Radford University soccer player Fraser Colmer continues to reel in the awards, being named the Big South Men’s Soccer Scholar-Athlete of the Year earlier this week.
Radford University’s men’s soccer defender Fraser Colmer has been voted the 2016-17 Big South Conference Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the league announced Wednesday afternoon. The Scholar-Athletes of the Year are voted on by the Big South Sports Information Directors from a pool of each sport’s Scholar-Athlete winner.
The Big South’s Male and Female Scholar-Athletes of the Year were selected from a pool of the conference’s scholar-athletes who represent all of the individual sports’ scholar-athletes, who were announced during the regular season.
Colmer is Radford’s second recipient of the Big South Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year award in three seasons and the school’s fourth overall in the 21-year history of the award. He joins Patrick Colas (2005-06) and Stephen Hudgens (2014-15) as the only Radford men’s soccer players to don the honor.
“This is such a well-deserved honor for Fraser. He is the epitome of a student-athlete excelling at an exceptionally high level in the classroom and on the pitch,” said Director of Athletics Robert Lineburg. “Fraser is highly motivated, an outstanding leader and has been instrumental in our soccer program’s success. We are extremely proud of his accomplishments.”
The Southampton, England native finished first in the voting with 38 points, ahead of Presbyterian College tennis player Diego Manzanas (30 points). UNC Asheville basketball player Giacomo Zilli and Gardner-Webb cross country runner Keaton Poole tied for third with 18 points each.
“We are very happy for Fraser. He epitomizes what it means to be a student-athlete. Not only is he a leader in our locker room and for our program, but he also leads in the classroom as well,” said head coach Bryheem Hancock. “Fraser with the rest of the senior class have been a big piece in helping this program get to where it is today, we couldn’t be happier for him.”
The Big South Men’s Soccer Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Colmer was voted a First-Team CoSIDA Academic All-American his junior season of 2016-17 after earning Second-Team honors as a sophomore. Owning a 4.0 GPA in business management, Colmer was selected to the All-Big South First-Team this past fall in addition to the Big South All-Tournament Team.
Colmer also earned NSCAA All-South Region Third-Team honors plus NSCAA Scholar All-East Region accolades during the 2016 season. On the pitch, he tallied a career-best three goals in 2016 and assisted on three goals to give him 17 in his career. He anchored Radford’s defense that pitched 10 shutouts this past season and 26 in his three-year career.
–RU Athletics