ECC Earns MCCAC Academic Top Spot for 11th Straight Year
East Central College remains the top performing academic athletic department in the conference for an 11th straight year.
The Missouri Community College Athletic Conference (MCCAC) honors the highest overall grade point average from the conference with the Harold Oetting Award. ECC’s GPA was 3.18.
The recognition comes on the heels of an unprecedented transition to all on-line classwork and spring seasons that were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This marks 11 straight years, 2010-2020, the ECC Athletic Department has posted the highest overall GPA in the conference.
According to ECC Athletic Director Dr. Jay Mehrhoff, the cornerstone to the academic success is the tradition set by the sophomores leading the way for the freshmen to see the path to academic success.
“Our athletic department achievements may not have had some of the championship results this past year, but our student athletes will be winners in the future, he said. “Our student athletes transfer to four year schools, graduate and successfully enter the workforce.
“Athletics are important for teaching life lessons and our student athletes gain an extra step to college completion after attending ECC,” Mehrhoff added.
True dedication to academics by the student athletes along with support provided from numerous areas on campus have been key factors to this success. A number of student athletes have received NJCAA Academic honors with 17 student athletes receiving awards from the NJCAA with a 3.6 grade point average or higher for the 2019-2020 academic year.
All- American Honors
Listed below are the student athletes and sports they played who were named to the NJCAA Academic All-American Team.
First Team (4.0 GPA)
Kaylee Abney, softball
Makayla Bevfoden, volleyball
Gary Dunne, soccer
Mallory Feldewerth, softball
Arman Kovac, Soccer
Donald Meyer, soccer
Nicole Roper, volleyball
Leonard Sowa, soccer
Second Team (3.8 to 3.99 GPA)
Katie Gaus, softball
Danielle Kimminau, softball
Lily Warrick, volleyball
Guy Baskerville, soccer
Kaylyn McKee, softball
Third Team (3.6 to 3.79 GPA)
Stephen Akot, soccer
Flavio Santi, soccer
Maya Street, softball
Leslee Weddle, softball
Academic All-Region/Conference (3.25 GPA or higher)
Soccer — Jacob Buhr and Tanner Graef
Volleyball —Sophie Parsons, Kaley Roper, Samantha Staab and Mariah Vahlkamp
Softball — Mackenzie Altenthal, Jenna Crider, Kaili Edler, Kristyn England and Jordan Owens
Academic All-Conference (3.0 GPA or higher)
Softball — Sierra Voiles, Madelyn Webb
Volleyball — Macey Morehead
Soccer — Gabriel Pires