Texas Lutheran's Jurden Named Academic All-American for Third Time

Texas Lutheran's Jurden Named Academic All-American for Third Time

(Story courtesy of Texas Lutheran University Athletics) 

SEGUIN, Texas -- Texas Lutheran Softball standout Kelly Jurden is a First Team Academic All-American® for the second time and an Academic All-American for the third time overall. To view the entire CoSIDA First Team All-American® Team, click here

Jurden was named to the 2021 Academic All-America® Softball First Team for NCAA Division III. Jurden's First Team honor in 2021 goes with her First Team All-America® award in 2020 and her Second Team Academic All-America® award in 2019.
 
Jurden is the second student-athlete in TLU Athletics history to be a three-time Academic All-American®. Jurden joins Natalie Jones (Women's Cross Country and Track & Field) in TLU's three-time Academic All-America® club.
 
Jurden is the second Bulldog to be a two-time First Team Academic All-American®, joining Allen Cain of Football in the two-time First Team club.
 
Jurden and TLU Baseball stand-out Tyler Cauley each were named First Team Academic All-Americans® on Tuesday. Jurden and Cauley give the Bulldogs 50 all-time Academic All-America® honors and 16 all-time First Team Academic All-America® awards.
 
So far in 2021, the Bulldogs have produced four First Team Academic All-Americans® (Mitchell Long of Men's Soccer, Juan Ocampo of Football, Cauley, and Jurden) and five overall Academic All-Americans® (Luis Green of Men's Soccer, Long, Ocampo, Cauley, and Jurden).
 
TLU has produced 18 Academic All-Americans® in the last five years.
 
Since 2000, TLU has produced the most Academic All-Americans® of any NCAA Division III college or university in Texas. TLU ranks in the top 40 nationally among the 435 NCAA Division III colleges and universities for number of Academic All-Americans® since 2000.
 
Jurden advanced to the Academic All-America® national ballot for a third consecutive year. A two-time playing All-American® and two-time SCAC Offensive Player of the Year, Jurden led the Bulldogs to the 2019 NCAA Division III National Championship and within one victory in 2021 of repeating the national title run.

Jurden is in the graduate school portion of her concurrent degree at TLU. She has a 3.97 grade point average as an undergrad and a 4.0 GPA as a graduate student. Jurden's undergraduate majors are mathematics and computer science, and she is pursuing her master's degree in data analytics.

On the field in 2021, Jurden hit .472 and stole 56 bases. She is the all-time steals leader in TLU and Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference history. In 151 career games, she has stolen 169 bases in 177 attempts. Jurden is a career .432 hitter with a career on-base percentage of .513. In 2021, she reached base at a school-record mark of .579.

Fifteen of the 33 members of the 2021 Academic All-America® Division III Softball Teams have at least a 3.90 GPA, with the 11 First Team honorees averaging an undergraduate GPA of 3.82. 

The Division III Academic All-America® program is financially supported by the NCAA Division III national governance structure to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2020-21 Division III Academic All-America® teams.

For more information on the Academic All-America® program, go to https://academicallamerica.com .

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