SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Three Southern Conference wrestling programs were among the 30 to receive national recognition from the National Wrestling Coaches Association as All-Academic Teams, while 13 student-athletes were among the 135 nationally to earn individual All-Academic honors.
SoCon tournament champion Campbell posted the league’s top GPA with a 3.215 team mark, good for 21st nationally. Gardner-Webb (3.120) was No. 28 and regular-season SoCon champion Appalachian State was 29th (3.107).
Appalachian State’s Vito Pasone, Matt Zovistoski, Forrest Przybysz and Denzel Dejournette; Campbell’s Nathan Kraisser and Austin Kraisser; The Citadel’s Aaron Walker; Gardner-Webb’s Tyler Marinelli, Hunter Gamble and Boyce Cornwell; SIUE’s Jake Residori and Jake Tindle; and Chattanooga’s Jared Johnson all earned individual NWCA All-Academic mention.
Nathan Kraisser, Dejournette and Residori all finished eighth at the 2017 NCAA Championships, earning All-America honors. Dejournette is the two-time reigning SoCon Wrestler of the Year, while Austin Kraisser is the 2016-17 SoCon Freshman of the Year.
Zovistoski (149 pounds), Residori (174), Tindle (197) and Dejournette (285) were SoCon champions at their respective weight classes this year.
Johnson was recently one of 10 student-athletes across all 21 SoCon sports to earn one of the league’s postgraduate scholarships.
“In the current landscape of college athletics, it’s imperative that our programs perform in the classroom and show their value to the school, not just in performance on the mat, but performance in the classroom,” said NWCA Executive Director Mike Moyer. “We have teams actively trying to break into the Top 30 of the All-Academic standings because it’s something they can be proud of as a team and something their administrators can be proud of as a school.”
The team GPA was determined using a system that includes 12 student-athletes from each program. A total of 10 of these came from the wrestlers that were entries in the NCAA tournament conference qualifier.
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