Halle and Novogradac Named CoSIDA Academic All-Americans
Complete Baseball Release | Complete Softball Release
GREENWOOD, Ind. - On June 5, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced the 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-America Division III Baseball and Softball teams. Among the student-athletes honored were CJ Novogradac (CMC) and Briana Halle (CMC). Both Novogradac and Halle earn the first Academic All-America nods of their career with Novogradac earning First Team as a designated hitter and Halle picking up Second Team honors as an infielder.
The honors come less than a month after Halle and Novogradac were named First Team Academic All-District for their combined athletic and academic performances.
In the classroom, Novogradac boasts an impressive 3.92 grade point average (GPA) as a Economics & Finance major at Claremont McKenna. As mentioned this is the first Academic All-America honor for the Stags' designated hitter.
On the field, Novogradac broke out during his junior season and was a mainstay in the Stags' line-up all year long. Slotting in the middle of the order for CMS, Novogradac appeared in 39 games and led the Stags with a .346 batting average and .462 on base percentage. He was second on the team with a .529 slugging percentage, finishing the year with nine doubles, two triples, and four home runs. As the primary designated hitter, the righty drove home 30 runs while scoring 27 of his own during the 2018 campaign.
Like Novogradac, Halle earns her first Academic All-American accolade after a stellar senior season in the classroom and on the field. The Claremont McKenna valedictorian held an impressive 3.98 cumulative GPA while majoring in Science and Management. She also received the Best Overall Senior Award from the science department.
On the field, the first baseman batted .350 with 43 hits while collecting seven doubles with 21 RBI and 18 runs scored. Halle helped the Athenas to a SCIAC Tournament Championship and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament with a .429 on-base percentage and .407 slugging percentage this season while also turning in a .991 fielding percentage at first base.
With their honors, Novogradac and Halle become just the 10th and 11th Academic All-Americans in Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) department history. They are the first since Tyler Gaffney (men's basketball) was named Second Team in 2014-15. The 2017-18 season marks the second year that CMS had multiple Academic All-Americans in the same academic year, joining the 2012-13 year when Harmony Palmer (softball) and Kristin Lim (women's tennis) both earned First Team nods.