HILTON HEAD, SC – Columbus State captured the Peach Belt Conference Commissioner’s Cup for the seventh time in school history as the league announced it’s annual awards on Tuesday night. Columbus State has won the most Commissioner's Cups in PBC history. 

The Commissioner's Cup is presented annually to the best overall athletic department based on regular-season standings and select championships results from cross country, golf and track & field. Associate members are not reflected in regular season or championship point totals. Columbus State earned 87 out of a possible 104 points available to them based on the number of sports sponsored, giving them an .837 rating.

Columbus State had an exceptional year, winning PBC regular-season championships in women’s soccer, baseball, men’s and women’s golf and were women's tennis co-champions. The Cougars also received first-place points for men’s track & field and finished second in softball, men’s tennis and women’s track & field. 

Flagler finished second in the Cup standings with a .729 rating after winning the previous two Commissioner's Cups. The Saints won regular-season championships in volleyball and men’s tennis and were co-champions in women's tennis while also winning the women’s cross country championship. Flagler also finished second in men’s cross country, women’s soccer, men’s basketball, women’s tennis and men’s and women’s golf. Flagler also received second-place points for men’s lacrosse.

North Georgia finished third in the standings. The Nighthawks have finished in the top three in the standings for five years in a row, including a win in 2016-17.  North Georgia had a .714 rating with regular-season championships in women’s basketball, softball and were women's tennis co-champions.  UNG also earned first-place points for women’s track & field and had a runner-up finish in the women’s cross country championships. 

The PBC Commissioner's Cup is determined by calculating the number of points possible to each school, given the number of sports they participate in, divided by the number of points earned during the year.  Points are determined by placement in the final regular-season standings in each PBC championship sport except cross country, golf and track & field, which points are decided based off placement in their respective PBC Championship. 

HILTON HEAD, SC – Clayton State University was announced as the winner of the 2021-22 Peach Belt Conference Presidents' Academic Award on Thursday as the league revealed its season-ending major awards.  Clayton State wins the honor for the third straight time, becoming the first institution to win the award three times in a row.

The award recognizes excellence in academics concerning all of an institution's student-athletes.

At the end of the academic school year the Peach Belt Conference asked each of the league's 10 members to submit an average GPA for the undergraduate student body and a GPA for all student-athletes. These two numbers were used to determine each institutions' GPA ratio that identifies which school's athletes are performing most ahead of the curve in comparison to the student body. The schools are not measured against one another, just their athletes to their students.

Clayton State had their highest student-athlete GPA ever in 2021-22 at 3.087 and a ratio of 1.1103 to win the Presidents' Academic Award.  Overall, 9 of the 10 PBC members had student-athlete GPAs that were, on average, higher than the student body with nine schools average student-athlete GPA above a 3.00.

The Presidents' Academic Award is part of a larger conference program to highlight the accomplishments of PBC student-athletes in the classroom as well as on the field.

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HILTON HEAD, SC – North Georgia’s Taylor Malasek and Young Harris College’s Yesin Van Der Plujim were named the 2021-22 Peach Belt Conference Scholar-Athletes of the Year, the league announced on Tuesday night. The awards are the highest individual honors given by the conference to student-athletes and are chosen by the league's Faculty Athletic Representatives.

Taylor Malasek finished her decorated North Georgia soccer career rewriting the UNG record book in several categories. The Peachtree City, Ga., native leaves the program with the most all-time points, goals, game-winning goals, shots attempted and shots on goal. Malasek earned All-PBC Second Team honors this season for the second time in her career after scoring seven goals and was named PBC Player of the Week on Sept. 27. She helped the Nighthawks reach the first round of the NCAA DII Tournament. She was named to the United States Coaches All-Region Second Team. Over her career, Malasek is a two-time All-PBC First Team and Second Team selection and won the PBC Freshman of the Year in 2017. In 2020 she earned the United Soccer Coaches Player of Distinction. In 2019 she was named to the United Soccer Coaches All-American Third Team and All-Region First Team. She’s also a five-time Chick-fil-A Nighthawk of the Week winner. 

Malasek graduated last fall with a 3.96 GPA and degree in biology and minor in honors research and innovation. This past year she was named to the United Soccer Coaches and CoSIDA Academic All-American Third Teams. Malasek was also named a top-30 honoree for the 2021 NCAA Woman of the Year award. In 2019, she was named to the United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-Region First Team and All-American Second Team. That same year she also won the PBC Elite 15 Award. She was named to the President’s List each semester except Fall 2019 where she was named to the Dean’s List. She also was named to the PBC Team of Academic Distinction and Presidential Honor Roll Gold Scholar several times throughout her career. Malasek becomes the first North Georgia student-athlete to be named the PBC Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

After graduating last fall, Yesin Van Der Plujim signed a professional contract with the Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC of the United Soccer League. The Rotterdam, Netherlands native capped off his soccer career by helping the Mountain Lions capture the 2021 PBC men’s soccer tournament and regular-season championships. Van Der Plujim was named the PBC Tournament MVP, PBC Co-Player of the Year and All-PBC First Team. YHC earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA DII Tournament and reached the third round, where they fell in double overtime to Auburn University-Montgomery. He earned several honors this season from the Division II Conference Commissioners Association including All-America first team, All-Southeast Region first team and Southeast Region Player of the Year. He was also selected to the United Soccer Coaches NCAA DII All-America second team and All-Southeast Region first team. 

