FAYETTEVILLE — Former Arkansas soccer midfielder Bea Franklin was announced as the recipient of the H. Boyd McWhorter Women's Scholar Athlete of the Year Award on Tuesday.
The award is the highest scholar-athlete honor given in the SEC.
Franklin was selected in the third round of the NWSL Draft by the Chicago Red Stars in March. She briefly spent time on the Arkansas women's basketball team once her soccer season with the Razorbacks ended.
Franklin and Ole Miss men's tennis player Lukas Martingayle were this year's recipients. They were selected by a committee of representatives from each of the SEC's school's and will get a $20,000 post-graduate scholarship.
“Lukas and Elizabeth are amazing young people who are an inspiration for their commitment to the complete student-athlete experience of success in competition and excellence in the classroom,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said in a release. “Their achievements make them the ideal recipients of the H. Boyd McWhorter Award, the highest individual honor a student-athlete can achieve in the Southeastern Conference. Lukas and Elizabeth personify the highest of standards in the SEC for their combination of academics and athletics and I congratulate them and the institutions they proudly represent.”
Franklin was a finance major with a 4.0 GPA and was named both the SEC and College Sports Communications scholar-athlete of the year. She served as president of the SEC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
“As further demonstrated by her selection for this prestigious honor, Bea Franklin is among the best and the brightest at the University of Arkansas and throughout the Southeastern Conference,” Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek said in the release. “Bea is the quintessential student-athlete and the personification of the extraordinary potential of Razorback student-athletes to succeed on the field, in the classroom and within our community. Our core mission is Developing Champions and Razorbacks for Life. Bea not only embraced those opportunities as a Razorback but made the most of them."
In 2023, Franklin was named to the All-SEC first team and was SEC midfielder of the year. She led the Razorbacks in goals and assists with nine each and led the SEC with 27 points. She was named to the United Soccer Coaches All-America team.
“In our program, we talk about opportunities and what we do with them is up to us,” Arkansas soccer coach Colby Hale said in the release. “Bea Franklin took the opportunities that Arkansas afforded her and ran with them. She earned All-America honors, was named the SEC Midfielder and Division I Scholar-Athlete of the Year, played on our women’s basketball team, was selected in the NWSL Draft and received numerous other accolades."