Nine Gators Honored With SEC Academic Awards

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Nine men’s tennis student-athletes were awarded with Southeastern Conference academic honors as announced by the conference office on Thursday morning.

A total of seven Gators – Andy Andrade, Josh Goodger, Will Grant, Lukas Greif, Sam Riffice, Ben Shelton and Duarte Vale – made the 2022 SEC Spring Academic Honor Roll, while two more – Nate Bonetto and Mattias Siimar – earned a spot on the 2021-22 SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll.

The 2022 SEC Spring Academic Honor Roll is based on grades from the 2021-22 summer, fall and spring terms. Florida placed 299 student-athletes on 2021-22 SEC Fall, Winter and Spring Academic Honor Rolls and 124 on the Spring Academic Honor Roll list. Seventy-nine student-athletes also made the SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll.

These honors come after seven Gators were recently recognized with ITA Scholar-Athlete accolades and the team made the ITA All-Academic list with a 3.65 overall GPA for the 2021-22 season.

Winning their third consecutive SEC title, the men’s tennis team continued to dominate its competition throughout the year. Making an NCAA Quarterfinal appearance, Florida won its sixth SEC Tournament title, went undefeated at home and in conference play and had six Gators collect seven SEC honors.

Ben Shelton, who won the 2022 NCAA Singles title, was named the ITA National Player of the Year and SEC Player of the Year. Riffice claimed the program’s second SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year honor and first national ITA Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship & Leadership award. Leading the team to 26 wins, head coach Bryan Shelton was named the SEC Coach of the Year and ITA Southeast Regional Coach of the Year.

To be recognized to the SEC Academic Honor Roll, each student-athlete must 1) have a GPA of 3.00 for either the preceding academic year or have a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or above at the nominating institution; 2) be on scholarship, a letterwinner or have participated on a varsity team for two years if non-scholarship; 3) have completed 24 semester hours of non-remedial credit at the nominating institution; and 4) have been a member of the varsity team for the sport’s entire NCAA Championship segment.

To be recognized to the SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll, each student-athlete must 1) have a GPA of 3.00 for either the preceding academic year or have a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or above at the nominating institution; 2) be on scholarship, a letterwinner; 3) have completed 24 semester hours of…