Former women’s swimming standout Taylor Simpson was named first-team ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America – also sponsored by CoSIDA – twice (2004-2005 and 2005-2006).
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He earned CoSIDA Academic All-District III First Team honors for the second season in a row, which placed him on the All-America ballot.
Gardner-Webb swimmer Nathan Lile established another first for the men’s program Thursday, earning a spot on the 2016 CoSIDA Academic All-America® At-Large First Team.
A junior from Pierre, Christensen was honored on the team after compiling a flawless 4.0 grade-point average while majoring in civil engineering. She is also the third Kentucky student this year to be named to a CoSIDA Academic All-America First Team, along with volleyball’s Morgan Bergren and football’s Landon Foster.
On the field, Blazing concluded her career on a high note in 2015, garnering first team All-America distinction from the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA). A three-time AVCA All-American, he was a first team pick in 2016 as well as a first team All-MPSF selection.
Morse, who has spent the spring semester studying overseas in Australia, is coming off a junior season in which she was a consensus first team All-American, earning the honors with both Longstreth/NFHCA and synapsesports.com. Morse has been named to the NE-10 All-Championship team each of the last two seasons in helping the Skyhawks to back to back Tournament titles and earned Most Outstanding Player honors for the 2015 Championship. She has totaled 36 points with six career goals, four of which are game winners, over her 59 career games played, chipping in with a defensive save. Eligible student-athletes must have a cumulative GPA of 3.30 or higher and compete in at least 50 percent of their team’s competitions that season.
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It is the third straight year that MI has had three or more at-large Academic All-America selections. He was selected a NAIA Scholar Athlete and earned All-Academic honors from the Southern States Athletic Conference this past season. The award recognizes the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom.
