51 Athletes Earn MIAC Academic Honor
MOORHEAD, Minn. (7/03/18)--- Concordia placed 51 student/athletes on the Winter/Spring MIAC Academic All-Conference list.
The 51 winter/spring athletic/academic honorees join the 42 from the fall athletic season to give Concordia a total of 93 MIAC Academic All-Conference award winners for the year.
The Winter/Spring MIAC Academic All-Conference list encompasses 15 different sports which Cobber athletic teams compete in during the two seasons.
The Cobber women’s outdoor track and field team once again posted the most winter/spring honorees as they had seven student/athletes garner the conference academic award for the second straight season. It marks the third straight season that the women’s outdoor track and field team has had seven Academic All-Conference award winners.
The men’s tennis and women’s hockey both had a record-setting six student/athletes earn Academic All-Conference honors.
Concordia saw nine student/athletes earn MIAC Academic All-Conference for the third straight year. The honor is only awarded to sophomores, juniors and seniors so it marks the most consecutive honors one athlete can achieve. The three-time honorees include men’s basketball player Austin Heins, women’s golfer Erin Pennington, men’s hockey standout Jon Grebosky, women’s track and field athletes Maria West and Bailey Hovland, women’s swimmer Ann Marie O’Connell, and men’s and women’s tennis players David Schneck, Isaac Toivonen and Kendra Stoick.
The 2017-18 winter and spring Academic All-Conference Teams included a record 696 student-athletes. Combined with the 412 Fall-sport athletes who were honored in January, the overall total of Academic All-Conference selections for the 2017-18 academic year sets a new Conference-high of 1,108, surpassing the previous record of 1,033, set last June.
This year's Academic All-Conference list spotlights 1,108 examples of student-athletes achieving excellence without compromise. The nearly 700 winter and spring honorees also represents the highest seasonal total in MIAC history. Women's outdoor track and field led the way with 72 honorees and softball was next with 66 honorees. Men's hockey totaled the highest number of honorees for all winter/spring men's sports with 57.
In order to qualify for Academic All-MIAC status, student-athletes must be sophomores, juniors, or seniors by academic standards with a minimum cumulative grade-point average (GPA) of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale. Athletically, student-athletes in team sports must compete in 50 percent of their team's regular-season varsity contests. The winter/spring team sports eligible include 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.
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 2017-18
Baseball
Nate Leintz (Sr., Hazen, N.D.)
Jack Hiedeman (Sr., Breckenridge, Minn.)
Men’s Basketball
Austin Heins (Sr., Sioux Falls, S.D.)
Andrew Holen (So., Bismarck, N.D.)
Kevin Wolfe (Sr., Sartell, Minn.)
Women’s Basketball
Mira Ellefson (So., Hawley, Minn.)
Lincoln Haiby (Jr., Pelican Rapids, Minn.)
Grace Wolhowe (Jr., Staples, Minn.)
Men’s Golf
Gage Stromme (So., Fargo, N.D.)
Women’s Golf
Erin Pennington (Sr., Lake City, Minn.)
Men’s Hockey
Joe Burgmeier (So., Clear Lake, Iowa)
Eddie Eades (So., East Grand Forks, Minn.)
Jon Grebosky (Sr., Oakdale, Pa.)
Jacob Stephan (So., Eagle River, Wis.)
Women’s Hockey
Amelia Amon (Jr., Willmar, Minn.)
Brittany Boss (Jr., Little Canada, Minn.)
Megan Dondelinger (Jr., Bemidji, Minn.)
Amanda Flemming (So., Sartell, Minn.)
Emily Goff (Sr., Eagan, Minn.)
Ally Wiitala (So., Plymouth, Minn.)
Men’s Indoor Track & Field
Sam Haley (Jr., Delano, Minn.)
Wyatt Lautt (Jr., Harvey, N.D.)
Luke Lillehaugen (Jr., Moorhead, Minn.)
David Supinski (Jr., Baxter, Minn.)
Women’s Indoor Track & Field
Shelby Gelinske (Jr., Oakes, N.D.)
Bailey Hovland (Sr., Willmar, Minn.)
Sara Whiteman (Jr., Brainerd, Minn.)
Maria West (Sr., Baxter, Minn.)
Men’s Outdoor Track & Field
Brett Brenden (Jr., Rothsay, Minn.)
Wyatt Lautt (Jr., Harvey, N.D.)
David Supinski (Jr., Baxter, Minn.)
Women’s Outdoor Track & Field
Mollie Francis (So., Eden Prairie, Minn.)
Shelby Gelinske (Jr., Oakes, N.D.)
Bailey Hovland (Sr., Willmar, Minn.)
Colleen Vought (Jr., Moorhead, Minn.)
Elizabeth Vought (Jr., Moorhead, Minn.)
Sara Whiteman (Jr., Brainerd, Minn.)
Maria West (Sr., Baxter, Minn.)
Softball
Elizabeth Asp (So., Hankinson, N.D.)
Nicole Johannes (Jr., Cold Spring, Minn.)
Women’s Swimming & Diving
Lydia Larson (So., Brainerd, Minn.)
Ann Marie O’Connell (Sr., Edina, Minn.)
Ciara White (Jr., Plymouth, Minn.)
Men’s Tennis
Matthew Engum (Sr., Fargo, Minn.)
Erik Porter (So., Mandan, N.D.)
Jared Saue (So., Montevideo, Minn.)
David Schneck (Sr., Fergus Falls, Minn.)
Isaac Toivonen (Sr., Red Wing, Minn.)