University of Minnesota Athletics
Trio Earns Academic All-America Honors
6/14/2018 12:00:00 AM | Women's Hockey
Google Cloud Academic All-America At-Large Teams
MINNEAPOLIS -- A trio of Golden Gophers are among those named to the 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-America Division I Men's & Women's At-Large Teams, selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), the organization announced Thursday. The award recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances in athletics and in the classroom.
The three Gopher honorees represent two University of Minnesota sports as Yaroslav Pochinka from men's gymnastics was named to the Men's At-Large Third Team while Sydney Baldwin and Sidney Peters from women's hockey were both named to the Women's At-Large Third Team.
The at-large teams for the Google Cloud Academic All-America program include the sports of fencing, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, swimming & diving, tennis and water polo for both men and women, as well as beach volleyball, bowling, field hockey and rowing for women, and volleyball and wrestling for men.
Sydney Baldwin, Senior, Women's Hockey
Baldwin, a native of Minnetonka, Minn., had an outstanding senior season, during which she was named a CCM/AHCA First Team All-American, WCHA Player off the Year, and WCHA Defensive Player of the Year. Baldwin also earned All-WCHA First Team honors and a Patty Kazmaier top-10 finalist nod and led the Gophers to the 2018 WCHA Final Faceoff title and the program's 11th-straight NCAA tournament berth. She had at least one point in 23 of 38 games, including seven multi-point games with two multi-goal games. After earning her first Google Cloud Academic All-District award, she has now secured her first Google Cloud Academic All-America award. Baldwin wrapped up her Gophers career as a three-time WCHA Scholar-Athlete and WCHA All-Academic honoree. She graduated with degrees in Health Services Management and Human Resources Development this spring.
Sidney Peters, Redshirt Senior, Women's Hockey
A native of Geneva, Ill., Peters wrapped up her Gophers career by recording a .922 save percentage and a 1.93 goals against average while playing in 28 games for the Maroon & Gold this season. She was named the WCHA Final Faceoff Most Outstanding Player after leading Minnesota to the 2018 WCHA postseason title. Along with her success on the ice, Peters was named the 2018 Hockey Humanitarian Award recipient. She is a four-time WCHA Scholar-Athlete and WCHA All-Academic honoree and has earned her first Google Cloud Academic All-District award of her career. Peters graduated with a degree in Kinesiology and plans to attend medical school at the Uniformed Services University where she will serve in the Air Force.
Yaroslav Pochinka, Senior, Men's Gymnastics
Pochinka earned All-American honors on vault this season with a fourth place finish at the NCAA Championships. He was a finalist for the CGA Event Specialist of the Year and took six regular season podium finishes. He was named both the Big Ten Gymnast of the Week once after scoring a 15.100, the second highest vault score in the entire country during the regular season. He finished the season ranked No. 10 on vault with a 14.575 national qualifying average. He graduated from the University of Minnesota this spring with a degree in Neuroscience finishing with a 3.93 GPA this past academic year.
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