Sports, Saturday, May 16th

By: Nathan Bloechl —sports@kilj.comĀ 

Cyclones Williams Named Academic All-District:

Iowa State senior Sami Williams was named to the 2020 Academic All-District 6 Softball Team, selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

The Academic All-District teams divide student-athletes into eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada.

Williams, who achieved a 3.96 GPA in software engineering, is now a three-time Academic All-District nominee.

The native of Laguna Niguel, Calif. is also looking to become the first three-time CoSIDA Academic All-American in program history.

On the field, Williams is Iowa State’s all-time leader in hits (250), doubles (64) and home runs (46), and was named an Honorable Mention All-American in 2019.

She is also the NCAA DI active leader in doubles.

Williams announced in April that she would be returning for an additional season of eligibility in 2021, due to the cancellation of the NCAA softball season caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

First and second-team Academic All-America honorees will be announced in June.

Iowa Gymnasts Earn All-Conference Selections:

University of Iowa sophomore Lauren Guerin was named first team All-Big Ten, the conference announced Thursday.

The Big Ten named junior Erin Castle the Iowa Big Ten Sportsmanship honoree.

Guerin is one of 16 student athletes to be named to the first and is the first Hawkeye to earn the recognition since Mollie Drenth and Angel Metcalf in 2017.

Guerin, an Austin, Texas, native finished the season with a 9.9 national qualifying score (NQS) and recorded nine consecutive 9.8or better scores this season. She set a career high 9.95 at Maryland (Jan. 19) to tie the third best floor score in program history and then matched it two additional times at Penn State (Jan. 25) and against West Virginia (March 8).

Castle broke two career bests during her junior season, scoring a 9.85 on uneven bars and a 9.8 on balance beam against West Virginia (March 8). The Boone, Iowa, native competed as an all-around competitor at the Big Five Meet (Feb. 21), earning a 39.1 score.

NCAA Moves Back Draft Withdrawal Date:

The NCAA has announced it is pushing back the date for college basketball players to withdraw from the NBA Draft.

The deadline was originally scheduled for June 3rd, but the date has been pushed back indefinitely.

The decision comes in the wake of the postponement of both the NBA lottery and NBA scouting combine.

The NBA Draft is currently scheduled for June 25th in Brooklyn, New York.