AUSTIN, Texas (June 15, 2020) - Both Florida SouthWestern State College and Tallahassee Community College achieved a first on Monday - both schools had student-athletes named an Academic All-American® by College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Florida SouthWestern's Owen Bowers and Tallahassee's Genevieve Printiss were named to the 10-member 2020 Academic All-America® College Division Women's At-Large Team, as selected by CoSIDA.
CoSIDA's college division includes all two-year institutions (NJCAA, CCCAA, NWAC), Canadian institutions and any United States four-year institutions that are not affiliated with the NCAA or NAIA.
Despite the cancellation of spring competition due to COVID-19, CoSIDA continued its sponsorship of the Academic All-America awards program. To be eligible for the CoSIDA Academic All-America® College Division Team, student-athletes must have been at their current institution for a minimum of one year (two semesters) and carry a minimum 3.3 GPA while being a key starter or reserve on their athletic team. Due to the shortened Spring 2020 season, CoSIDA used career statistics for all student-athletes in this cycle.
A Pre-Med major, Bowers had a perfect 4.00 GPA in her two years at FSW and a 3.83 overall GPA including post-secondary classes transferred in from high school.
Equally as good on the field as in the classroom, Bowers slugged her way to a .406 batting average and 1.327 OPS the past two seasons, etching her name in a number of FSW all-time record book categories despite playing just a half a season in 2020 due to COVID-19. Her 18 home runs are second in program history while her 23 doubles and 94 RBIs both rank third. She was a 1st Team NJCAA All-American as a freshman in 2019 when she set program records with 18 doubles, 17 home runs, and 79 RBIs while leading the Bucs to a 54-3 record and a #1 National ranking throughout the season.
A native of Carrabelle, Fla., Printiss graduated from TCC in May following a career that covered time on both the trails and track. A two-year letterwinner in cross country, she was about to embark on her sophomore season in track when the COVID-19 pandemic ended the 2020 just as it was getting started. In 2019, she finished third at the FCSAA Cross Country Championships to earn All-State honors and placed 67th overall at the NJCAA Championships in Albuquerque, N.M. As a freshman, she qualified for the NJCAA Division I Track Championships in the 1500m.
Printiss' impressive list of academic accolades already includes 2020 NATYCAA Scholar-Athlete Honorable Mention, two-time NJCAA Scholar All-America by the NJCAA Cross Country Coaches Association, the 2020 FCSAA Larry Monts Scholar-Athlete Award for women's cross country, and 2020 TCC Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year. As a freshman, she earned First-team All-Academic honors from the NJCAA and was named All-Academic by both the FCSAA and Panhandle Conference – and she will repeat each of those as they are released during the summer.