Charlotte, N.C. – The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) has announced the 2020-21 Academic Teams of the Year and the student-athletes who have been named to the NJCAA All-Academic Team lists.
Only 28 programs across the country earned the honor of being named the NJCAA Academic Team of the Year in their respective sport. The North Platte Community College men’s basketball team received this honor with a 3.62 cumulative GPA.
"This is the highest academic achievement that a team can be awarded by the NJCAA,” said head coach Kevin O’Connor. “We are very proud of the individual players on our basketball team that made this honor possible.”
Additionally, the men’s basketball team had eight members from the 2020-21 squad named to one of the three NJCAA All-Academic teams.
Freshman Mitar Cakovic, of Nikšic, Montenegro, and sophomore Slavomyr Marchenko, of Kyiv, Ukraine, showed great success in the classroom which led them to being named to the NJCAA All-Academic First Team list, which honors students who have achieved a 4.0 GPA.
Teammates Steven Garcia and Caleb Horne, both of North Platte, Neb., and Timur Krupalija, of Sarajevo, Bosnia, were named to the NJCAA All-Academic Second Team list, while earning a cumulative GPA of 3.80-3.99. German Plotnikov, of Minsk, Belarus, and Nolan Sughroue, of Hastings, Neb., were named to the NJCAA All-Academic Third Team list with a 3.60-3.79 GPA, respectively.
“Although the student-athletes earned the grades, this achievement could not be accomplished without the contributions of our faculty and administration's support of all our athletic programs," said O’Connor.
A total of 8,272 student-athletes across the country were honored by being named to one of the NJCAA All-Academic Team lists.