EVANSVILLE, Ind. –The University of Evansville has been recognized as the recipient of the 2011-12 Missouri Valley Conference All-Academic Award, which is given to the school whose student-athletes post the highest cumulative GPA.
 
Cross country runner Shelby Cron commented on the honor on behalf of the student-athletes.  “This event really epitomizes all that we stand for as student-athletes.  Although we are student-athletes, we are students first,” Cron said.  “A lot of us know that we are going to graduate and we will not even try to become professional athletes.  However, some of us will and some of us will succeed.  We have proven that even as a small school, we can produce professional athletes.” 
 
“We are going to try to become doctors and try to become lawyers, and to be recognized by the Missouri Valley Conference as the best institution in the conference for academics is a bigger honor than any that we could receive in competition.”
 
“Even though we are a small school, this shows that we are doing really big things.  To be recognized lets people know that we are doing big things here and that we are making positive changes.  For everyone to be recognized for all the hard work they are putting in is truly an honor.”
 
Purple Aces’ student-athletes were honored at the Heritage Federal Credit Union Student-Athlete Academic Honors Breakfast on Thursday morning.  Commissioner Doug Elgin and Patty Viverito, Senior Associate Commissioner of the MVC, were on hand at the ceremony to present the award.
 
"This is an extraordinary honor for the University of Evansville, our athletic department, but most importantly - the student-athletes,” UE Athletics Director John Stanley said. 
“We are proud of the work that each and every one of them do on a daily basis in the classroom and on the field.   This award proves what most of us have already known - that student-athletes at the University of Evansville are top notch people, students and athletes."
 
Evansville’s 13 MVC sports and 214 student-athletes combined to post a grade point average of 3.284 for the 2011-12 school year.  In the spring of 2012, an amazing 78.9% of UE’s student-athletes (169 out of 214) amassed a GPA of 3.0 or better while 45.3% (97/214) accumulated a GPA of 3.5 or higher in the spring semester.
 
“This award speaks well to Evansville; the faculty, the student-athletes and coaches.  It is a tremendous achievement when you consider the quality of our schools across the board,” MVC Commissioner Doug Elgin said.  “This was a tremendously uplifting event to see.  To see the faculty, student-athlete and staff turnout was great.  What an image it was to have all of those student-athletes up there on stage.  It is what we’re about in the Missouri Valley.”
 
“I am certainly proud of John Stanley, his staff and the entire university community for seeing this become a reality for Evansville,” Elgin continued.  “It says a lot about the quality of academic here and the quality of the student-athlete experience.  I could not be happier to be here at Evansville.”
 
Just as impressive was the fact that 9.8% of the Aces’ student-athletes had a perfect 4.0 GPA last spring.  UE also had an extraordinary number of players garner Dean’s List honors as 118 made the dean’s list at least once last season while 61 did so for both semesters.
 
Senior Associate Athletics Director Sarah Solinsky, who oversees academic and student services for student-athletes was also proud of the award. 
 
“We are extremely proud of our student-athletes and their ability to compete in the classroom in addition to their respective sports,” Solinsky said.  “This award is shared with our faculty, academic support services, and coaches who are all vital in the student-athlete experience at UE.”
 
 Several Aces teams were honored throughout the year for their academic performance.  The women’s swimming team posted a combined GPA of 3.56, which tied for the fifth-highest at the Division I level while the men’s team (3.10) tied for 30^th.    
 
With a 3.416 GPA, the UE men’s golf team earned its second-consecutive GCAA honor, which just 79 D-I teams received.  Seniors Michael Sainz and Griffin Wood were named Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholars for their performances on the course and in the classroom.
 
Baseball received three honors as three players were selected as members of the MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team.  Trentt Copeland, Jason Hockemeyer and James Kohler received the honor.
 
Another who received an individual honor was men’s basketball player Colt Ryan.  Ryan became the second UE player to be named as the MVC Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2012.  Ryan had a 3.31 GPA while averaging 20.5 points per game in his junior campaign.
 
