Kelly Jurden collects TLU's 40th Academic All-America® award

(Complete All-America® teams below story)

SEGUIN, Texas – Texas Lutheran sophomore outfielder Kelly Jurden (Brenham/Brenham) has been named the 40th Academic All-American® in school history.
 
Jurden was named Tuesday to the Google Cloud Academic All-America® Division III Softball Team. She was voted to the Academic All-America® Second Team.
 
The Academic All-America® honor is the first for Jurden, who led TLU to the 2019 NCAA Division III Softball National Championship eight days ago.
 
Jurden holds a perfect 4.0 grade point average majoring in business and information systems. She played and started in 47 games for TLU as a starting outfielder and as the team's lead-off hitter. Jurden was named the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year.
 
Jurden also claimed National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Second Team All-America honors as a player. Plus, she was named the 2019 NCAA Division III recipient of the New Balance/NFCA Golden Shoe Award, an award given the best base stealer in each collegiate division.
 
Jurden stole 61 bases in 63 attempts in 2019 and set new school and SCAC records for stolen bases in a season. She led NCAA Division III in total steals and in stolen bases per game (1.30).
 
In addition to her stolen base records, Jurden tied the school record for runs scored in a season (59), came within one walk (with 28) of the single-season walks record, posted the second-best single-season on-base percentage (.543), and recorded the third-best single-season batting average (.458).
 
Jurden came within three hits of the single-season hits record. She ended the year with 66. She moved into second on the TLU career batting average record chart for players with at least 250 career at-bats. Jurden is hitting .413 in her Bulldog career.
 
With 90 stolen bases in just two seasons, Jurden is now third all-time on the TLU career steals list. She is just 10 steals from tying, and 11 from breaking, former Bulldog Ashley Jacobsen's career steals mark of 100.
 
With Jurden leading the way, the Bulldogs stormed to the national title in Tyler, Texas last week with 12-4 and 6-1 victories over Emory (Ga.) in the best-of-three championship series.
 
TLU won all five games it played at the DIII College World Series and went 10-1 in NCAA post-season play during its championship run.
 
The Bulldogs were 3-0 in the Marshall, Texas Regional, 2-1 in the McMinnville, Ore. Super Regional (against Linfield College), and 5-0 at the World Series.
 
Counting the three wins and no defeats at the 2019 SCAC Softball Championship, the Bulldogs were 13-1 overall in the 2019 post-season.
 
The Bulldogs (40-8) finished 2019 with an 11-4 record against teams ranked in the final Top 25 poll. TLU was the unanimous No. 1 team in the season-ending DIII poll issued by the NFCA.
 
Jurden is the ninth all-time Academic All-American in TLU Softball history. Eight of those Academic All-Americans have come in the Wade Wilson coaching era. Jurden's award is the eighth honor for a TLU Softball player in the last six years.
 
Jurden is the first TLU Softball player to claim a Google Cloud/CoSIDA Academic All-America honor and an NFCA playing All-America award in the same year.

TLU's complete Academic All-America® awards list includes:
 
Three-time Academic All-American Natalie Wood (women's cross country/track and field, 2004-05, 2005-06, and 2006-07),
Two-time selection Amber Lowe (women's cross country/track & field, 2007-08 and 2008-09),
Two-time selection David Stahl (men's soccer, 2002-03 and 2003-04),
Two-time selection Tommy Stolhandske (men's basketball, 2003-04 and 2004-05),
Two-time selection Matt Alves (football, 2006-07 and 2007-08),
Two-time selection Allen Cain (football, 2011-12 and 2012-13),
Two-time selection Ashley Meadows (women's cross country/track and field, 2012-13 and 2013-14),
Two-time selection Taylor Grissom (softball, 2014-15 and 2015-16),
Two-time selection Sofia Vega (at-large, 2014-15 and 2015-16),
Two-time selection Amanda Lochte (softball, 2015-16 and 2016-17),
and two-time selection Riley Schaefer (baseball, 2016-17 and 2017-18).
 
Jurden is among the single-year Academic All-America® award winners for TLU. That list also includes:
 
Chantel Mize (women's basketball, 1999-00),
Amy Behlen (softball, 2002-03),
Tracy Heathcock (women's volleyball, 2003-04),
Angela Bagwell (women's volleyball, 2004-05),
Abby Cochran (women's golf, 2005-06),
Dana Robbins (women's cross country/track & field, 2007-08),
Ryan Nokelby (baseball, 2009-10),
Ashley Jacobsen (softball, 2013-14),
Derek Kanas (baseball, 2013-14),
Jacquelyn Brown (softball, 2014-15),
Nicole Snow (softball, 2015-16),
Tyler Howlett (football, 2016-17),
Kristen Lye (women's basketball, 2016-17),
Dylan Drgac (baseball, 2017-18),
Marquis Brown (men's track and field/cross country, 2017-18),
and Manny Longoria (football, 2018-19).
 
