Grand Canyon University Athletics
Coro: GCU trio rolls with honor
6/26/2018 10:22:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Softball, Women's Track and Field, S-A Development, Paul Coro
Lopes boast more Academic All-Americans than rest of WAC
They were the student-athletes who balanced laptops on their legs while riding a team bus.
They exercised their minds when their bodies were exhausted from games and practices.
They crammed research into free airport wifi windows so that they could write papers during team flights.
Joshua Braun, Kayla Finnegan (Wilson) and Laynee Gomez were the Grand Canyon student-athletes who went beyond the norm on and off the field. Because of that, they made GCU stand out for academic and athletic excellence.
The GCU trio earned Academic All-America® honors during the 2017-18 school year, giving the Lopes more Academic All-Americans than the remainder of the Western Athletic Conference programs combined (two). Only 25 universities in the nation boasted more Division I Academic All-Americans than GCU.
Each Lope was the only Arizona collegiate on the Academic All-American team for his/her sport and GCU's three Academic All-Americans was the most for any Arizona university this school year. The teams honor student-athletes who excell academically and athletically.
Braun was selected for a third consecutive season, He earned third-team honors after making the Academic All-America first team in each of the previous two years.
"It was prioritizing school over a lot of things," said Braun, the men's basketball program's first honoree since Kevin Warren in 1986. "Basketball takes up a lot of time. School takes up a lot of time. You have to be smart about managing your time and you've got to be smart about it. I wasn't always good at it but you have to say no to certain things that will pull you in different directions. I had to remember that I'm here to go to school and here to play basketball. Take care of those two things first and then I can explore some different areas and have fun."
After earning an undergraduate degree in business management, Braun finished a graduate degree in business administration in April. The Anthem-raised product is considering professional basketball opportunities overseas after ending his career as GCU's No. 2 all-time scorer and the record-holder for most 3-pointers made in a career.
Finnegan's ability to achieve despite the circumstances was clear since she became a state long jump champion in Oklahoma despite attending a small, rural high school without a track. She continued at Southwestern, a NAIA program in Kansas, but craved the Division I challenge and transferred for the past three seasons at GCU.
Finnegan, picked to the Academic All-America second team, won five WAC titles in the long jump and triple jump while earning straight As for a degree in accounting. She will start law school next at week at Tulsa and is considering sports law or Native American law as a way to give back to the Choctaw Nation that has assisted her financially in college.
"Once the season is over, I get to step back and really appreciate the opportunities I've been given and I thank God for giving me the ability to do it," Finnegan said. "I feel really proud and blessed.
"The honor means more when it's academic. Athletics are great and I love it but, in the end, academics is where it's at. That's how you're going to succeed in life."
Like Braun, Finnegan attributes her time management to her ability to succeed academically while thriving in athletics. Like Gomez, Finnegan described herself as a "perfectionist" whose detail-oriented academic ways transferred to athletics.
Gomez said her drive to do well in school is largely what caught GCU's recruiting attention. The Chandler Perry High School graduate's softball skills grew because she could apply that same work ethic to the field, where she became an All-WAC first team selection with the third highest batting average in WAC games (.442) as a senior.
Gomez completed her undergraduate secondary education degree in December and started courses toward a graduate degree in mental health and wellness. She is returning to her alma mater, Perry, this year as a math teacher and softball coach.
"You could ask any of my teammates that I was always doing my homework," Gomez said. "A lot of people my entire life thought I was this genius kid and I really wasn't. I just worked my butt off my entire life.
"This award was really special because it celebrates both my athletic and the academic achievements that nobody notices when you're an athlete. The other teams doesn't know my GPA and it doesn't matter to them but it does matter to me."
Braun was one of 15 honorees nationally on the three men's basketball Academic All-America teams. Finnegan was one of 13 second-team picks for Division I track and cross country with 17 making first team. Gomez was a third-team pick with 11 players selected to each of the teams. GCU has earned six Academic All-America honors in the past three years while the remainder of WAC schools have tallied five.
"Josh, Kayla, and Laynee exemplify what it means to not only be a student-athlete, but excel at being a student-athlete," Senior Associate Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Development Jason Linders said. "Hopefully, the programming, guidance, and support we offer here at GCU contributed to their continued success. We place an emphasis on the holistic development of our student-athletes. So any time you can celebrate both their academic and athletic achievements, it is special. It is important that we recognize the hard work and dedication of our student-athletes, along with the support of our faculty, coaches, administration and support staff."
