MCC Golf Named Academic National Champions

From School Reports

The Meridian Community College golf team recently completed the 2016 spring season with another strong showing at the NJCAA National Tournament with an eighth place overall finish and now the Eagles are receiving more national recognition. MCC golf was named the NJCAA Division II Academic National Champions by the Golf Coaches Association of America. This marks the second straight season that the MCC golf program has been named the Academic National Champions by the GACC.

Valparaiso (Division I), USC Aiken (Division II), UT Dallas (Division III), Embry-Riddle Prescott (NAIA), Garden City (NJCAA DI) and Meridian (NJCAA DII) were all named Academic National Champions for their respective divisions.

For the second straight season, Embry-Riddle Prescott posted the highest overall team GPA for all divisions with a 3.787. A record 209 teams submitted GPAs of 3.00 or higher to earn All-Academic Team recognition.

In addition to its back-to-back overall Academic National Championship, Embry-Riddle Prescott claimed the NAIA title for the third time. Garden City and MCC led their divisions for the second consecutive season while Valparaiso, USC Aiken and UT Dallas each were first-time winners.

A total of 41 teams received President’s Special Recognition status for having team GPAs of 3.5 or better. The 41 teams to earn this distinction are the most since the Academic Team Awards program began in 2009.

To be eligible for GCAA All-Academic Team honors a college or university must submit the GPAs for each player on its official squad list for the academic year.

MCC Tennis Earns Academic Honors

From School Reports

The Meridian Community College tennis enjoyed another banner season in 2016 with a pair of MACJC/Region 23 Championships, but the program can now add more success of the court. The Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced its 2016 Academic Awards on Thursday and MCC was represented extremely well among the best in the nation. More than 4,200 scholar-athletes were recognized across all divisions, along with over 700 all-academic teams.

The MCC women’s tennis team was named an All-Academic Team according to the ITA and six members of the team were recognized individually for their academic accomplishments. The members of the MCC women’s team that were named to the All-Academic Team included: Paige Gibson, Hayden Hill, Kyra Holway, Jordyn Hull, Taylor Miller, and Shelby Zachry.

The MCC men were also named an All-Academic Team by the ITA and five members of the team included: John Taylor Champion, Walt Herrington, Noah James, Jason Pimenta, and Alexander Vaughn.

The ITA All-Academic Team award is open to any ITA program that has a cumulative team grade point average of 3.20 or above (on a 4.00 scale). All varsity letter winners should be factored into the cumulative team GPA for the current academic year (including fall 2015 and spring 2016).

MCC Soccer Set to Host Youth Camp

From School Reports

The Meridian Community College soccer program is getting geared up to host its annual youth soccer camp at C.D. Smith Field on July 11-13. The soccer camp will be open to ages 4-12 and will begin at 9:00 a.m. each day. The campers will receive a soccer ball and camp t-shirt with their registration, and sign-up will take place at 8:30 each morning.

The campers will receive various forms of instruction from the MCC coaching staff and MCC players on all three days of the event. The campers will receive  instruction in dribbling, passing, and shooting during the duration of the camp. For more information on the youth soccer camp contact MCC head soccer coach Mike Smith at 601-604-6721.

MCC Athletics Honored for Academic Achievements

From School Reports

  

The Meridian Community College athletic department was recently honored with several awards from the NJCAA for its accomplishments in the classroom during the 2015-2016 academic year. MCC had 34 athletes receive individual awards and four teams also received national recognition from the NJCAA in its recent release. 

The NJCAA recognized a record-number 4,587 student-athletes for their success in the classroom and of the 57,472 student-athletes that participated in the NJCAA during the 2015-16 academic year, 7.98 percent earned national academic honors – over double the previous mark of 3.31 percent set last year.

Honoring academic performance throughout each individual’s collegiate career, there are three classifications of the NJCAA Academic Student-Athlete Awards based on the following cumulative GPA qualifications: Pinnacle Award for Academic Excellence: 4.00 GPA, Superior Academic Achievement Award: 3.80-3.99 GPA, and the Exemplary Academic Achievement Award: 3.60-3.79 GPA.

The junior colleges in the state of Mississippi garnered 23 Pinnacle awards combined – the most in the country – to go along with 18 Superior and 19 Exemplary. 

Nine athletes from MCC were named Pinnacle winners and those include: Abagail Pate (Soccer), Chanler Pickering (Soccer), Jessica Hurley (Soccer), Taylor Gray (Soccer), Baylor Obert (Baseball), Hayden Hill (Tennis), John Champion (Tennis), Noah James (Tennis), and Thomas Harrington (Tennis).

13 athletes from MCC were named Superior winners and those include: Abbie Pope (Soccer), Angela Keen (Soccer), Emily Brewer (Soccer), Heather Harwell (Soccer), Mary Nelson (Soccer), Jordyn Hull (Soccer & Tennis), Alexander Vaughn (Tennis), Grant Renegar (Golf), Hunter Mullis (Baseball), Matt Berler (Baseball), Spencer Price (Baseball), Eason Weeks (Baseball), and Taylor Miller (Tennis).

The final award list was the winners of the Exemplary Award and 12 MCC athletes were named which included: Clayton Gray (Golf), Daniel Hill (Baseball), Jami Daugherty (Tennis), Jason Pimenta (Tennis), Kyra Holway (Tennis), Lacy Billings (Soccer), Madison Drummond (Soccer), Owen Patterson (Golf), Paige Gibson (Tennis), Regan Dupre (Soccer), Lance Strickland (Golf), and Shelby Zachry (Tennis).

The MCC women’s soccer finished with the highest GPA of all of the athletic teams at MCC with a team mark of 3.60 which was the highest among all soccer programs in the country which earned the squad an Honorable Mention Award from the NJCAA. The MCC baseball team also received an Honorable Mention Award from the NJCAA by finishing with a team GPA of 3.24 which ranked among the top 15 in the nation and was the third highest in the state of Mississippi among all junior colleges. The MCC golf team was also named an Honorable Mention Award recipient by finishing with a team GPA of 3.43 which was ranked seventh in the nation and second overall in Mississippi. The MCC women’s tennis team was the final squad to be awarded with an Honorable Mention Award from the NJCAA by finishing with a team GPA of 3.59 which was ranked fourth in the state of Mississippi and fifth nationally.