UTC Wrestlling Gains National Academic Honor

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When discussing academic leaders among NCAA D-I schools, Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford quickly come to mind.

 

Throw in Northwestern and Michigan and a few Ivy League schools to the conversation and one has an elite list.

 

As of this week, the Tennessee at Chattanooga wrestling program has joined that elite list.

 

UTC, Nebraska and Edinboro (Pa.) are co-national leaders with four student-athletes each on the National Wrestling Coaches Association All-Academic team.

 

American University, Ohio State, Purdue and Utah Valley were tied for second with three individuals named to the All-Academic Team.

 

The Mocs’ “fab four” and their grade point averages are Jason McCroskey (3.58), Brandon Wright (3.56), Dean Pavlou (3.47) and Bucky Johnson (3.42).

 

“This is a great accomplishment for those guys who have worked hard in the classroom,” stated Mocs Head Coach Heath Eslinger. “My goal is for our team to have the highest GPA in the nation. We have guys here who are buying into that vision and we are bringing in the caliber of student-athletes who will help us reach that goal.”

 

Pavlou (149 lbs; Bradley Central High School) is a 2010 Southern Conference Champion, an NCAA qualifier and is majoring in Health and Human Performance.

 

McCroskey (184 lbs.; Soddy Daisy High School), who also earned NWCA All-Academic honors in 2009, is a two-time NCAA qualifier and is a Mechanical Engineering major.

 

Wright (165 lbs; Houston High School in Memphis) majors in Business Entrepreneurship and was on the All-Southern Conference team this past season.

 

Johnson (125 lbs; Brighton High School) was runner-up in the 2010 SoCon tournament and a 2009 SoCon champ.

 

"This is great for the UTC wrestling program to gain national recognition academically, but it really doesn't surprise me,'' said Pavlou.

 

"Coach Eslinger is going a great job of teaching us to have a balance in life - in the classroom, in our eating habits, on the mat and in life in general.

 

"Being a student-athlete on the wrestling team encompasses so much more than workouts in the wrestling room.''

 

To qualify for the All-Academic team, a wrestler must have at least a 3.2 cumulative GPA, and either been an NCAA qualifier or won 60 percent of his total schedule – and must have competed in at least 60 percent of said schedule. A wrestler can also qualifier has an NCAA All-American with a 3.0 GPA.

 

Top Team: Of the 45 schools represented, the Harvard wrestling team leads the nation in team GPA 3.3098 and has one wrestler on the NWCA academic squad.

 

After finishing second last year, The Crimson coached by Jay Weiss team finishes atop of the rankings for the first time in school history. Runner-up is last year’s top team American, with a team GPA of 3.296. Rounding out the top five teams are Nebraska, Duke and Davidson.

 

Academic Notes:

 

NCAA Champs and High GPA’s:

While Harvard is honored as the nation’s top academic wrestling program for the first time, five NCAA champions made the individual list.

 

The five NCAA champions earning a spot on the individual team are Max Askren of Missouri (3.321; Interdiscipinary Studies), Iowa’s Jay Borschel (3.21; Biology) and Brent Metcalf (3.25; Sociology), Minnesota’s Jayson (3.281; Technology Education) and J.P. O’Connor of Harvard (3.438; Human Evolutionary Biology).

 

In addition, NCAA runner-ups Craig Brester of Nebraska and Kirk Smith of Boise State were also named to the All-Academic Team.

 

“The student-athletes on this All-Academic Team are a great example of the hard work and dedication that the sport of wrestling teaches these young men,” said NWCA President Jim Beichner. “Not only are they achieving winning a National Championship, but they are also showing that they are champions in the classroom as well.”

 

Top Student-Athlete: Stanford NCAA All-American Nicholas Amuchastegui has the highest GPA among D-I wrestlers with a 3.949 in Mechanical Engineering. Amuchastegui was honored earlier this year by the NCAA with the “Elite 88 Award.” The award is presented to the top athlete qualifying for a post-season championship in each of the NCAA’s 88 national championship events.

 

Rounding out the top five individuals were Nebraska’s Tucker Lane (3.933), Aaron Pickrel (3.867) of South Dakota State, Justin Kerber (3.85) of Cornell and Phil Moricone (3.83) of Edinboro.

 

Quick Facts: The 2009-10 All-Academic individual team includes 61 NCAA qualifiers, 23 NCAA All-Americans, seven NCAA finalists and the five NCAA champions. In all, 74 individuals representing 45 schools are being honored on this year’s All-Academic Team.

 

Contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net

 

also posted on chattanoogan.com

[sweeptheleg]

Thats awesome!