ASHEVILLE, N.C. --- Tusculum College's Taylor Rakes and Ashley Sarmiento are this year's recipients of the South Atlantic Conference Presidents Award, following a vote of the league's Faculty Athletic Representatives at the annual SAC Business Meeting in Asheville, N.C. This marks only the third time in the 24-year history of the award that one league school has swept both male and female honors.

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.

The Pioneer duo becomes the seventh and eighth Tusculum student-athletes in school history to earn this award, respectively. Rakes garners this honor for a second straight year, while Sarmiento earns the SAC Presidents Award for the first time in her career.

Rakes, a right-handed pitcher on the Tusculum baseball team, continues to pile up the individual awards this year. Last month, he was named the 2013 Capital One NCAA Division II Baseball Academic All-American® of the Year, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). He is the first student-athlete in school history to be named Academic All-American® of the Year for their sport and was also selected to the Capital One Academic All-America® first team for a second straight season.

The 6-1, 160-pound graduate student from Norcross, Ga., earned his Bachelor's degree in May 2012 in business and economics, where he posted a 3.87 cumulative grade point average. The Norcross High School graduate was named the SAC Baseball Scholar Athlete of the Year for a second straight season, while also earning a spot on the All-SAC second team for a consecutive year.

Rakes emerged as the pitching ace of the weekend rotation for the Pioneers in 2013 as he posted a 7-2 record in his 15 appearances, including 13 starts. His 2.82 ERA was the seventh lowest in the league, where he pitched in 89.1 innings, allowing 23 walks and a team-best 84 strikeouts. His 2013 strikeout tally was the third-best in TC history, while finishing third in the league and 44th in the nation this year.

For his career, Rakes tallied a sterling 26-7 record and is second all-time in career victories. His 285 career innings pitched are the most in school history. He is also second in career strikeouts (209), second in starts (45), fourth in complete games (9) and 10th in ERA (3.66).

Rakes is a member of the SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll, Tusculum Athletic Director's Honor Roll, Charles Oliver Gray Honors List, President's List and the Alpha Chi Honor Society. He is very active in leadership and community service in the Tusculum College and Greeneville community. He has been active with the Pioneer Student Athlete Advisory Council's fundraising efforts for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, American Cancer Society and the St. Baldrick's "Basebald" program to aid childhood cancer research. He has volunteered as a Greeneville Youth Baseball Mentor, served as a guest speaker in Tusculum Athletic Training and his experiences with his "Tommy John" surgery and, along with his father, provided free lawn care services for stationed armed forces personnel.

The Tusculum baseball team finished 2013 with a 33-18 overall record, for the program's 13th consecutive winning season and 11th straight 30-win campaign.

Sarmiento, a member of the TC volleyball team, joins former Tusculum basketball standout Julie Maples as the only TC female recipients of the SAC Presidents Award.

Like Rakes, Sarmiento is a two-time Capital One Academic All-America® selection, earning a spot on NCAA Division II Volleyball Second Team.

The Dayton, Ohio junior setter boasts a 3.93 cumulative GPA while majoring in mathematics and math education (K-12). She was named the 2012 South Atlantic Conference Volleyball Scholar Athlete of the Year, becoming the third Pioneer in program history to earn this honor.

On the volleyball court, Sarmiento finished first in the league and 80th in the nation in assists per set, dishing out 9.36 helpers per set this season. The two-time All-Region and All-Conference selection finished 2012 with 1086 assists as she has recorded over 1,000 in each of her Tusculum campaigns. Sarmiento has recorded 3,453 career assists at Tusculum, which are second in school history.

Last season, she was selected to the NCAA II Southeast Regional All-Tournament Team.

During her rookie campaign (2010), she was named the SAC Freshman of the Year and the AVCA Southeast Region Freshman of the Year, while also garnering All-Conference and All-Region accolades.

Sarmiento, a graduate of Centerville High School, is a member of the SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll, Tusculum Athletic Director's Honor Roll, Tusculum Dean's List and Charles Oliver Gray Honors List. In 2010-11, she was the recipient of the Tusculum Freshman of the Year Academic Award and is a Tusculum academic scholarship recipient.

Sarmiento is also very active in the community where she is serving her second term as president of the Pioneer Student Athlete Advisory Council. Her community service activities include: "Tusculum Mentor for Kids", Ride for Life, Scholar Athlete Student Leader and volunteers with the Greeneville Humane Society.

This past fall, the Pioneers completed a magical run in the NCAA Tournament as Tusculum defeated Lincoln Memorial and top-seed Armstrong to advance to the Southeast Region title match. TC ended its season with a 24-8 overall record and played in the NCAA Sweet 16 for the first time in program history.

The TC volleyball team posted program's seventh consecutive winning season and the fifth 20-win campaign in the last seven years. Tusculum has recorded 20 more wins on 21 occasions in the storied program's history.

This also marks the fifth straight year and sixth of the last seven that a TC male student-athlete has garnered SAC Presidents Award honors. The six male honorees are the most by any SAC member in league history, while Tusculum's eight total SAC Presidents Award winners are the second most by one school.

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