SHREVEPORT, La. - Centenary was bestowed a pair of honors by the Louisiana Sports Writer's Association (LSWA) when senior Michael Schimpf of Gents baseball and sophomore Jessica Varner of Ladies golf were named All-Louisiana in a vote of Sports Information Directors and LSWA members in the Pelican State.
This is the first honor for Varner, while Schimpf received Second Team All-Louisiana honors as an outfielder for the second-straight season.
Varner finished 30th in the NCAA Division III women's golf with a scoring average of 78.38, ranking 29th with 31 birdies, and 24th in par-5 scoring (5.10) in 2017. She won medalist honors at both the Al Jones Memorial and Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships, becoming the first Maroon and White conference medalist since Hal Sutton in 1979 and 1980. For her win at the Conference championships, Varner grabbed SCAC Women's Golfer of the Year accolades.
Varner's win at the Al Jones Memorial was the first tournament individual win for the Ladies in 5 years.
In helping Gents baseball win both the SCAC Regular Season and Tournament titles, and qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history, Schimpf received Second Team All-America accolades from D3Baseball.com as an outfielder. He finished his senior campaign with a .405 batting average, becoming only the second player to lead the conference in batting average for a season twice in his career. He was the only player in the SCAC with an on-base percentage above .500, finishing sixth in the nation at .547. Schimpf finished second in the SCAC to other Gents in runs scored to classmate Aaron Quintanilla (54, 21st in the nation), and RBI's (48, 41st in the nation) and slugging percentage (.622) to junior Chris Zapata.
Schimpf completed his four years in a Gents uniform ranking in the top-10 in numerous categories in the Centenary career annals, including first with 53 hit-by-pitches, second with 166 runs and eight triples, third with 223 hits and 300 total bases, sixth with a .366 batting average and with 34 doubles, and 10th with 37 stolen bases. Schimpf was named All-Conference all four seasons, being named to the First Team three times (2014, 2016-17) and Second Team once (2015). He appeared on the SCAC All-Tournament team his sophomore through senior seasons.
To go along with his success on the Diamond, Schimpf earned Academic AllAmerica honors from the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) the past two years - becoming Centenary's first First Team Academic All-American.
