42 Cobbers Earn MIAC Academic Honors
MOORHEAD, Minn. (6/26/17)--- Concordia placed 42 student/athletes on the winter/spring MIAC Academic All-Conference list.
The 42 winter/spring athletic/academic honorees join the 34 from the fall athletic season to give Concordia a total of 76 MIAC Academic All-Conference award winners for the year.
The Cobber women’s outdoor track and field team posted the most winter/spring honorees as they had seven student/athletes garner the conference academic award. It marks the second straight season that the women’s outdoor track and field team has had seven Academic All-Conference award winners.
Concordia had five student/athletes earn MIAC Academic All-Conference for the third straight year, Since the award is only awarded to sophomores, juniors and seniors – it marks the most consecutive honors one athlete can achieve. The three-time honorees include women’s basketball player Jenna Januschka, women’s hockey players Chelsey Petrich and Ellen Rethwisch and men’s track and women’s track and field multi-event athletes Joe Hendrickson and Mikayla Forness.
The 2016-17 Winter and Spring Academic All-Conference Teams 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.
Academically, student-athletes must be sophomores, juniors, or seniors 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. In addition, baseball pitchers who made five appearances or completed 20 innings pitched were eligible, as were hockey goalies who played 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. Golfers must compete in the MIAC Championships or complete a minimum of 12 competitive rounds in order to be eligible for the honor. 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 require student-athletes to score in an individual event or compete on a relay team at the MIAC Championships.
Of the 648 Winter and Spring selections, 366 were women and 282 were men. Women's outdoor track and field led the way with 74 honorees and women's indoor track and field was next with 71 selections, followed by men's hockey with 57 student-athletes recognized.
MIAC Academic All-Conference honors are announced twice annually, after the completion of the fall and spring academic semesters.
Concordia Academic All-Conference Award Winners – Winter/Spring 2016-17
Baseball
Nate Leintz (Jr., Hazen, N.D.)
Men’s Basketball
Austin Heins (Jr., Sioux Falls, S.D.)
Kevin Wolfe (Jr., Sartell, Minn.)
Women’s Basketball
Lincoln Haiby (So., Pelican Rapids, Minn.)
Jenna Januschka (Sr., St. Cloud, Minn.)
Women’s Golf
Emily Grace Olson (Sr., Roseau, Minn.)
Erin Pennington (Jr., Lake City, Minn.)
Men’s Hockey
Jon Grebosky (Jr., Oakdale, Pa.)
Women’s Hockey
Amelia Amon (So., Willmar, Minn.)
Emily Goff (Jr., Eagan, Minn.)
Chelsey Petrich (Sr., Elk River, Minn.)
Ellen Rethwisch (Sr., Plymouth, Minn.)
Men’s Indoor Track & Field
Joseph Hendrickson (Sr., Lennox, S.D.)
Wyatt Lautt (So., Harvey, N.D.)
Luke Lillehaugen (So., Moorhead, Minn.)
Matthew Lillehaugen (Sr., Moorhead, Minn.)
David Supinski (So., Baxter, Minn.)
Women’s Indoor Track & Field
Mikayla Forness (Sr., Bismarck, N.D.)
Shelby Gelinske (So., Oakes, N.D.)
Sara Whiteman (So., Brainerd, Minn.)
Maria West (Jr., Baxter, Minn.)
Men’s Outdoor Track & Field
Brett Brenden (So., Rothsay, Minn.)
Joseph Hendrickson (Sr., Lennox, S.D.)
Wyatt Lautt (So., Harvey, N.D.)
Matthew Lillehaugen (Sr., Moorhead, Minn.)
David Supinski (So., Baxter, Minn.)
Women’s Outdoor Track & Field
Mikayla Forness (Sr., Bismarck, N.D.)
Shelby Gelinske (So., Oakes, N.D.)
Bailey Hovland (Jr., Willmar, Minn.)
Hannah Lundstrom (Jr., Brainerd, Minn.)
Tresa Reuter (So., St. Clair, Minn.)
Sara Whiteman (So., Brainerd, Minn.)
Maria West (Jr., Baxter, Minn.)
Softball
Nicole Johannes (So., Cold Spring, Minn.)
Women’s Swimming & Diving
Andrea Kittleson (Sr., White Bear Lake, Minn.)
Ann Marie O’Connell (Jr., Edina, Minn.)
Ciara White (So., Plymouth, Minn.)
Men’s Tennis
Matthew Engum (Sr., Fargo, N.D.)
David Schneck (Jr., Fergus Falls, Minn.)
Isaac Toivonen (Jr., Red Wing, Minn.)
Women’s Tennis
Lisa Neumann (So., Annandale, Minn.)
Kendra Stoick (Jr., Monticello, Minn.)