For the third consecutive year, all six of East Mississippi Community College’s athletic teams affiliated with the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges have garnered MACJC Academic All-State team recognition for their collective efforts in the classroom.

    In addition, EMCC featured 17 MACJC Academic All-State individual recipients for the third straight year, highlighted by a school-record seven student-athletes who achieved MACJC Distinguished Academic All-State status for having composite GPAs of 3.80 or better on a 4.00 scale for at least 45 semester hours.

    “It certainly is a testament to EMCC’s overall commitment to academic excellence when you consider the academic success our athletic teams and individual student-athletes have achieved during this past school year,” noted EMCC Vice President/Director of Athletics Mickey Stokes.  “I would like to commend our entire coaching staff and their student-athletes, as well as recognize Brittany Wagner-White (EMCC’s athletic instructional advisor/compliance assistant) and EMCC’s faculty, for their much-appreciated efforts and dedication to excellence on and off the playing fields.”    

    On the heels of the program’s distinction of earning 2012-13 NJCAA Softball Academic Team of the Year accolades on the national level, the EMCC softball team has also claimed this year’s MACJC Softball Academic Team of the Year honor with its cumulative 3.59 team grade point average.  Guided by first-year head coach Kyndall White, the Lady Lions’ composite team GPA rated first nationally among the 369 colleges that compete at the junior college level in Divisions I, II and III.

    Head coach Dale Peay’s EMCC men’s golf team also posted an all-time program standard with a collective 3.18 team GPA, followed by the school’s women’s basketball (2.97), baseball (2.92), football (2.90) and men’s basketball (2.89) programs.

    Individually, EMCC’s softball program led the way for the school with six MACJC Academic All-State selections, including three with distinguished honors.   Lady Lion sophomore Sarah Dudley, by way of Kemper Academy, collected Distinguished Academic All-State laurels, as did baseball pitching ace Smokey Ethridge and football offensive lineman Tyler Stanley, for having compiled perfect 4.00 grade point averages throughout their EMCC careers.

    Also earning Distinguished Academic All-State recognition for East Mississippi Community College were former junior college and prep softball teammates Alex Smith (3.89) and Amber Spann (3.82) of Clarkdale High School, Starkville’s D.J. Jordan (3.91) from the Lions’ football squad, and women’s basketball player Brianna May (3.92) from Pelahatchie’s East Rankin Academy.

    EMCC’s list of 10 MACJC Academic All-State recipients, for honorees with GPAs between 3.25 and 3.79 on a 4.00 scale for at least 45 semester hours, was headlined by softball’s Haley Tutor (3.72), of New Hope, and Allison Hauer (3.58), from Franklin County High School.  The Lady Lions were also represented by West Lauderdale’s Misty Richard (3.41). 

    Head coach Buddy Stephens’ reigning MACJC North Division champion football team followed with four honorees, including the Starkville tandem of Quez Johnson (3.46) and Jarrod Atterberry (3.34).  Coach Chris Rose’s EMCC baseball club also touted MACJC Academic All-State selections Trent Waddell (3.55), of Tuscaloosa, and Tyler Jones (3.25), from Columbus’ Victory Christian Academy.

    From head coach Mark White’s four-time reigning NJCAA Region 23 and MACJC North Division basketball champions, former Noxubee County High School product Earnest Hunter and Northeast Lauderdale’s A.J. Wade turned in cumulative GPAs of 3.56 and 3.34, respectively.

    Along with becoming EMCC’s first NJCAA All-American in golf, Miles Respess, of Paragould, Ark., also earned MACJC Academic All-State laurels off the links with a 3.52 composite grade point average.