JACKSON – A school-record 37 Northwest student-athletes, including nine programs, have been named to the recently released 2015-16 MACJC All-Academic Team.

Northwest's MACJC All-Academic selections have slowly increased over the past six years, with a total of 159 student-athletes gaining recognition during that span. 

To qualify, a student-athlete must maintain a minimum grade-point average of 3.25, have completed three full-time semesters of college work (45 hours) and competed in at least one season of a varsity sport.

Baseball led all Northwest athletic teams with a total of 10 selections. Representing the Rangers were Koby Busby (3.26), Cody Cooper (3.51), Aleck Hobson (3.88), Hunter Lacefield (3.95), Tanner Lloyd (3.29), Jamell Newson (3.3), Devin Orr (3.47), Ryan Skalnik (3.67), Colt Smith (3.59) and Hunter Wilson (3.69).

Softball finished with seven academic nominees and were represented by Kayla Andrada (3.5), Heath Griffith (3.88), Hailee Kolwyck (3.53), Avery McCullough (3.42), Ashton Needham (3.64), Olivia Owen (3.9) and Erin Claire Stegall (3.88).

Women's soccer had six total selections in Lydia Cross (3.93), Brooke Lester (4.00), Sarah Jo Murphy (3.29), Abigail Rucker (3.93), Taylor Selby (3.33) and Kayleigh Sims (4.00). 

Women's basketball finished with five total selections in Kelsey Brown (3.57), Hayley Davis (3.83), Alyssia King (3.94), Sara Lytle (3.57) and Brianna Williams (3.61).

Representing football was Hobson (also a baseball honoree, 3.88), Gardner Minshew (3.76), Kris Reliford (3.5) and Jim Speights (3.89). Women's tennis was represented by Kendall McCoy (3.63), Allison Plummer (3.67) and Jessica Welch (3.56).

Kirill Safrin (3.87), Luke Wilson (3.81) and Walker Wilkinson (3.44) were the lone selections from men's soccer, men's tennis and golf, respectively.

Northwest had 14 student-athletes named Distinguished Academic All-State (3.8 or better) in Lydia Cross, Hayley Davis, Heath Griffith, Aleck Hobson, Alyssia King, Hunter Lacefield, Brooke Lester, Olivia Owen, Abigail Rucker, Kirill Safrin, Kayleigh Sims, Jim Speights, Erin Claire Stegall and Luke Wilson.

Nine Northwest teams were recognized as MACJC All-Academic Teams (2.5 or better). Women's tennis led all Northwest athletic programs with a 3.66 overall GPA, the fourth-highest in the nation. Softball (3.56), women's soccer (3.30), men's tennis (3.25), women's basketball (3.20), baseball (3.19), men's golf (3.08), men's basketball (2.83) and men's soccer (2.74) were the other teams receiving recognition.