Five Tigers earn CSC Men’s At-Large Academic All-District recognition

| 2023-24 CSC Men's At-Large Academic All-District release |

SPRINGFIELD — Wittenberg senior Kody Gould (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport), junior Justin Katona (Liberty Township, Ohio/Lakota East) and sophomores Michael Yurk (Indianapolis, Ind./Bishop Chatard), Eli Halverson (Hamilton, Ohio/Badin) and Dillon McKeigue (Olmsted Township, Ohio/St. Edwards) were named to the College Sports Communicators NCAA Division III Men's At-Large Academic All-District Team for the 2023-24 season, the organization announced on Tuesday.

The CSC Academic All-District Team recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances in athletics and in the classroom. To earn CSC Academic All-District distinction, student-athletes must be a sophomore or above in class standing with a cumulative GPA of at least 3.50 while competing in at least 90% or starting in at least 66% of their team's contests. Academic All-District honorees advance to the CSC Academic All-America ballot. First, Second and Third Team Academic All-America honorees will be announced on July 17.

Of the men's sports offered at Wittenberg, CSC's at-large category includes golf, lacrosse and volleyball.

Wittenberg's honorees represent two of those sports, as Gould, Katona and McKeigue played lacrosse, and Yurk and Halverson played volleyball during the 2023-24 season.

Academically, Katona leads the group with a cumulative 4.00 GPA, followed by Halverson (3.83), Gould (3.65), McKeigue (3.56) and Yurk (3.50).

Gould, a sociology major, closed the 2024 lacrosse season as an All-NCAC Third Team honoree after recording 25 points on 22 goals and three assists to go with eight ground balls and five caused turnovers in his 12 starts. He tallied three hat tricks and ranked fourth on the team in goals and tied for fourth in points.

In 47 career games at Wittenberg, Gould tallied 94 points on 75 goals and 19 assists.

Katona, a molecular biology major, joined Gould on the All-NCAC Third Team after ranking second on the team in caused turnovers (12) to go with 14 ground balls in 12 games from his defensive position.

In 30 career games, Katona has 29 caused turnovers and 30 ground balls.

McKeigue, an accounting and economics major, started 11 of the 12 games in which he played in 2024 and led the Tigers in points (48) and goals (37) while ranking second in assists (11). He recorded six hat tricks and ranked third in the NCAC in goals per game and sixth in points per game while adding 30 ground balls and seven caused turnovers to his stat line. He earned NCAC Athlete of the Week recognition on April 30 after breaking the program's single-game points record with 12 on nine goals and three assists in a 19-8 win at Westminster on April 27.

In 26 career games, McKeigue has 93 points on 64 goals and 29 assists to go with 57 ground balls and 19 caused turnovers.

Yurk and Halverson helped spark the Wittenberg men's volleyball team to a Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League regular-season championship with an unbeaten record in conference play in 2024 en route to a runner-up finish in the MCVL Tournament.

Yurk, a management major, was named to the All-MCVL First Team and All-MCVL Tournament Team and was a two-time MCVL Player of the Week selection. He played in 27 matches and led the team in kills with a single-season program record 342 while posting a .276 hitting percentage to go with 164 digs, 34 aces and 32 blocks. He closed the season ranked fourth in the MCVL in kills and aces and 10th in hitting percentage.

In 52 career matches at Wittenberg, Yurk has 535 kills with a .248 hitting percentage to go with 219 digs, 59 blocks, 40 aces and 21 assists. He ranks fourth all-time in career kills.

Halverson, a sport management and data science major, was named to the All-MCVL Second Team and All-MCVL Tournament Team in 2024. He played in 24 matches and ranked second on the team with 248 kills to go with a .288 hitting percentage, 109 digs, 29 blocks and 20 aces. He ranked eighth in the MCVL in hitting percentage and ninth in kills.

In 51 career matches at Wittenberg, Halverson has 505 kills and a .274 hitting percentage along with 236 digs, 66 blocks, 45 aces and 25 assists. He ranks sixth all-time in career kills.