SEC Leads Nation in First-Team Academic All-Americans and NCAA Academic Award Winners
Wednesday, August 4, 2010 | General
The Southeastern Conference had 15 of its student-athletes earn first-team ESPN The Magazine / CoSIDA Academic All-America status in 2009-10, more than any other Division I conference in the nation. Finishing second to the Big 12 Conference (39), the SEC collected a total of 36 student-athletes on the first, second or third team. The SEC led the nation with three student-athletes earning Academic All-America of the Year honors in their specific sports.
Six University of Florida student-athletes were named ESPN The Magazine Academic All-Americans in 2009-10, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced Wednesday. In addition, three Gators were named SEC Scholar Athletes of the Year in their respective sports.
Former Gator football standout Tim Tebow (Jacksonville, Fla.) was named to the first team with a 3.66 grade-point average. The family, youth and community sciences major was named the ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year in football, as well as being named the SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year in football. Tebow was also awarded the William V. Campbell Trophy by the National Football Foundation, along with the Today's Top VIII Award from the NCAA.
Along with Tebow, former Gator men's basketball player Ray Shipman (Miramar, Fla.) and former men's golfer Bank Vongvanij (Bradenton, Fla.) earned SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year honors for their respective sports.
Softball's Kelsey Bruder (Corona, Calif.), gymnastics' Rebekah Zaiser (Mars, Pa.) and track and field's Evelien Dekkers (Etten-Leur, Netherlands) were three of eight SEC athletes named to the second team. Dekkers was also named the 2010 Outdoor Women's Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, while being honored as a NCAA postgraduate recipient for excelling academically and athletically in her final year of intercollegiate athletics competition.
Softball's Stephanie Brombacher (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) and swimming's Teresa Crippen (Conshohocken, Pa.) rounded out Florida's presence with third-team honors.
Florida's nominees for the McWhorter SEC Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year were football's Joey Sorrentino (Ocala, Fla.), while Zaiser was the Orange and Blue's female nominee. Sorrentino also joined Dekkers as a NCAA postgraduate recipient.
To be eligible for ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-America, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 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. Voting for the teams is done by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
Florida's ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-Americans
Name Sport Team GPA
Tim Tebow* Football First 3.66
Kelsey Bruder Softball Second 3.70
Evelien Dekkers W. Track & Field Second 3.84
Rebekah Zaiser Gymnastics Second 3.97
Stephanie Brombacher Softball Third 3.53
Teresa Crippen W. Swimming Third 3.71
* - ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year in specific sport
OTHER FLORIDA ACADEMIC AWARDS IN 2009-10
Evelien Dekkers - 2010 Outdoor Women's Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association
Tim Tebow – William V. Campbell Trophy (given by National Football Foundation to nation's top football scholar-athlete)
Today's Top VIII Award (given by NCAA to eight outstanding senior student-athletes)
FLORIDA'S NCAA POSTGRADUATE RECIPIENTS
Evelien Dekkers, Women's Track & Field
Joey Sorrentino, Football
FLORIDA'S McWHORTER SEC SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR NOMINEES
Female – Rebekah Zaiser, Gymnastics
Male – Joey Sorrentino, Football
FLORIDA'S SPORT-BY-SPORT SEC SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Ray Shipman – Men's Basketball
Tim Tebow – Football
Bank Vongvanij – Men's Golf
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