By: Jacob Pumphrey
GREENWOOD, Ind. – The College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced the organization's Google Cloud All-Academic At-Large Teams earlier this week. Southern Arkansas Men's Golfer
Kade Johnson was named an Academic All-District 7 First Team honoree. A native of Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Johnson is a Business Administration: Finance-Analysis major and owns a 3.40 GPA. With his first-team nod, Johnson now advances to the Google Cloud Academic All-America ballot.
Division II male athletes from the following sports are eligible for nomination: fencing, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, tennis, volleyball, and wrestling.
Johnson, a unanimous All-Great American Conference selection, played a pivotal role in what was a historic season for the Mulerider Men's Golf program as the team won a program-record three tournaments, including back-to-back wins in the spring, while also earning a berth in the program's first ever regional tournament. Multiple single-season and career records spanning individual and team performances were broken this past season.
For Johnson, he finished the 2018-19 season ranked No. 74 in Golfstat's Top 150 of Division II golfers in addition to leading the Muleriders in Average Score (72.12), vs. Par (+0.58), Low Round (65), Rounds in 60s (6), Par or Better (13), and Wins (1). His score counted toward the team total in 24 of his 26 rounds played over nine tournaments during the fall and spring.
The junior's low round 65 came in round two of the Natural State Golf Classic and set a new SAU NCAA Era record for low round score. Additionally, his six-under at the same event is the program standard in Low Round vs. Par.
Johnson's win came at SAU's Arkansas Collegiate and saw the Canadian shoot 74 and 70 on the par-72 course at Mystic Creek which also included a four-stroke win over then-No. 3 Zach James of Southeastern Oklahoma State.
In addition to the individual victory, Johnson notched a 54-hole 205 (-11) in September's GAC Preview, which is the third-best three-round total in program history, to lead the Muleriders to a season-opening win. Within that performance was a round three 67 which is tied for third all-time in low round score.
Six of Johnson's tournament performances resulted in him finishing at least eighth overall, with three tournament finishes at third overall or better, including the aforementioned victory: the first of his career.
Johnson finished the season with a new program record for birdies as he cupped 81 over 26 rounds in nine tournaments. He also posted top-three single-season marks in par-3, par-4 and par-5 scoring. Additionally, he posted three low-36 hole totals and four low-54 hole totals that all rank in the top-14 all-time in their respective categories.
The 2018-19 Google Cloud Academic All-District® Men's At-Large Team, selected by CoSIDA, recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances in the athletic realm and in the classroom.
The Google Cloud Academic All-America® program separately recognizes outstanding student-athletes in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA.
First-team Academic All-District® honorees advance to the Google Cloud Academic All-America® ballot. First-, second- and third-team (if applicable) Academic All-America® honorees will be announced in June.
The Google Cloud Academic All-District® teams include the student-athletes listed on the following pages and are divided into geographic districts across the United States and Canada.
The Division II and III Google Cloud Academic All-America® programs are partially financially supported by the NCAA Division II and III national governance structures to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2018-19 Divisions II and III Academic All-America® programs.
For more information about CoSIDA's Google Cloud Academic All-District® and Academic All-America® Teams program, visit AcademicAllAmerica.com or the Academic All-America® home page on CoSIDA.com.
