Three All-Americans, a two-time CoSida Academic All-American, and a National NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory member make up this year's University of Mount Olive Athletics Hall of Fame Class. Baseball student-athlete Brad Church, softball student-athlete Jenny Jackson, women's soccer student-athlete April Jacobs, women's volleyball student-athlete Samantha Mitchell, and women's basketball student-athlete Brianna Williams will be inducted into the UMO Athletics Hall of Fame next week during the 54th Annual Mt. Olive Pickle Classic Weekend.
The 2019 University of Mount Olive Athletics Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place November 16 at 3 p.m. in the Lois K. Murphy Regional Center. The induction ceremony is open to the public and admission is free. Please RSVP to Tina Loy in the Athletics Department at cloy@umo.edu or 919-658-7759 or visit www.umo.edu/halloffame. For those that cannot attend the event, the ceremony will be streamed live on the Trojan Sports Network.
"We are proud to be inducting another great hall of fame class this year. This class includes five outstanding individuals who left their mark on Mount Olive, as well as the national stage," said Vice President for Athletics Jeff Eisen.
Brad Church '03 was a first-team all-conference dual selection at shortstop and pitcher and is tied for third in UMO history in career batting average (.401). He was a first-team ABCA All-American selection and a Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference All-Tournament, All-Conference, and Player of the Year as a Trojan. On the Trojan all-time lists, Church sits third in career average (.401) has the fourth-highest single-season batting average with a .429 in 2003. He was also a member of the CVAC regular-season championship team in 2003.
Jenny Jackson '09 was two-time CoSida Academic All-American for the Mount Olive softball team. The Trojan pitcher was a three-time Conference Carolinas First-Team All-Conference selection and two-time All-Tournament honoree. Jackson holds numerous all-time records including; home runs in a season (11), RBI in a game (9), RBI in a season (60), T-1st in strikeouts in a game (13), ERA in a season (0.87), and ERA for a career (1.17). Also ranking in the Trojan all-time list Jackson ranks, third in average in a season (.442), second in career average (.397), second in career home runs (27), sixth in hits in season (65), second in career RBI (124), second in wins in a season (19-7), third in strikeouts in a season (142), and second in shutouts in a season (7) and career (13). She also had a perfect game against Coker in 2007.
April Jacobs '08 was the first All-American in women's soccer program history in 2006. The midfielder was a three-time Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference First-Team All-Conference player and one-time second-team selection. She was a three-time all-region selection and ranked No.1 in NCAA DII in 2006 in assists per game (0.86). Jacobs on the Trojan all-time lists holds the single-season record for assists (19) and career assists (49). She is also third in career points (101) and is tied for fourth in career goals (26).
Samantha Mitchell '08 was an AVCA All-American, Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference Player of the Year, and AVCA First-Team All-Region in 2007 for the women's volleyball team. She was a three-time CVAC First-Team All-Conference selection and honorable mention all-region in 2006. Mitchell all-time ranks second in career kills (1905), second in career digs (1503), third in single match kills (32), and fourth in single-season kills (564).
Brianna Williams '02 was a member of NCAA National Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, a member of the Mount Olive Alumni Board, and a middle school principal. Williams played for the Trojan women's basketball team from 1998-2002 where she collected 387 career points with a 40.1 career percentage and 43.3% free-throw average. As a student-athlete Williams was the chair of the NCAA DII National SAAC and appeared on the CBS pre-game show for the NCAA DI Men's Championship in 2020 representing 360,00 collegiate student-athletes. She has been a member of the UMO Alum board since 2013 and is the currently serving as the Vice-President. She has served on the Mount Olive College SACS accreditation committee and Athletic Director search committee. Williams has been in public education for 16 years and was a former high school basketball and volleyball coach. While coaching she won the North Carolina 3A Volleyball State Championship in 2007.
This year's class brings the total number of hall of fame inductees up to 63.
