Southland Conference names 2020 Academic All-Conference Track & Field Teams

UCA leads men’s roster with five selections; ACU, SFA top women’s side with six honorees apiece

FRISCO, Texas – The Southland Conference announced the 2020 Men’s and Women’s Track & Field Academic All-Conference teams Tuesday.

Central Arkansas leads the way with five selections on the 30-member men’s squad, followed by McNeese and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi with four honorees each. UIW and Sam Houston State tacked on three members apiece, while Abilene Christian, Houston Baptist, Lamar and Southeastern Louisiana each accounted for a pair of honorees. Nicholls, Northwestern State and Stephen F. Austin closed out the men’s team with one student-athletes each.

A total of 13 male student-athletes made their return to the all-academic squad, including Lamar’s Matthew Arnold, who earned an automatic selection after being named a 2020 CoSIDA Academic All-District selection. Abilene Christian’s Ross Dean, Central Arkansas’ Hunter Henderson and McNeese’s Nemanja Koviljac and Josh Raphael all topped the men’s roster with perfect 4.0 GPAs.

The women’s side was led by Abilene Christian and Stephen F. Austin, earning six spots each on the academic all-conference lineup. McNeese came in next with five selections, followed by four honorees apiece from UIW and Northwestern State. Central Arkansas accounted for a trio of student-athletes, followed by Houston Baptist and Sam Houston State, which garnered two spots apiece. Lamar, New Orleans, Nicholls and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi round out the women’s roster with one honoree each.

Of the 36 members on the women’s squad, 11 are making repeat appearances, including three-time selections Irene Akwitti (ACU), Alanna Arvie (MCN) and Jasmyn Steels (NSU). A staggering 14 of the 36 women’s honorees earned unblemished 4.0 GPAs.

Southland Conference Track & Field All-Academic Teams are selected by a 50-percent rule. Of the total number of nominees, half are named all-academic selections. Honorees are nominated and voted upon by head coaches, sports information directors, and academic staff members from each university.

2020 Southland Conference Men’s Track & Field Academic All-Conference Team
Name School Cl. GPA Major
Blaze Brownlow3 Abilene Christian Sr. 3.77 Financial Management
Ross Dean Abilene Christian Jr. 4.0 Financial Management
Zac Bitton Central Arkansas Sr. 3.72 Business Management & Marketing
Jared Hamilton2 Central Arkansas Sr. 3.70 Health Professions & Relate Programs
Alex Hanson2 Central Arkansas Sr. 3.49 Business Management & Marketing
Hunter Henderson Central Arkansas So. 4.0 Health Related Knowledge & Skills
Zachary Jewell2 Central Arkansas Sr. 3.63 Biological & Biomedical Sciences
Scott Boon Houston Baptist So. 3.76 International Business
Christos Zachariou2 Houston Baptist Sr. 3.96 Psychology
Jordan Cherin2 UIW Sr. 3.96 Computer Information Systems
Matthew Hernandez UIW Jr. 3.57 Accounting
Rodney Littlejohn3 UIW Gr. 3.93 Kinesiology
Matthew Arnold*^2 Lamar Gr. 3.68 English
Jordan Rowe Lamar Gr. 3.90 Kinesiology
Joey Croft McNeese So. 3.83 HHP – Sports Wellness & Management
Luke Horgan McNeese Sr. 3.50 Marketing
Nemanja Koviljac3 McNeese Sr. 4.0 Chemical Engineering
Josh Raphael McNeese Jr. 4.0 Mass Communication
Dustin Worley Nicholls So. 3.83 Chemistry
Marco Arevalo Northwestern State So. 3.51 Business Administration
Clayton Fritsch2 Sam Houston State Jr. 3.25 Construction Management
Cade Skuza Sam Houston State Sr. 3.85 Construction Management
Austin Zirkel Sam Houston State Jr. 3.91 Criminal Justice
Gerald Coleman2 Southeastern Louisiana Sr. 3.01 Sports Management
Ricardo Klotz Southeastern Louisiana So. 3.30 Psychology
Branson Ellis Stephen F. Austin So. 3.15 Ag Engineering Technology
Bjoern Adden2 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Sr. 3.97 Business Management
Colton Cohea2 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Sr. 3.71 Mechanical Engineering
Zachary Seaman Texas A&M-Corpus Christi So. 3.94 Business
Isaac Vargas Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Sr. 3.80 Engineering

2020 Southland Conference Women’s Track & Field Academic All-Conference Team
Name School Cl. GPA Major
Irene Akwitti3 Abilene Christian Sr. 3.71 Nursing
Annina Brandenburg2 Abilene Christian Sr. 3.73 Marketing
Briahna Gerlach2 Abilene Christian Sr. 3.64 Social Work
Zoe Spinn Abilene Christian Jr. 3.92 Nursing
Taylor Tolen Abilene Christian Sr. 3.67 Kinesiology
Mackenzie West Abilene Christian Gr. 3.00 Nutrition
Ajah Criner2 Central Arkansas Sr. 3.31 Health Professions & Related Programs
Gracie Hyde Central Arkansas So. 4.0 Health Related Knowledge & Skills
Erin Woodward2 Central Arkansas Sr. 4.0 Health Professions & Related Programs
Kaitlin Smith2 Houston Baptist Jr. 3.97 Kinesiology
Jemira Thomlinson Houston Baptist Sr. 3.26 Interdisciplinary Studies
Alia Henderson UIW So. 3.75 Government
Madison Henry UIW Jr. 4.0 Management
Alisa Novosad UIW So. 4.0 Rehabilitative Sciences
Katherine Ramirez UIW R-Sr. 3.50 Business Administration
Julie Emmerson Lamar Gr. 4.0 Kinesiology
Alanna Arvie3 McNeese Sr. 4.0 Biology – Pre-med.
Brentney Carroll McNeese Sr. 4.0 Graduate Studies
Aleyah Donald2 McNeese Sr. 4.0 Criminal Justice
Ciara Gilroy McNeese So. 4.0 HHP – Pre-Physical Therapy
Malayia Jedkins McNeese So. 4.0 Nursing
Arina Kleshchukova New Orleans Jr. 3.71 Interdisciplinary Studies
Omo Oboh Nicholls So. 3.18 Nursing
Annemarie Broussard Northwestern State So. 3.70 Health & Exercise Science
Natashia Jackson Northwestern State Sr. 3.00 Psychology
Brooke Petkovich2 Northwestern State Sr. 4.0 Health & Exercise Science
Jasmyn Steels3 Northwestern State Gr. 3.25 Sports Administration
Sandy Clarkin Sam Houston State Jr. 3.94 Kinesiology
Rebeca Gonzalez Sam Houston State Sr. 4.0 Health Care Administration
Kaylee Bizzell Stephen F. Austin Sr. 3.50 Nursing
Claire Crone Stephen F. Austin Sr. 3.97 Mathematics
Mallory Dotson Stephen F. Austin Jr. 4.0 Kinesiology
Avery Ellis-Byerly Stephen F. Austin Jr. 4.0 Kinesiology
Kelsey Ramirez2 Stephen F. Austin Jr. 3.86 Kinesiology
LaSean Davis Stephen F. Austin Jr. 3.17 Kinesiology
Allyson Girard Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Sr. 3.49 Biomedical Science

* Automatic selection
2 Two-time all-academic selection
3 Three-time all-academic selection
^ Google Cloud Academic All-District selection