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RIPON, Wis. – Illinois College men’s golfer Wilson Neill was named the 2012-13 Midwest Conference (MWC) Sportsmanship Award winner as announced by the league office.

Selected by the Midwest Conference Awards and Recognition Committee, the MWC Sportsmanship Award honors the top female and male during the past academic year for consistently demonstrating good sportsmanship and ethical behavior throughout their intercollegiate participation during the season while also demonstrating good citizenship outside of the sports setting.

While there was no female nominee this season Neill’s sportsmanship on the links garnered him the award. Neill, a senior mathematics major with a concentration in secondary education withdrew himself from a tournament after realizing that the tournament officials ruling was wrong on his playing of a shot.

On a blind tee shot at an April 27th tournament, Neill was unable to find his ball. After searching unsuccessfully for the tee shot, Neill went back to the tee to hit what he considered a provisional ball. After hitting the second tee shot, he found his first tee shot, which was playable. Neill picked up his second shot and played the first shot out. Neill discussed the ruling with the others playing in his group, all of whom agreed he had followed the rules.

Neill told his coach, Ray DeFrisco, of the events at the turn, and DeFrisco shared the story with tournament officials, who ruled the play legal. Eventually Neill learned the play was illegal, as once a player goes back to the tee box after not being able to find a shot, the initial shot is dead and the second ball must be played. Although tournament officials had ruled in his favor, Neill did not sign his scorecard and withdrew from the tournament as he knew his play was not legal.

“This game is built on integrity and our senior captain displayed exactly that during the tournament,” DeFrisco said. “Wilson is a very deserving candidate for this award.”

Neill advances on as the conference’s nominations for the 2013 NCAA Division III Sportsmanship Award. The NCAA Committee will select a male and female student-athlete(s) from each division as finalists and then a male and female from those six finalists as the NCAA Sportsmanship Award winners.

“It is our honor to recognize Wilson for his courageous display of sportsmanship,” Midwest Conference Commissioner Chris Graham said. “We are humbled by these types of selfless acts from our wonderful student-athletes and are proud to celebrate them with this special award.”

The Midwest Conference proudly supports the NCAA Sportsmanship program throughout all of the 20 championship sports. Through seasonal tracking of conduct fouls in many sports to promotion of the spectator behavior statement at all conference events, the MWC places special emphasis on competitive but collegial playing environments for thousands of student-athletes each year.