Bagwell, Rotich named school's Lone Star scholars

RICHARDSON, Texas — Eastern New Mexico seniors Ezra Bagwell and Mercy Rotich were selected as the school’s recipients of the Lone Star Conference Scholar-Athlete Awards, according to a Monday release from the conference.

Following each school year, the conference selects one male and one female student-athlete from each member institution on the basis of outstanding accomplishments in athletics, scholarship and leadership. The candidate pool is made up of student-athletes who have played their respective sport for at least two years and be a member of the 2018-19 graduating class.

Bagwell, a Clayton native, was the conference’s male academic athlete of the year and was placed on six all-academic teams for indoor and outdoor track — the maximum possible selections, as eligibility requires at least sophomore status.

A Google Cloud Academic All-American in 2018, Bagwell owns school records in the indoor pole vault (4.39 meters) and the heptathlon (4,537 points).

He graduated with a 4.0 grade point average in May, earning a bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering technology.

Rotich, a native of Eldorat, Kenya, is a two-time LSC Female Runner of the Year in cross country and holds numerous places in the school records list. She won the Lone Star Conference championship in cross country and placed 15th in the South Central Regional. Competing in her second national championship meet in three years, Rotich was 60th out of 264 competitors with a 23:58 in the 6K race.

Rotich finished sixth in the 2016 national championship meet. She holds the six fastest 6K times in school history and three of the six fastest 5K times. She was a second-team LSC selection in outdoor track attar taking second in the 5,000 and fourth in the 1,500 at the championship meet.

While Rotich graduated in December with bachelor’s degree in environmental science, she s pursuing a second bachelor’s degree in physical education.

Shumaker promoted — Following a year as the school’s sports information director, Ryan Shumaker has been promoted to a new position in the athletic department.

Effective July 1, Shumaker will be the assistant athletic director for marketing, events and sports information.

"We have witnessed Ryan's competency at work over the course of this past year as he has done a remarkable job of upgrading our sports information office," Athletic Director Greg Waggoner said in a school release. "Ryan also has experience in sponsorship solicitation and fundraising, as well as game operations. His work ethic, skills set, and professional conduct have earned the respect of myself and the department. As we deliberated reorganizing the marketing and events with sports information, we believe that both areas can move forward with success under Ryan's leadership."

Shumaker helped spearhead the school’s athletic website redesign, double the ENMU Athletics Twitter account impressions and make a 14 percent gain in Facebook followers. He also helped plan and handle event operations during the Lone Star Conference track and field championship meet, updated ENMU historical records and helped modernize the instant replay system for officials.

The school is undergoing a national search for Shumaker’s replacement.