BY: Gabe Bain, Sports Co-Editor
Published: Aug. 31, 2012
During the 2011-2012 school year, Taylor had many athletic accomplishments to take pride in. But the one that may top the list is something many may not consider an athletic accolade. Taylor led the nation in Capital One Academic All-American selections. Twenty student athletes were selected to receive this impressive award - more than Stanford, Harvard, Yale or Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Students are nominated by College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) based on their academic achievement and on-the- field success. According to the CoSIDA, a student athlete must be a starter or important reserve for his or her team with a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 or higher on a 4.0 scale to be nominated. Of the 20 Taylor students named, seven were placed on the first team All-American, six on the second team and seven on the third team. Senior guard Casey Coons was named the Academic All-America of the Year for the men's basketball college division. Coons is the quickest Trojan to reach 1,000 points in the previous 30 years of Taylor basketball history, according the Taylor Athletics website. "It's a really big honor to be recognized for doing things on the court as well as the classroom," Coons said. "I've had coach [Paul] Patterson and a couple other coaches tell me they think it's the highest honor you can get as a student-athlete." Softball senior Sarah Heath was named to the 2012 Capital One Academic All-America First Team. As of last spring, Heath boasted a 3.88 GPA and .354 batting average, which was second best on the team. "I think it's a big deal for Taylor to have so many (Academic All-Americans)," Heath said. "We have the most in the country, and we're just this tiny school that people have never heard of." Unaware of the importance of this award, Heath was reminded of what something like this means to her. A week after being selected, she found a sheet of paper outlining four goals she had for herself. One of them was to become an All-American.
For more information on who was selected, visit athletics.taylor.edu.