The UE volleyball team tallied a 3.618 GPA en route to AVCA team honors.  It marked the eighth time in the last nine seasons that the team received those honors.  As a freshman, Ashley Ring finished with a 3.971 GPA as an exercise science major.  In cross country, both the men’s and women’s teams earned the USTFCCCA All-Academic Award.  It is given to teams whose GPA is 3.0 or higher with five team members competing in their respective regional championships.  The women were 8^th in the nation with a 3.65 while the men were 25^th with a 3.41.
 
For the 17^th-consecutive year, the Aces women’s tennis team garnered ITA honors.  To be eligible, teams must have a combined GPA of 3.20 or higher with all players on the roster contributing to that total.  On the individual side, five players were honored as ITA Scholar-Athletes.  To be named one, a player must be a sophomore in academic standing while being a varsity letterwinner and having a GPA of 3.50 or higher.
 
Swimmer Colin Gray notched a perfect 4.0 in mathematics and was chosen as a member of the First Team Academic All-America Team.  As a side note, the men’s swimming GPA’s did not factor into the MVC award since they compete in a separate conference.
 
The MVC All-Academic Award is in its tenth year of existence and is awarded to the school whose student-athletes combine for the highest GPA.  The GPA totals include all student-athletes who compete, practice or receive athletic aid during the academic year.
 
This is the 2012 National College Athlete Honor Society Honorees

	First Name	Last Name	Sport	CUM GPA	Year In School
	Melissa	Ball	Women's Swimming	3.939	Junior
	Andrew	Barrett	Men's Cross Country	3.584	Senior
	Jacqueline	Carlson	Women's Cross Country	3.931	Junior
	Brandon	Causey	Men's Soccer	3.582	Junior
	Kelsey	Costales	Women's Tennis	3.402	Junior
	Shelby	Cron	Women's Cross Country	3.631	Senior
	Cassandra	Cude	Women's Swimming	3.445	Senior
	Michael	Eckstein	Baseball	3.487	Junior
	Matthew	Hamilton	Men's Cross Country	3.806	Junior
	Caitlin	Harty	Women's Swimming	3.618	Junior
	Parker	Hensley	Men's Golf	3.505	Junior
	Jason	Hockemeyer	Baseball	3.481	Senior
	Kelby	Jenkins	Women's Cross Country	4	Junior
	Kendal	Kautz	Softball	3.471	Senior
	Jessica	Knackmuhs	Volleyball	3.403	Senior
	Nicole	Kreuzman	Women's Cross Country	3.782	Junior
	Halie	Malone	Softball	3.526	Senior
	Adria	Mehringer	Women's Cross Country	3.638	Junior
	Daniel	Musselwhite	Men's Swimming	3.909	Junior
	Joel	Nash	Men's Soccer	3.508	Junior
	Craig	Niemeier	Men's Cross Country	3.495	Junior
	David	Patton	Baseball	3.463	Junior
	Colt	Ryan	Men's Basketball	3.411	Senior
	Jake	Schwartz	Men's Cross Country	3.713	Junior
	Lauren	Seyller	Volleyball	3.809	Junior
	Rachel	Ten Hoor	Volleyball	3.883	Junior
	Stephanie	Thompson	Women's Soccer	4	Junior
	Melissa	Thurman	Women's Swimming	3.6	Junior
	This is the 2012 National College Athlete Honor Society Second Year Honorees.  They received a pin for their recognition.
	Alexandra	Howard	Women's Swimming	3.583	Senior
	Phoebe	Hodina	Women's Swimming	3.617	Senior
	Samuel	Mires	Men's Cross Country	3.658	Senior
	Adam	Culiver	Baseball	3.676	Senior
	Danielle	Langness	Women's Soccer	3.681	Senior
	Meredith	Schmitt	Women's Swimming	3.755	Senior
	Taylor	Ware	Women's Basketball	3.761	Senior
	Maggie	Little	Softball	3.782	Senior
	Kepra	McBrayer	Women's Cross Country	3.791	Senior
	Jordan	Van Wyk	Women's Swimming	3.819	Senior
	Jill	Enge	Women's Swimming	3.842	Senior
	Samuel	Cobb	Men's Golf	3.849	Senior
	Chelsea	Falkenstein	Women's Basketball	3.952	Senior

