13 FSCC athletes, 3 teams earn academic honors

FORT SCOTT, Kan. -- Thirteen Fort Scott Community College athletes and three of the college's teams earned academic honors from the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA).

There are three levels of individual achievement. The highest is the Pinnacle Award for Academic Excellence, given to those who earn a perfect 4.00 on a 4.00-point scale. Although no Greyhounds received that honor, one came within 0.08 points.

The NJCAA Award for Superior Academic Achievement goes to those who finish the year with a GPA of 3.80 to 3.99. Seven Greyhounds earned that honor: Football players Quin Bruce (3.92), Spenser Bennett (3.88), Brenton Smith (3.84), and Dallas Buck (3.84) and baseball players Jesse Hart (3.86), Dylan Banach (3.85) and Josh Samuelson (3.81).

NJCAA Award for Exemplary Academic Achievement goes to those who finish with a GPA of 3.60 to 3.79. Football players David Shank (3.74), Garret Ericson (3.70) Brandon Boyd (3.67), Shane Hammer (3.63) and Jeff Johnson (3.60) and baseball player Jordan Stull (3.73) earned this honor.

Fort Scott Community College's baseball team continued its long tradition of academic excellence as it had the fourth-best GPA in the NJCAA this season. The Greyhounds had a cumulative GPA of 3.33. The only NJCAA programs with higher GPAs were Cochise, Ariz. (3.46), Daytona State, Fla. (3.45) and South Mountain, Ariz. (3.35).

FSCC volleyball was ranked 40th in the NJCAA with a cumulative average of 3.14. The Greyhound softball team was one of two tied for 67th with a GPA of 3.01.

The NJCAA only cites programs that finish with GPAs of 3.00 or higher on its lists. Of its 525 members, only 26 baseball programs, 71 softball programs and 52 volleyball programs had GPAs over 3.00