A Rare 2-Time Academic All-American

MOORHEAD, Minn. (6/22/17)---Senior Matthew Lillehaugen (Moorhead, Minn.) finished off his brilliant athletic/academic career by earning College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-American honors for the second straight year.

Lillehaugen becomes only the fifth student/athlete in the history of Cobber athletics to earn multiple CoSIDA Academic All-American awards. Lillehaugen was placed on the Track & Field/Cross Country Academic All-American First Team this year after earning Academic All-American Third Team honors last year.

Lillehaugen becomes the second Concordia student/athlete to win the most prestigious athletic/academic award this spring. Cobber junior wrestler Adam Presler was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-American CoSIDA Second Team in the at-large category earlier in June.

Concordia has now had 25 student/athletes earn CoSIDA Academic All-American honors since 2000 and Lillehaugen becomes the 14 Cobber to earn the award since 2010.

Lillehaugen was one of only two male track & field athletes from the MIAC to come away with CoSIDA Academic All-American honors this year.  

To become eligible to earn CoSIDA Academic All-American honors a student/athlete must have a grade-point average above 3.30 (4.0 scale) and have outstanding athletic credentials. The student/athlete has to then be placed on the Academic All-District Team as selected by college sports information directors.

Lillehaugen finished his four-year career at Concordia with a perfect 4.00 grade point average while majoring in Political Science and Global Studies.

Lillehaugen has an extensive list of academic and extra-curricular achievements. He speaks Spanish, Arabic, Norwegian and Turkish and was President of the Concordia Circle of the National Leadership Honor Society. In addition he was also a Peace Scholar and was a recipient of a summer research grant which he used to forecast Turkish politics by using mathematics.      

Lillehaugen also had another stellar season on the track and during the cross country season. He broke the school record in the 1,000 meters during the indoor track and field seasons and earned MIAC All-Conference Honorable Mention honors in both the 800 and 1,000 meters at the indoor conference meet.

During the outdoor track and field season he was an All-Conference Honorable mention honoree in the 1500 meters and missed setting a new school record in the 3000 meters by a mere .33 of a second.

Lillehaugen was the Cobbers' second fastest finisher at the MIAC Cross Country Championship Meet in the fall. He also ran his second fastest 8K at the championship meet.        

The CoSIDA Academic All-America program is administered by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

Top student-athletes, who have already earned Academic All-District first-team honors, are eligible for inclusion on the Academic All-America team. Student-athletes must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at their current institutions, have a grade-point average above 3.30 (4.0 scale) and have outstanding athletic credentials.

The Academic All-America ballot is voted on by a committee of CoSIDA members. Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 20,000 student-athletes in NCAA Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports. 

Past Cobber CoSIDA Academic All-American Honorees
2017 - Matthew Lillehaugen - Men's Track & Field
2017 - Adam Presler – Wrestling
2016 - Matthew Lillehaugen - Men's Track & Field
2016 - Tim Carlson - Baseball
2012 - Kaari Jensen - Women's Track & Field
2012 - Brett Baune – Football
2012 - Brett Harmelink – Football
2011 - Erica Nord - Women's Basketball
2010 - Riley McGlynn - Men's Soccer
2009 - Sam Johnson - Women's Soccer
2009 - Erika Swenson - Women's Soccer
2008 - Melanie Hageman - Women's Basketball
2008 - Justin Foss - Men's Soccer
2008 - Levi DeVries – Football
2007 - Grant Weller – Football
2006 - Annie Cullen - Women's Swimming and Diving
2006 - Natalie Hanson - Women's Track & Field
2006 - Angie Pfeiffer - Women's Track & Field
2005 - Angie Pfeiffer - Women's Track and Field
2004 - Jordan Talge – Football
2004 - Jessica Walden - Women's Volleyball
2000 - Micah Benson - Men's Track & Field
1999 - Micah Benson - Men's Track & Field
1999 - Laura Utke - Women's Track & Field
1998 - Bob Zacher – Football
1997 - Renee Erickson - Women's Track & Field
1996 - Renee Erickson - Women's Track & Field
1992 - Kristi Farver - Women's Track & Field
1992 - Kris Kuehl - Women's Track & Field
1991 - Chris Reimertz - Football