Thirty-Seven Cougars Named to 2021 NJCAA All-Academic Teams

PHOENIX ---

Thirty-seven South Mountain Community College student-athletes received 2021 NJCAA All-Academic Team honors for their performance in the classroom during the 2020-21 academic year. Additionally, four SMCC programs received 2021 NJCAA Academic Team of the Year awards for their team GPA and the four programs tied for the lead or outright led all schools in the NJCAA Region I.

To earn an individual spot on the 2021 NJCAA All-Academic Team, a student-athlete must post a minimum GPA of 3.6, and First Team honors are for those student-athletes who posted a perfect 4.0 GPA. Second Team recipients have a GPA between 3.8 and 3.99, and Third Team honorees finish with a GPA between 3.6 and 3.79.

The SMCC beach volleyball team posted a school-best 3.61 team GPA to finish second in the nation and first in the Region. The Cougar baseball (3.46) and softball (3.55) programs also led Region I and finished among the top in the nation. Finally, the men's golf team tied for the Region lead with a team GPA of 3.30 with Glendale CC.

Baseball (17)

Trent Adams               First Team

Noah Bachman           First Team

McKay Barney            First Team

Braden Campbell        First Team

Derek Decolati            First Team

Trey Goodrich             First Team

Brodie Marino             First Team

Ryan Figueroa            Second Team

Esteban Hernandez     Second Team

Michael Quinones       Second Team

Alec Stanfield             Second Team

Drew Woody              Second Team

Holden Breeze            Third Team

T.J. Czyz                    Third Team

Charlie Deeds             Third Team

Andrew Lucas             Third Team

Brice Martinez            Third Team

Softball (9)

Jaudrey Ah Quin          First Team

Tatumn Ellis                First Team

Marissa Grijalva          First Team

Tara Lorona                First Team

Tori Van Arsdale          First Team

Christian Smith           Second Team

Alexa Key                   Third Team

Mia Stankiewicz          Third Team

Natalie Torres             Third Team

Beach Volleyball (7)

Marlayna Stapleton    First Team

Madison Wampler      First Team

Mikaila Williams         First Team

Mckenna Androsky     Second Team

Gracie Henderson       Second Team

Lizzie Hall                  Third Team

Alyssa McDowell         Third Team

Men's Golf (4)

Damon Vilkauskas      First Team

Carson Haley              Second Team

Ryan Vickers              Third Team

RJ Wright                   Third Team