ROCHESTER, N.Y. --- Moravian College golfers sophomore Kody Long and junior Tyler Smith have been selected to the Empire 8 Athletic Conference 2016 Fall President's List as the Empire 8 honored over 800 student-athletes for their athletics contributions and excellence in the classroom, and Moravian was also recognized as an Empire 8 All-Academic Team.
"I am very proud of how hard the entire team worked academically this fall," stated Head Coach Kevin Edwards. "I was very happy for Tyler and Kody because I know how hard they worked to achieve this. But just like any accomplishment this was an entire team effort."
Long played in eight of nine rounds for the Hounds this past fall, and he is currently tied for 14th through the first two rounds of the Empire 8 Championship with a 166. Long is averaging a 81.5 strokes per round while shooting a season low of 74 in the second round of the Andrew Geyer Memorial Tournament.
Smith, who made the President's List for the fifth time in his career, competed in nine of Moravian's rounds during the fall portion of the season. Smith is currently in fifth place after the first two rounds of the four-round Empire 8 Championship with a 154. Over his nine rounds this season, Smith is averaging 76.11 strokes per round with a season low of 69 at the Franklin & Marshall College Fall Invitational, the program's fifth sub-70 round in the past 15 years.
In the classroom, Long and Smith are both majoring in business management with a minor in finance at Moravian. Recipients of this honor must earn a 3.75 grade point average or higher during the semester while participating in a conference-sponsored sport.
In addition, the student-athlete must display positive conduct on and off campus and be enrolled full-time at the member institution. The conference states, "Its commitment to serve the educational needs of its student-athletes is the hallmark of the Empire 8."
The Empire 8 recognized an all-time high 883 student-athletes with the President's List distinction. The previous high was 856 set during the spring of 2016.
Additionally, 117 teams were acknowledged as an Empire 8 All-Academic Team for registering a team grade point average of 3.2 or higher for the fall semester. The 117 teams is two off the all-time record of 119 which was set in the spring of 2016.
The nine full-time conference members sponsored a record number of 4,524 student-athletes who combined for an Empire 8 wide fall semester grade point average of 3.203. The 3.203 GPA is the second highest among Empire 8 members, ranking behind the GPA mark of 3.216 set in the spring of 2016.
