Record number of McLennan athletes receive NJCAA academic awards, four teams receive honors

Record number of McLennan athletes receive NJCAA academic awards, four teams receive honors
July 10, 2017

Members of five McLennan Community College teams combined to shatter the school record for student-athletes being named to the NJCAA All-Academic Teams. McLennan placed 32 athletes on the 2016-17 list, obliterating the previous record of 18 set in 2015-16. McLennan's number of honorees was the second-highest among NJCAA schools in Texas. Tyler Junior College led the way with 35 honorees.

A total of 6,006 student-athletes from across the nation were named among the three levels of honorees: First Team (4.0 GPA), Second Team (3.80-3.99 GPA) and Third Team (3.60-3.79 GPA).

McLennan placed eight athletes on the First Team and 12 on each of the Second and Third Teams. The baseball squad led the McLennan teams with 16 honorees while the softball team added six, men's golf had five, women's golf had four and men's basketball had one. McLennan Baseball's 16 student-athlete honorees were the most among the 10 teams that competed in the 2017 JUCO World Series, the most in the North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference and the most among Texas' NJCAA Division I baseball programs.

McLennan's honorees included:
First Team: Mitchell Caskey (baseball), Garrett Doiron (baseball), Joely Henderson (women's golf), Brock Morrison (baseball), Elizabeth Svienty (softball), Brendan Venter (baseball), Haley Webre (softball) and Palmer Wenzel.

Second Team: Robert Arnold (men's golf), Jason Blanchard (baseball), Josiah Breaux (baseball), Makenna Davidson (women's golf), Logan Freeman (baseball), Estrella Guardiola (softball), July Latimer (men's golf), Samuel Mitchell (baseball), Griffin Paxton (baseball), Garett Spencer (baseball), Ruby Trejo (softball) and Kyle Waldrip (men's golf).

Third Team: Caitlin Brown (women's golf), Skyler Cox (baseball), Victoria Gonzales (softball), Hayden Hunter (men's basketball), Brendan Johnson (men's golf), Peter Jorgensen (men's golf), Jackson Nichols (baseball), Alejandra Rodriguez (women's golf), Christopher Roller (baseball), Nicholas Thornquist (baseball), Chanlynn Turner (softball) and Griffin Williams (baseball).

In addition, four McLennan teams earned 2016-17 Academic Team of the Year Honorable Mention recognition for their team grade point average: women's golf (3.64), baseball (3.42), softball (3.39) and men's golf (3.39).