Arkansas Tech’s Jonathan Hayes has been named as one of the Gulf South Conference’s "Top Eight" student-athletes for the 2003-04 school year.

Hayes’ award marks the seventh time in the last eight years that at least one Arkansas Tech student-athlete has been selected as a member of the GSC "Top Eight" He is Tech’s 10th representative on the prestigious list since 1997.

Hayes, a junior from Sheridan, is a three-year letter winner with the Tech football program. He is an all-Gulf South Conference offensive guard for the Wonder Boys and a two-time selection to the league’s all-academic football team.

The GSC "Top Eight" includes the top four male and the top four female student-athletes in the conference, which consists of 17 member institutions and more than 3,000 student-athletes. All of the award winners will be honored at the Gulf South Conference’s annual awards banquet at Point Clear, Ala., on Thursday evening, June 24.

The selections are made by a panel of administrators from within the Gulf South Conference. The panel selects what it feels are the four most outstanding male student-athletes and the four most outstanding female student-athletes based on academic achievement, leadership, school and community service, character and sportsmanship. Ties are not broken, so more than eight student-athletes are frequently honored.

In addition to Hayes, five other male athletes earned honors this year. They are Bobby Beeson, a baseball player at Southern Arkansas University from Magnolia; Radovan Chrz, a tennis player at the University of West Florida from Prague, Czech Republic; Brett Gilliland, a football player at the University of West Alabama from Pensacola, Fla.; Jud Thigpen, a baseball player at Delta State University from Cleveland, Miss.; and Landon Trusty, a football player at the Univeristy of Central Arkansas from Hot Springs.

The five women selected were Lindsey Kight, a softball player at the University of Arkansas at Monticello from Raymond, Miss.; Krystal Poulin, a softball player at Southern Arkansas University from Marana, Ariz.; Janet Kogo, a cross country runner at Harding University from Kapsabet, Kenya; Sabine Krawletz, a tennis player at the University of West Florida from Frankfurt, Germany; and Duana Mesyton, a softball player at Delta State University from Manitoba, Canada.

A Tech student-athlete has now been named to the male top four for the seventh time since 1997, when baseball team member Bryant Richardson of Russellville became the university’s first student-athlete to receive a GSC "Top Eight" award.

Richardson was followed by baseball player David Ciesla of Pottsville in 1998, football player Stuart Cash of Lonoke in 1999 and again in 2000, football player Paul Peletz in 2001, football player B.J. Bayer in 2002 and now Hayes.

The tradition of female student-athletes from Arkansas Tech earning GSC "Top Eight" awards was started by volleyball player Jamie Hatchett of Fort Smith in 1999 and continued by volleyball standout Bridget Pyles in 2000 and again in 2001.

Hayes carries a 3.74 grade point average as tri-major in electrical engineering, nuclear technology and mathematics. He has been a member of the Gulf South Conference academic honor roll every year since 2001.

He is active on the Tech campus in non-athletic extra-curricular activities, serving as vice president of the school’s international engineering student organization and secretary of the Student Association of Engineers.

Hayes serves as a tutor in mathematics and science to other university students; has been a competitor in Future Business Leaders of America state and national contests; helped to organize a group of engineers to become the Arkansas Society of Mechanical Engineers; and is a member of the National Honors Society.

He also participates in LYNK (Linking Young Men and Kids), a mentoring program that gives Tech student-athletes an opportunity to be a role model with elementary school students; and organized peer study groups within the school’s engineering department.

Hayes is also a volunteer worker for Adopt-a-Highway as well as being involved in a mass air flow system project. He is also a Baja car project designer.

The son of Edward and Shelly Hayes, he is a 2001 honor graduate of Sheridan High School, where he earned eight athletic letters in football, basketball, baseball and track and field.