LeTourneau Announces 2023-24 Award Winners

LONGVIEW, Texas – With the athletics season starting to wind down, the LeTourneau University Athletics Department announced its annual award winners on Monday, April 22.

Five individuals were awarded honors as some of the top student-athletes in a department that spans 17 programs. 

MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: DANE JONES, BASEBALL

Putting up impressive numbers for a second straight year, baseball senior Dane Jones is the 2023-24 LeTourneau Male Athlete of the Year.

Jones broke the program's single-season record for home runs and his 18 on the year is currently tied for first in Division III. In a game against Hardin-Simmons on April 19, Jones set a program record with three home runs. He broke the program's NCAA-era record for career home runs earlier this season and his current total of 39 is tied for the program's all-time mark.

He leads the ASC in slugging percentage (.869), total bases (106), and OPS (1.376). He has two multi-homer games this season and homered in five straight games from Feb. 24-March 2. Jones had a walk-off solo home run in a win over Concordia Texas (March 17), a walk-off grand slam vs. Lyon (March 19), and a game-tying home run in an eventual win over nationally-ranked Mary Hardin-Baylor (March 29).

Jones has earned a pair of national honors this season. He earned NCBWA Division III National Hitter of the Week and D3baseball.com Team of the Week honors in early March after hitting .600 with five homers and 13 RBIs the week prior.  He also garnered ASC Hitter of the Week accolades once this season.

FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: MORGAN NIX, VOLLEYBALL

After another record-breaking year, volleyball senior Morgan Nix was named the LeTourneau Female Athlete of the Year.

Nix has won the award in back-to-back years.

From Cypress, Texas, Nix was among the best liberos in the nation in 2023. She led all of Division III in digs per set with a program and ASC record average of 7.21, becoming the program's first NCAA statistical champion. Her 757 digs set a program single-season record. Nix earned a second straight ASC Libero of the Year honor and was first team All-ASC.

A two-time ASC Defensive Player of the Week award winner this season, she had 20-plus digs in a match 22 times and had nine 30-plus dig contests. She set a program record for digs in a five-set match with 42 against Texas Lutheran (Sept. 8) and had 41 against UT Dallas (Oct. 31). Nix is second all-time in program history in career digs with 1,462 and her career digs per set of 6.41 leads all active players in the entire NCAA.

MALE SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: CAEDMON LIEBENGOOD, MEN'S BASKETBALL

A standout on the court and in the classroom, men's basketball junior Caedmon Liebengood is the 2023-24 recipient of LeTourneau's Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year award.

Majoring in scripture and theology, Liebengood carries a 3.89 GPA. He is a two-time selection to the ASC Academic All-Conference team and earned College Sports Communicators Academic All-District this season.

On the court, Liebengood had his best season as a YellowJacket. He earned All-ASC third team honors with a career-high 16.0 points and 7.6 rebounds per game in 27 games played. Liebengood totaled eight double-doubles, which led the YellowJackets and was fifth in the ASC. He ranked fourth in the ASC in field goal percentage at 54.4 percent and had seven 20-point games, with a season-high 31 at Puget Sound (Nov. 20).

Liebengood helped the YellowJackets reach the ASC Tournament semifinals as he averaged 24 points and nine rebounds per game in the tournament to earn All-Tournament honors.

FEMALE SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: ALLISON SMITH, VOLLEYBALL

A record-breaking career on the court and an outstanding student in the classroom, volleyball senior Allison Smith is the 2023-24 recipient of the LeTourneau Female Scholar-Athlete award.

Majoring in nursing, Smith holds a 3.85 GPA and is a three-time ASC Academic All-Conference honoree. She also collected her second career College Sports Communicators Academic All-District honor this season.

Smith earned first team All-ASC honors this season, becoming a three-time All-Conference selection. She averaged a career-high 0.94 blocks per set, which ranked fourth in the ASC, and totaled 1.56 kills per set with a team-best hitting percentage of .268. During the year, Smith became the program's career leader in total blocks and finished the year with 343 over her four years. She had 14 matches with four or more blocks, including eight vs. East Texas Baptist (Oct. 17). Smith also currently holds the top spot in the program's career hitting percentage at .280.

R.G. LETOURNEAU LEGACY AWARD: HAILY BASS, WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD

The R.G. LeTourneau Legacy Award is given to a junior or senior student-athlete who displays Christian attitude and leadership in the classroom, on campus, in the community, and in their sport. All traits that were shown by the founder of the University, R.G. LeTourneau.

This year's honoree is women's track and field senior Haily Bass.

Just a sophomore athletically, Bass has made her presence known during her two years as a YellowJacket. Within LeTourneau, Bass served as the Student Athlete Advisory Committee president during 2023-24 and as a student ambassador for the executive cabinet.

Active in her local church, Bass has been a youth teacher at Church on Purpose in Longview and led a Monday Morning Prayer session at the church. She also volunteers with Martin House Child Advocacy Center.

Bass is a leader on her team. Bass frequently encourages and pushes her teammates and reminds the team, and herself, that God has blessed them all with the ability to compete and to glorify Him through their talents.

Bass was part of LeTourneau's 4x400 team that earned second at the ASC Championships in 2023 and she earned ASC Track Athlete of the Week honors once during her career. This season, Bass was on the program record-breaking 4x400 team and leads the team in both the 200 and 400-meter events. She also earned ASC Academic All-Conference honors last season.