OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City University’s Peyton Crispin and Science & Arts’ Cameron Hines headlined the Sooner Athletic Conference men’s student-athletes of the year.
Crispin reeled in SAC baseball student-athlete of the year, while Hines became SAC men’s basketball student-athlete of the year for the second year in a row.
The conference honored Mid-America Christian’s Rodrigo Albuquerque (men’s soccer), Oklahoma City’s Dalton Daniel (men’s golf) and Zouhair Talbi (men’s cross country), Wayland Baptist’s Seth Dixon (men’s wrestling), Arizona Christian’s Tyler Duncan (football) and John Brown’s Will Vail as 2021-22 student-athletes of the year in their respective sports.
The SAC names male student-athletes of the year per sport as selected by the sports information directors throughout the conference. The minimum requirement for consideration is academic all-SAC acclaim and takes into account a combination of academic and athletic achievements.
BASEBALL
PEYTON CRISPIN | OKLAHOMA CITY
Sr. | OF | Lookeba, Okla. | 3.68 Cumulative GPA
Peyton Crispin, the NAIA baseball CoSIDA academic all-American® of the year, earned his human performance degree. Crispin took the second CoSIDA academic all-American accolade of his career after being voted to the second team for 2020. Crispin's academic achievements: three-time CoSIDA academic all-district, two-time NAIA scholar-athlete, two-time Sooner Athletic Conference scholar-athlete, SAC baseball student-athlete of the year, three-time academic all-SAC and three-time SAC commissioner's honor roll. In 2022, Crispin led the NAIA with 30 doubles and rated fifth in batting average (.456) and sixth in RBIs (84) and slugging percentage (.887). Crispin had 14 homers, 89 hits, 60 runs scored and six triples with a .990 fielding percentage. Crispin had two walk-off hits – a home run against Texas Wesleyan on May 8 in the conference tournament and a two-run double against Bethany (Kan.) on Feb. 20 at Jim Wade Stadium. He hit two homers against Wayland Baptist on March 5 and drove in a season-high five runs twice in the series vs. Wayland Baptist on March 5-6. Crispin had a season-best 5-for-6 effort against Wayland Baptist on March 6. Crispin was first-team NAIA all-American, first-team all-SAC, SAC gold glove and SAC player of the week for March 7-13 this year. Crispin, a two-time all-SAC selection, hit .389 with 31 homers, 170 RBIs, 242 hits, 120 runs scored, 73 doubles, seven triples and 17 stolen bases in his career.
BASKETBALL
CAMERON HINES | SCIENCE & ARTS
Sr. | G | Fort Cobb, Okla. | 3.69 Cumulative GPA
This year, Cameron Hines earned a first-team all-American selection after leading the Drovers to the SAC Regular Season Championship as well as another NAIA National Championship appearance. Additionally, Hines was selected as the third player in program history to be awarded SAC Player of the Year award. He also earned first-team All-SAC honors for his tremendous play, averaging 18.5 points per game. The sharpshooter from Ft. Cobb has knocked down 42.7 percent of his shots from beyond the arc, and 89.6 percent at the charity stripe. In his career, the decorated guard has earned three All-SAC selections, two NAIA All-America selections, 2021 SAC Men's Basketball Student-Athlete of the Year, and the 2021 SAC Tournament MVP award. Hines tallied 1,793 points, 359 rebounds, 361 assists, and 99 steals. He ranks second in program-history in points, second in three-pointers made (294), and third in assists. Additionally, he excelled in the classroom, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Physical Education, and a minor in History.
CROSS COUNTRY
ZOUHAIR TALBI | OKLAHOMA CITY
Jr. | Tighassaline, Khenifra, Morocco | 3.40 Cumulative GPA
Zouhair Talbi has forged one of the finest resumes by a college runner. He earned a sixth-place finish in the 3,000 meters in the World Athletics Indoor Championships on March 20 in Belgrade, Serbia. He competed in the World Athletics Outdoor Championships on July 15-24 in Eugene, Ore. Talbi has posted several marks that rank among the top 10 ever by a college competitor. In 2021-22, Talbi ran to the third finest time in the 3,000 meters while becoming the meet record holder with a time of 7 minutes, 40.39 seconds in the Arkansas Qualifier on Feb. 18 in Fayetteville, Ark. Talbi outlasted Arkansas' Amon Kemboi, whose time ranked fifth on the all-time college list, and Iowa State's Wesley Kiptoo, who had the No. 10 best mark ever. On Feb. 12, Talbi ran a 5,000-meter time that ranks eighth by a college runner (13:18.17) in the David Hemery Valentine Invitational in Boston. Talbi posted the No. 2 10,000-meter mark (27:20.61) by a collegian May 14, 2021 in Irvine, Calif. In the NAIA indoor track & field championships, Talbi sparked the Stars to the national championship March 3-5 in Brookings, S.D. Talbi collected individual national championships in the mile (4 minutes, 7.27 seconds), 3K (8:17.67) and 5K (14:28.39). He owns five national titles in the NAIA indoor meet. Talbi garnered most valuable performer of the meet for the second consecutive year. Talbi has taken seven cross country and track & field all-American honors and seven individual national titles (including leading OCU to the 2021 distance medley relay title). In his career, Talbi became two-time NAIA men's cross country athlete of the year, NAIA indoor men's track & field athlete of the year, two-time NAIA South Central Region cross country athlete of the year, 2020-21 Sooner Athletic Conference male athlete of the year, two-time individual cross country national champion and two-time SAC cross country individual champion. He has been recognized for his academic achievement as a second-team CoSIDA Academic All-American, academic all-district and the SAC commissioner's honor roll.
