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For Immediate Release
June 22, 2006
POWELL NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICAN OF THE
YEAR;
COFFIN, DROGE AND KNIGHT EARN AAA HONORS
| LINCOLN, Neb. — Four spring
sport student-athletes from Nebraska Wesleyan University have
been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America®
Team as selected by the College Sports Information Directors
Association (CoSIDA). |
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 Erin
Powell (Sr., Beaver City, Neb., Southern Valley High School)
was a repeat selection to the College Division’s Academic
All-America First Team for Women’s Track & Field/Cross
Country and became just the second student-athlete in NWU
history to also be named Academic All-American of the Year,
joining former Nebraska Wesleyan baseball player Matt Kechely
(1995).
Powell graduated in May with a 3.98 GPA
in accounting. She finished her track and field career as
a 7-time All-American, 12-time Great Plains Athletic Conference
(GPAC) champion and 30-time All-GPAC performer.
She holds school records in three events
(100, 4x100 and outdoor triple jump) and ranks second on
four more of NWU’s all-time charts. Earlier this year,
Powell was awarded a postgraduate scholarship worth $7,500
from the NCAA, and she was also named Nebraska Wesleyan’s
most outstanding female athlete for 2005-06.
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 Nebraska
Wesleyan was also the only school in the nation to have three
men named to the College Division’s 2006 Academic All-America
Team in Track & Field/Cross Country, which was also announced
this week.
Sprinter Gordie Coffin (Jr., Osceola, Neb.,
Osceola High School) was named Academic All-America First
Team, after earning Third Team honors last year. He owns a
3.94 GPA in communication studies and is the reigning 100-meter
conference champion.
For his career, Coffin is already a 3-time
All-American, 4-time GPAC champion and 14-time All-GPAC performer.
He was also a member of NCAA Div. III National Champion 4x100
team, which broke the school record at the 2005 Outdoor Championships
with a time of 40.47.
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Jed Droge (Jr., Pawnee City, Neb., Pawnee
City High School) joins Coffin on the Men’s First Team
and owns a 3.75 GPA in athletic training. He is a 4-time All-American
and 2-time GPAC champion in the long jump.
He automatically qualified, entered the 2006
NCAA Div. III Championships ranked No. 2 and moved into second
place in school history with a long jump of 24-5 to win the
league outdoor title this spring.
Droge was also named Conference and Association
of Division III Independents Athlete of the Week during the
2006 outdoor season. |
 Evan
Knight (So., Keystone, Neb., Ogallala High School) was the
only sophomore selected in the College Division, earning Second
Team honors. A double major in history and Spanish, Knight
has a 3.98 GPA.
He was named USTCCA Central Region Men’s
Indoor Track Athlete of the Year for Div. III after auto qualifying
in the 800, DMR and 4x400 in 2006. He went on to earn national
runner-up in the 800. Already a 6-time All-American, 2-time
GPAC Champion and 5-time league runner-up, Knight was also
a member of Nebraska Wesleyan’s national champion distance
medley relay team in 2005.
Editor’s Note:
Nebraska Wesleyan ranks among the all-time leaders in the
entire nation, regardless of division (NCAA I, II, III and
NAIA), with 62 student-athletes, who have won a total of 94
Academic All-America awards between them, including seven
during the 2005-06 academic year. |
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