Kayli Kvistad
- School
- University of Florida
- Position
- First Base
- Major
- Communication Sciences & Disorders
Classroom
Academically, Kayli Kvistad has achieved one of the highest honors for a student-athlete as she has now twice been named a CoSIDA Academic All-American (second-team). Her dedication to her work in the classroom has also resulted in three appearances on the SEC Academic Honor Roll, and she was selected as an NFCA All-America scholar-athlete as a freshman in 2015. She plans to receive her bachelor’s degree in communication sciences and disorders in May 2018 and holds a 3.70 GPA. After graduating, she plans to pursue her master’s in speech therapy.
Character
Kvistad is considered to be in the top one percent as person, student, player, worker and teammate. It’s very rare that a coach has the opportunity to lead someone who is of such a high quality character and also performs on the softball diamond at the same high level. However, Kvistad is a very special person and truly deserving of being named one of the nation’s finest student-athletes.
Community
Not only is Kvistad a standout in the classroom and on the field, but she also has dedicated more than 60 hours to community service throughout her time at Florida. Over the years, she has contributed to helping with more than 10 different organizations and activities. Among those contributions were visits to Trinity United Methodist Church to help prepare Thanksgiving food baskets, helping collect and deliver shoes to local youth for the Gator Tracks program, playing kickball after practice with the Alachua County Special Olympics organization and making visits to the UF Shands Hospital.
Competition
Kvistad has seen steady improvement over her career on the softball diamond. In 2017, her patience at the plate resulted in single-season school records in walks with 67 and on-base percentage with .554. The two-time NFCA All-American (third-team 2017, second-team 2016) and All-SEC first-team selection currently ranks in the top 10 in UF’s career record book in six different offensive categories: batting average (.336), slugging percentage (.577), on-base percentage (.497), RBIs (149), walks (128) and fielding percentage (.995).