FOOTBALL
TYLER DUNCAN | ARIZONA CHRISTIAN
Jr. | QB | Glendale, Ariz. | 3.51 Cumulative GPA
The junior quarterback returned from a collarbone injury that ended his sophomore season early to throw for 2,921 yards with 24 touchdowns while rushing for 478 yards and five touchdowns. Both yardage totals ranked in the top 10 in the SAC with his passing placing him second. He earned honorable-mention all-SAC honors thanks to leading the league with 3,399 total yards. Duncan was voted CoSIDA Academic All-District to cap his season.
GOLF
DALTON DANIEL | OKLAHOMA CITY
Sr. | Newcastle, Okla. | 3.90 Cumulative GPA
Dalton Daniel was a first-team CoSIDA NAIA men's at-large all-America®. Daniel, an exercise science major, had a 71.86 stroke average in 29 rounds with three wins in a row among five top-five showings and seven rounds under 70 in 2021-22. Daniel was Sooner Athletic Conference player of the year and three-time golfer of the week this season. In his OCU career, Daniel had a 71.89 scoring average and 14 rounds in the 60s. Daniel registered the top round of his career (32-32–64) in the U.C. Ferguson Classic on Aug. 30-31 at Lincoln Park Golf Course in Oklahoma City. Daniel was a two-time NAIA all-American, two-time all-region performer, two-time all-conference choice and two-time all-tournament in the SAC Championships.
SOCCER
RODRIGO ALBUQUERQUE | MID-AMERICA CHRISTIAN
Sr. | F | Recife, Brazil | 3.77 Cumulative GPA
In leading Mid-America Christian to its winningest season in program history (19-1-1) while guiding the Evangels to their first undefeated season in Sooner Athletic Conference play (8-0-1), Albuquerque was selected as the SAC Player of the Year. As a result, the Evangels earned their third bid to the NAIA Opening Round for the third time in the last four years after the program won both the regular season title and the tournament title after defeating Southwestern Christian 2-0 on Nov. 11. In three seasons at MACU, Albuquerque is the program’s career record-holder in every offensive statistical category, including: goals (47), assists (23), points (117), shots (292), shots on-goal (146) and game-winning goals (17). At the conclusion of the year, the Evangels were ranked as the No. 9 team in the NAIA. Albuquerque earned his Bachelor’s of Business and Ethics with a 3.77 GPA. At MACU, Albuquerque has earned three SAC Scholar-Athlete awards and two NAIA Scholar-Athlete honors to go with a CoSIDA Academic All-America.
TRACK & FIELD
WILL VAIL | JOHN BROWN
Jr. | Houston | 3.74 Cumulative GPA
Long jumper Will Vail squeezed into his second consecutive NAIA National Championship field in 2022. During the regular season, the Houston product hit a 7.17 meter mark - an NAIA B standard - at the John Brown (Ark.) SAC Invitational. At the same meet, Vail launched an even more impressive 7.28 meter effort, which would have placed him in 11th place entering the championships, but the 4.6 wind reading on the jump nullified that attempt. At the national meet, Vail improved eight positions, moving from his seed mark at 24 to finishing 16th with a 6.87 meter effort. The NAIA Scholar-Athlete finished his third season in the Blue and Gold with a 3.74 cumulative GPA and majors in Digital Cinema.
WRESTLING
SETH DIXON | WAYLAND BAPTIST
So. | 165 lbs. | Hereford, Texas | 3.54 Cumulative GPA
Seth Dixon, a business major, is a two-time national qualifier who this past season won the Sooner Athletic Conference title at 165 pounds. He earned NAIA All-American honors after finishing in eighth place.