GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Furman cross country/ track All-American Dylan Schubert and women's golf standout Audrey Ryu have been named 2024-25 Bob Waters Southern Conference Male Athlete of the Year and Female Athlete of the Year, respectively, the league announced today.
 
Furman's sweep of the SoCon's two most prestigious individual awards is its third in the last four years, and Ryu is the sixth consecutive Paladin to win female athlete of the year honors — the longest streak by any school in SoCon history.
 
Furman has captured a record 25 SoCon Athlete of the Year citations over the years.
 
"What an incredible honor for Dylan and Audrey to be named the Southern Conference Male and Female Athletes of the Year, especially among an outstanding group of SoCon athletes," said Furman Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Jason Donnelly.  "Dylan and Audrey achieved record-breaking success at the highest levels of their respective sports, while also excelling academically. We are immensely proud of both of them and deeply grateful for the leadership, dedication, and talent they bring to Furman University."
 
Schubert, a native of Loveland, Colo., fashioned one of the most prolific seasons in the school's cross country/track and field history in 2024-25 and was named Furman's Frank Selvy Male Athlete of the Year.
 
He was named NCAA Southeast Region Male Cross Country Athlete of the Year after placing third with a 10K time of 28:39.6 at the 2024 NCAA Cross Country Championship, marking the highest national finish in the history of the Furman cross country program.  Schubert became the first three-time All-American in Paladin cross country history after finishing 24th at the 2023 championship and 11th in 2022.
 
The 2024 SoCon Men's Cross Country Runner of the Year, Schubert, who led the Paladins to their 12th-straight league title and a 17th-place finish at the national meet, won the individual conference title for the third-consecutive year after establishing a new course record of 23:40.1 in the 8K event.  He went on to place third at the NCAA South-east Region Championship, earning a spot on the all-region team for the fourth-straight year, after winning the region meet in 2023.
 
Schubert was a 2025 NCAA Indoor Track Championship qualifier in the 5,000m.  He ranked tenth nationally with a time of 13:17.89 in the event, a Furman program record which he posted at the Boston University Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener.
 
To complete the national trifecta in the three sports of cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track, Schubert placed seventh with a time of 29:11.18 to earn a first team All-America citation in the 10,000m at the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Champion-ships.  He won the event at the NCAA East Preliminaries to reach the final.  With just 400m left in the race, he was in sixth place, but in the first turn of the final lap, he passed two runners, then with just 200m to go, he picked off two more athletes to move into second place.  Schubert surged into the lead in the final straightaway to claim gold with a time of 29:00.74.
 
Schubert qualified for the national meet after winning the 10,000m at the prestigious Bryan Clay Invitational with a time of 27:45.63, knocking 42 seconds off the previous Furman record of 28:27.85, while also establishing a new meet record.  He also won gold in the 5,000m at the SoCon outdoor championship, setting a league meet record with a time of 14:11.06.
 
A May graduate with a 3.3 GPA in health sciences, Schubert is a member of the USTFCCCA All-Academic team, SoCon Academic All-Conference Team, and SoCon Academic Honor Roll.
 
A sophomore from Dublin, Ohio, and Furman's 2024-25 Edna Hartness Female Athlete of the Year, Ryu won individual medalist honors at the 2025 Southern Conference Championship after establishing a new league tournament record with an opening-round 66.  She led the Paladins to the team title at the event, capturing the SoCon's automatic bid to the NCAA regionals.  Ryu tied for seventh with rounds of 72-70-71=213 at the NCAA Norman Regional to punch her ticket to the NCAA Championship, where she made the cut to advance to the final round and concluded the tournament in a tie for 47th. 
 
Ryu, who earned four SoCon Player of the Week awards this year, led the league with a 72.60 stroke average over 35 rounds to earn her second-consecutive all-conference scroll.  In 12 events during the 2024-25 season, she recorded five top-10 finishes, including a fourth-place finish at the Evie Odom Invitational and a fifth-place finish at the Land-fall Tradition.  Ryu led Furman to four top-4 team finishes during her sophomore campaign.
 
A concert pianist and a biology major with a 4.0 GPA, Ryu, who did computational chemistry research at Furman last summer, was honored with the 2025 SoCon Pinnacle Award, given annually to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA on the championship team.  She was selected to the CSC Academic All-District Team, WGCA All-America Scholar Team, SoCon Academic All-Conference Team, SoCon Academic Honor Roll, and Furman Dean's List. 
 
Ryu was this year's sophomore recipient of the Winston Babb Memorial Award, given in honor of the late history professor by Furman's chapter of Omnicron Delta Kappa to the students in each class demonstrating the most outstanding qualities of leadership, scholarship, and service to the university through academics and research, communications, or athletics. 
 
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