Francis Marion University senior
Gabriel Karatantcheva and junior
Liam Day are among a dozen student-athletes announced by Conference Carolinas as its Spring Scholar-Athletes of the Year Presented by Hudl. Karatantcheva shared the award for women's tennis with Erskine College's Emma Bentz, while Day earned the award for men's tennis.
The Scholar-Athlete awards Presented by Hudl are awarded annually to one individual in each Conference Carolinas sponsored sport. The Scholar-Athlete of the Year winners are chosen by the Conference Carolinas Student-Athlete Affairs and Awards Committee.
To be considered, a student-athlete must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.25 or higher. In addition, the nominees for the award must have been named all-conference in their sport and also chosen academic all-conference.
Karatantcheva, a native of Sofia, Bulgaria, was a first-team All-Conference selection after posting an 11-8 record at No.1 singles (6-2 in conference play) and an 8-9 mark at No.2 doubles.
Owning a 3.521 cumulative grade point average as an economics and political science double major, she was also named to the Academic All-Conference squad. She received the Economics Awards at this past spring's Academic Awards Day ceremony, and has served on the university's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) for three years.
During the regular season, she was named the conference Player of the Week once. She helped the Patriots to a 10-11 record and a seventh-place finish during the Conference Carolinas regular season.
Karatantcheva's four-year career records stand at 35-18 in singles and 29-23 in doubles. She has one year of eligibility remaining due to the covid pandemic.
Day, a native of Edenvale, South Africa, finished the year with a 15-4 mark at the No.1 singles position, and ranked 15th in the end-of-the-season NCAA Division II Collegiate Tennis regional rankings. He lost only 13 sets all season and was 7-1 in Conference Carolinas play.
He was 13-4 in doubles play at the No.1 rung.
Day was named the Conference Carolinas Player of the Year and garnered both Academic All-Conference and Academic All-District recognition. Also an economics major, he has posted a 3.685 GPA.
Day helped lead Francis Marion to a 13-8 mark this season, the Conference Carolinas regular-season championship, and a No.42 national ranking.
Both players are members of Chi Alpha Sigma national college athlete honor society, have twice garnered ITA Scholar-Athlete recognition, were named to the Conference Presidential Honor Roll in 2022, and have been placed on the FMU Swamp Fox Athletic-Academic Honor Roll for all of their semesters at Francis Marion.
Karatantcheva is a graduate of Manatee High School in Bradenton, Fla., while Day is a product of St. Benedicts College.
These two awards bring to four the Scholar-Athlete Awards earned by Patriots this year, tying FMU for the second-highest total in the conference. FMU men's soccer player Alvaro Zamora and women's basketball player Lauren Taylor were the previous winners.
Gabriel Karatantcheva Liam Day
