NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Senior Kristi Miller of Georgia Tech, a six-time All-American tennis player, and senior Sue Ackermann of Salisbury University, a two-time All-American lacrosse player, head the 2007-08 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Women’s At-Large Teams, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
Miller and Ackermann have been named as the Academic All-America ® of the Year in the University and College Divisions.
A native of Marysville, Mich., Miller graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in History, Technology and Society and a perfect 4.00 grade point average. Miller, who earned first team Academic All-America ® honors for the third year in a row, earned All-America honors from the ITA six times. She was a four-time All-American as a singles player and two-time selection in doubles. Honored as the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year in 2008, she finished her career with a remarkable 151-39 singles record, setting a school record.
The winner of the National ITA/Arthur Ashe Award for Leadership and Sportsmanship in 2008, she helped Georgia Tech win the NCAA tennis championship in 2007.
Miller is one of four scholar-athletes who are repeat selections on the At-Large University Division first team. Junior golfer Amanda Blumenherst of Duke, senior Kate Burdick of the Michigan State crew team and senior golfer Stacy Lewis of Arkansas are also repeat selections.
On the first team, there were six student-athletes who have perfect 4.0 grade point averages. In addition to Miller, senior Vanessa Andrews of the Tulsa crew team, senior swimmer Molly Crispell of Penn State, graduate student Gretchen Kittelberger of the University of Maryland gymnastics team, senior Diana Martinez of the South Carolina-Upstate tennis team and junior swimmer Kelly Zahalka of the Naval Academy have perfect 4.0 G.P.A.’s.
Junior Hilary Bowen of Northwestern’s national champion lacrosse team, senior Rachel Dawson of the North Carolina field hockey team, senior swimmer Kara Denby of Auburn, senior swimmer Christina Magnuson of Tennessee, junior golfer Azahara Munoz of Arizona State and senior tennis player Imke Reimers of the University of Nebraska round out the first team.
The 15 members of the University Division At-Large team have an average grade point average of 3.91.
Ackermann, a native of Sykesville, Md., was the leading scorer in NCAA Division III as a senior. She just missed breaking the national record for points. An Exercise Science major with a 3.91 G.P.A., Ackermann led Salisbury to a 22-1 record and a berth in the national semi-finals where the Sea Gulls lost to Hamilton, 11-10. Ackermann scored 82 goals with 70 assists as a senior.
Honored as the Capital Athletic Conference Women’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Ackermann finished her career as the Sea Gulls’ all-time scoring leader with 321 points. She scored 172 career goals and with a school record 149 assists.
Senior tennis player Rebecca Angstadt of Moravian, senior swimmer Rebekah Moody of Wingate, and junior gymnast Julia Zimmerman of Massachusetts Institute of Technology were the only repeat selections on the At-Large College Division team.
Angstadt, Moody and Zimmerman are three of the six first team members with perfect 4.0 G.P.A.'s Senior golfer Tina Bickford of Western New Mexico, graduate student Magda Jezovicova of the Francis Marion tennis team, and senior gymnast Alison Lewis of Wisconsin-Whitewater also have perfect 4.0 G.P.A.'s.
Senior swimmer Erika Barczak of Wayne State, junior swimming Elizabeth Carlton of Kenyon, junior swimmer Kristen Hohl of Denison, senior swimmer Doria Holbrook of M.I.T., senior swimmer Jill Smolczyk of South Dakota, senior swimmer Priya Srikanth of Washington (Mo.), senior tennis player Iuliia Stupak of Armstrong Atlantic State and senior lacrosse player Nicole Tetreault of Hamilton round out the College Division first team.
The 15 members of the College Division first team have an average G.P.A. of 3.95.
To be eligible, a student-athlete 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.
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For more information about the Academic All-America Teams program, please visit
www.cosida.com or e-mail
rlipe@bentley.edu.
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