Fifteen student-athletes named Academic All-HCAC in fall sports

CARMEL, Ind. – On Thursday morning, the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference announced the fall honorees on its Tom Bohlsen Academic All-HCAC team with Defiance College placing 15 student-athletes from four sports on the list.

Academic all-conference selections must have a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.5 and attended their institutions for at least one full academic year. The cumulative GPA used is from the semester preceding the end of the fall seasons.

The 2019 fall HCAC all-academic team includes 305 student-athletes from the 10 member institutions in the sports of men's and women's cross country, football, women's golf, men's and women's soccer, women's tennis and women's volleyball. The team is named after the conference's first commissioner who served from 1998 until 2008.

Representing Defiance this fall are football player Colton Hines (Ansonia, Ohio/Mississinawa Valley); men's soccer player Gabriel Currell (Lapeer, Mich./Lapeer); women's soccer players Madi Bowman (Eaton, Ohio/Eaton), Malia Ferry (Milford, Ohio/Milford), Rachel Lowell (Lakewood, Ohio/Lakewood), Sarah Madaras (Kalamazoo, Mich./Parchment), Emily Miller (Maumee, Ohio/Anthony Wayne), Blake Newman (Jackson, Mich./Lumen Christi), Chelsey Strawser (Lewisburg, Ohio/Tri-County North) and Kat Wicher (Toledo, Ohio/Whitmer); and volleyball players Mackenzie Benham (Marshall, Mich./Marshall), Kenzie Duncan (Dayton, Ohio/Butler), Alexis Kiessling (Defiance, Ohio/Defiance), Morgan Porter (Defiance, Ohio/Defiance) and Brianna Wheeler (Sturgis, Mich./Sturgis).