MORROW, Ga. – For the fifth straight year, throughout the summer, the Clayton State Sports Information Office has been counting down the Top-10 stories of the year following an impressive 2018-19 campaign.
Today, we conclude the countdown with the No. 1 story of the season – Groundbreaking Academic Accomplishment Leads Way For Fifth Straight Year. Make sure to check out
www.ClaytonStateSports.com for all the Top-10 releases from this past year and the Top-10 Countdown Archive for those from past years.
Story No. 1: Groundbreaking Academic Accomplishment Leads Way For Fifth Straight Year
The 2018-19 Top-10 Countdown has featured championships, NCAA Tournament appearances, major hires and incredible individual performances.
However, for the fifth straight year, Clayton State Athletics' mission of excellence in all things, but particularly academics, is represented in the No. 1 moment as Laker student-athletes achieved four firsts, continued a pair of impressive streaks and added to the Department's long list of academic accomplishments.
Let's start small and work our way up. Every year the Peach Belt Conference recognizes student-athletes that achieve at least a 3.0 GPA on the PBC All-Academic Team, releasing one for each sport.
In the fall,
women's soccer placed six on the All-Academic Team while
men's soccer had a pair,
as did women's cross country and
men's cross country landed four on the team.
The winter would see
men's and women's basketball place a combined three individuals before Nick Woof became the
first men's golfer to earn multiple All-Academic honors to kick off the spring.
Men's track & field added three honorees and
women's track & field wrapped things up with four individuals to make it 25 such honors during the 2018-19 campaign.
Many of those same individuals would be among the
61 honored by Clayton State Athletics at the Bi-Annual Breakfast of Champions on October 5, 2018 and among the
70 at the rebranded Academic Excellence Luncheon on February 8, 2019.
The accomplishments in the classroom were not limited to just the individual variety either.
Men's and women's cross country earned USTFCCCA All-Academic Team honors (the women for an eighth straight year) while
women's track & field made history earning the first of those awards in program history in the spring.
Among all of these accomplishments, two very important events occurred throughout the year. Those would be
20 current or former student-athletes graduating on December 8, 2018 and
another 17 achieving that milestone on May 4, 2019, including former men's basketball player A.J. Rials who played in the late 1990's.
This current group of student-athletes has continued to carry the mantle of academic success, raising the bar along the way.
Track & field junior Nia Elmore (Hinesville, Ga.) made it a
program record five straight years with a CoSIDA Academic All-District selection as she claimed her
second straight. That wouldn't be the only streak to be extended as 71 Clayton State student-athletes landed on the PBC Presidential Honor Roll to make it six years in a row that the program has broken its own record.
In order for there to be a streak, there has to be a first – and the Lakers delivered three more to build on this year. For the first time in program history,
Clayton State Athletics achieved a 3.0 GPA as a Department over the course of a semester, doing so in the Fall of 2018. That would setup the next groundbreaking achievement as the
Department achieved a 3.0 GPA for the entire year.
The capstone to what would be another record-setting year in the classroom would come from the Peach Belt Conference. It is widely known that, due to their diligence, rigorous schedule and persistence, student-athletes often out perform the regular student body. Each year the PBC recognizes the institution that delivers the largest GPA margin above the average student.
In the 13
th year of the award being presented,
Clayton State Athletics was presented with the PBC President's Academic Award for the first time in program history.
That achievement was made possible by the efforts of every student-athlete and staff member that worked to continue to elevate Laker Athletics to the point where it surpassed already lofty expectations and once again raised the bar for those that follow.
Countdown to the Top-10 Clayton State Athletics Stories from 2018-19
No. 1 – Groundbreaking Academic Accomplishment Leads Way For Fifth Straight Year (August 9)
No. 2 – Largest Renovation in Program History Impacts All Areas of Athletics (August 2)
No. 3 – Women's Track & Field Delivers Season for the Ages (July 26)
No. 4 – Men's Golf Returns To NCAA Tournament With Tremendous Campaign (July 19)
No. 5 – Major Hires and Record Department Numbers Highlight 2018-19 (July 12)
No. 6 – Women's Basketball Returns to NCAA Tournament for 13th Time in 15 Years (July 5)
No. 7 – Men's Track & Field Delivers Multiple Individual League Championships (June 28)
No. 8 – Undefeated Start Leads Women's Soccer Back to PBC Tournament (June 21)
No. 9 – Men's Basketball Garners Record-Setting Honors (June 14)
No. 10 – Men's Soccer's Late Run and Individual Accomplishments (June 7)
Honorable Mention (May 31)