GCU student-athletes have received Academic All-America 32 times in the athletic program's history.
Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
They exercised their minds when their bodies were exhausted from games and practices.
They crammed research into free airport wifi windows so that they could write papers during team flights.
Joshua Braun, Kayla Finnegan (Wilson) and Laynee Gomez were the Grand Canyon student-athletes who went beyond the norm on and off the field. Because of that, they made GCU stand out for academic and athletic excellence.
The GCU trio earned Academic All-America® honors during the 2017-18 school year, giving the Lopes more Academic All-Americans than the remainder of the Western Athletic Conference programs combined (two). Only 25 universities in the nation boasted more Division I Academic All-Americans than GCU.
Each Lope was the only Arizona collegiate on the Academic All-American team for his/her sport and GCU's three Academic All-Americans was the most for any Arizona university this school year. The teams honor student-athletes who excell academically and athletically.
Braun was selected for a third consecutive season, He earned third-team honors after making the Academic All-America first team in each of the previous two years.
"It was prioritizing school over a lot of things," said Braun, the men's basketball program's first honoree since Kevin Warren in 1986. "Basketball takes up a lot of time. School takes up a lot of time. You have to be smart about managing your time and you've got to be smart about it. I wasn't always good at it but you have to say no to certain things that will pull you in different directions. I had to remember that I'm here to go to school and here to play basketball. Take care of those two things first and then I can explore some different areas and have fun."
After earning an undergraduate degree in business management, Braun finished a graduate degree in business administration in April. The Anthem-raised product is considering professional basketball opportunities overseas after ending his career as GCU's No. 2 all-time scorer and the record-holder for most 3-pointers made in a career.
Finnegan's ability to achieve despite the circumstances was clear since she became a state long jump champion in Oklahoma despite attending a small, rural high school without a track. She continued at Southwestern, a NAIA program in Kansas, but craved the Division I challenge and transferred for the past three seasons at GCU.
Finnegan, picked to the Academic All-America second team, won five WAC titles in the long jump and triple jump while earning straight As for a degree in accounting. She will start law school next at week at Tulsa and is considering sports law or Native American law as a way to give back to the Choctaw Nation that has assisted her financially in college.
"Once the season is over, I get to step back and really appreciate the opportunities I've been given and I thank God for giving me the ability to do it," Finnegan said. "I feel really proud and blessed.
"The honor means more when it's academic. Athletics are great and I love it but, in the end, academics is where it's at. That's how you're going to succeed in life."
Like Braun, Finnegan attributes her time management to her ability to succeed academically while thriving in athletics. Like Gomez, Finnegan described herself as a "perfectionist" whose detail-oriented academic ways transferred to athletics.
Gomez said her drive to do well in school is largely what caught GCU's recruiting attention. The Chandler Perry High School graduate's softball skills grew because she could apply that same work ethic to the field, where she became an All-WAC first team selection with the third highest batting average in WAC games (.442) as a senior.
Gomez completed her undergraduate secondary education degree in December and started courses toward a graduate degree in mental health and wellness. She is returning to her alma mater, Perry, this year as a math teacher and softball coach.
"You could ask any of my teammates that I was always doing my homework," Gomez said. "A lot of people my entire life thought I was this genius kid and I really wasn't. I just worked my butt off my entire life.
"This award was really special because it celebrates both my athletic and the academic achievements that nobody notices when you're an athlete. The other teams doesn't know my GPA and it doesn't matter to them but it does matter to me."
Braun was one of 15 honorees nationally on the three men's basketball Academic All-America teams. Finnegan was one of 13 second-team picks for Division I track and cross country with 17 making first team. Gomez was a third-team pick with 11 players selected to each of the teams. GCU has earned six Academic All-America honors in the past three years while the remainder of WAC schools have tallied five.
"Josh, Kayla, and Laynee exemplify what it means to not only be a student-athlete, but excel at being a student-athlete," Senior Associate Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Development Jason Linders said. "Hopefully, the programming, guidance, and support we offer here at GCU contributed to their continued success. We place an emphasis on the holistic development of our student-athletes. So any time you can celebrate both their academic and athletic achievements, it is special. It is important that we recognize the hard work and dedication of our student-athletes, along with the support of our faculty, coaches, administration and support staff."
GCU student-athletes have received Academic All-America 32 times in the athletic program's history.
Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
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