Rochester’s McCarter, Bolinger, Caston’s Thomas receive girls academic honors

Winamac’s Hines, Culver’s Peterson also recognized

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Ella McCarter Audrey Bolinger Olivia Thomas

The Indiana Basketball Coaches Association named Rochester’s Ella McCarter to its First Team Academic All-State.

McCarter is one of only 40 players statewide to receive the honor.

In addition, senior teammate Audrey Bolinger was named Honorable Mention Academic All-State.

The other area player to be honored is Caston senior Olivia Thomas, who made Honorable Mention.

Boys players recognized included Winamac’s Brendan Hines and Culver’s Adam Peterson, both of whom made Honorable Mention.

The IBCA Academic All-State program considers both “academic prowess and athletic prowess” in its selections. Items such as grade-point average, academic class rank and SAT or ACT scores are considered along with athletic performance in areas such as points per game, rebounds per game and assists per game.

“The quality of these student-athletes shows that success in academics and success in athletics are not separate entities,” IBCA Executive Director Marty Johnson said in a statement. “Rather, in many cases, a player's success in the classroom directly contributes to his or her success on the floor.”

To be eligible, a player must be a senior, have a GPA of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale or a class rank in the top 25% or an SAT score of 1100 or better or an ACT score of 24 or better.

Overall, 496 basketball players statewide received some recognition.