PERKINSTON — Two Mississippi Gulf Coast student-athletes have been named to the 2023-24 College Sports Communicators Academic All-American Women’s At-Large Team for the College Division.
Basketball’s Simaru Fields and softball’s Jett Harrell were named to the Second Team. Fields, a guard from Pass Christian, graduated with a 3.69 GPA in pre-physical therapy, while Harrell, an outfielder/pitcher from Clarksdale, finished her Gulf Coast career with a 3.96 GPA in marketing and communications strategy.
“It means a lot,” Fields said. “It means all the hard work and dedication I put in on the court and in school is paying off. To be chosen as one of the 20 recipients, that’s incredible.”
The criteria for voting on the CSC All-American Team includes performance on the court or field, and Fields excelled there, too.
She helped lead coach Hope Adams‘ Gulf Coast team to its first MACCC title since 2000 and first NJCAA Tournament appearance since 1977. She averaged 14.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.8 steals, finishing seventh in the conference in scoring and 10th in steals.
She earned NJCAA All-American Second Team honors and was a two-time All-Region 23 and All-MACCC performer. Fields learned about the award Monday while she was in summer school study hall at Old Dominion University, where she will continue her collegiate career at the NCAA Division I level.
“I have to give it to my coaches at Gulf Coast,” Fields said. “They gave us study hall hours every day, and that helped me a lot. It helped me put the focus on my work while I was there, and then when I left there, I could focus on basketball on other things. The (Learning Resources Center) had a lot of resources for us, and it was a quiet place to work. It had areas where if you wanted to be by yourself, you can work there. There were tutors there who could help you with whatever you needed help in.”
Harrell was a star two-way player for coach David Kuhn‘s Bulldogs. She batted .361 with seven home runs and 48 RBI as a sophomore. She finished eighth in the MACCC in RBI. In the circle, she finished 12-7 with a 3.79 ERA. Harrell earned All-MACCC honors in both seasons.
“This means a lot to me because being an athlete and having to keep up with your academics, having everything on your plate, you have to work through that and manage your time,” Harrell said. “It’s more than just your sport. It’s time management and the people at Gulf Coast who helped me, the advisors, the tutors in the LRC, the coaches, everybody who helped me along the way. You can’t do something like that by yourself. It takes a village to do something like that.”
Balancing school with softball was demanding. Her hard work in both areas has paid off, and she heads to San Antonio in August to continue her collegiate career. She’ll be playing for NCAA Division I UTSA.
She also credited the Learning Resourses Center for helping her complete a stellar academic career.
“Having somewhere that’s a quiet space, it can be really hectic,” Harrell said. “To go into the LRC at night by yourself ,and then utilizing your time after practice and before in the morning, that was the biggest thing. Then, my instructors helping me out, giving me work early or helping with deadlines. All my instructors really worked with me, knowing I played softball. Without that, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything.”
The College Division includes all community colleges, Canadian colleges and American four-year schools not associated with the NCAA or NAIA.
For more information on MGCCC’s 12 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.
This post originally posted at https://www.mgcccbulldogs.com/landing/index by MGCCC Athletics