 
2011-12 Dean’s List (Student-athletes with a 1 next to their name made it both semesters)
 

Allison	Aguilera	1
Haley	Anderson	1
Melissa	Ball	1
Andrew	Barrett
Lauren	Barry
Kassandra	Beseau	1
Briyana	Blair
Timothy	Bodine
Sam	Bohon
Gabe	Carandang
Jackie	Carlson	1
Brandon	Causey	1
Jordan	Chavis	1
Andy	Chinn	1
Sam	Cobb	1
Meagan	Collins
Sam	Conrad	1
Tentt	Copeland	1
Kelsey	Costales	1
Joel	Craig
Shelby	Cron	1
Cassandra	Cude
Adam	Culiver
Brian	Denny
Cathy	Doyle
Michael	Eckstein	1
Lauren	Ellerman
Jill	Enge	1
Chelsea	Falkenstein	1
Mariah	Ferguson	1
Gabrielle	Fifer
Amy	Gaertner
Staci	Gillum
Miranda	Graham	1
Colin	Gray	1
Matthew	Hamilton	1
Jake	Harrington
Khristian	Hart
Caitlin	Harty
Dana	Hayden
Parker	Hensley	1
Jason	Hockemeyer
Phoebe	Hodina
Alexandra	Howard
Kelby	Jenkins	1
Garrett	Johnson
Valerie	Jones	1
Katrina	Kain
Sarah	Kanet
Alex	Kapsalis
Kendall	Kautz
Alyssa	Key	1
Katie	Klages
Jessica	Knackmuhs
James	Kohler	1
Dora	Kotsiou	1
Nicole	Kreuzman	1
Kelly	Lamarche	1
Danielle	Langness	1
Maggie	Little	1
Kyle	Lloyd
April	Lubrecht	1
Brooke	Maher
Halie	Malone	1
Colleen	Marty	1
Kepra	McBrayer	1
Adria	Mehringer
Neal	Millay	1
Juliann	Miller
Sam	Mires	1
Samantha	Montgomery
Alyssa	Moran	1
Emily	Morris
Jennifer	Murphy
Daniel	Musselwhite	1
Joel	Nash	1
Craig	Niemeier
Kaisi	Nixon	1
Loren	Oboikovitz	1
Kyle	O'Connor	1
David	Patton	1
Taylor	Perry
Kirsten	Perrey
Mackenzie	Powell	1
Jessica	Raatz	1
Ashleigh	Rahming
Nicole	Rahming
Emily	Richardson
Ashley	Ring	1
Ryan	Robinson
Colt	Ryan	1
Elle	Sawin	1
Kevin	Schafer	1
Lauren	Schaftlein
Trevor	Schmidt
Meredith	Schmitt	1
Nicholas	Schroeder	1
Jeremy	Schroers
Jake	Schwartz
Kyle	Schwinghamer
Lauren	Seyller	1
Taylor	Shotwell	1
Alex	Spata
Matthew	Spencer	1
William	Spradley
Conor	Sprick
Cody	Stein
Zach	Taylor	1
Rachel	TenHoor	1
Stephanie	Thompson	1
Melissa	Thurman
Lauren	Tiernan
Michelle	Tipton	1
Stephanie	Tran
Melissa	Truex
Jordan	Van Wyk	1
Quinn	Vilneff	1
Taylor	Ware
Sadie	Wells
Caitlin	Wickes	1
Griffin	Wood	1
Abigail	Yenzer	1