FULTON -- For the first time in school history, Itawamba Community College had 10 Academic All-Americans during one school year. ICC Athletic Director Carrie Ball-Williamson was proud the announce the record breaking list, which included student-athletes from six different sports at the College during the 2008-09 school year.

Leading the way with a perfect 4.0 GPA was Amory�€™s Kathleen Wathen (women's soccer) and Courtney Cannon (women's basketball) of Starkville. The other two ICC student-athletes that received Distinguished Academic All-American (3.8 GPA and higher) were Tyler Smith (men's soccer) of Corinth with a 3.89 GPA and Mooreville's Josh Chism (baseball) with a 3.80 GPA.

Carl Ballard (men's tennis) of Shannon just missed the highest academic honor handed out by the NJCAA with a 3.78 GPA. Anyone with a 3.6 to 3.8 GPA falls under the Academic All-American category. Joining Ballard on this list with a 3.70 GPA was Mantachie's Mandy Lindsey (softball), Charles Ormon (men's soccer) of New Albany with a 3.69 GPA, Tupelo's Morgan Sullivan (women's soccer) with a 3.63 GPA, Jason Vinson (men's tennis) of Tupelo with a 3.62 GPA and Fulton's Cade Riley (baseball) with a 3.60 GPA.

"I'm so proud of each and every one of these student-athletes," said Ball-Williamson. "To achieve this kind of feat while playing a sport on the college level is astonishing. We have never come close to getting that many on the Academic All-American squad in one year here at ICC. These 10 have set a benchmark for our student-athletes to try to hit each year from here on out."

Release provided by ICC Athletics.