Valparaiso University men’s golf sophomore Caleb VanArragon (Blaine, Minn. / Blaine) added another line to his list of accolades on Thursday as he was named the 2020-2021 CoSIDA Academic All-District At-Large First Team for District 5.

VanArragon becomes the second Valpo golfer to earn that honor and first since Kyle Henning in 2013-2014. He was one of 15 men’s student-athletes named to the team from District 5, which includes the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. He was one of four men’s golf student-athletes from those states to garner the accolade and earned a place on the team while competing against student-athletes from the following men’s sports: golf, gymnastics, fencing, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, swimming, tennis, volleyball, water polo and wrestling.

VanArragon, who owns a perfect 4.0 grade point average with a double major in biology and statistics, also earned the Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award, the MVC Elite 17 Award, All-MVC First Team and MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team this season. In addition, VanArragon was the 2019-20 MVC Newcomer of the Year and earned All-MVC honors as a freshman.

A top-5 finisher in the 2021 MVC Championship, VanArragon owns the top two single-season scoring averages in Valpo’s program history at 72.57 in 2019-20 and 72.59 in 2020-21. He currently holds the best career scoring average in program history at 72.58 through two seasons. A four-time MVC Golfer of the Week, VanArragon finished as the medalist or individual runner-up in each of his final three tournaments prior to this year’s MVC Championship. The sophomore overcame a five-stroke deficit in the final round to win the Wright State Invitational, earning his first career individual medalist honor in an 87-player field at 210 (-3).

VanArragon finished second of 108 in the Twin Oaks Intercollegiate and second of 70 in the Butler Invitational. He produced five top-5 finishes, nine rounds of par or better and five sub-70 rounds including a career-best 68 on four occasions this season. A member of Christ College, Valpo’s Honors College, VanArragon graduated second in a class of 639 at Blaine High School with a GPA of 4.26. He has earned Valpo dean’s list honors every semester.

A member of Valpo LuMin, a Lutheran student organization centered around the four pillars of community, learning, reflection and service, VanArragon is also the biology club historian and a biology lab aide. He ran over 20 junior golf tournaments throughout the state of Minnesota for the Minnesota Junior PGA during the 2020 summer.

Members of the CoSIDA Academic All-District Teams will advance to the Academic All-America ballot.

NCAA DIVISION I – DISTRICT 5 (IL, IN, MI, OH)

FIRST TEAM

Sport               Name                                     School                                                  Yr.   GPA         Major

Lacrosse          Alex Akins                              University of Detroit Mercy                    Gr.   3.90/4.00  MBA

Wrestling          Myles Amine                           University of Michigan                            Gr.   3.40/3.82  Business Admin.

Swimming         Ben Bramley                           Purdue University                                  Jr.    3.89          Finance

Swimming         Andrew Capobianco               Indiana University                                  Jr.    3.75          Exercise Science

Ice Hockey       Austin Kamer                          Michigan State University                      Sr.   4.00          Chemical Engineering

Wrestling          Mason Kauffman                    Northern Illinois University                     Sr.   4.00          Kinesiology

Wrestling          Max Lyon                               Purdue University                                  Sr.   3.87          Industrial Management Ice Hockey                                Strauss Mann                                        University of Michigan                         Jr.                                           3.91                                                       Business

Tennis              Jannik Opitz                           Western Michigan University                 Gr.   4.00/4.00  Applied Statistics

Golf                  James Piot                             Michigan State University                      Sr.   3.66          Finance

Tennis              Boris Spanjaard                      DePaul University                                  Gr.   3.61/4.00  Business

Ice Hockey       Alex Steeves                          University of Notre Dame                       Jr.    3.92          Accounting

Golf                  Caleb VanArragon                  Valparaiso University                             So.  4.00          Biology / Statistics

Golf                  Joe Weiler                              Purdue University                                  Sr.   3.85          Industrial Engineering
Golf                        Jared Wilson                          Kent State University                             Jr.    3.98            Computer Science