East Panhandle News

The Eastern Florida State College athletics department had one of its most successful season in school history.

The Titans had five of the 11 sports reach the NJCAA Division I National Championship Tournament and the women's soccer team won the program's first NJCAA Division I National Championship.

The women's soccer team won the first EFSC team championship since the men's golf team won a national title in 1991. The defense allowed just two goals in the final 10 games and only one goal in the tournament and handed Tyler Junior College its first loss in 52 games for the title.

Kurumi Arakawa was named a first team NJCAA All-American while teammate Laura Cetina was named the United Soccer Coaches Women's Soccer Junior College National Player of the Year and was named to the United Soccer Coaches first team All-America team.

In the winter season the women's basketball team reached the NJCAA Division I National Championship Tournament for the first time in school history, reaching the quarterfinals of the national tournament as the No. 18 seed fell in overtime in the Elite Eight.

The women's basketball team also had their first NJCAA Division I first team All-American as Rapuluchi Ngorka was named an All-American.

The spring season saw three teams qualify for the NJCAA Division I National Championship Tournament including the women's golf team who made their first appearance in the national tournament.

The women's golf team placed sixth overall in the national tournament and freshman Morela Boyd was named a second team All-American, the first women's golfer to be named an All-American.

The men's golf team played in the National Tournament for the 19th straight season and once again placed among the best teams in the country, placing fifth overall.

Golfers John Houchin and Drew Lanier were both named NJCAA Division I All-Americans. 

The men's tennis team made the national tournament for the fourth straight season and finished seventh overall in the tournament.

All five teams finished in the top 8 in the nation and seven of the 11 teams made the state tournament. 

In the classroom, Eastern Florida State College student athletes had a combined 3.20 GPA this season with nine of the 11 teams posting GPA's over 3.0.

Original source can be found here.