LaGrand, Kubacki, Walton Named GEICO Winter Scholar-Athletes of the Season
INDIANAPOLIS - Oakland swimming and diving athlete Susan LaGrand, Cleveland State swimming and diving athlete Timothy Kubacki and Northern Kentucky men’s basketball player Dantez Walton have been selected as the GEICO Horizon League Winter Scholar-Athletes of the Season, announced the League office on Thursday.
LaGrand, a sophomore from Grand Rapids, Mich., claims her first Scholar-Athlete of the Season award in her first year of eligibility after being named the Horizon League’s Swimming and Diving Athlete of the Year and earning a spot on the All-Academic Team. She holds a perfect grade-point average in Clinical and Diagnostic Sciences with a specialization in Medical Laboratory Science and earned Oakland University Athletics Student of the Month honors this season. During the 2020 Horizon League Swimming and Diving Championships, LaGrand was named the Swimmer of the Meet as she earned six first-place finishes and helped set five Horizon League records and four pool records. During the season she also earned four Swimmer of the Week honors.
Kubacki, a junior from Austintown, Ohio, picks up his first Scholar-Athlete of the Season honor after winning a pair of individual titles at the 2020 Horizon League Swimming and Diving Championships and being named to his second-straight All-Academic Team. The accounting major holds a 3.82 GPA and became the first Viking to sweep the individual medley events at a the League championship in 25 years. Kubacki won the 400-yard IM with a NCAA ‘B’ qualifying time and school-record setting time of 3:50.53, while also taking home the individual title in the 200 IM with a personal best 1:47.05. In total, the junior accumulated 55 individual points at 2020 HL meet for the Vikings.
Walton, a senior from Lima, Ohio also claims his first Scholar-Athlete of the Season award after earning his second-straight All-Academic Team honor and being voted to the All-Horizon League third team. The organizational leadership major holds a 3.65 GPA and led NKU in scoring (16.1 ppg) and rebounding (7.3 rpg) despite missing 11 games this year due to injury. Walton is a three-time member of Horizon League Honor Roll and was a member of the 2019 NABC Honors Court. This season, the senior won three-straight Horizon League Player of the Week honors, becoming the first league player to do so since Dayton’s Negele Knight did so in the 1989-90 season. Walton ends his NKU career with 1,008 points, 522 rebounds and having won five Horizon League titles (two regular season, three tournament).
The Horizon League recognizes student-athletes at the conclusion of each of its three athletic seasons as the Scholar-Athlete of the Season. To be eligible for Scholar-Athlete of the Season consideration, a student-athlete must be a member of that sports current year all-academic team and is selected based on a combination of athletic and academic achievement by the League’s faculty athletics representatives.