State Sends A Pair To Verizon Academic All-District Squads
PLANT CITY, Fla. -- Junior first baseman Kate Jaspers and junior outfielder Krystal Tillman collected Mississippi State's first Verizon academic all-district honors in three seasons as both were named to the District VI teams on Thursday, the College Sports Information Directors of America announced.
Jaspers, a Psychology major at MSU and one of only two athletes with perfect 4.0 GPAs on the squads, was named to the first team, while Tillman, a General Business Adminsitration major at State, was named to the second team. Jaspers' name will now be placed on the national ballot, making her eligible to receive academic all-American accolades from Verizon.
The duo joined five other Southeastern Conference athletes on the District VI squad which encompasses schools in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. Former Mississippi State standouts Keri McCallum and Jenny Hehnke were the last to collect the distinguished honors in 2000, with McCallum later being named a first team academic all-American.
"There is no finer representation of what a student-athlete should be than Kate Jaspers," said Mississippi State head coach Jay Miller. "If you look up the definition of the word, her picture would be pasted right there. What an honor for Kate and Krystal, as well as Mississippi State softball. This, as well as our conference-leading nine athletes being named academic all-SEC, shows Mississippi State University's commitment to academic, as well as athletic, success."
Since the inaugural season of SEC Softball in 1997, the Maroon and White has sent 28 student-athletes to academic all-American or all-district honors. Mississippi State has led the league on three occasions in the number of academic all-SEC selections, including this season in which the Bulldogs sent a league-high nine to the conference academic honor roll. MSU currently paces the SEC with 57 student-athletes being named academic all-SEC since 1997.