Texas Lutheran places school-record five student-athletes on CoSIDA Academic All-District Team
First-team Academic All-District® honorees advance to the CoSIDA Academic All-America® ballot. First, Second and Third Team Academic All-America® honorees will be announced in late July
Jurden advances to the Academic All-America® national ballot for a third consecutive year. A two-time playing All-American and two-time SCAC Offensive Player of the Year, Jurden led the Bulldogs to the 2019 NCAA Division III National Championship and within one victory in 2021 of repeating the national title run.
Jurden is in the graduate school portion of her concurrent degree at TLU. She has a 3.97 grade point average as an undergrad and a 4.0 GPA as a graduate student. Jurden's undergraduate majors are mathematics and computer science, and she is pursuing her master's degree in data analytics.
On the field in 2021, Jurden hit .472 and stole 56 bases. She is the all-time steals leader in TLU and SCAC history. In 151 career games, she has stolen 169 bases in 177 attempts. Jurden is a career .432 hitter with a career on-base percentage of .513. In 2021, she reached base at a school-record clip of .579.
Ouellette, a second-year freshman on the field and a sophomore in the classroom, holds a 4.0 GPA as a business administration and accounting major. The right-hander was 16-3 this past season. She was named the Most Outstanding Pitcher of the Seguin, Texas Regional.
Ouellette ended the year with an ERA of 2.07. She struck out 47 batters in 104-2/3 innings. She walked only 12.
Strother, also a second-year freshman on the field and a sophomore in the classroom, has a 3.68 GPA in business administration. She was named a playing All-American (Third Team) by the NFCA.
Strother, the SCAC Pitcher of the Year, went 13-2 in 2021. She tossed 97-2/3 innings and recorded 99 strikeouts and only 17 walks. Her ERA was 1.43. Strother tossed a complete game and picked up the win against Virginia Wesleyan in the NCAA DIII National Championship Finals Series.
Metzer, a junior in the classroom and a sophomore on the field, has a 3.47 GPA as a sociology major. Metzer hit a career-best .473 in 2021. She was named First Team All-SCAC, NFCA All-West Region, and the Most Outstanding Player of the Seguin, Texas Regional.
Metzer belted four home runs and had seven doubles and 24 RBIs. He posted an on-base percentage of .540 and a slugging percentage of .730.
Padilla, a May graduate of TLU, has a 3.61 GPA in molecular biology. She is TLU's all-time leader in career home runs (24) and single-season home runs (12).
Padilla hit those 12 home runs in 2021 to break the record of nine, which she already shared. In 2021, Padilla hit .288 with 36 RBI, five doubles and 32 runs scored. She also stole nine bases. In her career, she scored 82 runs and drove in 92.
In 2021, the Bulldogs won their seventh consecutive Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship, won the Seguin, Texas Regional, and finished as the national runner-up at the NCAA Division III National Championship Finals. The Bulldogs posted an overall record of 36-6 and a conference mark of 18-0.
The Division II and III CoSIDA Academic All-America® programs are partially financially supported by the NCAA Division II and III national governance structures to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2020-21 Divisions II and III Academic All-America® programs. The NAIA CoSIDA Academic All-America® program is partially financially supported through the NAIA national office.
For more information about CoSIDA’s Academic All-District® and Academic All-America® Teams program, visit AcademicAllAmerica.com on CoSIDA.com.
NCAA DIVISION III – DISTRICT 8 (AK, AZ, CA, CO, HI, IA, ID, KS, LA, MT, ND, NE)
(NM, NV, OK, OR, SD, TX, UT, WA, WY, Canada)
FIRST TEAM
Pos. Name
P Emily Bell Simpson College
P Presyle Cox East Texas Baptist University 3.40 Jr. Business
P Sydni Huisman Central College
P Sydney Ouellette Texas Lutheran University
P Ashlyn Strother Texas Lutheran University
C Sarah Metzer Texas Lutheran University
IF Hannah Garcia East Texas Baptist University 3.89 Sr. Criminal Justice
IF Sydney Illg Wartburg College
IF Haley Padilla Texas Lutheran University
IF Kaci Sherwood Wartburg College
OF Lexi Harris University of Mary Hardin-Baylor 3.82 Jr. General Studies
OF Kelly Jurden Texas Lutheran University
OF Camrey Leo Simpson College
OF Daniella Solis East Texas Baptist University 3.83 Gr. Business
OF Sara Tallman Central College
DP Alycin Braun Nebraska Wesleyan University 3.84 Sr. Biology