Seven Schools Represented on Inaugural Southland Bowling League All-Academic Team

Seven Schools Represented on Inaugural Southland Bowling League All-Academic Team

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FRISCO, Texas – In the first year of the Southland Bowling League’s All-Academic squad, 19 student-athletes from six member institutions are represented, the league announced Monday. All yearly awards are presented by Ready Nutrition.

Valparaiso leads the way with six honorees on the academic team. Youngstown State comes in next with five honorees on the All-Academic squad with five honorees, while Vanderbilt and Stephen F. Austin each put forth four selections. Tulane comes in next with a trio of student-athletes, just ahead of Louisiana Tech’s two honorees. Sam Houston State rounds out the All-Academic squad with one selection.

Valparaiso locked up six positions on the SBL All-Academic team led by Mirica Yancey who holds a 3.75 GPA as a computer science major. Valpo completed their season with a bid to the 2019 Southland Bowling Tournament as the No. 8 seed. Valpo received votes in the national poll throughout the 2018-19 season, securing top-10 finishes in four tournaments throughout the season. Joining Yancey on the Academic All-Conference squad were Beck Lohse, Kendra Tryniski, Payton Bertermann, Sam Perez and Hannah Forton.

Youngstown State’s five selections helped the Penguins earn a spot in the 2019 Southland Bowling Tournament in their first year as a league member. YSU is led on the All-Academic squad by junior Nikki Mendez who holds a 3.37 grade-point average (GPA) as a psychology major with a minor in coaching. Youngstown State went 23-15 in traditional format games throughout the 2018-19 season for a 185.61 scoring average. Joining Mendez on the academic squad are teammates Emily Dietz, Emma Dockery, Rachel Ellis and Ashley Kolb.

Reigning NCAA national champion Stephen F. Austin’s selections are comprised of Paige Beeney, Dakota Faichnie, Sarah Gill and Sarah Voiers. The Ladyjacks finished the season ranked No. 1 in the final NTCA poll after defeating fellow Southland Bowling League member Vanderbilt for the 2019 NCAA championship. SFA was led by Beeney who was named the NCAA Women’s Bowling Championship Most Valuable Player and holds a 3.91 GPA as an interdisciplinary studies major. Stephen F. Austin concluded their season scoring a 193.61 per game average.

The 2019 NCAA Bowling Championship runner-up Vanderbilt squad accounted for four selections of its own. The Commodores’ are led by senior Kristin Quah who holds a double-major 3.97 GPA in electrical and biomedical engineering. Adel Wahner, Emily Rigney and Jordan Newham also earned spot on the SBL academic team for the Vandy squad. The Commodores fell just short of their second national title in as many years but had three bowlers named to the NTCA All-America teams.

Tulane’s Tiera Gulum, Isabelle Lee and Hailee Hammond claimed All-Academic honors after boosting the Green Wave to an appearance in the 2019 Southland Bowling Tournament. Gulum, a 3.42 biochemistry major led Tulane with a 202.04 scoring average for the season and registered the Green Wave’s first 300 game in program history.

Kaitlyn Eder and Ashley Channell earned nods for Louisiana Tech, helping the Lady Techsters to a No. 7 seed at the Southland Bowling Tournament. Eder, a sophomore, holds a 3.80 GPA in psychology and led her Louisiana Tech squad with 323 strikes on the year.

Sam Houston State’s Madysen Keller represents the Bearkats on the inaugural SBL academic team. The Mathews, N.C., native holds a 3.35 GPA as a senior kinesiology major. Keller helped lead Sam Houston to its first-ever Southland Bowling League title and an automatic qualification to the NCAA National Bowling Championship.

All nominees for the Southland Bowling League’s Academic All-Conference team must have earned at least a 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale and demonstrated athletics achievement for at least two years at the nominating institution.
 
2019 Southland Bowling League All-Academic Team
 
           
Name University Class Hometown GPA Major
Kristin Quah Vanderbilt Sr. Singapore 3.97 Electrical/Biomedical Engineering
Paige Beeney Stephen F. Austin Sr. Salado,Texas 3.91 Interdisciplinary Studies
Kaitlyn Eder Louisiana Tech So. Lithia, Fla. 3.80 Psychology
Adel Wahner Vanderbilt Jr. East Doncaster, Australia 3.80 Medicine, Health and Society
Emma Dockery Youngstown State So. Ravenna, Ohio 3.79 Accounting
Mirica Yancey Valparaiso So. Aurora, Ill. 3.75 Computer Science
Sarah Voiers Stephen F. Austin So. Chesterton, Ind. 3.74 Psychology
Ashley Channell Louisiana Tech So. Morris Chapel, Tenn. 3.72 Speech-Language Pathology
Becky Lohse Valparaiso Jr. Chesterton, Ind. 3.71 Social Work
Dakota Faichnie Stephen F. Austin So. Ontario, Canada 3.67 Animal Science
Kendra Tryniski Valparaiso Sr. Fulton, N.Y. 3.63 Computer Engineering
Payton Bertermann Valparaiso So. Grayslake, Ill. 3.56 Actuarial Science
Sam Perez Valparaiso So. Aurora, Ill. 3.56 Business Management
Emily Rigney Vanderbilt Jr. East Doncaster, Australia 3.44 Economics/Sociology
Isabelle Lee Tulane Jr. Singapore 3.43 Biochemistry
Tiera Gulum Tulane Sr. Schenectady, N.Y. 3.43 Biochemistry
Nikki Mendez Youngstown State Jr. Homer Glenn, Ill. 3.37 Psychology
Sarah Gill Stephen F. Austin So. Attleboro, Mass. 3.37 Kinesiology
Emily Dietz Youngstown State Jr. Westland, Mich. 3.36 Medical Laboratory Science
Madysen Keller Sam Houston State Sr. Mathews, N.C. 3.35 Kinesiology
Jordan Newham Vanderbilt Sr. Aurora, Ill. 3.19 Human & Organizational Development
Ashley Kolb Youngstown State Jr. Westland, Mich. 3.19 Accounting
Hannah Forton Valparaiso So. Macomb, Mich. 3.16 Music
Hailee Hammond Tulane Sr. Bowie, Md. 3.02 Cell and Molecular Biology
Rachel Ellis Youngstown State Sr. Westerville, Ohio 3.00 General Studies