Nebraska Wesleyan's Powell earns Academic All-American of the Year

LINCOLN -- Four track and field athletes from Nebraska Wesleyan University have been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® Team as selected by the College Sports Information Directors Association (CoSIDA).

Erin Powell (Sr., Beaver City, Neb., Southern Valley High School) was a repeat selection to the College Division's Academic All-America First Team for Women's Track & Field/Cross Country and became just the second student-athlete in NWU history to also be named Academic All-American of the Year, joining former Nebraska Wesleyan baseball player Matt Kechely (1995).

Powell graduated in May with a 3.98 GPA in accounting. She finished her track and field career as a 7-time All-American, 12-time Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) champion and 30-time All-GPAC performer.

She holds school records in three events (100, 4x100 and outdoor triple jump) and ranks second on four more of NWU's all-time charts.

Earlier this year, Powell was awarded a postgraduate scholarship worth $7,500 from the NCAA, and she was also named Nebraska Wesleyan's most outstanding female athlete for 2005-06.

Nebraska Wesleyan was also the only school in the nation to have three men named to the College Division's 2006 Academic All-America Team in Track & Field/Cross Country, which was also announced this week, and all three will return in 2006-07.

Gordie Coffin (Jr., Osceola High School) was named Academic All-America First Team, after earning Third Team honors last year. He owns a 3.94 GPA in communication studies and is the reigning 100-meter conference champion.

For his career, Coffin is already a 3-time All-American, 4-time GPAC champion and 14-time All-GPAC performer. He was also a member of NCAA Div. III National Champion 4x100 team, which broke the school record at the 2005 Outdoor Championships with a time of 40.47.

Jed Droge (Jr., Pawnee City High School) joins Coffin on the Men's First Team and owns a 3.75 GPA in athletic training. He is a 4-time All-American and 2-time GPAC champion in the long jump.

He automatically qualified, entered the 2006 NCAA Div. III Championships ranked No. 2 and moved into second place in school history with a long jump of 24-5 to win the league outdoor title this spring.

Droge was also named Conference and Association of Division III Independents Athlete of the Week during the 2006 outdoor season.

Evan Knight (So., Keystone/Ogallala High School) was the only sophomore selected in the College Division, earning Second Team honors.

A double major in history and Spanish, Knight has a 3.98 GPA. He was named USTCCA Central Region Men's Indoor Track Athlete of the Year for Div. III after auto qualifying in the 800, DMR and 4x400 in 2006.

He went on to earn national runner-up in the 800.

Already a 6-time All-American, 2-time GPAC Champion and 5-time league runner-up, Knight was also a member of Nebraska Wesleyan's national champion distance medley relay team in 2005.

NOTE: Nebraska Wesleyan ranks among the all-time leaders in the entire nation, regardless of division (NCAA I, II, III and NAIA), with 62 student-athletes, who have won a total of 94 Academic All-America awards between them, including seven during the 2005-06 academic year.

Powell earns honor from ESPN

The Magazine

Powell and Anne Bersagel (Greeley, Colo.), a senior from Wake Forest University, earned top honors on the ESPN The Magazine

Academic All--America® women's track & field and cross country teams announced Thursday.

Bersagel, a three-time NCAA cross country All-American, placed 13th at the 2005 NCAA Championships and fourth at the 2005 NCAA Southeast Cross Country Regional Championships.

Owner of a 3.94 grade point average as an economics and political science major, Bersagel is a recipient of one of the prestigious 2006 NCAA Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarships.

Powell, who was also a first-team Academic All-America honoree in

2005, is a seven-time All-America in track and field. She earned the honor three times this year, two resulting from the indoor season.

A 12-time Great Plains Athletic Conference champion and 30-time all-conference performer, Powell also earned an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.

She carries a 3.98 cumulative grade point average as an accounting major.

Powell and Bersagel were two of seven athletes selected for the Academic All-America first team for the second straight year.

The others are Caroline Bierbaum (Columbia), Laura Gerraughty (North Carolina), Serena Ramsey (Missouri), Shannon Wommack (Tennessee-Chattanooga) and Elaine Binkley (Denison).

The other University Division first team members include Angela Homan (Auburn), Jennifer Leatherman (Penn State), Melanie Schorr (Dartmouth), Beth Mallory (Alabama), Dara Altman (Florida), Michelle Prowse (Oklahoma State), Lacy Janson (Florida State), Emily Anderson (Rhode Island), Stacey Cowan (Notre Dame) and Ashley Selig (Nebraska).

Also named to the College Division first team were Mindy Erb (Ohio Northern), Ellie Fernandez (John Carroll), Natalie Hanson (Concordia (Minn.)), Hailey Harren (Gustavus Adolphus), Christine Hendricks (Calvin) Jenny Irwin (Ferris State), Laura Kline (Kutztown), Becca Kueny (Missouri-Rolla), Kristen Larson (Emporia State), Julie Nemergut (Edinboro), Angie Pfeiffer (Concordia, Minn.), Kelly Richards (Edinboro), Missy Smith (Calvin) and Meghan Voiland (Augustana (Ill.)).

Seven of the 31 first-team selections have perfect 4.00 GPAs for their collegiate career, and 20 of the 94 total selections have been perfect in the classroom.

Combined, the average GPA for the 31 first-teamers was a remarkable 3.869.