June 9, 2008

Spartanburg, S.C. - Following a strong spring semester that saw well over half of Upstate's student-athletes earn a 3.0 GPA or better, USC Upstate placed 72 student-athletes on the A-Sun All-Academic Team, released the A-Sun in its Spring All-Academic report.

The A-Sun All-Academic selections are made for individuals playing in their traditional competition seasons. For the spring, the members of the baseball, men's and women's golf, softball, men's and women's tennis, and men's and women's track & field teams were eligible for A-Sun All-Academic honors. The 72 selections among the eight teams topped the 57 selections earned in the fall and winter by the members of the men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's soccer, and volleyball teams. Upstate had a total of 129 A-Sun All-Academic selections in 2007-08. Student-athletes who earn a 3.0 GPA during their traditional competition seasons are selected for the all-academic team.

The softball team led the way in the spring, placing 16 of its 19 team members on the A-Sun All-Academic squad. The strong effort by the members of the team allowed the squad to post the second highest GPA of all 15 athletic programs (indoor and outdoor track & field are combined) at 3.420. The women's tennis team, which posted the highest team GPA in the spring at 3.547, placed all seven of its members on the list. Both the softball and women's tennis teams won the regular season A-Sun Conference championships in their respective sports. The men's track & field team claimed the second-highest number of selections on the A-Sun All-Academic team with 13. Baseball was third with 11 and was followed by women's track & field with eight, women's golf and women's tennis with seven each, men's tennis with six and men's golf with four.

Upstate had 17 student-athletes earn a perfect 4.0 GPA in the spring semester, 11 of which were playing in their traditional competition seasons. Again, the softball team led the way with six student-athletes earning a perfect 4.0 GPA. Those members were Katie Adams, Vanesa Flores, Melissa Lockey, Tiffany Pitcher, Coutney Tate and Jenna Torbert. In addition to the six softball players, baseball team members Matt Bertino and Karlton Schilling, women's tennis players Daniela Lovera and Diana Martinez, and women's golfer Johanna Ebenhag also made a 4.0 GPA in the spring semester.

A-Sun All-Academic Team Selections - Spring
Baseball (11) - Matt Bertino, Tyler Cook, Brian Dempsey, Bret Elliott, Dennis McCraney, Phillip Myers, Michael O'Neill, Casey Rivers, Karlton Schilling, Kyle Simpson, Blake Stickley;
Men's Golf (4) - Andy Brooks, Baxter Culler, Josh Gallman, Jason Livingston
Women's Golf (7) - Traci Bodner, Audrey Church, Johanna Ebenhag, Anna Hastings, Julie Miller, Richelle Wedzik, Richia Wedzik;
Softball (16) - Katie Adams, Kim Brasil, Morgan Childers, Vanesa Flores, Heidi Gibbs, Melissa Lockey, Ana Mitchell, Emily Monteith, Amber Patterson, Tiffany Pitcher, Brittany Rice, Keri Sarratt, Shay Slater, Sasha Stepaniuk, Courtney Tate, Jenna Torbert;
Men's Tennis (6) - Sandy Franz, Sebastian Gonzales-Orbegoso, Arnaldo Lovera, Nicolas Ospina, Jack Roux, Javier Tori;
Women's Tennis (7) - Susana Hernandez, Maria Herrera, Daniela Lovera, Diana Martinez, Emilia Milovanovic, Vivian Neuenschwander, Anna Novo;
Men's Track & Field (13) - Kevin Brabham, Adam Brownlee, Joe Edwards, Antwan Gadsden, Conrad Goeringer, Matt Henderson, Joseph Jiles, Lewis Jerell, Brett McRae, Kyle Meeder, Thomas Smith, Chris Weidensee, Kyle Wentzel;
Women's Track & Field (8) - Alesah Dawson, Julie Miller, Mia Parkhurst, Stacie Sewell, Emily Tangwar, Kelly Westfield, Sheliah Williams, Nicole Yancey.