Over his career, Van Der Plujim is a two-time PBC Defender of the Week, was selected All-PBC second team in 2019 and helped YHC win three conference championships. This year he was named to the CoSIDA DII Men’s Soccer Academic All-American Third Team and All-District Team. Van Der Plujim also earned All-District honors in 2019. He was named to the PBC soccer team of Academic Distinction in both Fall 2021 and 2019. He was on YHC’s Dean’s List or President’s List every semester, graduating a semester early with a 3.92 GPA, double majoring in finance and management. Van Der Plujim becomes the first Young Harris student-athlete to win the PBC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award.

HILTON HEAD, SC – Young Harris College was presented with the 2021-22 Peach Belt Conference Institution of the Year Sportsmanship Award at the league’s annual awards dinner on Tuesday. A banner that rotates from winning school to winning school will travel to Young Harris, Ga., for the first time.

The annual honor is given to the institution displaying the best overall sportsmanship for the 2021-22 season and culminates the PBC's season-long sportsmanship recognition program.

Following each championship sports season a Team Sportsmanship Award is presented to the team in that sport that best exemplifies what the award stands for: the spirit of sportsmanship, a high degree of integrity, character and class.  Each team award is voted on by other teams who compete in that sport and points are awarded on how each team finished in the voting.

In 2021-22, Young Harris won Team Sportsmanship Awards in men’s basketball, men’s golf, volleyball and men’s lacrosse. The four awards were the most for any PBC institution and are the most for YHC in a single season since the PBC began presenting the award in 2009.

HILTON HEAD, SC – The University of North Georgia was presented with the LeeAnn Noble Make-A-Wish Award for Most Funds Raised while Georgia Southwestern State University earned the Most Improved Award at the league’s annual awards dinner on Tuesday at Hilton Head.

North Georgia has finished in the top five NCAA Division II donors for 10 consecutive years, including being the top donor on seven different occasions. Since 2010, UNG has raised over $200,000 for Make-A-Wish with at least $10,000 given every year.

In 2021-22, UNG contributed $13,851 for the Make-A-Wish program. UNG also hosted a Make-A-Wish reveal in October, the 20th wish the institution has granted. UNG wins the PBC award for the 13th year in a row.

Georgia Southwestern earns the Most Improved Award after increasing their giving by 538% over the previous year.

Division II has raised more than $6.6 million toward granting the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions. Almost 770 "wishes" have been granted through Division II contributions. These wishes can serve as a game changer in children's fights against their illnesses, helping them feel better, and in some cases even get better.

The PBC Make-A-Wish awards were renamed the LeeAnn Noble Make-A-Wish Awards following the 2013-14 season.  Noble was a women's golfer at the University of North Georgia and former wish recipient from Make-A-Wish.  She appeared on the cover of NCAA Champion Magazine in the fall of 2013 and sadly passed away in March of 2014.  Her dedication to the Make-A-Wish program will live on with these awards that will forever bear her name.

HILTON HEAD, SC – The University of North Georgia was presented with the 2022 Peach Belt Conference Connecting Communities Award on Tuesday night at the league’s annual awards dinner in Hilton Head. The Nighthawks hosted a 5th Graders Day Out in association with Lumpkin County Schools. The award is presented annually to the PBC member institution who embraces the NCAA Division II core value of community engagement; bringing the institution and the local community together.

On November 30th, 2021, the North Georgia Department of Athletics hosted local fifth graders for Lumpkin County Education Day and “5th Graders Day Out”. All fifth graders from the Lumpkin County School System visited UNG’s Dahlonega campus for a campus tour, lunch in the dining hall and the men’s basketball game against Toccoa Falls. After the game, the UNG men’s basketball team signed autographs and thanked the community for their support.

The goal of the event was to provide local fifth graders the opportunity to visit a college campus, meet student-athletes and enjoy a collegiate athletics event. The focus was on students from local elementary schools so that they could be exposed to both the academics and athletics on a local college campus within their community.

The Peach Belt Conference has presented the Connecting Communities Award since 2012. North Georgia wins the award for the second time, the first coming in 2013.

HILTON HEAD, SC – Columbus State University has been named the Peach Belt Conference Sports Information Staff of the Year, it was announced at the league’s annual awards dinner on Tuesday night. The award is the first for CSU.

Under the direction of Sports Information Director Josh Fuller, the CSU Sports Information staff provided outstanding coverage to one of the most successful seasons in school history. Columbus State won four PBC tournament titles and two more regular-season championships. CSU also hosted the PBC men’s and women’s tennis tournaments and the final weekend of the PBC baseball tournament.

Throughout it all, the Sports Information Staff provided live coverage including multi-camera video through the PBC Sports Network, live statistical coverage, photography from assistant SID Anne Appleton and up-to-the second information maintenance of the official website of Cougar athletics, CSUCougars.com.

The PBC Sports Information Staff of the Year award is selected annually by the Peach Belt’s media relations and sports communication professionals.