CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Winthrop senior tennis player Lauren Proctor (Bradenton, Fla.) and Campbell senior men's basketball player Chris Clemons (Raleigh, N.C.) have been voted the Big South Conference Female and Male Athletes of the Year for the 2018-19 season by the league's athletics directors, senior woman administrators and sports information directors, the conference office announced Wednesday. The candidates for the annual award consist of the Players of the Year from each sport for the season most recently completed.

Proctor is the just the third back-to-back recipient of the conference's Female Athlete of the Year Award and fourth overall multiple winner.  She received 98 points and 13 first-place votes, ahead of Hampton basketball player Ashley Bates, who was second with 62 points (four first-place votes).  USC Upstate softball pitcher Christina Biggerstaff was third with 56 points (three first-place votes), followed by High Point cross country/track & field runner Famke Heinst (48 points, two first-place votes).  High Point volleyball player Molly Livingston finished fifth in the voting with 37 points (two first-place votes).

Proctor became just the fifth student-athlete in Big South Conference history to be voted Player of the Year all four years of her career, and is the second women's tennis player ever with this distinction. She posted a 24-8 overall record in 2018-19, with a 20-3 match record mark during the spring at No. 1 singles - her fourth-consecutive year with at least 20 victories. Proctor finished the season as the nation's 62nd-ranked player, reached as high as No. 32 and had an average ranking of No. 49 during the campaign. She was undefeated in Big South matches at 9-0, winning all contests in straight-sets, including five 6-0 victories. The 2019 graduate defeated two nationally-ranked opponents during the spring, in addition to winning two matches in the Oracle ITA Masters Tournament in the fall and one match at the ITA Fall National Championships. Proctor again teamed with 2018 All-American partner Megan Kauffman at No. 1 doubles this past season, and the nationally ranked duo compiled a 21-11 overall record (16-7 in the spring, 8-1 in the Big South) with five wins over nationally-ranked doubles tandems (Arizona State, N.C. State, Syracuse, Texas and UNC) in 2018-19. Proctor earned First-Team All-Conference honors in singles and doubles, the fourth time in her career with this achievement, qualified to compete individually at the NCAA Championships in both singles and doubles for the second time, and led the Eagles to the Big South regular-season and tournament championships.

A Winthrop student-athlete has been named the Big South Female Athlete of the Year for three-straight seasons. Proctor also earned the honor in 2017-18 after a historic junior season and Marthaline Cooper (track & field) was voted the winner in 2016-17.