By: By: Jacob Pumphrey
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. - The Great American Conference announced its Fall Academic All-Conference honors on Thursday afternoon and among the league-record 414 fall student-athletes to receive the honor, a department record 25 Muleriders were honored for their scholastic achievement. It marks the fourth time (2012, 2013, 2017, 2019) since 2011-12, when Southern Arkansas became a charter member of the GAC, that twenty or more Muleriders have been named to the league's fall all-academic team. SAU sponsors four fall sports: football, volleyball and men's and women's cross country.
A dozen Mulerider Football players were named to the All-Academic team, while six Mulerider Volleyball players, five Mulerider Women's Cross Country runners and one Mulerider Men's Cross Country runner also received the academic recognition.
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Great American Conference office announced that 414 student-athletes achieved Academic All-Conference honors in the sports of football, volleyball, men's and women's soccer and men's and women's cross country, 43 more than the previous high for those six sports.
Oklahoma Baptist saw 52 of its student-athletes ear GAC Academic All-Conference, best among the 12 league institutions. The Bison produced a league-high 22 All-Academic selections in football and their GAC champion men's cross country team led the conference with eight All-Academic honorees.
Southern Nazarene, with 51 recipients, finished second in fall All-Academic picks. The Crimson Storm ranked second in the conference in All-Academic selections in both volleyball and women's cross country. Ouachita placed third with 38 All-Academic honorees; the Tigers' eight recipients in women's cross country led the conference.
"I commend all of these student-athletes for finding balance between their work in the classroom and on the field of play," GAC Commissioner Will Prewitt said. "We continue to see records set with this honor. I applaud all of the administrators and coaches at our institutions as they continue raise the GAC's standard of excellence."
GAC football student-athletes garnered the most All-Academic selections, 149, followed by 63 from both men's and women's soccer. Rogers State, the GAC Men's Soccer Champions, tallied a league-leading 11 All-Academic selections. East Central's 13 All-Academic honorees in women's soccer led for that respective sport.
For student-athletes to be recognized on the Academic All-Conference team, they must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing (true freshmen and redshirt freshmen are not eligible) and must have completed at least one full academic year at the nominating institution. In addition, their grade-point average must be a minimum of 3.30 based on the 4.0 system. The GPA shall be cumulative for the athlete's entire collegiate career.
