17 Yellow Jackets named to Tom Bohlsen Academic All-HCAC Team
The Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) has announced the Winter honorees for Tom Bohlsen Academic All-HCAC with 17 Defiance student-athletes receiving the honor.
CARMEL, Ind. – The Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) has announced the Winter honorees for Tom Bohlsen Academic All-HCAC with 17 Defiance student-athletes receiving the honor. Academic All-Conference selections have at least a cumulative 3.5 GPA and are varsity athletes.
The women's basketball team led the way with nine student-athletes on the list. Earning Academic All-HCAC honors for the squad were sophomore Kylie Brinkman, sophomore McKenzie Cooper, junior Lauren Criblez, senior Taylor Day, senior Briawna Francis, sophomore Taylor Linkous, junior Nicole Sims, junior Lexie Sparks, and senior Nysha Speed.
This is the third All-Academic nod for Speed and Francis and the second for Criblez, Sims, and Sparks.
The men's basketball team had four student-athletes honored: sophomore DJ Alexander, sophomore Andre Edwards, junior Grant Johnson, and sophomore Easton Lewis. Johnson had previously earned the honor for the 2020-21 season.
Four student-athletes from the women's indoor track and field team earned spots on the team as well. Senior Lisa Markau was named to the All-Academic team for indoor track and field for the third time in her career. Senior Katelyn Smith and juniors Abbe Rank and Brianna Snider each earned their first All-Academic nod for indoor track and field. Maraku has also received All-Academic recognition twice for outdoor track and field and once for cross country. Smith and Snider were named All-Academic this past fall for cross country and Snider earned the honor for the 2021 outdoor season as well. Snider and Rank are also two-time All-Academic honorees in soccer.
The cumulative GPA is the student-athlete's GPA at the end of the semester preceding the end of the fall season. The student-athlete must have completed the equivalent of a full academic year and must be a full-time enrolled student at the institution to be eligible for the Academic All-Conference award.
The Winter 2022 HCAC All-Academic list features 224 athletes from the 10 member institutions and showcases student-athletes from the Winter HCAC sports of men's and women's basketball, men's and women's swimming, and diving, and men's and women's indoor track and field.
The award is named after Tom Bohlsen, who served as the HCAC's first commissioner from 1998 to 2008.