Bacon, Cross earn top academic honors

A pair LSU Eunice student-athletes were honored by the NJCAA for their individual work in the classroom, as basketball player Meghan Cross received the Pinnacle Award for Academic Excellence after finishing her sophomore campaign with a 4.0 GPA, while baseball player William Bacon earned the Exemplary Academic Achievement Award after finishing his time on campus with a 3.64 GPA this academic year.
Two athletic teams at LSU Eunice were named as 2013-2014 All-Academic Teams by the NJCAA as the Lady Bengal basketball and softball teams joined a list composed of the teams with the top GPA in each sport.
Academic team accolades (3.0+ team GPA) were earned by over 500 programs with 26 winning the distinction as the Academic Teams of the Year with the highest team GPAs in each sport.
The softball team finished the academic year with a combined team GPA of 3.21, while the basketball team tallied a 3.17 combined team GPA.
Overall, the three Bengal athletic teams finished with a 3.09 combined GPA while completing the most successful season on the field/court of play in the history of LSU Eunice Athletics, combining their classroom achievements with an overall 86.8 percent winning percentage across all three sports in the 2013-2014 seasons.
"This caps off another great year for LSU Eunice Athletics. Our teams have worked extremely hard in the classroom and we are excited to have won this award again," Athletic Director Jeff Willis said.
"It is a great accomplishment not only to have championship teams on the field, but also in the classroom. I am very proud of all of our student-athletes’ hard work this season.”
During the 2013-14 academic year, the NJCAA saw 58,446 student-athletes compete on 3,705 teams in 28 different sports. Of those competitors, 3.08 percent – or 1,799 student-athletes – were recognized with academic awards for their achievements in the classroom. Receiving the highest honors with a 4.0 grade-point average, 171 student-athletes received the NJCAA Pinnacle Award for Academic Excellence.
With minimal changes to its award program’s inception in 1983, the NJCAA has been annually recognizing the academic success of its student-athletes for 31 years.