LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -- The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference office announced today that the Texas Lutheran University Student-Athlete Advisory Committee is the winner of the league's "Change For The Better" campaign, marking the third consecutive time and fifth time in six years that the TLU SAAC has earned top honors.
Texas Lutheran won the 2022 competition with a record total of $2,136 raised to support the Triston Brashears-Cervantes Fund. Triston is a senior at Navarro High School in Geronimo, Texas, who grew up in Seguin.
Throughout high school, he has been a two-sport athlete, playing football and baseball, and lettered varsity his junior and senior year. As a junior, he received All-State honors for his baseball performance as a catcher and he led his team in hitting average by closing out the season with a .444. In September, while playing his senior year of football, he was diagnosed with stage 3C testicular cancer, and he was told it had spread to his lymph nodes and lungs.
Although devastated by the diagnosis and the ending of his football career, Triston did let the diagnosis get him down, and instead, set a goal to make it back in time for baseball season. He underwent an orchiectomy within a week of discovery and endured four rounds of chemotherapy over four months at MD Anderson in Houston, Texas. Despite the pain and nauseating effects of chemo, Triston kept a positive attitude and continued to work toward his goals. With grit and determination, Triston played in his first baseball scrimmage on Monday, February 7th.
In addition, Schreiner University, Trinity University and Colorado College all raised over $300 for their respective charities.
Approved by the SCAC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee in 2015, the "Change for the Better" contest allows each member institution to collect as much change as possible from fans, parents and students in support of a chosen charity over the course of one week during the conference basketball season.
Eight of the league's nine Student-Athlete Advisory Committees participated in this year's effort with a total of $3,611.58 raised for various charitable organizations. This year's total represents the second-highest in SCAC history, only trailing the record amount of $4,852.89 raised during the last SCAC SAAC Change for the Better campaign in 2020, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the six-year history of the event, league SAACs have made a remarkable $16,343.95 in charitable contributions via the "Change For the Better" campaign. .
The results for this year's initiative, with the school's chosen charity, are listed below:
- Texas Lutheran - Triston Brashears-Cervantes Fund ($2,136)
- Schreiner University - Arms of Hope ($366)
- Trinity University - Girls of the Run ($330)
- Colorado College - Children's Hosptial of Colorado Springs ($304.40)
- University of St. Thomas - Snowdrop Foundation ($280)
- University of Dallas - Suits and Sneakers ($80)
- Austin College - United Way of Grayson County ($72.18)
- Southwestern University - Boys & Girls of Georgetown ($43)
