Complete MIAC Academic All-Conference Team
WINONA, Minn. — Twenty-four Saint Mary’s University student-athletes earned 2008-2009 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Winter/Spring Academic All-Conference honors, it was announced Tuesday.
The conference recognized a record 406 student-athletes who represent the MIAC’s thirteen institutions. The 406 winter and spring student-athletes honored by the conference is the most ever, topping the 399 total in 2006-07 and 397 in 2007-08. In combination with the record 304 fall semester honorees, the 2008-09 academic year proved to be one of the most successful in the history of the MIAC both in the classroom and on the field of competition.
The Cardinal baseball, women’s basketball, women’s swimming and diving, men’s tennis, and women’s tennis teams all boasted three members on the MIAC’s Academic Team.
David Dahlstrom (Rochester, Minn.),
Joe Krause (St. James, Minn.),
Kyle Ryan (St. Paul, Minn.) represent the SMU baseball team, while
Nicholle Hanson (Owatonna, Minn.),
Cherie Kulig (Independence, Wis.) and Jessica Miller (Carver, Minn.) from the women’s basketball team;
Brianna Braun (Cold Spring, Minn.),
Angela Lager (Stewartville, Minn.) and
Kristina Empanger (Chaska, Minn.) from the women’s swimming and diving team;
Abby Cooper (La Crosse, Wis.), Brittany Nielsen (Apple Valley, Minn.) and
Toni Troumbly (Bovey, Minn.) from the women’s tennis team and
Brian Kasel (Minneapolis, Minn.),
Justin Loeffler (Winona, Minn.) and
Pawel Szczepkowski (Kluczbork, Poland) from the men’s tennis team earned academic all-conference honors.
Also being named to the team were
Nick Carlson (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) and
Jeff Miller (Portage, Mich.) from men’s hockey;
John Fox (Winona, Minn.) and Eric Hills
(Lake Elmo, Minn.) from men’s swimming and diving; Sara Eisenhauer
(Kenosha, Wis.) from women’s hockey; Brittany Kuehn (Sauk Rapids, Minn.) from women’s indoor track and field;
Matt Murphy (Woodbury, Minn.) from men’s basketball;
Kellie Simons (Richfield, Minn.) from fastpitch softball; and
Sara Harstad (Chatfield, Minn.) from women’s outdoor track and field.
Student-athletes must be a sophomore, junior, or senior with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale to qualify for the recognition. Athletically, student-athletes in basketball, hockey, baseball, softball and tennis must compete in 50 percent of their team’s varsity regular season contests to be eligible. Swimming and diving student-athletes must qualify for the conference finals, while track and field participants must earn honorable mention status in an individual event or place in the top three as a relay team at the conference championships to earn the honor.
MIAC Academic All-Conference awards are announced twice annually, after the completion of the fall and spring academic semesters.