REPOSTED WITH PERMISSION - ARTICLE by Brian Ogden, Assistant Coordinator/Communications

STARKVILLE - Senior MaKayla Waldner was named to the All-SEC First Team as a midfielder, the league office announced on Sunday. The Dexter, Missouri, native was also named Co-Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
 
Waldner led all SEC midfielders with 10 goals and was second in points (21) in the regular season. She leads Mississippi State in goals, points, shots and shots on goal. The Bulldog captain broke rewrote the MSU record book in her final season.
 
She now holds the career game-winning goals record (11) and is second in school history in career goals (28), shots (200) and multi-goal games (5). Waldner is tied for third in career points (59). She is one of five players in program history to score 10 goals in a year and posted the 10^th 20-point season on record.
 
Her 10 goals ranked fifth in the SEC this season, and the Bulldogs were undefeated when she scored, going 6-0-2 in such matches. She ranked among the top 100 players nationally in goals, goals per game, points and game-winning goals.
 
"I went into this season with a mindset of I have to leave everything out on the field," Waldner said. "This is my last chance to make a mark on Mississippi State, my last chance to be Bulldog. At the beginning of every season, I write down goals for myself and for the team. This year my goal was to be named All-SEC as a personal goal, and a team goal I had was to make the SEC Tournament. Having that constant reminder in my locker, gave me that extra edge."
 
Waldner has excelled off the field throughout her career as well and can now add Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors to her extensive resume. The senior mechanical engineering major shared the award with Alabama's Nealy Martin and Missouri's Sarah Luebbert. Waldner was also the Bulldogs' representative on the SEC Community Service Team this year.
 
She boasts a 3.60 GPA and has earned SEC Academic Honor Roll recognition every year of her career. She is a three-time President's List honoree and has made the Dean's List twice. Last year, she won the Newsom Award, given to the player with the highest GPA in each sport at MSU.
 
"Being the Scholar-Athlete makes me feel very proud," Waldner added. "It shows the hard work I've put into it, trusting my studies and doing what I know I have to do to get a degree. It means a lot to me to say that, as a mechanical engineering student, I was able to get a Scholar-Athlete award."
 
Waldner is just the fourth first-team selection in MSU history and the first since Catalina Perez in 2017. The last Bulldog to be named Scholar-Athlete of the Year was Mallory Eubanks in 2017 as well.
 
Waldner extends MSU's streak of having a student-athlete in at least one sport win the academic honor to three years. In that span, seven Bulldogs have done so in soccer, men's tennis, women's tennis, women's basketball and men's outdoor track and field.
 
The Bulldogs open the SEC Tournament at 3:30 p.m. CT on Sunday afternoon against Ole Miss. The match will air on SEC Network.
 
For more information on the Bulldog soccer program, follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for "HailStateSOC."