Cobbers Ranked Sixth In Division III In Team GPA

MOORHEAD, Minn. (3/26/15)—Concordia finished sixth in all of NCAA Division III in team grade point average and earned National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Academic Scholar All-American Team honors. The Cobbers also had four student/athletes earn Scholar All-American honors.

Concordia had a team grade point average of 3.50 and was the sixth highest ranked team in all of NCAA Division III. The Cobbers were the top ranked team from all of Minnesota and Iowa. The Scholar All-American Team award marks the fourth time in the past six seasons that Concordia has earned the academic honor.

The team GPA is calculated as an average of the top 10 students on each team. At least six of the ten athletes chosen must have competed in the NCAA qualifying tournament, and the other athletes must have competed in at least 50% of the team's scheduled contests.  

Seniors Sebastian Gardner and Jake Krogstad as well as junior Gabe Foltz and freshman Jakob Stageberg all earned the highest individual academic honor handed out by the NWCA. It is the third straight year that Gardner has earned NWCA Division III Scholar All-American honors. He has a 3.57 grade point average while majoring in biology.

Krogstad earned the scholar award for the second straight season while Foltz and Stageberg are newcomers to the Scholar All-American list. Like Gardner, all three student/athletes are biology majors. Krogstad has a 3.62 GPA. Foltz maintains a 3.54 GPA while Stageberg has accumulated a 3.55 grade point average in his first collegiate season.

To qualify as an NWCA Scholar All-American, a wrestler must be in at least his second semester at a school. His GPA must be at least 3.2 and he must either be a 2015 NCAA Qualifier with a record above .500, finished in the top 6 of the Regional and have greater than a .500 record and competed in at least 50-percent of the team's schedule or have a winning percentage above 67-percent and competed in at least 50-percent of the team's schedule.

The four Concordia student/athletes helped the Cobbers finish second at the NCAA West Regional Meet, third at the Mat Mayhem National Duals Meet and finish with a 13-5 record in dual meets. Concordia qualified a school-record nine athletes for the Division III National Meet and were ranked in the top 10 of the nation the entire season.

2014-2015 Top 20 NWCA Division III Scholar Teams
1. King`s (PA) - 3.59
2. Olivet - 3.58
3. Wisconsin-Stevens Point - 3.54
4. Alma College - 3.52
5. Wabash - 3.51
6. Concordia-Moorhead - 3.50
7. Chicago - 3.49
8. Norwich - 3.48
9. Luther - 3.46
10. St. Johns (MN) - 3.45
11. Messiah - 3.44
11. Washington and Jefferson - 3.44
11. Wesleyan (CT) - 3.44
14. Augsburg - 3.42
15. Williams College - 3.41
16. Ohio Northern - 3.36
16. Lycoming - 3.36
18. Baldwin Wallace - 3.35
18. Johnson & Wales (RI) - 3.35
18. New York University - 3.35