The University of Mississippi Athletics
Babic Nominee for Boyd McWhorter Postgraduate Scholarship
4/17/2018 | Men's Tennis
SEC Release
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Zvonimir Babic of the Ole Miss men's tennis team and Paige McKinney of the Rebel softball team have been nominated for the H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete Post-Graduate Scholarship by the University of Mississippi.
The H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete Post-Graduate Scholarship has been presented by the Southeastern Conference since 1986 to the league's top male and female scholar-athletes.
The Southeastern Conference will name the 2018 recipients of the H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete Post-Graduate Scholarship on April 26.
Highlights of Ole Miss' nominees include:
Zvonimir Babic, Men's Tennis, Ole Miss
Major: Accountancy
- Three-time ITA Scholar-Athlete
- Two-time SEC Academic Honor Roll member
- Member of SEC First-Year Player Academic Honor Roll, 2015
- Led the team in receiving the ITA All-Academic Team Award two of his first three years
- Team captain
- Has helped the Rebels reach the NCAA Tournament three consecutive years, including a final ranking of No. 17 in 2015
- Participated in the NCAA Doubles Championship two of his first three years
- Career-high doubles ranking of No. 6 in the nation
- Career-high singles ranking of No. 69 in the nation
- ITA Southern Regional Doubles Champion in Fall of 2017
- In 2015, became the seventh freshman in program history to qualify for the NCAA Championships in either singles or doubles
Paige McKinney, Softball, Ole Miss
Major: Communication Sciences and Disorders
- Two-time Easton/NFCA All-America Scholar-Athlete, 2016 & 2017
- Two-time SEC Academic Honor Roll, 2016 & 2017
- Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society member
- Named to Ole Miss Athletic Director's Honor Roll every semester
- Named to Chancellor's Honor Roll seven times
- Earned SEC Academic Honor Roll laurels all three full years
- Received the Bledsoe Scholarship and Academic Excellence Scholarship for all years
- Named Ole Miss M-Club Student-Athlete of the Month, February 2016
- Ranks eighth all-time at Ole Miss with 41 career stolen bases on 47 attempts
- Led Ole Miss with six hits during the 2017 SEC Tournament, helping lead the Rebels to their first conference tournament championship in program-history
- Before becoming the Rebels' every day starter at shortstop, started at five different positions in 2017 and played every position in the field other than pitcher and catcher
- Ranked second on the team in 2017 with a .280 batting average during SEC play
Each year, the SEC, in conjunction with AT&T, an SEC official sponsor, provides the league's male and female McWhorter Scholar-Athlete Post-Graduate Scholarship recipients with a $20,000 post-graduate scholarship. The 26 remaining male and female finalists for the award will also receive a $10,000 post-graduate scholarship.
The award recipients are chosen by a committee of Faculty Athletics Representatives from the 14 SEC institutions and are honored at the SEC Spring Meetings in Sandestin, Fla., in early June.
Last year's McWhorter Award recipients were University of Alabama swimmer Anton McKee and Texas A&M University swimmer Sarah Gibson.
For further academic accolades, follow @UMTrueRebel on Twitter.
Ole Miss Student-Athlete Development Mission
The mission of the Ole Miss Student-Athlete Development program is to challenge student-athletes to be lifelong learners while pursuing continuous improvement academically, socially, personally and professionally during and beyond their careers as student-athletes.
Players Mentioned
