Spring 2019 Southland Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll • 2018-19 Academic Awards
ABILENE – Bolstered by a 3.17 cumulative grade-point average as a dozen programs boasted a team GPA above a 3.00 during the 2019 spring term, it should come as no surprise Abilene Christian placed among the top Southland Conference institutions with 134 student-athletes named Wednesday to its
Commissioner's Honor Roll.
ACU was second overall to Incarnate Word, which boasted 147 honorees. McNeese placed third with 133 followed by Central Arkansas (126) and Southeastern Louisiana (117).
ACU's 134 honorees marked another record for the West Texas institution, which has seen its total escalate over six consecutive seasons. The 2018 honor roll featured 125 Wildcats, while ACU's 2014 debut included just 77 student-athletes. Ninety-two Wildcats made the grade in 2015, followed by 103 in 2016 and 121 in 2017.
The Southland's spring semester honor roll is composed of competitors from baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's golf, softball, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's track and field.
ACU's student-athletes finished the 2018-19 academic year with a 3.17 GPA for the second-consecutive academic year – tying their DI-era high – as the Wildcats followed a 3.24 fall term with a 3.14 spring semester. All seven women's teams completed the spring term with GPAs well above a 3.0 led by women's tennis (3.89), while on the men's side, six programs finished above a 3.0. Men's tennis recorded the best GPA of the spring at 3.36, followed by golf (3.24), baseball (3.14), track and field (3.10).
Wildcat softball was second on the women's side in spring GPA with a 3.30 with track and field right behind them at 3.29. Women's basketball also excelled in-season with a team mark of 3.18.
No women's team has come close to finishing with sub-3.00 GPA since the Wildcats joined the Southland Conference at the start of the 2013-14 season.
"We're again pleased to acknowledge so many high-performing Southland student-athletes," league commissioner Tom Burnett said. "As outstanding as they are on the playing fields and courts, it's always gratifying to know of their academic success that will later lead to graduation and further life-long accomplishments."
Abilene Christian • Southland Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll Break Down
|
| Sport |
No. of Honorees |
4.0 Spring Term Student-Athletes |
| Baseball |
24 |
Matthew Nerz, Jonathan Nicholson, David Ruot |
| Men's Basketball |
8 |
Paul Hiepler |
| Women's Basketball |
10 |
|
| Golf |
8 |
Daniel Seibert |
| Softball |
15 |
Samantha Bradley |
| Men's Tennis |
9 |
Riley Tran |
| Women's Tennis |
7 |
Autumn Bellow, Jordan Henry, Nini Memishishi, Allison Stewart, Sylvia Viljoen |
| Men's Track and Field |
23 |
John Baker, Ross Dean, Colton Gates, Kevin Kipkosgei, Carter Leslie |
| Women's Track and Field |
30 |
Annina Brandenburg, Abby Brown, Brianna Douglass, Carnley Graham |
