CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Big South Conference’s Team Sportsmanship Awards for the winter season have been determined, and Gardner-Webb University and VMI were voted the winner in two sports, followed by High Point University and Presbyterian College with one each.  The honor is part of the Big South’s Sportsmanship Awards program that began in 2005-06.

Gardner-Webb shared the Big South’s Team Sportsmanship Award in women’s indoor track & field with High Point, as well as the men’s basketball honor with VMI.  Presbyterian was the recipient in women’s basketball – its first ever Team Sportsmanship Award as members of the Big South, while VMI was honored in men’s indoor track & field. 
 
The team awards are voted on by Big South student-athletes and are awarded at the end of each competitive season.  Teams cannot vote for themselves.  Each institution ranks and votes for its top three.  Teams receive three points for a first-place ranking, two points for a second-place ranking and one point for a third-place ranking.  

The Keydets have now won 16 Team Sportsmanship Awards since the program began in 2005-06 and receives the honor in men’s basketball for the third time in four years.  VMI also won the men’s indoor track & field award in 2006.  High Point receives its second honor of the 2008-09 campaign and eighth overall award.  Gardner-Webb collects its first two Team Sportsmanship Awards in its first year of membership in the Big South.

At the conclusion of the 2008-09 athletic season, the Big South Conference’s Institutional Sportsmanship Award will be announced.  An institution’s sport winners count towards the Institution Sportsmanship Award and the winner is determined on a system recognizing the highest percentage of the maximum possible points each institution is capable of achieving in that year.  The institution with the highest percentage will win the award.  VMI has won the Big South’s Institutional Sportsmanship Award all three years of the award’s history.

2008-09 Big South Team Sportsmanship Award Winners
Women’s Basketball:...........................Presbyterian
Men’s Basketball:................................Gardner-Webb, VMI
Women’s Indoor Track:......................Gardner-Webb, High Point
Men’s Indoor Track:...........................VMI
Football:.............................................VMI
Volleyball:...........................................Liberty
Men’s Soccer:....................................Radford
Women’s Soccer:...............................Liberty
Men’s Cross Country:........................High Point, VMI
Women’s Cross Country:...................Liberty