Students place at SkillsUSA conference

HOT SPRINGS—Students from South Arkansas College brought home six Gold, five Silver and two Bronze medals from last week's SkillsUSA state conference here.

Gold winners were Lillian Trujillo (postsecondary T-shirt design), Taylor Warthan (secondary T-shirt design), Juana Ruiz (secondary pin design), Myka Walters (postsecondary medical terminology), Aleyah Golden (postsecondary health occupation professional portfolio) and Raytisha Jackson (postsecondary prepared speech).

Silver winners were Hudson Parker (postsecondary pipe welding), Jillian Gorman (postsecondary health occupation professional portfolio), Jazmin Zapata Cadena (secondary health occupation professional portfolio), Linda Graham (secondary nursing assistance) and Tiffanie Duke (secondary job interview).

Bronze winners were Devan Lofton (postsecondary pipe welding) and Taylor McDowell (secondary criminal justice).

SouthArk also received a SkillsUSA Chapter Excellence award.

Riggs

Riggs tabbed as Player of the Week

South Arkansas College sophomore catcher Ryan Riggs has been selected as a Region 2 Player of the Week for the week ending April 9.

Riggs batted .600 with 6 RBIs and six runs scored over a span that saw the Stars go 4-0 and improve to 29-9 on the season (18-2 in region play, the best in Region 2). He is the third member of the South Arkansas baseball team to receive a Player of the Week honor this season.

On the season, Riggs is batting .407, which places him in the top 10 in Region 2. His percentage in region games is .500, which is No. 1 in Region 2. His season on-base percentage is .511 which puts him tied for fourth in Region 2; in region games it’s .577 which is tops in the region.

Riggs Ryan

Stars break into top 20

For the first time, the South Arkansas College Stars baseball team has cracked the NJCAA Division II top 20 weekly poll.

The national ranking came on Monday after the Stars (25-9, 14-2 in Region 2 play) swept Carl Albert State in four games last week, bringing their win streak to 13 games. They have produced three straight clean sweeps of region opponents and are in control at the top of the Region 2 standings.

They will play regional opponent Redlands (17-19, 9-7) at home in four games this week, beginning with a doubleheader at 2 p.m. on Friday at Field 4 of the El Dorado-Union County Recreation Complex. A second doubleheader is scheduled to start at noon on Saturday at the field.

As a team, the Stars are batting .317 with an on-base percentage of .438 and 41 home runs. Both Elijah Nichols (45) and Trace Shoup (43) are in the top five in the region in runs batted in. Hunter Royal (51) is in the top five in strikeouts, and Trey Miller (4) is in the top five in saves.

southark top20

Shoup takes weekly honor

For the second consecutive week, a member of the South Arkansas Community College baseball team has been selected as a NJCAA Region 2 Player of the Week.

Sophomore infielder Trace Shoup was selected for the honor for the week ending March 26 after Shoup batted .588 with three home runs, 10 RBIs and nine runs scored, and the Stars went 4-0 with a sweep over Region 2 opponent Rich Mountain.

Teammate Clay Burrows, also a sophomore, was chosen last week.

For the season, Shoup leads the team with a .373 batting average, a .691 slugging percentage and 110 at-bats. His on-base percentage is .463 with 35 RBIs—tied for fifth in the region.

Shoup’s selection also came during a week in which the Stars (21-9, 10-2 in Region 2 play) received votes for a Top 20 national ranking for the first time. They currently are atop the NJCAA Division II Region 2 standings. They will face Region 2 opponent Carl Albert State in a doubleheader beginning at noon on Thursday at the El Dorado-Union County Recreation Complex.

Shoup Trace

College marketing department nabs five national awards

The marketing and communications department at South Arkansas Community College recently won five awards in the national Collegiate Advertising Awards contest for 2022, four of which were top performers in their respective categories.

The department received a Gold award (representing first place) in the category of Single Newspaper Ad for the college’s spring registration advertisement’s appearing in the El Dorado News-Times’ Thanksgiving section. It was designed by marketing director Heath Waldrop.

The college’s YouTube video “Thanksgiving Reactions 2022” took Gold in the category of Special Single Video Production. The video was written, produced, directed and hosted by Waldrop and featured SouthArk students Sarah Beeman, Ella Floyd, Tiara Jefferson, Beau Kuttenkuler, Emma McKenzie, Lexi Parker, Cason Blunt, Raytisha Jackson, Gabbi Kelly, Anastasia Lamijan, Alyssa Nealy and Isaac Richey.

The YouTube video series “SouthArk Reacts!” Christmas reaction videos captured Gold for Special Series Video Production. The videos were written, produced, directed and hosted by Waldrop and featured Beeman, Jackson and Lamijan, in addition to SouthArk students Grace West, Vanessa Vinson, Janasia Jones, Isabella Dixon, Chris Miller, Leslie Reddick, Angel Dimler, Peyton McCloskey and Nealey Elkins, and SouthArk employees Charley Hankins, Nate Evans, Beth Barcroft and Liz Young.

The 2022 softball hype video “Let’s Go!” was awarded Gold in the Sports Specific video category. It was produced and directed by Waldrop and featured members of the Stars softball team.

The “Be a Star” fall 2022 radio commercial received a Silver award (representing second place) in the category of Single Radio advertisements. It was written and produced by Waldrop and featured voiceover by SouthArk student Olivia Joyner.

SouthArk competed in the business and community colleges group of the annual contest.