B-CU Melds Academics, Athletics for Outstanding Season

Bethune-Cookman University Wildcats are celebrating a season that saw the melding of athletics and academics that resulted in history-making milestones.

B-CU was awarded the prestigious Talmadge Hill Award, which officially recognizes Bethune-Cookman as the winner of the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Men’s All-Sports Championship. This was the first time in the university’s history that B-CU received the award. Bethune-Cookman President Dr. Edison O. Jackson proudly accepted the award and the accompanying $20,000 check recently.

“Our student-athletes, coaches and athletic staff worked diligently to have an outstanding season,” Jackson said. “And the students proved that they are just as formidable in the classroom as they are on the playing field.”

This academic year, 114 B-CU student-athletes were named to the Commissioner’s All Academic Team—the highest number of students in the school’s history. In addition, football player Nesley Marcellon earned a graduate school fellowship to the University of Pittsburgh School of Business.

Conference championships were won in football, men’s outdoor track and field, baseball and men’s golf. Second place finishes were achieved in women’s tennis, softball and men’s indoor track and field. Men and women’s golf teams once again captured the PGA National Minority Golf titles. The men’s team competed in the NCAA Regional Golf Tournament for the first time in the school’s history.

“The coaches and players worked hard to achieve milestones never before reached at our university,” said Athletic Director Lynn Thompson. “It has been an incredible year and we could not be more proud of our student-athletes.”

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Bethune-Cookman University was founded in 1904 and serves the community via three campuses in Daytona Beach, Deltona and Hastings. For more information, visit www.cookman.edu.