Ole Miss Soccer Players Phillips and Thomas Named Taylor Medal Recipients

Ole Miss soccer student-athletes Julia Phillips and Chanel Thomas have both been awarded the Taylor Medal, the highest academic honor awarded by the University of Mississippi.

Phillips and Thomas are the 21st and 22nd Rebels to earn the Taylor Medal distinction since 2007, and just the second duo from the same team to do so in the same season since softball’s Corrine Doornberg and Amanda Hutcheson did in 2012. Ole Miss has had at least one Taylor Medal recipient every year since 2010 and have now had multiple honorees seven times in that timespan.

Phillips graduated from Ole Miss this past December, earning her degree in exercise science with a 3.97 GPA. Phillips earned a spot on the Chancellor’s Honor Roll every semester at Ole Miss, also landing on the SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll as a junior and senior. The M-Club Student-Athlete of the Month for December 2019, Phillips scored eight goals in her three seasons in Oxford after transferring from Florida State.

Thomas, a recipient of the Outstanding Undergraduate Managerial Finance Student Award, has been named to the Chancellor’s Honor Roll each of her five semesters at Ole Miss. Thomas was tabbed the M-Club Student-Athlete of the Month in November 2017, also earning a spot on the SEC Honor Roll each of her three seasons. A 4.0 student, Thomas has also donated time in the Oxford community, including volunteering at A Night to Shine and with the United Way Leapfrog program.

Established in 1904 in memory of Marcus Elvis Taylor of Booneville, an honored 1871 UM alumnus, the Taylor Medal recognizes no more than 0.45 percent of all undergraduates, regardless of campus, for meritorious scholarship and deportment. Recipients must have at least a 3.90 grade-point average.

List of Student-Athletes to Earn Taylor Medal Since 2007
2020 – Julia Phillips, Soccer
2020 – Chanel Thomas, Soccer
2019 – Caroline Adams, Volleyball
2019 – Marisa Kutchma, Soccer
2018 – Anna Braswell, Women’s Track
2017 – Aubrey Edie, Volleyball
2017 – Danielle Gray, Soccer
2016 – Forrest Gamble, Men’s Golf
2015 – Johan Backstrom, Men’s Tennis
2015 – Jonathan Redding, Men’s Track
2015 – Stani Schiavone, Women’s Golf
2014 – Caroline Rohde-Moe, Women’s Tennis
2014 – Sofia Hellberg-Jonsen, Women’s Track
2013 – Kathryn Fowler, Women’s Golf
2012 – Corrine Doornberg, Softball
2012 – Amanda Hutcheson, Softball
2012 – Gabby Rangel, Women’s Tennis
2011 – Wesley Phillips, Football
2011 – Lee Ellis Moore, Men’s Track
2010 – Scott Haltom, Baseball
2008 – Casey Phillips, Rifle
2007 – Ashley Ferree, Soccer

Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports