SEARCY – Marco Ruiz, a member of the Harding University men’s tennis team from Sao Paulo, Brazil, was honored in chapel Friday as the male 2010 M.E. Berryhill Award winner. Katy Grant from the women’s cross country and track teams was the female winner.
The Berryhill Award is the highest award the Harding athletic department gives and is named after former coach and athletics director M.E. Berryhill. The honor is given to a senior male and female athlete who possesses the characteristics of athletic excellence, academic achievement, social maturity, and spiritual example.
Ruiz is a four-year letterwinner for the Bison tennis squad and earned All-Gulf South Conference honors all four years, becoming only the 15th tennis player in conference history to do so.
During his career, Ruiz has compiled a 37-14 singles record and a 36-26 doubles mark. Playing mostly at No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles, Ruiz has helped lead Harding to its third NCAA Tournament trip in the last four years.
Ruiz will graduate with a BBA in international business in May. He has a 3.49 grade point average.
Ruiz has participated in Spring Break mission trips to California and has been a teacher at the preschool Carpenter’s Kids.
Ruiz is the sixth Harding men’s tennis player to receive the Berryhill Award since its inception in 1963. The others were David Elliott (1969), Scott Carstens (1980), Richie Roberts (1991), Jacobo Martinez (2002) and Andrew Giron (2006).