LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – Three Texas Lutheran University student-athletes were named First Team CoSIDA Academic All-District, the most TLU has ever had named to the first team. FULL RELEASE
 
The Bulldogs' Taylor Grissom, Ashley Jacobsen, and Jacquelyn Brown were named Thursday to the 2015 Capital One Academic All-District 8 First Team for NCAA Division III.
 
TLU Bulldogs took three of the 12 First Team positions in District 8. The district includes the NCAA Division III colleges and universities in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, and Canada.
 
Only TLU and Fontbonne University (Mo.) put three players on an Academic All-District Softball First Team. Fontbonne placed three student-athletes in District 5.
 
As First Team selections, Grissom, Jacobsen and Brown advance to the Academic All-America ballot.
 
The 14th-ranked Bulldogs hold an overall record of 36-4 and have an active 33-game win streak (a new school record).
 
Jacobsen made the Academic All-District First Team for a third consecutive year. She has a chance to repeat as an Academic All-American. The Bulldog second baseman was a Third Team Academic All-American in 2014.
 
Grissom and Brown made the First Team in their first years of Academic All-District and Academic All-America eligibility. Student-athletes must be in attendance at their schools for a full academic year before achieving nomination eligibility. Grissom and Brown transferred to TLU prior to the 2013-14 season and have been at TLU a full three (almost four) semesters at the time of nomination.
 
Jacobsen made the First Team as one of five infielders. A senior accounting major, Jacobsen holds a 3.73 grade point average.
 
Grissom made the First Team as one of two pitchers. She joined East Texas Baptist's Shelby Parker on the First Team. (Grissom and Parker could face each other Friday in the opening game of the NCAA DIII Tyler Regional.) Grissom, a junior education major, has a 3.86 GPA.
 
Brown grabbed a First Team spot as one of three outfielders. Brown, another accounting major, has a 3.87 GPA.
 
Jacobsen is the school record-holder for career hits (243), runs (179) and batting average (.435). The team's starting second baseman, she has made just one error this season.
 
After a slow start at the plate in 2015, Jacobsen is hitting .462 over her last 27 games. She has raised her 2015 average to .383 after hitting below .179 on March 11. Since that time, Jacobsen has hit safely in 24 of 27 games and had a 14-game hitting streak.
 
Jacobsen was the 2014 SCAC Softball Player of the Year and the 2012-13 TLU Co-Female Student-Athlete of the Year.
 
Grissom is a two-time SCAC Pitcher of the Year. She won the award in 2014 and repeated the honor in 2015.
 
Grissom has won a school-record 19 games in 2015, and she is undefeated at 19-0 with an ERA of 0.58. She was the winning pitcher in all three TLU victories at the 2015 SCAC Softball Championship.
 
An SCAC First Team selection and All-Tournament selection in each of her first two seasons at TLU, Grissom is a remarkable 28-3 as a Bulldog. She has a career ERA of 0.78.
 
Brown, a two-year starter in the Bulldogs' outfield, is the team's leading hitter as TLU enters the NCAA tournament. Brown is hitting .449 with 27 runs scored, three doubles and a triple. She has driven in 14 runs.
 
Brown, also a two-time All-SCAC First Team selection, has stolen 33 bases in two seasons and has been caught just six times. She is a career .407 hitter for the Bulldogs, and she has made just one error in two years.
 
In addition to the full academic year requirement for nomination, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, and be nominated by his/her sports information director.
 
The Capital One Division II and III Academic All-America program is financially supported by the NCAA Division II and III national governance structures to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2014-15 DII and DIII Academic All-America Teams program.
 
First Team Academic All-District honorees advance to the Capital One Academic All-America Team ballot, where First, Second and Third Team All-America honorees will be selected later this month.
 
Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 20,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.
 
For more information about the Academic All-America® Teams program, please visit www.cosida.com.