Complete MIAC Winter/Spring All-Academic Team
 
WINONA, Minn. — Forty-one Saint Mary's University of Minnesota winter-spring student-athletes earned Academic All-Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference recognition, the conference office announced.
 
For the second consecutive year, the MIAC has recognized more than 1,000 student-athletes with Academic All-Conference honors.
 
On Monday, the MIAC announced its 2016-17 Winter and Spring Academic All-Conference Teams, which included a total of 648 student-athletes. Combined with the 385 Fall-sport athletes who were honored in January, the overall total of Academic All-Conference selections for the 2016-2017 academic year sets a new Conference record of 1,033, one more than last year's previous high of 1,032.
 
The 648 Winter and Spring honorees also represent the second-highest seasonal total in MIAC history. The Academic All-Conference list spotlights 1,033 examples of student-athletes achieving excellence without compromise. The full Winter and Spring Academic All-Conference teams can be found below, and the Fall selections were announced in January.
 
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 team sports must compete in 50 percent of their team's regular-season varsity contests. The team sports eligible were baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's hockey, softball, and men's and women's tennis. Baseball pitching requirements are five appearances or 20 innings pitched, and hockey goalies must play in one-third (33.3 percent) of their team's total minutes played for the regular season.

The winter and spring individual sports each have sport-specific criteria, and they include golf, swimming and diving, and both indoor and outdoor track and field. The swimming and diving qualifications require a student-athlete to finish in the top 16 of an individual event or compete in a relay race at the MIAC championships to be eligible. Track and field qualifications were modified in 2014-15, and require student-athletes to score in an individual event or compete on a relay team at the MIAC Championships.

Golf, moved from the fall to the spring in 2014-15 and its athletic requirements were modified to reflect the split-season nature of the sport. Student-athletes either have to compete in the MIAC Championships, or compete in a minimum of 12 competitive rounds.
 
The Cardinal baseball and women's tennis teams led the way with six academic all-conference selections, while the men's hockey and women's basketball teams were close behind with five each.
 
Ben Buerkle (Roseville, Minn.)—named CoSIDA Academic All-America for the third straight year in May—led the six Cardinal baseball players, and was joined by Jesse Barron (Minnetonka, Minn.), Chris Bartosz (Woodridge, Ill.), Nathan Mathwig (Woodbury, Minn.), Joe Seegers (Oconomowoc, Wis.), and Zach Slowiak (Chippewa Falls, Wis.), while Sheyenne Bauer (Cannon Falls, Minn.), Julia Boeve (St. James, Minn.), Haley Jorgensen (Fallon, Nev.), Marissa Kinzer (Aitkin, Minn.), Laura Sonday (West St. Paul, Minn.), and Megan Vandenberg (De Pere, Wis.) represented the Saint Mary's women's tennis team.
 
Jay Heinle (York, Pa.), Jared Johnson (Hartland, Wis.), Mike Mezzano (Woodbury, Minn.), Landon Farrell (Rochester, Minn.), and Taylor Portner (Andover, Minn.) were named Academic All-MIAC from the Saint Mary's men's hockey team, with Aaron Romportl (Stillwater, Minn.), Chad Schlosser (Stillwater, Minn.), Bradley Hill (Matteson, Ill.), and Kevin Gleason (Minneapolis, Minn.) earning academic honors from the men's basketball team.
 
Brigette Audette (Big Lake, Minn.), Brandi Blattner (Eyota, Minn.), Danielle Higgins (Eyota, Minn.), Kirsten Keefe (Chatfield, Minn.), and Emma Schaefer (Roseville, Minn.) were selected from the women's basketball team, with four men's tennis players—Brenden Amiotte (Rapid City, S.D.), Brett Giesen (Cato, Wis.), Alex Holm (Red Wing, Minn.), and Alex Zuzek (Hastings, Minn.)—also making the cut.
 
Austin O'Hare (Rushford, Minn.) and Kynzie Smedsrud (Luverne, Minn.) picked up two academic honors—in both indoor and outdoor track and field—and were joined by fellow track and field honorees Brandon Krogman (Owatonna, Minn. / indoor) and David Kemper (Woodbury, Minn. / outdoor).
 
Other Academic All-MIAC selections included fastpitch softball players Brittney Birkhauser (Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.) and Allie Borawski (Stickney, Ill.); women's hockey players Jane Hannula (Coon Rapids, Minn.), Jamie Henderson (Madison, Wis.), and Mandy Sailor (Ramsey, Minn.); men's golfer Kyle Brodt (Roseville, Minn.); and women's swimmer Chloe Morrison (Ashkum, Ill.) were also named to the all-academic team.