MIAC Announces Fall Academic All-Conference Team

St. Paul – The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honored the league’s top performers in athletics and in the classroom with the announcement of the 2013 Fall Academic All-Conference Teams.  The conference recognized 334 student-athletes who met the combined academic and athletic qualifications, which is a new conference record.

The 334 honorees eclipses the previous record of 330, set just a year ago, by four student-athletes. The past two record-setting fall seasons have seen a significant surge in the number of honorees. Prior to 2012, the MIAC record was 311 (set in 2011). The fall sports recognized included men’s and women’s cross country, football, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball.

Among the list of 334 Academic All-Conference selections, 31 student-athletes were representatives of Gustavus Adolphus College.  The rundown of Gustavus’s honorees includes three men’s cross country runners, five women’s cross country runners, nine football players, three men’s golfers, one women’s golfer, four men’s soccer players, four women’s soccer players, and two volleyball players.

To earn Academic All-Conference honors, MIAC student-athletes must be a sophomore, junior or senior with a minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale while also meeting sport-specific athletic requirements, making the award a perfect blend of the balanced excellence championed by the MIAC and NCAA Division III.

Women’s soccer led the way in the fall of 2013 with 69 MIAC Academic All-Conference honorees, barely edging out football, which had 67 student-athletes recognized. Women’s cross country had 51 selections, men’s soccer had 44, men’s cross country had 41, volleyball had 39, women’s golf had 15 and eight men’s golfers were honored this fall. There were 174 women to receive the honor, and 160 men. Out of the 334 honorees, 208 are from Minnesota, four are international students and the other 122 are from other states within the U.S.

Athletically, student-athletes in team sports must compete in 50 percent of their team’s regular-season varsity contests. The team sports eligible were football, volleyball, men’s soccer and women’s soccer. Cross country student-athletes were required to finish in the overall top 100 of their team’s top seven at the 2013 MIAC Cross Country Championship. Golfers were required to be a member of the competing team at the 2013 MIAC Golf Championships to qualify athletically for the honor.

MIAC Academic All-Conference teams are announced twice annually, after the completion of both the fall and spring academic semesters. The MIAC Winter/Spring 2013-14 Academic All-Conference selections will be announced in late June. The MIAC Academic All-Conference archives can be accessed here.  To see the complete list of MIAC Fall 2013 Academic All-Conference honorees classified by sport, then school, in alphabetical order, please follow the link below.

MIAC Release

Men’s Cross Country (3)
Tanner Davenport (Sr., Ham Lake, Minn.), Joseph Renier (Sr., Cambridge, Minn.), Samuel Renier (So., Cambridge, Minn.)

Women’s Cross Country (5)
Courtney Branch (So., Minnetonka, Minn.), Caitlin Fermoyle (Jr., Mendota Heights, Minn.), Rebecca Hare (Jr., Albany, Minn.) ,Marit Henckel (Jr., Viroqua, Wis.), Lauren Shurson (So., Chanhassen, Minn.)

Football (9)
Torey Asao (Sr., Chaska, Minn.), Spencer Chinelly (Jr., Bloomington, Minn.), Kellan Euerle (Sr., St. Cloud, Minn.), Jacob Forcier (Jr., Watkins, Minn.), Marcus Kelly (So., Woodbury, Minn.), Bryce Kroells (Sr., Green Isle, Minn.), Kyle Krzmarzick (So., Sleepy Eye, Minn.), Andrew Lonneman (Jr., Adrian, Minn.), Trevor Winkelman (Sr., Eagan, Minn.)

Men’s Golf (3)
Andrew Brandt (So., Medina, Minn.), Tyler McMorrow (Sr., St. Cloud, Minn.), Andrew Oakes (Sr., Hermantown, Minn.)

Women’s Golf (1)
Elizabeth Strom (Jr., Fargo, N.D.)

Men’s Soccer (4)
Casey Gilbert (Sr., Marshfield, Wis.), Ryan Ragan (Jr., Shakopee, Minn.), Eric Schneider (Jr., St. Anthony, Minn.), Sean Sendelbach (Sr., Sioux Falls, S.D.)

Women’s Soccer (4)
Estee Berg (Sr., Stillwater, Minn.), Leah Brossoit (Sr., Rochester, Minn.), Caroline Olson (Jr., York, Pa.), Emily Papagapitos (Sr., Maplewood, Minn.)

Volleyball (2)
Kelle Nett (So., Spring Valley, Ill.), Rebecca Woodstra (So., Minnetonka, Minn.)