas, produced a 2017-18 campaign that earned her a collection of national honors. She became the first Aggie women’s basketball player to be named WBCA NCAA Division I Freshman of the Year. In addition, Carter was selected National Freshman of the Year by espnW and USA Today Sports.
Named the SEC Freshman of the Year, Carter was also honored with first-team All-SEC as well as the SEC All-Freshman team accolades. Leading all Division I freshmen with 22.7 points per game and 4.9 assists, Carter was an honorable mention selection on the AP All-American team.
Carter also set a Texas A&M freshman record with 785 points, which is the second highest total by any classification. She averaged 31.3 points per game during the NCAA Tournament as the Aggies reached the Sweet 16 and Carter was named to the Spokane Regional All-Tournament team.
A sophomore from Wylie, Texas, Shewmake’s freshman season with the Aggie baseball team in 2017 included numerous honors as Texas A&M advanced to the College World Series. Shewmake was honored as National Freshman of the Year by Collegiate Baseball while being named Freshman All-America by four different organizations.
Named All-America First Team by Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), Shewmake also earned District VII Player of the Year by NCBWA. As one of only four Aggies to play in all 64 games, and the lone Texas A&M player to start every game in 2017, he batted .328 with 47 runs, 11 home runs and 69 RBI. Shewmake was also selected to play on the USA Baseball Collegiate National team.
SELFLESS SERVICE AWARD
The first recipient of this award is Emily Gunderson, a senior pole vaulter on the Texas A&M track and field team. This honor is to recognize the student-athlete who has completed the most service hours in the academic year.
Gunderson, of Mont Belvieu, Texas, became the first Aggie female to vault over 14 feet when she set the school indoor record in 2017. She cleared 14-0 ¾ at Gilliam Indoor Stadium that season and improved the school record to 14-2 ½ in placing fifth at the SEC Championships.
Organizations and projects that Gunderson volunteers with include Boys & Girls Club, Aggies Read, Aggies Can, Aggies Move, Habitat for Humanity, Helping Hands and Brazos Valley Food Bank. Gunderson has also been involved with the Student Athlete Advisory Committee the past three years. In 2017 she served as a chair position within the executive board, working with engagement coordinators to find volunteer opportunities and encourage student-athletes to volunteer at those opportunities.
LOHMAN INSPIRATION AWARD
Receiving the Lohman Inspiration Award is Cason Sherrod, a senior from Dallas, Texas, who is a member of the Aggie baseball team.
Sherrod was born two-and-a-half months premature and as a result had permanent nerve damage that caused over 50 percent hearing loss in both ears. Sherrod works with others who have hearing loss as he volunteers at Brazos Valley Regional School for the Deaf so he can inspire others to chase their dreams.
Growing up Sherrod was embarrassed to wear hearing aids. His family couldn’t afford them, so he was limited to wearing whatever the school could provide. The ones available consisted of a little box with headphones coming out that he had to put in his ears. He managed to get by without them by reading lips, but was only hearing half of what everyone else was hearing.
His grades began to slip and baseball practice became miserable since he didn’t tell anyone he was hearing impaired. While in high school, family friends teamed up with Callier Center in Dallas to raise $7,500 to purchase digital hearing aids. His pitching improved quickly and he began to be noticed by major league scouts.
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics