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SoCon announces Fall Academic All-Conference team
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Three hundred and fifty-six student-athletes earned spots on the Fall 2018 Academic All-Southern Conference Team, the league office announced Tuesday.
Each of the SoCon’s 10 full member institutions had at least 17 honorees, representing the sports of men’s and women’s cross country, football, men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball. Belmont, which competed as an associate member in men’s soccer for the first time this fall, had 10 selections.
To be eligible for the academic all-conference team, student-athletes must carry at least a 3.3 cumulative grade-point average at the conclusion of the fall semester and were required to compete in at least one-half of their teams’ competitions during the recently concluded campaign. In addition, the student-athletes must have successfully completed at least three semesters at their institutions, making true freshmen and first-year transfers ineligible for inclusion.
Nineteen student-athletes have maintained perfect 4.0 cumulative GPAs, including: ETSU's Austin Gatewood (football); Mercer's Marina Van Sickle (women's cross country); UNCG's Kaitlyn Stone (women's cross country), Ashton Duty (women's soccer), Kaley Tucker (women's soccer) and Maria Esch (volleyball); Samford's Taylore Miller (women's soccer), Caroline Orman (women's soccer), Lexi Orman (women's soccer) and Stephanie Westaway (women's soccer); Chattanooga's Abby Bateman (women's cross country), Julia Henderson (women's cross country), Sophia Neglia (women's cross country), Catherine Meyer (women's soccer) and Megan Kaufman (volleyball); Western Carolina's Jamie Blaylock (women's cross country) and Emily Zipay (women's soccer); and Wofford's Maggie Adcock (women's soccer) and Riley Coonan (volleyball).
The league’s 10 women’s soccer teams led the way with 103 academic all-conference selections, while the nine football schools were second with 84 and the nine volleyball programs were third with 52.
ETSU led all schools with 51 members on the academic all-conference team, while Mercer was second with 45 and Western Carolina was third with 42.