Mountaineer Rookies Earn Academic Honor

June 21, 2018 04:59 PM | Baseball, Golf, Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Basketball, Cross Country, Gymnastics, Rowing, Women's Soccer, Women's Swimming & Diving, Tennis, Volleyball, Wrestling

By: Shannon McNamara

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Forty-five West Virginia University freshmen student-athletes were named to the 2018 Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team, as announced by the conference today.

Four Mountaineers selected were among 40 student-athletes were nominated with a 4.00 grade point average (GPA): Cassia Busch (rowing), Kayla Thompson (women's soccer), Giovanna Caputo (tennis) and Katie DeMeo (volleyball).

The men's and women's swimming and diving teams led WVU with 11 honorees: Nathan Burd, Jacob Cardinal, Kayla Gagnon, Giselle Gursoy, Max Gustafson, Phillip Kay, Caleb Keck, Angelo Russo, Callie Smith, Alyssa VanNetta and Luisa Winkler.

The rowing team had eight selections in Madelene Blackwood, Busch, Allyson George, Margaret Heflin, Madelynne Jones, Brianna Linger, Olivia Martinelli and Laura Simmons.

Seven from the women's soccer team garnered honors: Stefany Ferrer-vanGinkel, Danielle Gordon, Lois Joel, Lauren Segalla, Grace Smith, Thompson and Chloe Zamiela.

Six student-athletes from the volleyball team were honored: DeMeo, Alexa Hasting, Chloe Klusman, Briana Lynch, Lindsay Proctor and Ava Richards.

Multiple teams feature a pair of honorees: women's basketball (Desity Harden and Ashley Wynder-Jones), cross country (Marianne Abdalah and McKenna Smith), gymnastics (McKenna Linnen and Sydney Marler), tennis (Caputo and Anne-Sophie Courteau) and track & field (Ellie Gardner and Mikayla Shute).

Connor Hamilton (baseball), Logan Perkins (golf) and Hunter DeLong (wrestling) also were honored.

Nominated by each institution's director of student-athlete support services, student-athletes on the Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team must be new, first-time/incoming freshmen that have completed 24 semester hours of non-remedial coursework and achieved a cumulative GPA of at least 3.00.

Additionally, the student-athlete must have participated in at least one of their team's scheduled contests and must have been a member of their respective team for their sport's entire NCAA Championship segment. The Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team was introduced in the 2012-13 academic year.