Student Athletes Recognized For Work In Classroom
4/28/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Macon, Ga. – With the spring 2010 semester set to begin
this week, Mercer softball head coach Mike Raynor recognized nine
of his student-athletes for being selected by the National
Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) as 2009 Academic All-American
Scholar Athletes on Monday.
The nine players include seniors Stacey Condra, Brandy Keeter and
Holly Oglesbee , junior Natalie Jones and sophomores Jenny Goodman
and Ashlei Alig. Former players Nikki Bylak, Lacey Richardson,
Cassy Neilson were also on the scholar list.
All nine players recorded a grade-point average of 3.5 or better
throughout the 2008-09 school year. In a team meeting on Monday,
Raynor lauded his team for their achievements and stressed the
importance academics in the upcoming school year.
“Outstanding academics are a huge priority in our softball
program at Mercer University and for our student athletes,”
Raynor said. “Our team GPA of 3.428 is an excellent barometer
of the status of our academic posture and our team goals include
being the top academic and athletic team in the Atlantic Sun
Conference.”
Oglesbee, who was named a NFCA All-American Scholar Athlete for
the fourth consecutive year, started all 58 games for the Bears
last season, finishing the year with a .309 batting average and 26
RBI.
Condra is majoring in engineering and finished the 2009 campaign
batting .226 while knocking in 14 RBI and four homeruns. This is
also not her first academic achievement while in a Mercer uniform.
She was twice named to the Atlantic Sun Academic Honor Roll as a
freshman and sophomore.
Keeter is majoring in math at Mercer and appeared in 40 games last
season for the Bears. At the plate Keeter went .255 with five RBI
on the season.
Jones was also an A-Sun All-Academic Honoree for the 2009 season.
On the field, the Snellville, Ga. native appeared in three games
for the Bears striking out five in six innings of work.
Goodman is majoring in engineering and showed her talents lie not
only in the classroom but on the field as well last season. In her
freshmen season, Goodman played in 53-of-58 games finishing with a
.226 batting average and 15 RBI.
Alig, also a sophomore, graduated in the top ten percent of her
high school class in 2008 and has continued her strong performance
in the classroom as a Bear. The Brunswick, Ga. native appeared in
25 games last year and batted .333 at the plate.
The Bears began preparations for the 2010 season this week and
start practice on Jan. 26. Mercer will travel to Tallahassee for
the Florida State University Tournament beginning on Feb. 12.
