Maddie Bangasser and Michael Butler earned Academic All-District 8 honors. PHOTO: WWU Athletics
WWU Men's Golfer and Women's Rower Earns Academic All-District Honor
May 17, 2018
ELLINGHAM, Wash. – A pair of Western Washington University student-athletes have been selected to the 2018-19 Google Cloud Academic All-District® 8 At-Large Team.
Senior men’s golfer Michael Butler and sophomore women’s rower Maddie Bangasser were both recognized for their academic excellence while also being key contributors in their sport.
The Google Cloud Academic awards program recognizes the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances in the athletic realm and in the classroom. Nominated and voted upon by members of CoSIDA, nominees to the Academic All-District 8 Team come from the West's three Division II conferences: the GNAC, the California Collegiate Athletic Association and the PacWest Conference. To be nominated, a student-athlete must be of sophomore standing or higher, be a starter or important reserve on their team, must be in their second year at the nominating school and have a cumulative GPA of 3.30 or higher.
Butler (Sammamish, WA/Skyline) was one of 10 selections to the men’s Academic All-District 8 team, and one of four men’s golfers from the West Region. The senior carries a 3.47 GPA as an accounting major. Butler has earned numerous academic awards in his WWU career, including being a three-time GNAC All-Academic selection and Srixon/Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar in 2017-18.
On the course, Butler was a three-time All-GNAC selection, including being named the conference Freshman of the Year in 2015-16 and a first-team all-conference honoree as a senior in 2018-19. During his senior season in 2018-19 he appeared in nine of WWU’s 11 tournaments, recording a scoring average of 72.62 (+0.73 to par) and 11 rounds of par or better. In four years with the program Butler played 99 career rounds with a 73.76 scoring average (+2.14 to par), 11th-best in program history.
Bangasser (Sammamish, WA/Eastlake) was selected to the academic all-district team carrying a nearly perfect 3.97 GPA while pursuing a degree in Kinesiology. Bangasser has been mainstay on the Vikings Varsity 8+ over her first two seasons in the WWU Rowing program, helping lead WWU to national runner-up honors last season and a national No. 4 ranking so far in 2019.
This marks the fourth consecutive season that a member of the WWU women's rowing team has earned Academic All-District 8 At-Large honors, with Angie Dexter in 2018, Karisa Stapp in 2017 and Emily Bartlett in 2016.
In 2018-19, WWU has had nine student-athletes represented on Google Cloud Academic All-District® 8 teams:
» Maddie Bangasser, Rowing
» Michael Butler, Men’s Golf
» Grace Eversaul, Women’s Soccer
» Michaela Hall, Volleyball
» Trevor Jasinsky, Men’s Basketball
» Jeremiah Lee, Men’s Soccer
» Abby Phelps, Volleyball
» Christian Rotter, Men’s Soccer
» Garrett Strawn, Men’s Soccer
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