GILBERT, Ariz. – For the 16
th straight year, Appalachian State University field hockey capped off a stellar fall semester in the classroom and was named a 2018 Zag Field Hockey/NFHCA Division I National Academic Team recipient. In addition, 18 student-athletes were named to the 2018 National Academic Squad while two Mountaineers garnered Scholar of Distinction honors.
Appalachian State was one of 76 Division I programs to earn the National Academic Team Award. To become a recipient, teams must post a 3.0 GPA or higher during the fall semester. The Mountaineers shattered the benchmark with a team GPA of 3.36 in fall 2018.
Since the award began in 2003, App State has been a National Academic Team recipient each year. Other programs that have accomplished this feat include schools such as Columbia, Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, Penn State and Yale.
Appalachian also set a program record for most National Academic Squad honorees with 18 student-athletes. The Black and Gold had 16 honorees during the 2017-18 academic year, which eclipsed a previous high of 15 from 2004, 2008 and 2011. Candidates for the National Academic Squad must have maintained a cumulative 3.3 GPA or higher through the first semester of the 2018-19 academic year.
All eight first-year student-athletes earned National Academic Squad honors. Freshman
Brenna Schoenbachler and junior
Rachel Gaines also garnered Scholar of Distinction designations after achieving a cumulative GPA of 3.90 or higher through the fall semester. The pair of Mountaineers are two of only 140 Division I student-athletes to earn Scholar of Distinction honors.
Gaines also impressed by being named to the National Academic Squad during all four years of her academic career.
NFHCA National Academic Team
Chloe Bell
Roxy Day
Rachel Gaines
Annette Jarosz
Georgia Kelso
Sydney Lee
Abby Merrill
Melissa Nobile
Lindsey Russell
Brenna Schoenbachler
Kaley Selner
Anna Smarrelli
Meghan Smart
Friederike Stegen
Michelle Taylor
Veerle Van Heertum
Ali Williams
Ines Yofre
Scholars of Distinction
Rachel Gaines
Brenna Schoenbachler
