May 24, 2004

Hampton, VA - The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association announced on Monday that Winston-Salem State University's Shannon Davis (Detroit, MI/Detroit Renaissance H.S.) has been selected as the 2004 CIAA Women's Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Davis, a junior catcher on the WSSU softball team and a member of the Lady Rams bowling team was selected as the most worthy candidate from around the CIAA's 12 member institutions. The award marks the second consecutive year that WSSU has garnered the award as WSSU volleyball player Benita Wicker (Durham, N.C./Southern Durham H.S.) was chosen as the 2003 CIAA Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year last season.

Davis, a Sport Management major at WSSU possesses a cumulative grade point average of 3.655 and has been named to the Dean's List every semester since entering WSSU as a freshman in 2001. She has been honored as a First-Team All-CIAA softball player twice, and has been named to the CIAA Commissioner's All-Academic Team twice as well. During her tenure at WSSU, Davis and her Lady Rams' teammates have won three consecutive CIAA Western Division regular-season titles in softball, and this past season she was a member of the Lady Ram bowling team that cruised to a 59-10 regular season record and a #1 seed in the CIAA Women's Bowling Championship as well as earning a berth in the first ever NCAA Women's Bowling National Championship Tournament.

This season she appeared in, and started, 28 games for the Lady Rams as she batted .375 on the year and drove in 22 runs. She had a team-high 155 put outs and recorded a .926 fielding percentage en route to First-Team All-CIAA honors.

Davis is an active member of the local Winston-Salem community as she is the President of the WSSU Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and serves as the captain of the Lady Rams' softball team.

A cancer survivor, Davis truly proves what it means to be a collegiate student-athlete, and is a model student and person at WSSU.

WSSU Associate Director of Athletics and Senior Woman Administrator, Tonia Walker issued the following statement on Davis' achievement:

"We are proud of Shannon and all of her academic achievements since her arrival at Winston-Salem State University. Her leadership has made quite an impact among our student-athletes and has given her the opportunity to teach others through her determination and dedication. She's is a definite key in what we are striving to do and the success we are making with our student-athletes. We will continue to look for great feats from Shannon both on the field and in the classroom, and are happy that she has been recognized with this prestigious honor."

For additional information, contact the WSSU Office of Sports Information at (336) 750-2143 or log on to the Official Website of WSSU Athletics at www.WSSURAMS.com