It was a good season for the Barton Community College athletes on the field. There were All American honors, records broken and championships won.

The Cougars also had a pretty good year in the classroom as well.

Ten students earned academic honors headlined by Jordan Plank and his 4.0 GPA. The NJCAA honors only sophomores who have earned at least 45 credit hours.

In addition to the individual honors several teams were recognized as well. Five teams ranked in the Top 10 nationally and 10 had a team GPA better than a 3.0.

At the top of the list as far as team achievements was the Barton volleyball team which accumulated a 3.62 GPA - fourth best nationally among volleyball teams.

Plank, from Wichita, was the only Barton individual to earn the prestigious Pinnacle Award for Academic Success.  That award honors student-athletes who have  4.0 GPA. Plank was also an All-Conference and gold glove winning pitcher for Barton baseball.

A pair of men’s track athletes earned Superior Academic Achievement with a GPA better than 3.8. Colby Overturf, from Johnson,  placed fourth at the NJCAA Outdoor Championship in the javelin, and Alireza Rafiei, a native of Iran, both earned the Superior award. Rafiei qualified in throwing events for the NJCAA Championships.

Seven more individuals were recognized as Exemplary Academic Achievement Award winners - above a 3.6.

Three of those were baseball players. Trevor Hughes and Tyler Jennings of Wichita and Jacob Richardson of Goddard all earned Exemplary Awards.

A pair of women’s golfers also were Exemplary Award winners. Thailand’s Natthakan Teeratrakul and Abbie Thelen of Meriden of the NJCAA 10th place finishers were honored.

Men’s golf National qualifier Landon Fox of Winfield was an Exemplary Award winner as well along with Nicole Kruse from Oskaloosa. Kruse qualified for the NJCAA Championships in women’s track.

In addition to volleyball four more teams were among the top 10 and had a GPA higher than 3.0.

The women’s indoor and outdoor track teams both finished in the top 10. The indoor team was seventh with a 3.11 and the outdoor team eighth at 3.13.

The men’s cross country team was seventh nationally with a 3.08.

The women’s golf team had the second best GPA at Barton with a 3.39 - good for ninth nationally.

Also posting a 3.39 was the softball team. That was good for 25th among softball teams in the NJCAA.

Baseball and men’s golf both posted 3.23 GPA’s. Those scores both were 16th nationally in their respective sport.

Also earning a team GPA higher than 3.0 were the women’s cross country team and women’s soccer. The women’s cross country score of 3.14 was good for 23rd while women’s soccer had a 3.0 - 38th among their peers.

Both the men’s indoor and outdoor track teams were in the top 10 in their sport but did not post a 3.0 to qualify for an award. They just missed with the outdoor team posting a 2.98 and indoor at 2.97.

Rounding out the Barton team GPA’s are women’s tennis at 2.97, women’s basketball at 2.94, men’s basketball at 2.86, men’s tennis at 2.47 and men’s soccer at 2.35.