Battle, Thome earn Brad Davis SEC Community Service Award
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Southeastern Conference has named Brandon Battle and Allie Thome as the male and female Brad Davis Community Service Award Winners for the Razorbacks.
The school award winners are nominees for the Male and Female Brad Davis Community Service Leaders of the Year which will be announced later in May.
The school winners will each receive a $7,500 post-graduate scholarship provided by the SEC.
The SEC Community Service Post-Graduate Scholarship is named for former Associate Commissioner Brad Davis. Davis succumbed to cancer on March 2, 2006. He had been a member of the SEC staff since 1988, first serving as an assistant commissioner until 1994 when he was promoted to associate commissioner.
Battle, of Edwardsville, Illinois, is a senior with the Arkansas track and field team and has been a member of six SEC team championships (3 Indoor, 3 Outdoor). Battle, who earned first team All-America, was also a member of the NCAA Indoor National Championship team in 2023.
A three-year member of SAAC, Battle is serving as Campus Outreach Chair in 2024-25 for the Arkansas student-athlete organization. He has been a four-year member of the Black Leadership Athletic Committee, serving as Marketing Chair in 2024-25, as well as a three-year member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.
Community service projects Battle has been part of include volunteering at Seven Hills homeless shelter, M&N Foundation, Willow Street clean-up, Fayetteville High School track program, Potter’s House, Harvest Apple seed clean-up, Nourished Food Pantry, and the Boys and Girls Club which included its Back 2 School Drive.
Battle also volunteered with aid for a Bahamas community, Tornado Aid in Northwest Arkansas, and providing guidance for junior high students at Ramay Junior High School.
Academic honors for Battle include USTFCCCA Academic All-America, SEC Academic honor roll, and University of Arkansas Dean’s List.
This indoor season, Battle was a member of two silver medal relays during the SEC Indoor Championships, providing 400m splits of 45.45 on the distance medley relay (9:25.85) and 46.35 on the 4 x 400m relay (3:04.28).
Earlier during the 2025 indoor season, Battle supplied a 45.72 split on the distance medley relay as Arkansas broke the school record with a 9:21.26 performance.
Battle qualified in the 400m for the 2025 NCAA Indoor Championships, placing 13th in the semifinal after finishing ninth in the SEC prelims. He established an indoor career best of 45.77 in the 400m, finishing third at the Tyson Invitational.
In 2022, Battle split 45.23 on the second leg of the Razorback 4 x 400m relay that set a then indoor school record of 3:03.18 to break the previous mark of 3:03.34 which had served as the UA record since 1985. It was the fourth oldest UA record indoors.
Thome, a senior from Cypress, Texas, swam for the Razorbacks in all four seasons she was on campus. A two-time SEC Honor Roll recipient, the individual medley and freestyle swimmer broke personal records every year she was on the team.
Early in the 2024–25 season, Thome helped the Hogs earn a first-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay at the Iowa Hawkeye Invitational, posting a 1:29.87 in the A-Finals and contributing to the team’s third-place overall finish at the meet.
In her junior season, Thome clocked two personal bests at the Tennessee Invitational: a 2:25.77 in the 200 individual medley (LC) and a 5:19.22 in the 400 individual medley (LC). That same 2023–24 season, she also placed third in the 400 IM at the Stanford Invitational with a final time of 4:31.75.
As a sophomore, Thome set a personal best in the 200 breaststroke at the SEC Championships, finishing with a time of 2:18.93.
2024-25 Female Brad Davis SEC Community Service Award Winners:
Kailyn Winter, Swimming & Diving, Alabama
Allie Thome, Swimming & Diving, Arkansas
Sophia Groth, Gymnastics, Auburn
Taylor Roberts, Golf, Florida
Guillermina Grant, Tennis, Georgia
Bridget Engel, Swimming & Diving, Kentucky
Madison Martin, Volleyball, LSU
Lea Horvath, Rifle, Ole Miss
Ilana Izquierdo, Soccer, Mississippi State
Ashlyn Mills, Soccer, Missouri
Gabi Barerra, Track & Field, Oklahoma
Taylor Fox, Soccer, South Carolina
Callie Tucker, Track & Field, Tennessee
Allyson Little, Cross Country, Texas
Devon Thomas, Equestrian, Texas A&M
Hannah Weissman, Swimming & Diving, Vanderbilt
2024-25 Male Brad Davis SEC Community Service Award Winners:
Julian Collins, Track & Field, Alabama
Brandon Battle, Track & Field, Arkansas
Andrew Simmons, Swimming & Diving, Auburn
Jadon Maddux, Track & Field, Florida
Chaz Chambliss, Football, Georgia
Jackson Watts, Cross Country, Kentucky
Welsh Hotard, Men’s Tennis, LSU
Iangelo Atkinstall-Daley, Track & Field, Ole Miss
Keldrick Turner, Track & Field, Mississippi State
Will Whittington, Swimming & Diving, Missouri
Zach Schmit, Football, Oklahoma
Jacobi Wright, Basketball, South Carolina
Colby Backus, Baseball, Tennessee
Coby Carrozza, Swimming & Diving, Texas
Carter Bajoit, Track & Field, Texas A&M
Graham Calton, Basketball, Vanderbilt
The male and female Community Service Leaders of the Year, to be announced later in May, will each receive a $15,000 post-graduate scholarship, provided by the SEC.
