RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – On Tuesday, the Great American Conference announced Harding decathlete Matthew Hipshire as its Male Scholar Athlete of the Year.
 
He twice earned the GAC Elite Scholar Athlete honor as he boasted a perfect 4.00 grade-point average in mechanical engineering. He garnered CoSIDA Academic All-America honors in 2020.
 
At the 2021 GAC Track & Field Championships, he took second in the decathlon with a score of 6,090 points to earn First-Team honors for the second time in his career. Hipshire, a team captain, added top-10 finishes in the 110-meter hurdles, the high jump, the javelin and the long jump.
 
During the indoor season, he set the Harding record in the heptathlon by totaling 4,804 points at the Northwest Missouri State event. He finished the campaign ranked 21st nationally in the event.
 
He became the third male Harding student athlete named Scholar Athlete of the Year in GAC history. Bison baseball player Davis Richardson won in 2014-15 and football player Mills Bryant claimed the accolade last year.
 
Off the field, he served as a student tutor and as a volunteer pole vault coach.
 
Other nominees for the 2021 GAC Male Scholar Athlete of the Year award included Arkansas-Monticello's Taylor Ludwig (Football), Arkansas Tech's Francois Jacobs (Golf), East Central's Hayden George (Baseball), Henderson State's Greyson Stevens (Baseball), Northwestern Oklahoma State's Benjamin Baker (Golf), Oklahoma Baptist's Jarrett Ellis (Cross Country/Track & Field), Ouachita's Luke Scaggs (Baseball); Southeastern Oklahoma State's Jacob Potter (Baseball), Southern Arkansas' Charles Thomas (Basketball), Southern Nazarene's Alexandre Da Silva (Soccer) and Southwestern Oklahoma State's Brock Mason (Football)