Central puts eight golfers, wrestlers on academic list
PELLA – The Central College men’s golf, women’s and men’s wrestling team totaled eight student-athletes on the At-Large edition of the College Sports Communicator Division III Academic All-District teams Tuesday.
To be eligible for consideration, a student-athlete must be a starter or key reserve at the varsity level and achieve a 3.50 or better cumulative grade point average.
Mackenzie Biggs (senior, Bloomington, Ill., Normal HS), Peyton Bytnar (senior, Bettendorf), Lydia Grond (junior, Hull, Boyden-Hull HS), Rachel Sohn (senior, Sutherland, South O’Brien HS) and Avery Woods (senior, Long Grove, North Scott HS) represent the women’s golf program on the list. Gage Linahon (senior, Newton) and Sam West (junior, Burlington, Notre Dame HS) of the Dutch men’s wrestling team and Cole McGriff (junior, Grinnell) of the men’s golf team give Central three male honorees.
Grond, Linahon and McGriff are all repeat selections from the 2022-23 season. Linahon advanced to be selected as a CSC Academic All-American as well last season.
The five women’s golfers honored were the varsity lineup for the 2023 American Rivers Conference Championships where the team finished in second place. The Dutch men’s golf team finished third as a team and McGriff was 34th individually at the league championships.
Linahon and West both earned all-conference honors on the wrestling mat, with Linahon advancing to the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships for the third year in a row.
Central’s honorees:
Men’s golf (1)
Cole McGriff, jr., men’s golf, Grinnell, Iowa/Grinnell HS, philosophy, 3.93
Women’s golf (5)
Mackenzie Biggs, sr., Bloomington, Ill./Normal HS, music, 3.56
Peyton Bytnar, sr., Bettendorf, Iowa/Bettendorf HS, biology, 3.97
Lydia Grond, jr., Hull, Iowa/Boyden-Hull HS, biochemistry, 3.78
Rachel Sohn, sr., Sutherland, Iowa/South O’Brien HS, actuarial science/accounting, 3.62
Avery Woods, sr., Long Grove, Iowa/North Scott HS, elementary education, 3.69
Wrestling (2)
Gage Linahon, sr., Newton, Iowa/Newton HS, accounting/business management, 3.99
Sam West, jr., Burlington, Iowa/Notre Dame HS, business management
