BIRMINGHAM, Ala. | The Gulf South Conference announced its 2024 GSC Top Ten Award recipients, and UAH Athletics was represented by Lawren Hayes from Softball and Sam Wilhelm from Men's Cross Country and Track & Field.
 
Wilhelm becomes the 14th UAH male student-athlete to earn GSC Top Ten, while Hayes is the 12th UAH female student-athlete to garner the distinction. This is also the eighth time UAH Athletics has garnered two GSC Top Ten Award winners in one academic year.
 
The award recognizes the top female and top male student-athletes for their athletic, academic, and extracurricular achievements, during the 2023-24 academic year. The top student-athlete from each group of honorees will be also be awarded the Commissioner's Trophy, which is the conference's most prestigious individual honor.
 
Top Ten awardees and GSC Commissioner's Trophy winners will be recognized and announced on Thursday, May 30 in Pensacola, Florida. The ceremony will be streamed at approximately 6:45 p.m. CT on the GSC's YouTube channel.
 
A native of Decatur, Alabama, Hayes earned NFCA First Team All-South Region honors for the second time in her career this past season as she helped lead the Chargers to a 40-18 overall record and the program's 21st consecutive berth to the NCAA tournament.
 
Hayes led off for the Chargers and played all 58 games this season at second base, posting a .985 fielding percentage with only three errors across 198 chances. She plated a team-high 66 runs while batting .393 with six doubles, a league-high eight triples and four home runs. Hayes also was one of two Chargers with 110-plus total bases this season.
 
Wilhelm has had one of the most decorated seasons by a UAH student-athlete in 2023-24, as the junior has already twice been an NCAA Division II All-American during the cross country and indoor track & field seasons. He has also qualified for Outdoor Nationals next weekend to compete in both the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter races, and he enters Outdoor Nationals ranked in the top eighth in NCAA Division II in both events.
 
The Knob Noster, Missouri, native became the UAH men's cross country program's first-ever All-American at Nationals as he also turned in an All-American performance in the indoor track season in 5,000 meters. He additionally excelled at the GSC Championships, earning All-GSC five times between cross country and both track seasons in addition to a GSC Individual Championship in cross country.
 
Moreover, Wilhelm was awarded the 2024 GSC Indoor Championships Scholar-Athlete award and was a GSC All-Academic team member in cross country, further exemplifying his academic excellence.
 
The Top Ten are selected with the assistance of an advisory committee representing the Athletic Directors, Senior Woman Administrators, Athletic Communications Directors, Faculty Athletics Representatives, and Presidents from randomly selected GSC schools, which makes a recommendation to the Commissioner, who has the final decision.