Two teams and 10 individual student-athletes from Lakeland Community College earned NJCAA All-Academic recognition for the 2016-17 school year. This is the first time since athletic director Scott Barlow started at Lakeland in 2000 that there have been two teams qualify for the awards.

“We are very happy that so many of our student-athletes were recognized for their academic achievements this past year,” said Barlow. “Their efforts, with the support of the faculty liaisons, coaches, and all of Lakeland’s faculty and staff are making a difference. We are very proud of them all and are looking forward to a new academic year where we can have even more success.”

Laker softball earned the highest grade-point average (GPA) as a team at 3.28 and men’s golf also earned NJCAA All-Academic team recognition with a 3.13 GPA. Lakeland softball reached 21 wins in 2017 while golf had two individuals qualify for the national tournament.

Aside from the two Lakeland teams earning recognition, 10 student-athletes earned individual All-Academic awards.

Men’s soccer player Anthony Cardaman (Geneva), baseball player Hogan Pash (Bowling Green) and softball players Abigail Mowrer (Uniontown) and Sarah Steigerwald (Kirtland) all earned NJCAA All-Academic first team with a 4.0 GPA.

Softball player Justine Barnes (Springfield) earned second team honors with a 3.88 GPA. Softball players Sydney Aey (North Lima) and Jamie Matso (Sandusky) earned third team honors with a 3.73 and 3.64 GPA, respectively. The third team honors were also earned by men’s basketball player Justin Cooper (Eastlake) at 3.62, golfer Victor Prokop (Willoughby Hills) at 3.64 and baseball player Anthony Ward Jr. (Eastlake) at 3.75.

Earlier, the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) released its semester awards for academics and Lakeland had 23 student-athletes named to the list. Lakeland had 24.2 percent of its student-athletes earn conference recognition for academics.

By: Jake Gordon, Assistant Athletic Director