GREENSBORO, N.C. – Brooke Goyings (Lake Villa, Ill.), Shiloh Gray (Lexington, N.C.), Savannah Newton (Concord, N.C.), Abbey Whelan (Gaithersburg, Md.), and Kalissa Williams (Roanoke Rapids, N.C.) were picked from the Guilford College Softball team to the Collegiate Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District team, with Williams advancing as a selection to the national ballot for the chance at CSC Academic All-America status, as announced by the organization on Tuesday.

In order to qualify for the honor in softball, student-athletes must be at least an academic and athletic sophomore, maintaining a cumulative GPA of 3.50 or higher in the classroom. Meanwhile on the field, a player must appear in 90 percent of the team's games or start in 66 percent of them, with the lone exception being for pitchers who must make 17 appearances in the circle, or throw 35.0 innings or more. No more than five student-athletes may be nominated per school. For the second time in the last three years, Guilford softball maxed out their eligible honorees with excellence in and out of the classroom.

Williams, adds her first Academic All-District nod to her second-straight All-ODAC pick. She would be eligible on the back of her pitching performance alone, making 11 appearances with seven starts and accruing 36.1 innings. Williams' 5.59 ERA and 2.28 WHIP are way down from her freshman season marks while she finished with a 1-2 record in the circle. That said, it was Williams' performance in the batters box that set her apart, earning all-conference as a designated player by leading the Quakers in triple-slash at .419/.507/.632 for a team-best 1.139 OPS. She also led the squad in hits, with 49, doubles, with 10, RBI, with 24, total bases, with 74, and walks, with 21, on top of being tied for the team-lead for longballs, with five. Williams did all that damage across 41 games with 40 starts, compiling 117 at-bats while also going 4-4 on steals and scoring 15 runs, tied for third-most on the team. A two-way star on the diamond, Williams is also a two-way star in the classroom, double-majoring at Guilford in the Criminal Justice and Biology programs owning a 3.59 GPA. Williams now advances to the national ballot for the chance to earn Academic All-America distinction, with the national ballot factoring in an athlete's academic and athletic achievement, in addition to their leadership on-and-off the diamond. Williams is one of 152 players nationally to advance to the national ballot and be in the running for CSC Academic All-American honors in addition to being one of four players from the ODAC to advance to this stage of the process.

Goyings duplicates her 2025 Academic All-District nod this season at the end of a second-straight strong campaign as a table-setter in the Quakers lineup. Making 39 starts out of her 40 appearances through GC's 42 contests this season, the sophomore slashed a quality .353/.375/.395. Finishing second on the team in hits, with 42, on her way to a batting average that also ranked fourth on the roster, Goyings came around to score 22 times, tied for the most among Quakers. Included in her hits total were five doubles while the second-year starting second baseman drew four walks and three hit by pitches while only fanning twice over 119 at-bats. Goyings also paced the team in total sacrifices, with six, and went 9-11 on steals. Off the diamond, Goyings is a member of the Guilford Forensic Biology program, in which she owns a 3.65 cumulative GPA.

Taking home her third-straight Academic All-District honor on top of her three-consecutive All-ODAC nods, Gray caps her decorated Quaker career in which she was a standout on both sides of the ball, and both sides of the foul lines. GC's second-most productive batter was also their ace, pacing the team in appearances and starts, opening 12 contests across 18 appearances, tossing a team-high 73.1 innings with Quaker-bests in ERA, at 3.15, WHIP, at 1.40, batting average against, at .279, complete games, with seven, shutouts, with two, strikeouts, with 51, and K/BB ratio at 2.55. All that culminated in a 6-7 record in the circle for the fifth-year two-way. At the plate, Gray slashed .375/.431/.510, ranking second among Quaker qualifiers in each mark in addition to OPS, with a .941 mark. Making 31 starts among her 36 games played, Gray accrued 36 hits including eight doubles, a triple, and a home run, drawing 11 walks and striking out just twice over 96 at-bats. Gray completed her degree in Forensic Biology with a 3.82 GPA before serving this season as a student in the Masters of Criminal Justice program, posting a 3.94 GPA.

Newton transferred into Guilford this year and became an immediate impact player, finishing as the only Quaker to appear in all 42 contests this spring, let alone start in all of them. Bringing stability to the top of the GC lineup, as well as defensively in centerfield, Newton finished with a .275/.322/.433 slash line that featured good power, with four doubles, four triples, and three home runs, plus a bunch of speed that saw her finish as the team-leader in steals, going 16-18 on her attempts. Over a team-high 134 at-bats, Newton struck out 13 times but also walked on nine occasions, finishing second on the squad in RBIs, with 21, and tied for the team lead in runs scored, with 22. In her first season in Greensboro after transferring in from Limestone University Newton is studying Criminal Justice and owns a 3.70 cumulative GPA across her two stops.

Wrapping up the Guilford honorees and making the Academic All-District squad in her first year of eligibility, Whelan claims the honor at the end of a strong second season that saw her establish herself as the future ace of the Quakers. Tossing in 15 games and making 10 starts, second-most on the team, the second-year right-hander completed 58.2 frames. Even with Gray for the team-lead in shutouts, with two, Whelan went the distance in three of her starts to rank second in complete games. Pitching to a 4.89 ERA and 1.69 WHIP, Whelan also was second on the squad in K's, with 46, batting average against, at .321, and K/BB ratio, at 2.30. Academically, Whelan owns a GPA of 3.89 in the Guilford Psychology program while minoring in Sports Administration.

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