Mars Hill's Walt Baxley,
Catawba's Paige Haverty
named 2005-06 SAC Athletes of the Year

June 20, 2006

ROCK HILL, SC – Mars Hill College’s Walt Baxley, an All-American basketball player who was second in the nation in scoring, and Catawba College golf standout Paige Haverty have been named the 2005-06 South Atlantic Conference Male and Female Athletes of the Year following a vote of the league’s Directors of Athletics, the conference office announced today.

The SAC Male and Female Athlete of the Year awards are given annually to one male and one female student-athlete based on athletic performance in one or more sports, and the impact of that performance on the SAC and NCAA Division II.

Baxley, a 6-3 senior guard from Winston-Salem, N.C. (North Forsyth HS) was a first team Daktronics All-American. He was also named the NCAA D-II South Atlantic Region Player of the Year, National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) South Atlantic Regional All-District First Team and the SAC Player of the Year. He was second in Division II in scoring at 28.1 ppg., a school record. He shot 42.9 percent from the floor (228 of 531), making a school-record 78 three-pointers in 211 attempts, and was 226 of 270 from the line (.837). In addition, Baxley averaged 4.3 rebounds per game.

While playing three seasons at Mars Hill, Baxley accumulated 1,655 points, the seventh-highest total in school history and the fifth in South Atlantic Conference annals. A two-time All-SAC selection, he set the conference single-game scoring record with 42 points twice this season.

He scored 19 points in the inaugural NCAA Division II All-Star Game held at the Nasmith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Haverty, a senior from Greenville, NC, (Conley HS) closed out her career at Catawba with a dominant senior season. In nine tournaments this season, she had four firsts, four seconds and one fourth. She owns the three lowest single-season scoring averages in league history, including her 75.22 average this season, a conference record. Haverty owns nearly every Catawba and SAC women's golf record.

She becomes just the second person in SAC history to win four Player of the Year awards, joining former Tusculum women’s tennis standout Leslie Murray.

She was named first team All-American by the National Golf Coaches Association. She recently shot a five under par 66 at local qualifying for the Women's US Open Golf Tournament. Haverty, after her round at the Country Club of Salisbury, was one of 16 from there to move on to the next round of qualifying in Baltimore, MD.