By Nicholas Huenefeld/OCCAC Sports Information
The 2015-16 OCCAC All-Academic team has been announced, and 158 student-athletes across nine conference schools have made the team, which is up from 117 last year
To make the team, a student-athlete must have completed a minimum of 24 credit hours with a minimum 3.30 GPA.
Some key notes include:
- Karit Kitipongpatana (Owens), Will Mullins (Owens), KeVaughn Blake (Cuyahoga), Adekunle Popoola (Cuyahoga), Joseph Swager (Owens), Jessica Kreger (Owens), Lynzee Richardson (Owens), Sarah Eifert (Sinclair), Erica Oldiges (Sinclair), Ally Mikesell (Owens), Konstandinos Kafes (Lakeland), Hogan Pash (Lakeland), Dylan Mutcher (Clark State), Nicole Ferrara (Cuyahoga), Sarah Steigerwald (Lakeland), Mikayla Ward (Owens) all earned 4.0 GPAs. Last year, seven student-athletes earned 4.00 GPAs.
- Baseball (35) and women's volleyball (34) distanced themselves from the competition for most selections in one sport. Softball and men's soccer each tied for third with 18 apiece
- The Sinclair baseball team placed the most student-athletes on any specific team. Not only did they finish third in the nation on the field, but they placed 13 student-athletes on the all-academic team
- Interestingly, the Owens baseball team had the second most selections from one school in one sport, but they had the bad fortune of going up against Sinclair
- The Owens and Sinclair baseball teams each had more selections than the the following sports had as a whole - men's basketball, women's soccer, women's golf and men's golf
- Sinclair and Owens each had seven volleyball student-athletes on the team
- In terms of total student-athletes from each school, the list goes as follows: Owens (42), Sinclair (27), Cuyahoga (25), Columbus State (15), Cincinnati State (14), Lakeland (14), Lorain County (9), Edison (7) and Clark State (3)
- Individual sport champions (schools with most student-athletes with a 3.3 GPA in the sport) include: Owens and Columbus State (men's golf), Columbus State (women's golf), Cincinnati State (men's soccer), Owens (women's soccer), Owens and Sinclair (women's volleyball), Sinclair (baseball), Owens and Cuyahoga (softball), Owens (men's basketball), Sinclair (women's basketball), Cuyahoga (cross country/track)
- The entire 2015-16 OCCAC All-Academic team can be found here
Notes
The OCCAC sponsors women's volleyball, men's soccer, men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, softball and men's golf. Certain OCCAC member schools such as Columbus State with women's golf, Lorain County and Columbus State with cross country, Cuyahoga with track and Owens/Cincinnati State with women's soccer have additional NJCAA sponsored sports, and student-athletes from those sports are also honored on this team
NJCAA individual and team academic award winners will be announced later this summer