Three Shelby County basketball players bestowed Academic All-State honor

The Indiana Basketball Coaches Association recently released who was selected Academic All-State for 2026.

Eighty-seven high school seniors – 44 boys and 43 girls – were chosen Academic All-State. In addition, 233 more boys and 181 more girls were recognized as honorable mention Academic All State.

The IBCA Academic All-State program is one where academic prowess and athletic prowess are both considered in the selections. Items such as grade point average, academic class rank and SAT or ACT scores are considered along with athletic performance in areas such as points per game, rebounds per game and assists per game.

“The quality of these student-athletes shows that success in academics and success in athletics are not separate entities,” said IBCA Executive Director Marty Johnson. “Rather, in many cases, a player’s success in the classroom directly contributes to his or her success on the floor.”

IBCA-member head coaches from schools across the state may nominate their senior student-athletes who meet criteria that include a 3.50 GPA or higher on a 4.0 scale, a class rank in the upper 25% of one’s class, and either an SAT score of 1100 or an ACT composite score of 24. Once nominations were received, an IBCA committee reviewed the information and determined awards for first team and honorable mentions.

Three Shelby County athletes were named Academic All-State.

Shelbyville’s Caden Claxton and Triton Central’s Eli Sego were honored as was Shelbyville’s Hannah Baker.

Other notable boys selections were Mt. Vernon’s Luke Ertel, New Castle’s Mason Miller, Eastern Hancock’s Caden Powers, and Pendleton Heights’ Ashaan Singh.

Other notable girls selections were Addison Barnes of Delta, Olivia Jones of Pendleton Heights, Alexa Sichting of Indian Creek, Kenna Streeval of Edinburgh, Lilly Sylvester of Yorktown, and 2026 Miss Basketball Gracyn Gilliard of Center Grove.

Five more Shelby County boys were named honorable mention Academic-All-State. They are Triton Central’s Conner McClure, Waldron’s Noah Mitchell, Southwestern’s Cecil Newton, and Shelbyville’s Gavin Reed and Cole Schene.

The IBCA has selected an individual Academic All-State team for boys since 1973. The program was expanded to include a girls’ individual Academic All-State team in 1980.

The IBCA also honored 128 teams for a new award – the IBCA Team Academic Award. To qualify, each team had a cumulative team GPA of 3.50 or better when averaging the first semester GPAs of all players on its 2026 sectional roster.

Both Triton Central teams were selected. The boys basketball team was one of 29 teams honored. The girls basketball team was one of 99 to meet the criteria.

Other notable boys teams honored were Batesville, Connersville and Hauser. Other girls teams were Eastern Hancock, Edinburgh, Greenfield-Central, Greensburg, Indian Creek, Oldenburg Academy, Rushville, South Decatur and Speedway.

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