Five Spartans Earn CSC Academic All-District Honors
11/21/2023 12:10:00 PM | Women's Soccer
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Five Michigan State women's soccer players earned College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District honors, as announced by the organization Tuesday.Â
CSC seeks to honor student-athletes who represent the highest caliber of academic and athletic achievement through the annual Academic All-District and All-America accolades. To be nominated, a student-athlete must compete in 90 percent of their institution's contests played or must start in at least 66 percent of the contests and hold at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average on a 4.0 GPA scale. No student-athlete is eligible until they are at least a sophomore academically and athletically. Â
Graduate defenders Raegan Cox and Celia Gaynor, as well as senior midfielder Justina Gaynor, junior forward Jordyn Wickes and sophomore midfielder Emerson Sargeant landed spots on this year's All-District team for the Spartans.Â
Cox, a native of Muskegon, Michigan, earns her second Academic All-District nod in as many years. She is a three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection and Big Ten Distinguished Scholar. This season, Cox earned All-Big Ten honors for the second-straight year, landing a spot on the All-Big Ten First Team, and started on the MSU back line in all 22 contests she played in. Cox is currently pursuing a master's degree in strategic communication.Â
Celia Gaynor collects the first Academic All-District honor of her career. This season, she was named to the All-Big Ten First Team and started and played in 20 games for the Spartans. The Shelby Township, Michigan, native will graduate in the spring with a master's degree in communicative sciences and disorders and was named Academic All-Big Ten in 2022.Â
Justina Gaynor joins Cox as a two-time Academic All-District honoree after being named Academic All-District in 2022. She also earned United Soccer Coaches Third Team Scholar All-America, Academic All-Big Ten and Big Ten Distinguished Scholar honors in 2022. The 2023 Big Ten Midfielder of the Year, Gaynor totaled a team-leading 24 points from six goals and 12 assists this season and collected First-Team All-Big Ten honors for the second-straight year. Gaynor hails from Shelby Township, Michigan, and will graduate in the spring with a degree in kinesiology. She played and started in all 22 games for MSU this season. Â
Wickes, a mechanical engineering major from Brunswick, Ohio, earns the first Academic All-District nod of her career. She was recognized as MSU's Big Ten Sportsmanship Award winner this season and totaled 14 points from seven goals, the second-most on the team. Wickes played in 21 contests for the Spartans in 2023 and made 13 starts. She collected Academic All-Big Ten honors in 2022.Â
Sargeant also earns her first-career Academic All-District honor. A Second-Team All-Big Ten honoree this season, Sargeant made 21 starts in 22 appearances for the Spartans in 2023 and totaled 14 points from four goals and six assists. The Hartland, Michigan, native is currently pursuing a degree in marketing.Â
CSC Academic All-American selections will be announced on Tuesday, Dec. 19.Â
MSU ended the 2023 season with a 14-5-3 record after earning their second-straight Big Ten title and advancing to the program's first NCAA Third Round.
