ALL-ACADEMIC TEAMS
ACADEMIC HONOR ROLL
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Eleven University of West Florida student-athletes have earned spots on the 2019 Gulf South Conference Spring All-Academic Teams, the conference announced Wednesday. West Florida's 11 selections were the most in the conference among the six spring sports the Argonauts compete in.
UWF softball senior
Rhiannon Sassman is now a three-time GSC Spring All-Academic Team member, and she holds a 3.88 GPA in biomedical sciences. A CoSIDA First Team Academic All-American, Sassman also earned All-America honors on the field from both the D2CCA and NFCA, and she was named the Gulf South Conference and D2CCA South Region Player of the Year. The Orlando, Florida, native was a GSC Top Ten Award winner and she led team in slugging (.601), RBIs (52), doubles (16), and triples (8), and ranked second in batting (.383), runs scored (48), hits (72), total bases (113), walks (30), OBP (.485), and stolen bases (19).
Grace Gilbert was also selected to the GSC Spring All-Academic Softball Team, with a 3.51 GPA as a nursing major. The sophomore was a first team All-GSC selection this year and led the conference with 25 wins in the circle. Gilbert posted a 1.72 ERA across 36 games pitched and hit .325 with 5 doubles, a triple, and a home run. She shined in the postseason, batting .400 with a team-high three doubles and a 1.08 ERA across 58.1 innings, with an 8-1 record.
Sophomore outfielder
Matthew Estrada earned a spot on the GSC Baseball All-Academic Team for the first time in his career, holding a 3.70 GPA in general business. The Pensacola native made 47 starts and hit .374, earning First Team All-GSC honors and All-South Region nods from both the D2CCA and NCBWA. Estrada tallied 67 hits, scored 43 runs, and set a career high with three home runs in the 2019 campaign.
Senior southpaw
Tony Kucera claimed his own spot on the All-Academic Baseball Team with a 3.68 GPA in general business. Kucera was a first team All-GSC pick, earned a spot on the D2CCA All-South Region second team, and was a 2019 Google Cloud Academic All-District® Baseball Team selection. He went 8-3 with a save, had a 3.68 ERA and 50 strikeouts in 88 innings pitched, and proved to be the workhorse of the staff, leading the team in innings.
Matt Sullivan brought home his third All-Academic Team nod after a stellar senior season, in which he led UWF in runs (52), hits (61), doubles (17), home runs (9), RBIs (44), total bases (109), and slugging (.556). The senior has a 3.88 GPA in finance, and was a first team All-GSC selection. Sullivan also earned accolades from the D2CCA, as a first team All-South Region choice, and was named to the Google Cloud Academic All-District® Baseball Team, as voted on by CoSIDA.
Christian Bosso was a First Team All-American and GSC Top Ten Award recipient during the 2018-19 season. He finished with a 71.92 stroke average as he won three tournaments as a senior. He graduated in December with a degree in Sport Management and spent the Spring semester enrolled in UWF's MBA program.
Jacob Huizinga had a 74.12 stroke average on the year despite missing January through March with a wrist injury. The senior graduated with a 3.77 GPA in Sport Management and earned his third All-Academic Award. Huizinga finished sixth at the GSC Championship, 12th at NCAA Super Regional and sixth at the NCAA Championship.
Both Bosso and Huizinga received their Mackenzie Tour Cards last month and are playing professionally on the PGA Tour's Canada circuit.
Sophomore
Juan Cabrera landed on the men's tennis All-Academic team following a First Team All-GSC season that saw him win 21 singles and 13 doubles matches. He compiled a 3.82 GPA in Accounting.
He was joined on the team by junior teammate
Juan Motta. He went 14-2 in singles play, playing at the Nos. 3-6 spots throughout the year and ranked third in the GSC in singles winning pct. He has a 3.69 GPA in Accounting.
Berta Bonardi finished off one of the more impressive seasons in UWF tennis history with a spot on the women's tennis All-Academic group with a 3.64 GPA in Exercise Science. The sophomore was named the GSC Player of the Year and later won the Honda Award as the Division 2 Women's Tennis Player of the Year.
Heather Mixon concluded a stellar career with her third All-Academic honor to go along with Second Team All-GSC plaudits. Her 19 singles win were the second-most in the GSC behind Bonardi. Mixon graduated with a 3.92 GPA in Mechanical Engineering.
In the 14 sports in which UWF participates in the GSC, the Argonauts' 22 All-Academic selections during the 2018-19 academic year were the most in the conference.
The Spring All-Academic Teams were selected by the GSC Sports Information Directors (SIDs) and Faculty Athletic Representatives (FARs). Nominated student-athletes must have an overall grade point average (GPA) of 3.20 or better on a 4.00 scale for their entire academic career and may not be freshmen or first-semester or quarter transfers.
The student-athlete must be a significant contributor to the squad. Other factors include leadership, community service and extra-curricular activities. SIDs and FARs are not allowed to vote for their own student-athletes. The number of student-athletes selected in each sport is determined by the number of positions normally involved in the playing of that sport.
Additionally, UWF placed 47 student-athletes earn a place on the GSC Spring Honor Roll, which requires a 3.00 grade point average. A minimum grade point average of 3.00 is required to be named to the GSC Academic Honor Roll. Qualification for this particular honor is automatic based on GPA and nomination. West Florida had 146 student-athletes on the GSC Academic Honor Roll between the fall, winter and spring seasons (12 more than the 2017-18 season).
