NJCAA

TCC student-athletes, teams earn NJCAA academic honors

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (July 6, 2018) – The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) has announced its All-Academic awards and Tallahassee Community College received numerous honors for its performance in the classroom during the 2017-18 academic year. 

Nine student-athletes earned All-Academic honors while the Eagles placed five teams on the national honor roll. 

To be eligible for the All-Academic team, student-athletes must have completed at least two full-time semesters with a minimum of 24 semester hours in the current academic year and a minimum 3.6 grade point average. 

Three of Tallahassee's nine individual award winners – Brandie Callaway (So., Glen St. Mary, Fla.), Hanna Stapleton (Fr., Navarre, Fla.) and Lily Adams (Fr., Tallahassee, Fla.) – earned NJCAA All-Academic First-team honors for having achieved a 4.0 GPA. All three are members of the Eagles' softball team. 

Previously, Callaway was named the College's Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year for 2017-18 and members of CoSIDA voted her to the Google Cloud Academic All-District Team. 

Kyle Benson (Fr., Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), a member of Tallahassee's baseball team, was named NJCAA All-Academic Second-team for having achieved a 3.8-3.99 GPA. 

Five student-athletes were named NJCAA All-Academic Third-team for having achieved a 3.6-3.79 GPA – baseball's Brandon Reitz (So., Ocala, Fla.), softball's Ismay Poot (Fr., Almere, Netherlands) and three members of the Eagles' men's basketball team, Corey Douglas (So., Louisville, Ky.), Bamba Jaye (Fr., High Point, N.C.), and Javien Williams (So., Birmingham, Ala.). 

"I'm extremely proud of these student-athletes," said director of athletics Rob Chaney. "Our coaches are committed to building a student first, athlete second culture within our department, and this is evidence that our student-athletes value excellence in the classroom just as much as in their respective sport. 

"It is also a testament to the quality service a student receives from Tallahassee Community College – starting with admissions and orientation, through the advising process and right on into the classroom with our outstanding faculty and academic support resources. It is truly a team effort." 

In 2017-18, more than 59,000 student-athletes participated in the NJCAA and a record 10.7 percent (6,306) earned national academic honors.

All nine student-athletes have been honor students while enrolled at Tallahassee Community College and were previously named All-Academic in 2018 by both the Florida College System Activities Association and the Panhandle Conference. 

In addition to the individual accolades, five of the Eagles' teams were recognized by the NJCAA for posting a minimum 3.0 team GPA during the Fall 2017 and Spring 2018 terms. 

Led by Jaye, Douglas and Williams, men's basketball landed on the NJCAA honor roll for the first time ever, placing ninth nationally with a 3.13 GPA, the highest among the Eagles' seven teams. 

Women's half marathon (3.09) finished third for the second straight year while women's cross country (3.05) placed 30th nationally.

Softball earned honorable mention team honors for the fourth straight season, finishing with a 3.08 GPA, while baseball (3.03) made the cut after a year's absence from the list.