Bloomington, Minn. – The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honored the league’s top performers in athletics and in the classroom with the announcement of the 2014 Fall Academic All-Conference Teams. Despite two sports moving their honor from fall to spring, the MIAC still recognized the most Fall Academic All-Conference honorees in conference history.
This fall, a total of 355 student-athletes earned the prestigious honor, which recognizes combined excellence in academics and athletics. The previous record of 334 was established just one year ago (2013) and included men’s and women’s golf selections. This year, MIAC administrators voted to alter golf’s athletic requirement and move the honor to the spring, so the MIAC racked up 21 more Fall Academic All-Conference honorees despite two fewer sports included this time around.
Of the 355 Academic All-Conference selections from the fall, 25 were representatives of Gustavus Adolphus College. The breakdown of Gustavus’s honorees included two men’s cross country runners, five women’s cross country runners, six football players, six men’s soccer players, two women’s soccer players, and four 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.
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 or their team’s top seven at the 2014 MIAC Cross Country Championship.
Men’s Cross Country (2)
Sam Benson (So., Moorhead, Minn.)
Carston Dammann (So., Lake City, Minn.)
Women’s Cross Country (5)
Mata Agre (Jr., Medina, Minn.)
Caitlin Fermoyle (Sr., Mendota Heights, Minn.)
Emily Sands (So., Rochester, Minn.)
Lauren Shurson (Jr., Chanhassen, Minn.)
Stephanie Welke (So., Tomahawk, Wis.)
Football (6)
Spencer Chinelly (Sr., Bloomington, Minn.)
Jacob Forcier (Sr., Watkins, Minn.)
Parker Gessner (Jr., Anoka, Minn.)
Marcus Kelly (Jr., Woodbury, Minn.)
Kyle Krzmarzick (Jr., Sleepy Eye, Minn.)
Andrew Lonneman (Sr., Adrian, Minn.)
Men’s Soccer (6)
Eli Bjerk (Jr., Stillwater, Minn.)
Braden Schmid (Sr., West Fargo, N.D.)
Eric Schneider (Sr., St. Anthony, Minn.)
Ryan Schultz (Sr., Delafield, Wis.)
Jason Schwab (Jr., Stillwater, Minn.)
Mark Tollefsrud (Sr., Spearfish, S.D.)
Women’s Soccer (2)
Caroline Olson (Sr., York, Pa.)
Monica Pelkey (So., Oak Grove, Minn.)
Volleyball (4)
Kelle Nett (Jr., Spring Valley, Ill.)
Alyssa Taylor (Jr., Trimont, Minn.)
Kendra Weege (Sr., Watertown, Minn.)
Rebecca Woodstra (Jr., Minnetonka, Minn.)