NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Salisbury University senior
women's lacrosse standout Sue Ackermann was selected as the 2007-08
ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America of the Year for the College
Division in the women's at-large field, as selected by the College
Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Ackermann becomes
the 15th Sea Gull to earn Academic All-America honors in the
College Division since 2001 and the second this season as Kate
Weaver earned first team honors in women's soccer.
Ackermann is the first Sea Gull to ever earn an Academic
All-America of the Year award for their respective College Division
category. She is also the first-ever Gull to earn first team
Academic All-America honors in the at-large category.
CoSIDA awards Academic All-America teams for baseball, football,
men's basketball, men's soccer, men's track/cross country,
volleyball, women's basketball, women's soccer, women's track/cross
country and men's and women's at-large. The at-large category
covers any other NCAA sanction sport not listed above.
Ackermann is now one of the 12 finalists for the
CoSIDA College Division Academic All-America of the Year for the
2007-08 season. That award will be announced later this summer.
The Academic All-America of the Year honor, which began in
1987-88, is awarded to the most outstanding student-athlete of the
year and is chosen from the student-athletes who have been awarded
Team Member of the Year honors. From over 360,000 student-athletes
in the nation, just 816 are selected as Academic All-America Team
members each year, 24 are selected as Team Members of the Year and
two are named Academic All-America of the Year.
Former recipients of Academic All-America of the Year honors
include Rebecca Lobo (1994-95), Danny Wuerffel (1996-97), Peyton
Manning (1997-98), Chad Pennington (1999-00) and Emeka Okafor
(2003-04) to name a few. No men's or women's lacrosse player has
ever earned this honor.
Ackermann, an exercise science major with a near perfect
cumulative grade point average, has earned ESPN The
Magazine Academic All-District honors, IWLCA Academic Honor
Roll recognition and was the female recipient of the 2007-08
Capital Athletic Conference Scholar-Athlete Award and the SU
Scholar-Athlete Award.
The two-time Capital Athletic Conference Player of the Year,
capped off one of the best careers ever for a Sea Gull in women's
lacrosse history. The Sykesville, Md., native finished the '08
season two points shy of tying the all-time NCAA record for points
in a single-season (154, set in 1996). The two-time IWLCA
All-Chesapeake region first team selection finished the season with
152 points on 82 goals and 70 assists. The two-time All-CAC first
team attacker graduates as the all-time SU leader in points (321)
and assists (149). She is second all-time in goals (172). The
two-time team captain was also a member of the Salisbury
Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and recently received a
2008 MACDA post-graduate scholarship.
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.
ESPN The Magazine - winner of the 2006 and 2003 National
Magazine Award for General Excellence - is a provocative and
innovative sports publication. Full of insight, analysis, impact
and wit, the oversized biweekly with a circulation of 1.9 million
looks ahead to give fans a unique perspective on the world of
sports.
For more information about the Academic All-America Teams program,
please visit www.cosida.com.
