Hicks and Nick, All-Americans All The Way Around

If recent Sandhills Community College graduate Tiffany Hicks has any spare time she could probably provide a public service by teaching a course in time management.

 

As a member of the Lady Flyer volleyball team last fall, she was named the Region X Player of the Year. She finished with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 while also maintaining an after school job throughout her time at Sandhills and before that as a two-sport standout at Union Pines High School. She also assisted Coach Alicia Riggan as a part of a work/study program at Sandhills.

Hicks, and Nick Kroustalis, who has a GPA of 3.83, and is a two-time NJCAA All-American as a member of the Flyers' men's golf team, have both been named the 2016 Louis M. Brown Outstanding Student Athlete of the Year. Kroustalis, and volleyball team member Cheyenne Brown (3.84), earned the NJCAA Superior Award for Academic Achievement (3.80-3.99 GPA). Heather Hancock, women's golf (3.78), Kimberly Ware (3.71) and Courtney Grant (3.67), volleyball, and Jacob Thomas (3.74), men's golf earned the NJCAA Exemplary Award for Academic Achievement (3.60-3.79 GPA).

Hicks recalls trying to squeeze work on homework assignments into breaks while working at the Food Lion in Whispering Pines. She credits Riggan with helping her organize the challenging schedule.

"When I'm at practice my main focus is on doing my best and when I'm in the classroom my main focus is the classroom," she says. "I had to learn get everything written for each day and that helped a lot. I've learned to focus on one thing at a time."

Last season Hicks was a member of a team that recorded the most wins (24) in the eight-year history of the Lady Flyer program and an 11-3 mark in conference play. A 6-foot middle blocker and outside hitter, she was comfortable playing anywhere on the court. She not only led the team in kills and solo blocks, but was third in assists and fourth in digs. 

She has been accepted into the dental assistant program at Central Carolina Community College as another step in the pursuit of a career as a dental hygienist.

"Tiffany is outstanding not only on the court, but off the court in the classroom and community," Riggan says. "Anytime I have a potential player worried about, 'can I do this', I always refer to Tiffany and what she does and has accomplished since being at SCC.

"That credit goes to Tiffany and her parents for instilling this upon her at an early age. I'm just fortunate I got to be around Tiffany and watch her grow. We are going to miss her a lot next season."

Sandhills athletic director Aaron Denton adds, "As a member of our student athlete leadership team we had to encourage Tiffany to take at least a small step back from work at times. I've only seen two other students in almost 20 years of college athletics with similar time commitments who excelled in all areas of their efforts. She truly is a special person."

Kroustalis has been told that he swung a golf club for the first time when he was two years old. A product of West Forsyth High School, he finished in fifth place at the national tournament as a freshman to earn All-American honors for the first time.

Playing at the same Chautauqua Golf Club course in upstate New York where the Flyers won a national title in 2014, he was one stroke off the individual lead through the first two rounds held earlier this month. After a rough third round, he shot a 73 to finish in sixth place. As a team the Flyers came in eighth.

Kroustalis plans to complete his course requirements at Sandhills this fall. His transcript contains all A's except for two B's. While at SCC he has often gone home on weekends to work at his mother's restaurant in Clemmons.

"You've got to have a good routine and a game plan almost like you do on the golf course," he says of managing the demands on his time. "That's what I've done since I was in middle school and high school and have continued to do in college."

Following Sandhills he plans to test himself in some amateur and perhaps later some professional tournaments. He is taking a business curriculum with the idea of pursuing a career in the business side of golf.  

Flyers' head men's golf coach Gus Ulrich recently qualified for the U.S. Senior Open to be held in Columbus, Ohio in August. He describes Kroustalis as an aggressive player which translates into the confidence he possesses.

"Nick definitely puts the time into his golf and school work," the coach says. "I couldn't be happier for him."

Other Flyer athletes achieving GPA's of 3.0 or better for the 2015-16 school year are Chandler Adams, volleyball, Brianna Newton, women's golf, Thomas Hardy, Zezva Liluashvilli, Christian Lathan, Josh Smith and Jozef Vanderhorst, men's basketball and Haywood Brantley and Will Lewis, men's golf.

The men's golf team missed out on qualifying for the NJCAA team academic award requiring a GPA of 3.0 by 0.005.

Previous Louis M. Brown Outstanding Athletes of the Year: 2009 – Chris Horne (men's golf); 2010 – Germann Bostic (basketball), Chris Horne (men's golf); 2011 – Miranda Love (volleyball); 2012 – Markell Lotharp (basketball); 2013 – Nick Thompson (men's golf); 2014 – Nick Thompson (men's golf); 2015 – Ediz Kemaloglu (men's golf).