(DAHLONEGA) – The University of North Georgia men’s golf team had three players named as 2023-24 Cobalt Golf All-America Scholars for NCAA Division II as announced by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) on Thursday.
Seniors Stephen Kinsel, Noah Zediker and graduate student Jack Vajda were the trio of Nighthawks to earn the academic honor.
To be eligible for an NCAA Division II Cobalt Golf All-America Scholar nomination, an individual must be a sophomore, junior or senior both academically and athletically. In addition, they must participate in 50% of their team’s competitive rounds, have a stroke average 78.0 and maintain a minimum cumulative career grade-point average of 3.2. A recipient must also be of high moral character and be in good standing at their college or university.
Kinsel, Zediker and Vajda check all the boxes with flying colors as the trio continue to be outstanding representatives of UNG men’s golf both on the course and in the classroom.
For both Kinsel and Zediker, a pair of recent graduates from UNG, this honor arrives in a fourth consecutive year for each of them. Since 2020, both golfers have been named as an All-American Scholar by the GCAA every year. They make up a large portion of a contingent of 15 GCAA All-American Scholars in the last five years under the direction of head coach Bryson Worley.
Both Kinsel and Zediker graduated from UNG with a Master’s Degree in Business Administration last May.
While this comes as Vajda’s first career GCAA academic honor, he has been a staple in the GCAA awards collection this season. The Canton, Ga. native has not only now been named an All-American Scholar, but he was also selected to the GCAA All-Region team and All-America First Team earlier in the year. Those selections came prior to the announcement that Vajda was one of five golfers in the entire country to be named a finalist for the NCAA Division II Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year Award.
