GRAND FORKS, N.D. – When University of North Dakota senior golfer Amanda Kaler (Fargo, N.D.) was named an ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American earlier this month, she became UND’s sixth student-athlete to garner Academic All-America honors during the 2008-09 season, the most in school history.

Kaler joined men’s hockey player Chay Genoway (Jr., Morden, Manitoba) and football players Mitch Braegelmann (Sr., St. Cloud, Minn.), Rory Manke (Sr., Detroit Lakes, Minn.), Andrew Miller (Jr., Menomonie, Wis.) and Brady Trenbeath (Sr., Cavalier, N.D.) among UND’s 2008-09 Academic All-Americans. Braegelmann and Manke, both repeat selections, were named to the Academic All-America football first team, while Miller and Trenbeath earned second-team honors. Kaler was named to the Academic All-America at-large second team, while Genoway was named to the at-large third team.

The previous school-record number of Academic All-Americans was five, set in 1984-85 and matched in 2001-02 and 2005-06.

UND’s student-athletes combined for a 3.085 grade point average during the 2008-09 academic year, including a 3.112 GPA during the spring semester. The highest GPA among UND’s teams belonged to head coach Tom Wynne’s tennis squad, which produced a 3.654 GPA during the academic year.

“Given the challenges of our first year of Division I transition, particularly the tremendous amount of travel involved, our student-athletes did an incredible job in the classroom,” said UND Director of Athletics Brian Faison.

Other notable academic achievements in 2008-09 included:

·          Kaler and Manke each earned NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships.

·          Six Sioux football players earned ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District honors, including a district-leading five first-team selections. It was the second straight year UND boasted more first-teamers than any other school in the district.

·          Juniors Brittany Brenny and Kristi Dahlheimer were named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District women’s track and field/cross country team.

·          Josh Lagein, Jake Magner, Josh Nelson and Andrew Sadler were each named to the 2009 Independent Baseball All-Academic Team.

·          UND placed a league-high 24 student-athletes on the 2008 Fall Academic All-Great West Conference team, including a league-leading 16 football players.

·          Thirty-seven Sioux were named to the 2009 Winter/Spring Academic All-Great West Conference team

·          UND’s men’s and women’s hockey team combined to place 19 student-athletes on the All-WCHA Academic team.

·          Seven student-athletes were named to the 2009 National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) Hampshire Honor Society.

·          UND’s Academic Awards Night in February honored 247 student-athletes who achieved either a 3.0 GPA during the fall semester or a cumulative 3.0 through the fall semester.

·          During the spring semester, 14 of UND’s 18 teams achieved a 3.0 GPA or higher.

– Go Sioux –