Release courtesy of Matt Higgins, MIAC Assistant Executive Director
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) prides itself on the combined athletic and academic accomplishments of its talented student-athletes. No conference honor better exemplifies that commitment to balanced excellence than the MIAC Academic All-Conference award and, in the fall of 2016, the conference’s student-athletes set a remarkable new standard with a record 381 student-athletes named Academic All-Conference.
Those 381 honored student-athletes all met sport-specific athletic requirements and possess a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.5 or better on a 4.0 scale. Student-athletes must be a sophomore, junior or senior with at least one year (two semesters) at their current institution to be eligible for the award. Between the on-field component and lofty GPA standard, the MIAC Academic All-Conference honor is a perfect blend of the balanced excellence championed by the MIAC and NCAA Division III.
The MIAC saw its record total of Fall Academic All-Conference honorees rise for the fifth-straight year with its new record total of 381, which was 24 better than 2015’s previous record of 357. That continued the upward trend of honorees, starting with 301 in 2011, 330 and 2012, 334 in 2013 and 356 in 2014.
The sport-by-sport numbers were just as impressive as the overall total on the Fall 2016 Academic All-Conference list. Women’s Soccer led the way with 87 selections, and football was a close second with 83 student-athletes honored. Men’s soccer had 62 honorees, women’s cross country had 59, there were 55 volleyball student-athletes recognized and 35 men’s cross country runners also received the honor. All six winter sports saw their total number of Academic All-Conference student-athletes increase from 2015 to 2016.
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 2016 MIAC Cross Country Championship.
MIAC Academic All-Conference teams are announced twice annually, after the completion of both the fall and spring academic semesters. The MIAC Winter/Spring 2016-17 Academic All-Conference selections will be announced in late June. The MIAC has an online archive of Academic All-Conference honors. The complete list of MIAC Fall 2016 Academic All-Conference honorees from Gustavus is below, classified by sport in alphabetical order.
Gustavus’s MIAC Fall 2016 Academic All-Conference (32 total)
All honorees listed below by sport in alphabetical order.
Men’s Cross Country (6)
John Benson (Sr., Moorhead, Minn.)
Carston Dammann (Sr., Lake City, Minn.)
Alex Fredrickson (Sr., Victoria, Minn.)
Kyle Fredrickson (Sr., Victoria, Minn.)
Ryley Sandberg (Jr., Polk City, Iowa)
Alex Wischnack (So., Norwood, Minn.)
Women’s Cross Country (2)
Emily Sands (Sr., Rochester, Minn.)
Stephanie Welke (Sr., Tomahawk, Wis.)
Football (5)
Samuel Archer (So., Zimmerman, Minn.)
Casey Decker (Jr., Mapleton, Minn.)
Tyler Jakes (Sr., North Mankato, Minn.)
Jack Sorenson (So., West Saint Paul, Minn.)
Tanner Sparrow (So., Edina, Minn.)
Men’s Soccer (6)
Daniel Barnes (So., Lund, Sweden)
Matthew Murakami (Jr., Eden Prairie, Minn.)
Matthew Ouren (So., North Mankato, Minn.)
Davis Petros (So., Apple Valley, Minn.)
Bradley Williams (Jr., Andover, Minn.)
Alexander Wilson (Jr., Ashland, Wis.)
Women’s Soccer (9)
Emily Hilk (Jr., Waconia, Minn.)
Kathryn Johnson (So., Duluth, Minn.)
Kendyl Landeck (Sr., Moscow, Idaho)
Sophie Leininger (Jr., Plymouth, Minn.)
Josie Mazzone (Jr., Rapid City, S.D.)
Chaselyn Miller (So., Brooklyn Park, Minn.)
Emily Odermatt (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn.)
Katrina Rinke (So., Waconia, Minn.)
Hannah Sturtz (Jr., Plymouth, Minn.)
Volleyball (4)
Nora Holtan (So., Rochester, Minn.)
Abilene Leitch (Jr., Mankato, Minn.)
Brittany Luethmers (So., Prior Lake, Minn.)
Emily Webb (So., Maple Lake, Minn.)