SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist racked up 53 Great American Conference Winter/Spring Academic All-Conference honors, the league announced Thursday.
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The 53 is the second-best total in the league, which does not recognize lacrosse or swimming and diving. Harding had 54. OBU had 45 fall sports athletes honored in January.
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The award required a 3.30 grade point average and sophomore or higher standing.
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OBU women's track and field, with 21 honorees, was the team with the most Academic All-Conference athletes.
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Making the list for the Lady Bison track team are
Destinee Allen,
Emily Banks,
Tia Coleman,
Shimoya Currie,
Lauren Franz,
Tiffany Gardner,
Sarah Gilstad,
Lacey Herbert,
Katrina Horner,
Breanna Hurlbut,
Dani Ingle,
Kaylee Large Crowson,
Sydney Lawrence, Abigail McSheffrey,
Kimberly Mead,
Kysha Miller,
Carleigh Neal,
Miranda Nolen,
Emily Sechrist,
Samantha Sweeney and
Zoya Timoshenko.
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Seven Lady Bison softball players made the list, including
Sam Barry,
Rachel Birchfield,
Miranda Garza,
McKenzie Jones,
Jill Shipman,
Madison Vaughan and
Haylee Zimmerman.
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Kathryn Sild made the list both in women's basketball and women's tennis. The Lady Bison tennis team placed six players on the squad, including
Caroline Abbe,
Madeleine Boepple,
Alex Bowers,
Olivia Charvat and Sild.
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Sild,
Katy Custer,
Tasha Edge and
Lexi Williams were the four Lady Bison basketball players to earn the distinction.
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Four members of the women's golf team made the cut, including
Darby Morgan,
Paige Neidy,
Shannen Stewart and
Sidney Stover.
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Five athletes from the men's track and field squad were honored, including
Grant Alexander,
Nathan Crowson, Samuel Smith,
Blaine Whitson and
Andrew Worley.
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Men's golf placed three on the squad, including
Shane Black,
Hudson Hoover and
Dalton Rhoden.
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From men's basketball,
Kevin Franceschi,
Tyler Lester and
Vladimir Nemcok were honored.
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Joseph Moran made the team from the Bison baseball squad.
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"Division II places the balance of academic and athletic pursuits in its highest regards," GAC Commissioner Will Prewitt said. "The student-athletes within the GAC continue to raise our standards of excellence in the classroom as well as on the field of play."
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GAC softball student-athletes garnered the most All-Academic selections, 88, followed by 83 from baseball and 76 in women's track & field. For the full 2016-17 academic year, 801 student-athletes earned All-Academic honors, 82 more than the previous high for the conference.
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