Aurora University Athletics

The prestigious list of Spartans who have been selected as an Academic All-American by Google Cloud / CoSIDA grew on Tuesday afternoon as Aurora University softball senior Elaine Walker was named a Second-Team Academic All-America. Walker now has the distinction of being named both an athletic and academic All-American in the same season.

Walker, an accounting major finished the 2019 season with a 474 batting average, 14 doubles, one triple, nine home runs, 43 runs batted in and 48 runs scored. She added a .750 slugging percentage and .520 on-base percentage while fielding .946. She departs as one of the most decorated Spartan softball players in program history, holding career records for at bats (619), hits (275), singles (187), doubles (54), runs batted in (163) and batting average (.444).

Her first CoSIDA Academic All-America selection adds to her lengthy career accomplishments at AU. She was a two-time Academic All-District selection from CoSIDA, a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference and AU Scholar-Athlete in 2015-2016, 2016-2017, 2017-2018 and will be in 2018-2019 when those teams are announced.

Earlier in 2019 she was named a 2019 National Fastpitch Coaches Association Second-Team All-American. She was a two-time Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Player of the Year, Walker was the 2016 Louisville Slugger/NFCA First-Team All-American at catcher, she is a four-time NFCA Great Lakes region All-Region performer and a four-time NACC First-Team All-Conference selection. 

The Spartan softball team finished the 2019 season with a 28-16 overall record and were 16-6 in the NACC regular season which was good for a third place finish overall and in the NACC Tournament.

The CoSIDA Google Cloud Academic All-America teams are selected by CoSIDA member sports information directors based on the student-athletes' academic prowess while being a steady influence on their respective athletic field. To be considered for the honor, the nominated student-athletes are required to maintain a minimum 3.30 cumulative grade-point average throughout their academic career at their respective institution. A complete list of AU's CoSIDA Academic All-America selections can be seen here.