STEPHENVILLE – All-American honors on the court and in the classroom have led to Hannah McManus and Jesse Hill being named the Stephenville Apartments Student-Athletes of the Year for the 2018-19 season.
“Hannah McManus and Jesse Hill have been two of the hardest-working students on this campus this year and they deserve this recognition,” said Athletic Director Lonn Reisman. “I’m proud of all of our student-athletes for the success they had this year, but these two brought so much success to their programs and were excellent ambassadors for Tarleton Athletics and Tarleton State University. There is no doubt they will find great success in their future endeavors.”
McManus was Tarleton’s nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year award after her record-breaking senior season for the volleyball team. She wrapped up a four-year standout career on the court by leading Tarleton to new heights. With McManus at the forefront, Tarleton won the Lone Star Conference regular-season championship and the program’s first South Central regional championship to advance to the NCAA Division II National Championship Tournament. Tarleton also set a program record with 32 wins last fall.
McManus was an AVCA All-America Third Team selection, as well as earning All-Region and All-Conference First Team and Academic honors. She was the LSC Defensive Player of the Year and set a new school record for career assisted blocks. The senior All-American from Caldwell finished her career as the fourth player in school history – and first since Desiree Reed – to end a career with a hitting percentage (.308) higher than .300. She is the fourth player in program history with over 400 career blocks.
Jesse Hill, the LSC Scholar-Athlete of the Year and LSC Men’s Basketball Academic Player of the Year, was also a CoSIDA Google Cloud Academic All-America Third Team honoree for his efforts on the court and in the classroom last spring.
A forward from Waretown, New Jersey, Hill had a career year where he averaged career highs in scoring, rebounding and blocks. Hill played in all 31 games with 27 starts and averaged 10.6 points on 55 percent shooting, 5.7 rebounds, 1.1 assists and was third in the Lone Star Conference with 1.5 blocks per game. Hill was named honorable mention All-LSC for his performance. Hill was the LSC Defensive Player of the Week for the first time on Feb. 12. Hill is also a three-time LSC Commissioners Honor Roll selection.
To be eligible for the Student-Athlete of the Year award, the athletes must have been awarded a Student-Athlete of the Month award during their season of competition, in addition to maintaining a GPA of 3.0 or higher and staying in good academic standing. The student-athletes must also be active in the community and adhere to the university core values, as well as the policies of the athletic department and their respective teams.
McManus and Hill will be recognized during a Tarleton volleyball and men’s basketball game next season. The exact dates will be announced at a later time.
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