Horizon League Announces Academic All-League Teams for Fall Sports

Nov. 30, 2006

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INDIANAPOLIS -- As one of its four platforms, the Horizon League stresses the importance of academic achievement. That emphasis was evident Thursday (Nov. 30) with the announcement of its 2006 Fall Academic All-Horizon League teams.

A total of 48 student-athletes from five sports were honored after voting by the League's faculty athletics representatives and sports information directors. Butler University, Loyola University Chicago and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay had the most selections with eight apiece, while the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee received seven honors. The University of Detroit Mercy had six student-athletes recognized, followed by Wright State University (five) and Cleveland State University (three). Two competitors from the University of Illinois at Chicago were honored, with Youngstown State University represented by one student-athlete.

The academic honorees includes six student-athletes who were named to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA)/ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America teams earlier this month. Seniors Mary Parker of Detroit and Stephanie Gross of UW-Green Bay were First-Team choices in women's soccer, while UW-Milwaukee junior Ginny Graczyk gained Second-Team honors. UW-Milwaukee senior Billy Meier and Butler senior Paul Mongillo earned Second-Team notice in men's soccer, with UWM senior Cheryl Hegemann named to the Third Team in volleyball.

Three men's soccer players added Academic All-League accolades to the First-Team All-League honors they earned on the field this year. Meier was named the League's Defensive Player of the Year while maintaining a 3.795 grade-point average as a business major in UWM's graduate school, while fellow First-Teamer Jason Massoglia of Detroit won his third consecutive academic award for his 3.588 GPA as an accounting major.

UIC senior Derek Kosek boasts a 3.53 GPA in his elementary education studies and joins UW-Milwaukee junior Steve Bode (3.573, psychology) and Cleveland State junior Tom Sadd (3.83, international business) as repeat selections on the Academic All-League squad. Kosek's efforts on the field helped the Flames to a 13-3-5 overall record as UIC won the regular-season League title and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, while Academic All-League picks Tim Baldes (3.73, finance) and Markian Zyga (3.85, business) helped Loyola win the League Championship for the first time and advance to the NCAA Tournament.

Parker and Gross headline the women's soccer group. Parker led the League with 17 goals and 40 points this fall, helping the Titans reach the final match of the League Championship. The three-time Horizon League Scholar-Athlete of the Week joins Gross as a three-time Academic All-League selection, boasting a 3.81 grade-point average as a chemistry/pre-med major. Parker became only the fifth women's soccer player in League history to win First-Team honors on the field four times, while Gross is the only player in Phoenix program annals to post at least 30 goals and 20 assists. She finished her career ranked third on the UW-Green Bay charts with 89 career points. In the classroom, Gross owns a 3.835 GAPA, majoring in human development and psychology.

Graczyk (3.874, psychology/health sciences) was the third player to gain both First-Team All-League honors and Academic All-League recognition. The standout defender anchored a defense which recorded 16 shutouts in 22 matches, winning the regular-season League title with an unblemished 7-0-0 record. The Panthers finished the year at 16-4-2 after advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Graczyk and UW-Green Bay senior Dixie Schubert (3.775, human development/psychology) are repeat members of the Academic All-League squad.

The volleyball honor roll also included the League Player of the Year in Hegemann. The veteran outside hitter ranks third in the League with a rate of 3.66 kills per game and sixth at 1.11 blocks per game, entering Friday's (Dec. 1) match versus Iowa State University at the NCAA Championship. The Panthers enter the national summit with a 24-5 record which includes the League's regular-season (13-1) title and tournament championships as UW-Milwaukee swept UIC in the final match to win an automatic entry into the NCAA field. Hegemann, a two-time Academic All-League choice, carries a 3.757 GPA as an education major.

Three other performers matched All-League honors with academic recognition, with UW-Milwaukee senior Sarah Moore (3.758, actuarial science) and UW-Green Bay senior Betty Slinger (3.877, human biology/pre-med) each named to the Academic All-League team for the second year in a row. Loyola senior Sarah Elmer (3.48, marketing) and Cleveland State junior Mel Snyder (3.72, middle childhood education) also were All-League picks on the court. Hegemann, Moore and Slinger are repeat Academic All-League selections, with Loyola senior Ann Deelo (3.74, finance/operations management) and Wright State senior Sarah Poling (3.759, biological sciences) also recognized for the second year in a row.

Four Second-Team All-League performers are part of the men's cross country Academic All-League group. Butler teammates Andy Rayner and Andrew Toward finished eighth and 11th, respectively, at the League Championships last month, with Loyola senior Andrew Sbertoli coming in ninth and UW-Green Bay senior Nathanael Brown crossing the finish line 12th. Rayner maintains a 3.815 GPA while pursuing his master's degree in education, while Toward carries a 3.740 GPA in the same path. Sbertoli's information systems work features a 3.46 GPA with Brown carrying a 3.83 GPA as a political science major.

Detroit junior Andrew Hayner won his third consecutive academic award in recognition of his perfect 4.00 GPA majoring in political science and history. Hayner was the lone holdover from last year's Academic All-League unit.

Butler junior Genni Gardner paces the women's cross country team. A three-time winner of the League's Scholar-Athlete of the Week award this fall, Gardner finished third at the loop summit to earn First-Team All-League honors last month while maintaining a 3.932 grade-point average majoring in communications disorders. Her efforts helped the Bulldogs to a fifth consecutive League title as Butler featured the top four individual finishers.

Loyola junior Rachel Hansen and UIC senior Lisa Petty are the only repeat members of the Academic All-League group, with Hansen boasting a 3.95 grade-point average in her studies as a biology major while Petty's work as a teaching of history major features a 3.69 GPA.

The Horizon League recognizes student-athletes with Academic All-League teams in each of its 19 championship sports. To be eligible for Academic All-Horizon League consideration, a student-athlete must have a cumulative grade-point-average of 3.20 or higher (based on a 4.00 scale) and have completed at least one year at the member institution having earned 24 semester-hour or 36 quarter-hour credits.

Note: The Academic All-League teams can be found in the PDF version of this release.

Comprised of nine public and private institutions of higher learning, the Horizon League is an NCAA Division I athletics conference that sponsors 19 intercollegiate championship sports and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The League and its member institutions aspire to teach young people, through athletic competition, the value of learning, service to others and personal responsibility.