Central’s Taylor named to basketball Academic All-America squad

Central College

PELLA — Senior forward Colby Taylor (Creston) of the Central College men’s basketball squad was named to the Academic All-America Division III men’s basketball team as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Tuesday.

Taylor was named to the third team with a 3.41 cumulative grade point average while majoring in actuarial science.

To be eligible for academic all-America consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity contributor, maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.30 or better and have reached sophomore standing. CoSIDA members first submit ballots for a district team before selected nominees advance for consideration on the national squad.

Taylor led the Iowa Conference with 21.0 points per game and was third at 7.8 rebounds per contest. The school’s all-time leading scorer, Taylor has been recognized as an all-Iowa Conference performer as a sophomore (second team) and a junior (first team) and will likely be recognized again this season. He’s also a two-time D3hoops.com All-West Region third team selection (2014-15 and 2015-16)

It is the 54th time that a Central student-athlete has received academic all-America distinction and the 3rd time the honor has gone to a member of the Dutch men’s basketball team. The most recent previous honor went to Nate Hart in 1992.

The CoSIDA Division III Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division III national governance structure, to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2016-17 Division III Academic All-America® teams program