A school-record 80 Northwest Mississippi Community College student-athletes, including 10 programs, have been named to the recently released 2016-17 MACJC All-Academic Team.
Northwest’s men’s tennis team, with a 3.57 GPA, was the overall MACJC Academic Team of the Year, sharing the distinction with Southwest Mississippi men’s basketball. The men’s soccer team (3.39) and football squad (2.95) led the MACJC in their respective sport categories.
Northwest’s MACJC All-Academic selections have continued to increase over the past seven years, with a total of 239 student-athletes gaining recognition during that span.
To qualify, a student-athlete must maintain a minimum grade-point average of 3.25, have completed two full-time semesters of college work (24 hours) and competed in at least one season of a varsity sport. Student-athletes with a GPA between 3.25 and 3.79 are recognized with Academic honors, while student-athletes with a 3.8 GPA or higher are awarded with Distinguished honors.
Softball led all Northwest athletic teams with a total of 17 selections. Representing the Rangers were Kendall Akerson (Hernando), Sallie Rose Carver (Hernando), Sarah Craig (Marks), Makenzie Crutcher (Batesville), Morgan Gresham (Southaven), Leeah Henson (Senatobia), Kat Holley (Hernando), Ally Judkins (Hernando), Tori Luke (Flora), Alexis McShan (Houston), Bethany Mills (Oxford), Kali Roberts (Kosciusko), Harley Smith (Lake Cormorant), Sarah Taylor (New Site), Mary Thornburg (Winona), Kailey Walker (Lake Cormorant) and Alexis Winters (Lake Cormorant).
Baseball finished with 11 academic selections and was represented by Brooks Boolos (Vicksburg), Aaron Campbell (Ellendale, Tenn.), Spencer Cayten (Purvis), Dakota Dailey (Holly Springs), Baron Davies (Southaven), Reed Harding (Olive Branch), Justin Milam (Madison), Kyle Moore (Hernando), Bailey Nix (Pittsboro), Jordan Volner (Nettleton, Ark.) and Jarod Wright (Arlington, Tenn.).
Men’s soccer had 11 total selections in Jonathan Felix (Southaven), Jose Guerrero (Horn Lake), Will Jones (Caledonia), Michael Ledbetter (Columbus), Chandler Lester (Caledonia), James Longmire (Steens), Aaron Meek (Columbus), Robert Mims (Caledonia), David Raymundo (High Desert, Calif.), Victor Ruedas (Ripley) and Bryant Young (Hernando).
Football finished with 10 selections in Cam Bowman (Southaven), Keith Brown Jr. (Madison), Demetrius Harris (Olive Branch), Ben Hoffman (Olive Branch), Zack Jones (Columbia), Damien Lewis (Canton), Alex Norwood Jr. (Tupelo), Jerrick Orr (Aberdeen), Kevin Perkins (Tunica) and Darius Thomas (Sardis).
Women’s soccer finished with nine selections in Lizzie Gardner (Oxford), Landyn Hoover (Holcomb), Mary Catherine Hutchens (Holly Springs), Sierra Lasher (Olive Branch), Harlie Ray (Olive Branch), Zoe Saraiva (Caledonia), Lauren Snyder (Batesville), Madison Thrasher (Columbus) and Kimbre Watros (Long Beach).
Representing men’s basketball were Isaiah Austin (Clinton), Dakota Dailey (Holly Springs), Clinton Moses (Madison), Jaylan Shelton (West Point), Alex Shepard (Carthage) and Trey Skelton (Senatobia).
Men’s tennis placed a total of five student-athletes to MACJC academic honors in Zak Harbin (Kossuth), Adam Holley (Booneville), Quentin Hutchinson (Lake Cormorant), Joshua Stephenson (Olive Branch) and Dalton Young (Halls, Tenn.).
A total of 13 student-athletes from women’s basketball, women’s tennis and men’s golf made up the remaining academic honorees. JaKayla Johnson (Holly Springs), Janesha Johnson (Oxford), BrayLee Landreth (Benton, Ark.), Danielle Ratliff (Greenwood) and Chrissah Shaw (Horn Lake) earned recognition from women’s basketball, while Kim Crider (Southaven), Piper Johnson (Lewisburg), Harlie Ray (Olive Branch) and Emily Standard (Batesville) were recognized from women’s tennis. Samuel Davis (Batesville), Cameron Foster (Southaven), Bryce Hendrix (Olive Branch) and Devon Thomas (Oxford) rounded out the MACJC academic honors from golf.
Northwest had 22 student-athletes named Distinguished Academic All-State (3.8 or better) in Kendall Akerson, Brooks Boolos, Spencer Cayten, Jose Guerrero, Zak Harbin, Kat Holley, Mary Catherine Hutchens, JaKayla Johnson, Damien Lewis, James Longmire, Harlie Ray, David Raymundo, Zoe Saraiva, Alex Shepard, Harley Smith, Emily Standard, Sarah Taylor, Darius Thomas, Jordan Volner, Alexis Winters, Jarod Wright and Dalton Young.
Ten Northwest programs were recognized as MACJC All-Academic Teams. Men’s tennis led all Northwest athletic programs with a 3.57, followed by women’s tennis (3.48), softball (3.44), men’s soccer (3.39), women’s soccer (3.34), men’s basketball (3.26), baseball (3.15), men’s golf (3.11), women’s basketball (3.06) and football (2.95).
Courtesy of Brain Lentz and Northwest Mississippi Community College
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