FRISCO ? More than 800 student-athletes have been named to the Southland Conference Commissioner’s Spring Academic Honor Roll, the league office announced Monday.
The spring honor roll, which includes 840 student-athletes who took part in baseball, men’s and women’s basketball men’s and women’s golf, softball, men’s and women’s tennis and men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track & field, honors the most student-athletes since 2002.
Southeastern Louisiana and UT Arlington each placed 85 members on the honor roll to lead all Southland Conference schools. Among honorees from Southeastern Louisiana is a pair of Southland Conference Student-Athletes of the Year in junior Cory Roberts and sophomore Cedric Scotto. Roberts, a member of the men’s track and field team, boasted a 3.94 grade-point average in biology while also qualifying for the NCAA outdoor track and field championships in the decathlon. Scotto, the men’s golfer of the year, sported a 3.66 GPA while majoring in management.
Eleven student-athletes from UT Arlington posted perfect 4.0 GPAs, while other Mavericks who were honored included six members of the 2009 Southland Conference champion women’s tennis team and men’s track and field star Cordero Gray, the only Southland athlete to compete in three events at the NCAA track and field Championships this spring.
McNeese State and Sam Houston State each finished the 2008-09 academic year with 84 honor roll recipients. McNeese State boasts 10 student-athletes with a 4.0 GPA, including sophomore twins Ashlyn and Caitlyn Baggett. Sam Houston State had a pair of Southland Conference Student-Athletes of the Year make the list with senior basketball standout Barkley Falkner and senior tennis star Irina Sotnikova, both of whom had a 4.0 GPA.
Stephen F. Austin was the fifth school to land at least 80 student-athletes on the honor roll. Chief among those 80 honorees is sophomore Amy Shackelford, the Southland Conference Student-Athlete of the Year in women’s outdoor track and field. One of 28 members of the Ladyjacks’ 2009 indoor and outdoor conference championship teams to make the list, Shackelford earned a 4.0 GPA in kinesiology after winning a pair of individual conference titles.
Central Arkansas and Texas State placed at least 70 student-athletes on the honor roll. Central Arkansas posted 72 to the commissioner’s honor roll while Texas State had 71 honorees. Included among the Bobcats selections were softball student-athlete of the year senior Alex Newton and two-time baseball student-athlete of the year junior Paul Goldschmidt, a pair of Texas natives that each posted a 4.0 GPA.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi landed 66 of its student-athletes on the honor roll while Lamar posted 58, including seniors Samuel Kosgei and Therese Nilsson, the respective men’s indoor track and field and women’s golf student-athletes of the year. UTSA also had 54 student-athletes named to the commissioner’s honor roll, including three student-athletes of the year in junior indoor track star Dana Mecke, senior women’s basketball standout Ryba Pawlaczyk and senior men’s tennis star Andre Moreira.
Rounding out the 2009 spring honor roll are Northwestern State with 50 selections, Nicholls State with 47 and Texas-Pan American, an affiliate member that competes exclusively in men’s tennis, with four selections.
Presented by Capital One Bank, the Southland Conference Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll acknowledges participants in all sports sponsored by the league and its member institutions. The honor roll is released within 30 days at the conclusion of the fall and spring semesters, recognizing student-athletes who maintained a minimum 3.00 GPA.
Student-athletes, nominated by their respective academic advisors, must have been eligible to compete in a conference sport during the academic year in which the nomination occurs.
UTSA honorees
Baseball (5)
Kevin Clarke
J.T. Mackey
Michael Rockett
Gilbert Saenz
Casey Selsor
Men's Basketball (1)
Devin Gibson
Women's Basketball (6)
Alysse Davis
Andrea Garcia
Cierra Martin
Ryba Pawlaczyk
Jordan Stark
Whitney York
Men's Golf (2)
Lewis Chong
Payne Wilkie
Women's Golf (3)
Laura Baker
Shannon Jungman
Bruna Spengler
Softball (3)
Chelsey Chapman
Emily Humpal
Morgan Luksa
Men's Tennis (4)
Jorge Delgado
Robin Fernandes
Andre Moreiras
Pedro Zanotelli
Women's Tennis (7)
Caroline Dedering
Monika Drabkova
Katie Ottenbreit
Holly Phillips
Karen Scida
Micaela Silva
Nathalie Wallin
Men's Track & Field (14)
Benga Adeeko
Geulien Brisco
Albert Cardenas
Michael Cook
Eric Doll
Jeffery Herron
Al Johnson
Layne Nixon
Cole Reveal
Will Vese
Darryl White
Tommy Wolfe
Edmund Yeboah
Dominick Zucconi
Women's Track & Field (9)
Rebecca Crain
Danielle Davenport
Baylee Holder
Aimee Jonas
Dana Mecke
Courtney Nelson
Lindsey Nguyen
Kayla Pratt
Shanelle Slaughter
