NORFOLK, Va. – Six Norfolk State student-athletes were honored by the Virginia Sports Information Directors recently when they were named to the VaSID Academic All-State Team for the 2018-19 academic year.
 
For the second time in three years, Norfolk State baseball had three players named to the academic team. This season, it was senior Jonathan Mahoney and juniors Caleb Ward and Ridge Walker who were honored. In addition, men's tennis player Vini Da Silva, volleyball player Anna Rupertova and women's tennis player Bruna Goncalves also earned a spot on the academic all-state team.
 
It marked the second year in a row both Mahoney and Da Silva were honored by VaSID with the academic all-state nod.
 
Below are the NSU honorees with their name, 2018-19 classification, hometown, GPA, major and sport listed:
 
• Caleb Ward, R-Jr., Hampton, Va., 4.00, Mass Communications, Baseball
• Ridge Walker, Jr., Moravia, N.Y., 3.96, Business Finance, Baseball
• Anna Rupertova, R-Sr., Tlucen, Czech Republic, 3.95, Fine Arts/Graphic Design, Volleyball
• Jonathan Mahoney, Sr., Woodbridge, Va., 3.86, Computer Science, Baseball
• Vini Da Silva, Jr., Aracaju, Brazil, 3.84, Business Management, Men's Tennis
• Bruna Goncalves, Jr., Governador Valadares, Brazil, 3.77, Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Women's Tennis
 
To be eligible, a student-athlete must have at least a 3.25 GPA and be a sophomore or higher in standing. Schools were limited to nominating six student-athletes.
 
Ward and Rupertova were named this year's NSU Male and Female Athletes of the Years, respectively, for having the highest GPAs among their respective genders.
 
Thanks in part to his 4.0 GPA, Ward was also voted to the CoSIDA Academic All-America® third team. He became the third NSU student-athlete in as many years to be named an Academic All-American, joining baseball player Brian Beard (2017) and softball player Seana Moriarty (2018). On the field, Ward earned second-team All-MEAC honors this season.