WINONA, Minn. — Twenty-six Saint Mary's University winter-spring student-athletes earned Academic All-Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference recognition, it was announced Tuesday.
The MIAC recognized a record 431 student-athletes, who represented the conference's 13 institutions. 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 MIAC Academic All-Conference recognition. Athletically, student-athletes in hockey, basketball, baseball, softball and tennis must compete in 50% of their team's varsity regular season contests. Baseball pitchers must appear in 10 contests, while swimmers must qualify for the finals (top 16) in individual or relay events at the conference championships, and track and field athletes must earn honorable mention status (top 8) in individual events or place in the top three as a relay team at the MIAC Championships.
The SMU men's hockey team led the way for the Cardinals, landing five athletes on the Academic All-MIAC Team, while the women's basketball, women's swimming and diving, women's tennis, and baseball teams all boasted three academic all-conference performers.
Nick Carlson (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.), Tommy Healy (Rolling Meadows, Ill.), Jeff Miller (Portage, Mich.), Will Such (Broomfield, Colo.) and Vincent Unklesbay (Maplewood, Minn.) represented the Cardinal men's hockey team on the academic squad.
Sara Harstad (Chatfield, Minn.) earned an academic double, being named to the MIAC squad in both indoor and outdoor track and field, while other SMU academic all-conference performers included Sara Eisenhauer (Kenosha, Wis.) of the women's hockey team;
Sarah Adie (Chanhassen, Minn.)
Cherie Kulig (Independence, Wis.) and
Jess Miller (Carver, Minn.) of the womens' basketball team; Kristina Empanger (Chaska, Minn.), Nikki Farmer (Medford, Wis.) and Linda Tierney (Cloquet, Minn.) of the women's swimming and diving team; Neil Heacox (San Diego, Calif.) and John Fox (Winona, Minn.) of the men's swimming and diving team;
Abby Cooper (La Crosse, Wis.), Abby Voight (Apple Valley, Minn.) and
Andrea Allis (Wells, Minn.) of the women's tennis team;
Justin Loeffler (Winona, Minn.) and
Pawel Szczepkowski (Opolskie, Poland) of the men's tennis team;
Erika Hurley (Chatfield, Minn.) and
Kellie Simons (Richfield, Minn.) of the fastpitch softball team; and
Casey Jacobson (Apple Valley, Minn.),
Jake Lechner (Shoreview, Minn.) and
Andrew Warren (Stillwater, Minn.).
Complete Winter/Spring MIAC All-Academic Team