ATLANTA (JMU Athletics) – As part of its annual Fall Meetings in Atlanta, the Sun Belt Conference formally recognized award winners from the 2024-25 season at the Sun Belt Honors Banquet, tabbing Peyton McDaniel of James Madison women’s basketball as the Female Student-Athlete of the Year.
McDaniel, the reigning SBC Player of the Year, returns after averaging 16.0 points and 8.2 rebounds per game and leading JMU to a 30-6 (18-0 SBC) record. During the Dukes’ program-record 30-win season, McDaniel was the only Division I player in 2024-25 to score 16.0 or more points and grab eight or more rebounds per game while hitting at least 70 three-pointers. The guard’s historic season places her eighth in program history in scoring (1,668) and is 29 boards away from cracking JMU’s top-10 rebounding list, currently sitting at 764.
Texas State claimed the league’s highest honor, the Vic Bubas Cup, which is the Sun Belt’s all-sports championship trophy. The Bubas Cup is awarded annually to the top athletics department in the conference based on a points system. The honor is the fourth all-time for the Bobcats, with all four Bubas Cup wins coming since 2019 (2019, 2022, 2024 & 2025).
Texas State, which sponsors 16 of the Sun Belt’s 20 sports, won the Sun Belt women’s indoor and outdoor track & field titles, the men’s outdoor track & field championship and the volleyball tournament crown. The Bobcats were also the softball regular-season champions and tallied top-four league finishes in women’s soccer, football, men’s indoor track & field and women’s tennis.
Meanwhile, Coastal Carolina’s Caden Bodine (baseball) was announced as the 2024-25 Male Student-Athlete of the Year.
The conference also acknowledged its previously-announced Postgraduate Scholar-Athletes of the Year—Old Dominion’s Kiersten Donnelly (women’s swimming & diving) and Marshall’s Ethan Bowens (men’s track & field)—and its NCAA Woman of the Year nominees—Coastal Carolina’s Nicolette Picone (softball) and South Alabama’s Delien Kleinhans (women’s tennis).
Jennifer Schroeder Tyson, a Lecturer in the Departments of Kinesiology and Public Health at App State, was honored as the 2025 Sun Belt Conference Faculty Member of the Year, while each institution’s nominee was also recognized.
From the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, App State received the Community Impact Award.
Georgia Southern faculty athletics representative (FAR) Dr. Chris Geyerman and Old Dominion faculty athletics representative (FAR) Dr. Stacie Raymer were recognized for their service to their respective institutions, the Sun Belt Conference and college athletics ahead of their upcoming retirements.
— JMU Athletics —
