By Tom Dodge

tom.dodge@eunicetoday.com



Their respective sports seasons are now just a memory, but the post season accolades continue for several LSU Eunice student-athletes.

Seven LSU Eunice players received post-season NJCAA academic awards to join over 1,680 student-athletes who have met the requirements for individual academic honors.

Nearly 60,000 student-athletes competed in the NJCAA this year on over 3,500 teams in 28 different sports.

“Our first goal as an athletic department is to see that our student athletes are successful in the classroom,” LSUE athletic director and head football coach Jeff Willis said. “All of our students’ athletic endeavors will be over at one point in their careers, but a college diploma is something that no one can take away from them.”

In women’s basketball, Melissa Bridges earned a 4.0 GPA to finish with the NJCAA’s highest honor, the Pinnacle Award for Academic Excellence (4.00 GPA on a 4.00 scale).

"Melissa Bridges is the best student-athlete that I have had at LSU Eunice over the past eight years on and off the floor,” head basketball coach Michael Bari said. “Mimi is a terrific person with a solid work ethic and will be successful in anything she does in life. We are very proud of her academic honor."

"We have had great success as a team with our academics,” Bari said. “The long hours of study hall and extra work pays off as a group."

In softball, Tiffany Havard earned a 3.7 GPA and was awarded Exemplary Academic Achievement (3.60 to 3.79 on a 4.00 scale).

Emily Trahan finished with a 3.6 GPA and earned the Exemplary Academic Achievement Award.

“Emily and Tiffany are extremely hard working kids that made the team better with their determination and leadership,” LSUE head coach Andy Lee said. “Both will be missed next year.”

Stuart Turner and Chad Miller both earned a 4.0 GPA and grabbed the Pinnacle Award for Academic Excellence.

Justin Schopp earned a 3.83 GPA and was awarded the Superior Academic Achievement (3.80 to 3.99 on a 4.00 scale).

Marc Picciola finished the year with a 3.61 GPA and was awarded the Exemplary Academic Achievement.

All three teams was named as 2011-12 NJCAA All-Academic teams as baseball (3.17), basketball (3.17) and softball (3.15) all had better than an 3.0 GPA. The Bengal baseball team recorded a 3.23 GPA for this past year’s coursework.

“As the athletic director I'm very proud of the accomplishments in the classroom of these student athletes,” Willis said, “They represent some of the finest students our campus has to offer.”