CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas athletic department celebrated its more than 400 student-athletes and all their 2018-19 successes with the annual "Bear Choice Awards" on Tuesday night at Reynolds Performance Hall.

    The athletic department handed out awards to student-athletes, teams and coaches during the hour-long event, recognizing accomplishments both on and off the playing field. Hosts for the event were the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) president Breylin Smith (football) and vice-president Jaxson Baker (men's basketball), along with Dr. Brad Teague, UCA's director of athletics.

    Award presenters included UCA President Dr. Houston Davis and his wife Jenny, athletic academic advising director Scott Brezee, Alex Fotioo and Clare Buckman from the UCA strength and conditioning staff and faculty athletic representative Kim Eskola.

    The team grade-point average awards went to the women's tennis team (3.73 GPA) and men's golf teams (3.37 GPA).

    The Student-Athletes of the Year were Oakley Sisemore from softball and a tie between Cody Davenport (baseball) and Dalton Knutson (soccer).

    The Freshman of the Year awards went to Gracie Hyde (cross country) and Noah Cameron (baseball).

    The Coach of the Year for the 2018-19 academic year was Jeremy Bishop, who led the women's soccer team to the Southland Conference regular season championship, finishing 10-1 in conference play.

    The Athlete of the Year Awards both went to soccer student-athletes, Camille Bassett for the women and Niklas Brodacki for the men.

    The best dressed awards went to softball on the women's side and soccer on the men's side.

    The teams each voted on a Goofball of the Year for their respective teams. Those awards went to Taylor Sells (women's basketball), A'Javius Brown (football), Morgan Rollow (women's soccer), Luke Anthony (men's track and field); Qili Ma (tennis), Trevor Jackson (men's soccer), Tyler Rose (women's track and field), Shamal Sullivan (men's cross country), Kimberly Schnars (beach volleyball), Erin Acors (softball), Spencer Jenkins (men's golf), Amari Mitchell (volleyball), Alonso Bibiano (baseball), Tania Nunez (women's golf), SK Shittu (men's basketball) and Kennedy Timmerman (women's cross country).

    Videos played throughout the celebration highlighting big moments from the past year, including conference championships for men's cross country and women's tennis, both firsts for their programs, along with league championships for men's and women's soccer. Smith and Sisemore were also recognized for sweeping the prestigious Steve McCarty Citizenship Awards, presented annually by the Southland Conference.