ASHLAND, Va. – Six Shenandoah University student-athletes have earned Academic All-State honors in selections announced Thursday by the Virginia State Sports Information Directors Association.

The three men and three women all each earned an All-ODAC honor this season with two – Kelsey Jones and Olivia Weinel – grabbing a major award from the league.

Chris Baker (men’s lacrosse), Pearce Bucher (baseball), and Mason Caldwell (football) are the three men’s honorees. Women’s lacrosse player Maddie Re joins Jones and Weinel on the women’s side.

Jones represents field hockey while Weinel is a co-captain of the women’s basketball program.

Along with Jones, Bucher and Re are first team All-ODAC honorees with Caldwell named second team All-ODAC in football and Baker a third team pick for men’s lacrosse.

The honorees were selected by the sports information directors from across the commonwealth from student-athletes with at least a 3.25 average GPA and sophomore academic status. A total of 220 student-athletes from 37 schools were recognized. 

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Baker, an attackman and a Fredericksburg native, had a team-high 25 goals and 15 assists for 40 points this season. Baker scored at least one goal in all but two games and had five games (William Peace, Randolph, Bridgewater, Randolph-Macon, and Mary Washington) with at least three goals.

Baker is an exercise science major with a 3.38 GPA.

Bucher, who was named as the ODAC Player of the Week twice this past season, boasts a 3.69 GPA as an exercise science major. On the field, he was selected first team All-ODAC and All-South Region by both D3baseball.com and the American Baseball Coaches Association.

Bucher hit .375 with 63 hits in 168 at-bats. He started all 42 games for the Hornets.

Caldwell, a co-captain for the football program, earned second team All-ODAC and All-State accolades this spring after posting 11 solo and 17 assisted tackles. Included in this total was 3.5 tackles for loss and a sack versus league champion Randolph-Macon.

Caldwell has a 3.5 GPA as a sports management major, has earned ODAC All-Academic and Hampshire Honor Society honors as well as taking part in Shenandoah's Global Citizenship Project and serving as a Boys & Girls Club mentor.

Jones earned her second straight first team All-ODAC accolade this spring for the field hockey program and was named as the league’s Player of the Year as well as the VaSID Player of the Year. In 2019, she led the nation in assists per game. Jones has a 3.69 GPA as a public health/biology double major.

She led the ODAC this season with 12 goals and 30 points.

Re started 11 of 13 games she played in and had two goals and seven assists for nine points. She was second on the women’s lax team in groundballs, draw controls, and caused turnovers. 

Re, a defender, has a 3.75 GPA as a psychology/pre-occupational therapy major.

Weinel, the 2021 ODAC/Virginia Farm Bureau Scholar-Athlete of the Year for women’s basketball, headlines this sextet with a 3.99 GPA as a Psychology, Criminal Justice, and Spanish triple major. A CoSIDA Academic All-District V honoree, Weinel is currently participating in the NCAA Leadership Training forum.

In 11 games this season, she averaged 12.9 points and 6.2 rebounds per contest.

Shenandoah University's VaSID Academic All-State Team Honorees

• Chris Baker, Men’s Lacrosse, So, 3.38, Exercise Science, Fredericksburg, Va.
• Pearce Bucher, Baseball, So, 3.69, Exercise Science, Stephens City, Va.
• Mason Caldwell, Football, Jr. 3.5, Sports Management, Martinsburg, W. Va.
• Kelsey Jones, Field Hockey, 3.69, Public Health/Biology, Fredericksburg, Va.
• Maddie Re, Women’s Lax, 3.75, Pre-Occupational Therapy, Bel Air, Md.
• Olivia Weinel, Women’s Basketball, 3.99, Psychology/Spanish/Criminal Justice, Mount Airy, Md.