Baker Barnes, Prisco and Summers earn GCAC tearly honors for 2021-22

Barnes earns AD of the Year for the fifth time, while Prisco and Summers are first-time winners

NEW ORLEANS – After wrapping up her final year as Dillard’s Athletic Director and completing the transition to full-time Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC) Commissioner, Dr. Kiki Baker Barnes was named the GCAC Athletic Director of the Year, while Dillard’s Joe Prisco earned SID of the Year and Philander Smith’s Ryan Averie Summers was named the Athletic Trainer of the Year.

It’s the fifth time that Barnes was named the league’s athletic director of the year, taking home the honor for the second consecutive year. Prisco and Summers are earning the top league award in their respective fields for the first time.

Barnes, who was named the league’s full-time commissioner back in March, helped lead Dillard to another Thomas Howell Cup win as the Bleu Devils and Lady Bleu Devils put together another banner year of GCAC titles. Dillard swept both men’s and women’s cross country titles in the fall, while also winning the GCAC volleyball regular season title.

In the spring, Dillard was the host of the track championship and swept both of those titles at Hahnville High School in Barnes’ final pair of league championships as AD, a role she had held for 16 seasons.

Prisco, who joined Dillard in 2020 and is the Assistant Athletic Director of Communications and Game Operations, has had a busy year promoting some of Dillard’s top student-athletes during the 2021-22 season. From team and individual awards in cross country, volleyball and track and field, Prisco had a lot to promote when it came to the Bleu and Lady Bleu Devils.

He also nabbed a cover story feature in College Basketball Times on women’s basketball senior guard Rayah Haynes.

Summers is in his third year as the head athletic trainer at Philander Smith, as he and his team provide services through the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. A graduate of nearby Central Arkansas University in Conway, Summers earned his bachelor’s degree in athletic training before going on to earn his master’s in sport management from UALR.

In all, Summers has been a Certified Athletic Trainer for six years and has been fully practicing for the last three.