ROCK HILL, S.C. --- Tusculum College cross country standout Simon Holzapfel is this year's recipient of the South Atlantic Conference Presidents Award, following a vote of the league's Faculty Athletic Representatives at the annual SAC Business Meetings in Asheville, N.C.

Holzapfel becomes the fifth Tusculum student-athlete in school history to earn this honor and the first men's cross country runner in the 22-year history of the award to be recognized. This also marks the third straight year and fourth of the last five that a Tusculum male student-athlete has garnered this accolade.

The SAC Presidents Award is the most prestigious honor the conference awards to its student-athletes. It exemplifies the finest combined qualities of excellence in athletics, academics and community leadership. During the year, the league recognizes 14 Scholar Athletes, representing each of the conference-sponsored sports. The top male and female SAC Scholar Athletes from each represented member school are then nominated for the Presidents Award.

Holzapfel, a native of Nuremburg, Germany, graduated from Tusculum last month with a perfect 4.00 cumulative grade point average while majoring in Sport Management.

He is the two-time SAC Runner of the Year (2009 & 2010) and has won 16 individual titles during his storied career, including the first six races this past fall. The three-time NCAA Division II All-Southeast Region selection closed his career with a streak of 21 consecutive top-10 finishes, a run that spanned three seasons, including a 10th place finish in his final meet at the NCAA II Southeast Regional, barely missing out on a berth to the national championship.

Holzapfel owns the 12 best 8,000-meter times in school history including his TC-record 8K time of 25:04 at the 2010 SAC Championship, which is also a new league meet mark.

He has received many academic honors while at TC, including the prestigious Tusculum President's Award, which is the highest honor bestowed at Tennessee's oldest college, which is celebrating its 217th year. Holzapfel is a two-time Capital One Academic All-America®, earning first team honors in 2010 and third team accolades in 2009. He is a three-time Academic All-District IV First Team selection and is a nominee for Academic All-America® honors this year.

Holzapfel also earned the Duffield Academic Award three times, which is presented to the TC student-athlete with the highest GPA. He also received the Tusculum Freshman Student-Athlete of the Year Academic Award in 2008 and was a member of the SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll, Tusculum Athletic Director's Honor Roll, Dean's List, Charles Oliver Gray Honors List and the Tusculum President's List. He was also a recipient of the 2010 Alpha Chi Academic Excellence Award.

Holzapfel was honored this past November with the James E. Ward Outstanding Major award from the Tennessee Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance, becoming the first Tusculum student to receive the statewide award. Earlier this year, he was one of three college students selected nationwide to serve as delegates to the Alliance Assembly, the governing body of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD).

Holzapfel served as a student ambassador for the Tusculum President's Society and was active in community and campus activities, including serving as a senator with the Tusculum Student Government Association, vice president of the Pioneer Student-Athlete Advisory Council, a peer tutor, resident assistant, the Tusculum Religious Life Center, campus recycling and energy-saving projects, Physical Education and Sports Majors Club and Theatre-at-Tusculum.

He has volunteered with painting and other projects at a local nursing home and fundraising efforts for a local elementary school and the Tusculum College athletic department. He has also volunteered with the Pioneer Green Team, Tusculum Quality Enhancement Program Committee and the Tusculum Presidential Inauguration.

Former Tusculum All-America and Academic All-America® tight end Jarrell NeSmith captured this honor in back-to-back years in 2008-09 and again in 2009-10. Former Academic All-America® placekicker Glen Black was the 2006-07 recipient of the SAC Presidents Award, while three-time SAC Women's Basketball Scholar Athlete Julie Maples, was the first TC student-athlete to earn the league's top honor in 2004-05.

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