CHICAGO – Five student-athletes, four from the Saint Xavier University women's basketball and one from the men's team, earned College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District honors when the awards were announced Tuesday, March 24. To qualify, a student-athlete must have a grade point average (GPA) of 3.50 or higher and have started at least 66.7 percent of their team's games. Junior forward
Marko Tojagic (Belgrade, Serbia/Saint Andrews) claimed the honor for the second consecutive year for men's basketball, while all four players from the women's team; senior guard
Lia Chudzik (Pewaukee, Wis./Pewaukee), sophomore forward
Veronica Bafia (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport Township), sophomore guard
Maeve Egan (Chicago, Ill./Mother McAuley) and sophomore guard
Makayla Kelly (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) are all first-time recipients.
From the academicallamerica.com website: the Academic All-District team recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performance on the field and in the classroom. CSC divides the honorees into four divisions – NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA. By earning All-District, the winners advance to the CSC Academic All-America ballot. Those honorees for First-, Second- & Third-Team Academic All-America will be announced on April 14 (men) and April 15 (women).
- Bafia carries a 3.94 GPA as a Nursing major. She played in and started all 28 of the games played by the team, leading the Cougars with 404 points on 51.5 percent (167-for-324) shooting from the floor. Bafia was 31.8 percent (14-for-44) from three-point range, and she shot 72.7 percent (56-for-77) from the foul line. She pulled down 168 rebounds, along with 52 steals, 50 assists and 26 blocked shots. Bafia played 855 minutes on the season for an average of 30.5 minutes per game. She was the CCAC Women's Offensive Player of the Week on February 10 and was named All-CCAC Second Team. Bafia also earned NAIA Scholar-Athlete and CCAC All-Academic honors.
- Chudzik also sports a GPA of 3.94 while majoring in Business Management and Marketing. She played in all 28 of the team's played games with one start, scoring 66 points on a 25.9 percent (21-for-81) shooting percentage. Chudzik dished out 58 assists with 48 rebounds, 21 steals and a block in 326 minutes of action. She averaged 11.6 minutes a game for SXU. Chudzik claimed NAIA Scholar-Athlete and CCAC All-Academic honors for the third year in a row.
- Egan is a Communication Sciences & Disorders major with a 3.85 GPA away from the court. She played in all 28 of the team's played games with 12 starts, scoring 146 points on 29.5 percent shooting (49-for-166). Egan drained 33 threes, shooting at a 28.2 percent (33-for-117) clip and was 83.3 percent (15-for-18) from the charity stripe. She collected 70 rebounds, along with 34 assists, 34 steals and blocked six shots. Egan was on the court for 478 minutes, coming away with 17.1 minutes per game. She earned NAIA Scholar-Athlete and CCAC All-Academic honors as well.
- Kelly has a GPA of 3.54 in the classroom as an Exercise Science major. She played in 27 of the team's 28 played games with eight starts, scoring 72 points on 31.0 percent (27-for-87) shooting from the floor. Kelly totaled 30 rebounds, 20 assists, 10 steals and two blocks in 289 minutes on the season, averaging 10.7 minutes. She also was an NAIA Scholar-Athlete and CCAC All-Academic selection.
- Tojagic is a Computer Science major, maintaining a 3.92 GPA. He played in all 28 of the men's games with eight starts, scoring 155 points on a 48.4 percent (62-for-128) shooting mark from the field. Tojagic shot 53.7 percent (29-for-54) from the free-throw line, along with 86 rebounds, 20 assists, 17 steals and 16 blocked shots. He logged 540 minutes of playing time for an average of 19.3 minutes per contest. Tojaic was named an NAIA Scholar-Athlete and to the CCAC All-Academic Team.
Full list of Men's honorees:
Full list of Women's honorees:
