ST. AUGUSTINE – The Flagler College Department of Athletics hosted its annual Student-Athlete Welcome Back event Tuesday night at Lewis Auditorium. Over 400 student-athletes filled the auditorium as teams and student-athletes were recognized for their accomplishments in the classroom and on the field during the 2024-25 academic year.
 
Jud Damon, the director of athletics at Flagler, served as the evening's host. Flagler College President John A. Delaney and Clay Murphy, the president of the Saints Club Advisory Board, addressed the student-athletes.
 
The department recognized its 154 student-athletes who earned Division II Athletics Directors Association (D2 ADA) Academic Achievement Awards. Additionally, all student-athletes named to the Peach Belt Conference (PBC) Presidential Honor Roll and Gulf South Conference Academic Honor Roll were recognized. A record 246 Flagler College student-athletes earned PBC Presidential Honor Roll accolades in 2024-25.
 
The department celebrated the six teams that captured conference championships last year – women's cross country, men's soccer, women's lacrosse, women's volleyball, and men's and women's tennis. Flagler won its third PBC Commissioner's Cup.
 
Several other award winners were recognized Tuesday night, including the winners of the Team Sportsmanship Award, Community Service Award, Academic Team of the Year, and Coach of the Year.
 
The men's basketball team won the PBC Team Sportsmanship Award for Flagler in 2024-25. Flagler teams have won 38 PBC Team Sportsmanship Awards.
 
Softball took home the Community Service Award after pacing the department with 356 service hours. Those hours resulted in over $12,385 in economic impact as team members participated in 143 different community service projects.
 
Women's soccer was named the Academic Team of the Year. The program posted a department-best 3.60 team grade point average in 2024-25. Ninety-two percent of the team members finished with a grade point average of 3.0 or higher. Nine of the 24 players earned PBC Presidential Honor Roll Gold Scholar honors and another eight were D2 ADA award recipients.
 
Santiago Cavanagh was named the 2024-25 Coach of the Year. Cavanagh guided the women's team to the NCAA Division II National Tournament for the second year in a row and advanced to the semifinal round of the medal match play portion of the tournament. The Saints won the NCAA Division II South/Southeast Region title for the first time in the program's history. Flagler was ranked No. 2 in the country in the final computer ranking. Two players earned WGCA All-America honors while four received WGCA All-America Scholar accolades. 

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