ASU's Marques Murrell and Chattanooga's Lanni Marchant Earn SoCon Athlete of the Year Honors
Murrell led the Mountaineers to back-to-back national championships. The defensive end was a consensus first-team All-America for the second consecutive season. He led the nation in quarterback sacks with 13 and forced fumbles with six. His 13 sacks also tied his own single-season school record. The Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Year, Murrell placed third in the voting for the voting Buck Buchanan Award, presented to the nation's top defensive player. He finished the season with 82 total tackles, most by a lineman in the league. He finished his career as Appalachian State’s all-time leader in forced fumbles (18) and second on the school’s career lists for sacks (36) and tackles for loss (59).
After just three-and-a-half years, he is just 12 credit hours short of earning a bachelor’s degree in finance and banking. He plans to pursue a master’s degree and aspires for a career in financial planning. He recently signed a free-agent contract with the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles. Murrell is the third consecutive Appalachian State football player to earn the award, following in the football steps on Davon Folkes (2004-05) and Richie Williams (2005-06).
A two-time NCAA National Qualifier, Lanni Marchant is an eight-time Southern Conference champion with one cross country title, three indoor titles and four outdoor titles. A 14-time All-Southern Conference performer in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track, she claimed SoCon titles in the 5,000-meters and 10,000-meters at the 2007 Outdoor Track & Field Championship.
Marchant broke a 17-year old conference record by nearly one minute in the 10,000-meters at this year's championship. She earned a Mideast Regional qualification in the 5,000-meters with her third place finish at the conference championship and an NCAA provisional qualification in the 10,000-meters at the Stanford Invitational. She claimed the SoCon title in the 5,000-meters at the 2007 Indoor Championships. Marchant won the mile run at the Middle Tennessee State and the 3,000-meters at Kentucky’s Rod McCravey Memorial while placing fourth at the Notre Dame Mayo Invitational with an NCAA provisional qualifying mark.
The 2006 SoCon Cross Country Runner of the Year, she led Chattanooga to the 2006 league crown and placed second at the NCAA South Region Meet. Marchant boasts a 3.876 grade point average while majoring in economics and pre-law. A three time Track & Field Coaches Association Academic Scholar-Athlete, she was a 2006 SoCon Commissioner’s Medal recipient for maintaining a 3.5 or better grade point average.
The Southern Conference Male Athlete of the Year is selected annually by Southern Conference athletic directors and a media member representing each conference school. Prior to 1990-91, the award was selected solely by members of the Southern Conference Sports Media Association. Beginning in 1991-92, the award was named after the late Bob Waters, who was Western Carolina’s head football coach from 1969-88. The Southern Conference Female Athlete of the Year Award was inaugurated in 1990. The Southern Conference Sports Media Association selected the winner in 1989-90. Since 1990-91, each school’s athletic director and a designated media representative have participated in the voting.