College Sports Information Directors of America

Senior Kate Endress of Ball State University and junior Lindsey Dietz of the University of Minnesota-Duluth head the 2004-2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-Americ Women's Basketball Teams, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

Endress, a native of Evansville, Ind., was selected as the Academic All-America of the Year in the University Division.  A two-time Academic All-America selection after earning a spot on last year¡¦s first team, the Cardinal standout has posted a 3.95 cumulative grade point average as an Entrepreneurship major at Ball State.

"I am extremely proud of this award," said Endress. ¡§I was surprised and honored to be named to the first team last year and I set a goal of doing it again this year.  It is such a great honor to be rewarded for hard work both on the court and in the class room.  I am ecstatic to be named to this prestigious team."

Dietz, a native of Elk River, Minn., was selected as the Academic All-America of the Year in the College Division.  A two-time Academic All-America honoree, the Bulldog standout was last year's Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Player of the Year and has posted a 3.98 cumulative grade point average in Math and Psychology at Minnesota-Duluth.

I'm definitely honored, proud and a little surprised to be the Academic All-America of the Year, because my GPA actually dropped from 4.00 to 3.98 last semester," said Dietz. "But I have worked pretty hard  to achieve that GPA and it¡¦s truly an honor to be recognized. I think it actually helps me to have a sport to play in addition to college courses. It keeps me more focused because I know that wasting time isn't an option."

Joining Endress on the University Division Academic All-America first team squad were Harvard's Reka Cserny, North Dakota State's Lacey Johnson, Iowa State's Anne O'Neil and St. Francis of Pennsylvania's Beth Swink.  The second team was comprised of Laurie Koehn of Kansas State, Nicole Lehman of Southwest Missouri State, Tiffany Mor of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Lindsay Shearer of Kent State and Kristal Tharp of Liberty.  Rounding out the University Division Academic All-America team were third team members Steffanie Blackmon of Baylor, April Calhoun of Minnesota, Jamie Carey of Texas, Liz Shimek of Michigan State and Lindsay Thomas of Colorado State.

Dietz was joined on the College Division Academic All-America first team were Coast Guard¡¦s Elisabeth Bosma, Capital¡¦s Sara Heitkamp, Saint Martin¡¦s Martina Kartikova and Pittsburgh-Johnstown¡¦s Melissa Patterson.  The second team was comprised of Deedee Arnall of Pacific (Ore.), Michelle Bruns of Southwest Minnesota State, Kelli Freeman of Minnesota State-Mankato, Donna Lohrey of Molloy and Sarah Shogren of Whitworth.  Rounding out the College Division Academic All-America team were third team members Lauren Hansen of Wheeling Jesuit, Tracey Little of Frostburg State, Robyn Milne of Montana State-Billings, Tara Rohde of Trinity (Tex.) and Natalja Tsurbakova of Angelo State.

The Academic All-America Teams program honors 816 male and female student-athletes annually who have succeeded at the highest level on the playing field and in the classroom.  Individuals are selected through voting by CoSIDA (the College Sports Information Directors of America), a 2,000 member organization consisting of sports public relations professionals for colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.

To be eligible, a student-athletes must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director.  Since the program¡¦s inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.

ESPN The Magazine, winner of the 2003 National Magazine Award for General Excellence is a provocative and innovative sports publication. Full of insight, analysis, impact and wit, the oversized bi-weekly with a circulation of 1.85 million looks ahead to give fans a unique perspective on the world of sports.

For more information about the Academic All-America Teams program, please visit www.cosida.com or email rlipe@bentley.edu.