BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Auburn track and field athletes Sara Pacer and Oquendo Bernard were named Auburn's recipients of the Brad Davis Community Service Award, the Southeastern Conference announced Thursday. The SEC announced male and female Brad Davis Community Service Award Winners for each of its 14 member institutions.
The school winners will each receive a $5,000 post-graduate scholarship provided by the SEC and are nominees for the Male and Female Brad Davis Community Service Leaders of the Year which will be announced later in May. The male and female Community Service Leaders of the Year, will each receive a $10,000 post-graduate scholarship, provided by the SEC.
The SEC Community Service Post-Graduate Scholarship is named for former Associate Commissioner Brad Davis. Davis succumbed to cancer on March 2, 2006. He had been a member of the SEC staff since 1988, first serving as an assistant commissioner until 1994 when he was promoted to associate commissioner.
A five-time letterwinner in cross country and track, Pacer has served locally in the Auburn-Opelika area as a four-year mentor and tutor at the Esperanza House, volunteered as a medical assistant at Mercy Medical Ministry & Clinic and as a counselor at The Oaks School. An eight sememster Dean's List student, Pacer also has volunteered as a medical assistant at an underserved clinic in Guatemala and also been a mission community leader for two years at First Baptist Church of Opelika. Majoring in biomedical sciences and minoring in Spanish, the Auburn, Alabama, native was Auburn's 2022 Female Scholar Athlete of the Year, has twice been the College of Science and Mathematics Outstanding student and is a member of several academic societies.
Bernard, a native of Kingston, Jamaica, was a two-year letterwinner for the Tigers' track and field program and a three-time Auburn Dean's List honoree. A member of the Chi Alpha Sigma Honor Society and Hispanic Honor Society, he received the Castanoli Scholarship for study abroad and the Frederick A. and Charlene Y. Kam Family Fund for Excellence award. In the community, Bernard assisted with the campus gameday recycling program, volunteered for Mother's Against Drunk Driving, wrote and published weekly articles for the Auburn University Living Democracy program website and also served as an ambassador to the College of Liberal Arts and promoted career services events.
2022-23 Female Brad Davis SEC Community Service Award Winners:
- Sania Mitchell, Gymnastics, Alabama
- Reilly Shaner, Swimming & Diving, Arkansas
- Sara Pacer, Track & Field, Auburn
- Cheyenne Lindsey, Softball, Florida
- Sage Powell, Volleyball, Georgia
- Kaitlynn Wheeler, Swimming & Diving, Kentucky
- Kai Rivers, Gymnastics, LSU
- Ellen Hutchinson-Kay, Golf, Ole Miss
- Grace Fagan, Softball, Mississippi State
- Amy Feddersen, Swimming & Diving, Missouri
- Jordan Allen, Equestrian, South Carolina
- Lucy Marret, Rowing, Tennessee
- Haley Redifer, Equestrian, Texas A&M
- Chantal Jordan, Swimming & Diving, Vanderbilt
2022-23 Male Brad Davis SEC Community Service Award Winners:
- Derek Maas, Swimming & Diving, Alabama
- Wil Gibson, Golf, Arkansas
- Oquendo Bernard, Track & Field, Auburn
- Cavan Wilson, Track & Field/Cross Country, Florida
- Matthew Boling, Track & Field, Georgia
- Alex Degen, Baseball, Kentucky
- Spencer Adrian, Swimming & Diving, LSU
- Kenney Broadnax, Track & Field, Ole Miss
- Trent Zelden, Track & Field, Mississippi State
- Will Goodwin, Swimming & Diving, Missouri
- Wesley Sweatt, Baseball, South Carolina
- Nick McCann, Swimming & Diving, Tennessee
- Patrick Johnson, Track & Field, Texas A&M
- Justin Harris, Football, Vanderbilt