A trio of Eagle male student-athletes, including two from Rifle and one from Golf, have earned spots on the 2023 At-Large Academic All-District Team, as selected by College Sports Communicators.
Honorees are Rifle's Bryce Ward and Andrew Morris and Blake Evans from the Golf squad.
The College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) began the distinguished Academic All-America® program in 1952, and since then, has honored thousands of deserving student-athletes from numerous sports across all divisions with these elite Academic All-America® scholar-athlete honors. In 2022, CoSIDA rebranded itself as the College Sports Communicators. In 2022, the guidelines were updated to include more representation on the All-District teams. Sports have limitations to the number of athletes that can be nominated and the minimum grade-point average was raised to 3.50.
Ward, a graduate student from Hurricane, W.Va., sports a 4.0 grade point average in his MBA program. Along with being named an OVC Scholar-Athlete last season, he led the 2022-23 team with a combined average of 1167.23. Ward was named First Team All-OVC in Smallbore and had a season-high for Smallbore of 586 against Akron. He also had a season-high for Air Rifle of 594 against UT Martin. Ward earned the department's Laughlin-Miller Award for 2022-23, the highest individual student-athlete honor. He serves as Student-Athlete Advisory Committee President.
Morris, a junior from Burke, Pa., has a 3.63 GPA in nursing. He finished the season with a combined average of 1165.08, which was second highest on the team. Morris was named Second-Team All-OVC on both guns and had season-highs of 583 in Smallbore and a school-record 596 in Air Rifle.
Evans is a graduate student from nearby West Liberty, Ky. He has a 3.50 GPA in learning and behavioral disorders. Evans competed in 30 rounds and 10 events on the season and averaged 75.3. He claimed two top-25 finishes, including a top-20 finish at the OVC Championship and fired a career-best 68 at the TSU Big Blue Intercollegiate.
By Matt Schabert, Morehead State Athletic Media Relations