The Google Cloud Academic All-America® awards are announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). University sports information directors nominate award recipients. Academic All-District® and Academic All-America® honors are determined by votes among the CoSIDA membership.

The Division III Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division III national governance structure to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2018-19 Division III Academic All-America® teams program.
 
For more information on the Google Cloud Academic All-America® program, go to https://academicallamerica.com/
 
2019 Academic All-America®
Softball Team
Division III 
 
FIRST TEAM
Pos.     Name                                     School                                                       Yr.      GPA        Major
P          Hanna Hull                             Virginia Wesleyan University                  Jr.       3.57         Mathematics
P          Christine LaRochelle               Stevens Institute of Technology                Sr.       4.00         Engineering Mgmt. (UG)/Systems Engineering (G)
C         Avery Alberghini                   University of New England                       Sr.       3.78         Health, Wellness, & Occupational Studies
IF         Taylor Arends (#)                  Washington University in St. Louis           Sr.       3.96         Psychological & Brain Sciences
IF         Shannon Lloyd                        Keystone College                                     Jr.       3.99         Criminal Justice/Psychology
IF         Jackie Schneider (^)              Neumann University                                 Sr.       4.00         Criminal Justice
IF         Alyson Shaw (1)                     Otterbein University                                 Sr.       4.00         Early Childhood Education
OF       Alexis Boledovic                     Baldwin Wallace University                     Sr.       3.91         Physical Therapy/Exercise Science
OF       Caroline Ratti                         Kean University                                        Sr.       3.87         Physical Education, Health, Teacher Certification
OF       Megan Zinn                            The University of Scranton                       Jr.       3.96         Early Childhood & Primary Education
DP       Sarah Von Ahn (2)                 MIT                                                            Jr.       3.92         Mathematics/Computer Science
 
SECOND TEAM
Pos.     Name                                     School                                                       Yr.      GPA        Major
P          Ilissa Hamilton                        Case Western Reserve University           Jr.       4.00         Biomedical Engineering
P          Alyssa Olson                          Coe College                                              Sr.       3.74         Biochemistry
C         Abby Menting                         University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh            Sr.       3.98         Business Supply Chain Management
IF         Jackie Bilotti                           Arcadia University                                    Sr.       3.93         Early Childhood Education/Special Education
IF         Rachel Johnson (2)                 Washington & Jefferson College             Sr.       3.88         Psychology
IF         Elaine Walker                        Aurora University                                     Sr.       3.82         Accounting
IF         Caraline Wood                      Worcester Polytechnic Institute                Sr.       3.51         Mechanical Engineering
OF       Kelly Jurden                           Texas Lutheran University                        So.      4.00         Business & Information Systems
OF       Melissa Livermore (3)            University of Texas at Dallas                   Sr.       3.84         Healthcare Studies
OF       Allison Meyer (2)                   George Fox University                             Jr.       4.00         Elementary Education
DP       Taylor Jordan                         Millikin University                                    Sr.       3.98         Physical Education
 
THIRD TEAM
Pos.     Name                                     School                                                       Yr.      GPA        Major
P          Kierstin Anderson-Glass        Univ. of St. Thomas (Minn.)                       Jr.       3.47         Exercise Science
P          Emily Oliver                           Norwich University                                   Sr.       3.93         Mechanical Engineering
C         Harleigh Kaczegowicz            University of Rochester                            Sr.       3.84         Mechanical Engineering
C         Paige Mokychic                      Keystone College                                      So.      3.93         Biology
IF         Kalli Farmer                            Millikin University                                    Jr.       3.99         Sports Management
IF         Aly Freeman                           Gustavus Adolphus College                     Jr.       4.00         Biology
IF         Hannah Neild                         Gallaudet University                                Sr.       3.98         Education
IF         Mariah Uphoff                       Bethel University                                      Jr.       3.96         Relational Communication
OF       Kaitlyn Berghela                     MCLA                                                        Sr.       4.00         Biology
OF       Dana Del Genio                     SUNY Oneonta                                          Sr.       3.85         Criminal Justice
OF       Jennifer Groat                       Plattsburgh State                                       Sr.       3.93         Childhood Education
DP       Shay Pinhey                           Hope College                                            Sr.       3.62         Engineering
 
Google Cloud Academic All-America® Team Member of the Year: Shannon Lloyd, Keystone College
 
(1) – Google Cloud Academic All-America® first-team selection in 2018
(2) – Google Cloud Academic All-America® second-team selection in 2018
(3) – Google Cloud Academic All-America® third-team selection in 2018
(#) – Google Cloud Academic All-America® first-team selection in 2018 and CoSIDA third-team selection in 2017
(^) – CoSIDA Academic All-America® third-team selection in 2017