PORTALES, N.M. – On Monday, the Lone Star Conference released its annual list of 21 Scholar-Athletes from 11 institutions. Eastern New Mexico University was well represented by Keenan Dodd and Mikaehla Connor of baseball and women’s basketball, respectively.
Each academic year, the LSC presents a Scholar-Athlete Award to one male and one female student-athlete at each member institution. These student-athletes are selected as representatives of the outstanding accomplishments in athletics, scholarship and leadership that are displayed on each LSC campus during the year. To be eligible for consideration, student-athletes must have participated at least two years in their sport and be a member of the graduating class.
Dodd, a senior biochemistry/chemistry major, is the first ENMU baseball player to be chosen as the LSC Academic Player of the Year. The last ENMU athlete to garner LSC Academic Player of the Year was Courtney Lawson (Volleyball, 2016), while the last male winner was Jeremy Buurma (Football, 2015). With a team-best six wins and a .255 batting average allowed, Dodd did not give up a lot of hits when taking the field for the team. The senior right-hander also has pitched a winner the classroom. In addition to his numerous Lone Star Conference accolades, Dodd has been chosen as ENMU’s regional representative for the Most Outstanding Graduating Senior in Chemistry Award and ENMU Biochemistry Student of the Year. Of the Greyhound starters, Dodd boasted a 5.79 earned-run average along with wins over UT Permian Basin, Cameron and Angelo State this season. In ENMU’s historic doubleheader sweep over ASU, he allowed just three runs over 4.1 innings.
Connor, a biology major with an emphasis in pre-medical sciences, was chosen to the LSC All-Academic Team for the second straight year in addition to garnering Second Team All-LSC honors. She ranks 19th in career scoring at ENMU and averaged a team-best 10.3 points per game during the 2017-18 season. Her ability to drive to the basket opened up the offense and created opportunities. Connor also typically defended the opposition’s top threat for much of the games. One of the highlights of her season was scoring 15 points in an overtime win at West Texas A&M. Connor also had four steals as the Greyhounds pushed Angelo State to the limit on the road.
