NWCA Announces Top 25 All-Academic Wrestling Team and All-Academic Individuals;

Sacred Heart wins team title:

NCAA Champions Rohn and Heskett named to first team
5/9/2002
Pat Tocci/NWCA

The National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) is proud to announce its 2002 NWCA Division I wrestling academic teams. Each year the NWCA honors its Academic Top Twenty-five Division I wrestling teams, as well as a First Team, Second Team and Honorable Mention All-Academic Team.

Sacred Heart University captured honors as being the top ranked academic wrestling tream with a team GPA 3.4. This is the first time that Sacred Heart has won was honored with this achievement. The Pioneers were closely followed by Duquesne University which finished second with a 3.393 followed by Stanford University (3.375), Princeton University (3.365) and Central Michigan (3.23). Rounding out the top ten teams in order were: Brown University, Harvard University, Lock Haven University, Columbia University and Lehigh. Team rankings are selected by taking the average GPA of each team's starting ten wrestlers along with two backups that wrestled in at least one varsity match. The average grade point average of the top-25 teams was 3.071.

The individual Academic All-American team is highlighted with two NCAA Champions and two runner-ups on the first team. The first team is led by NCAA Champions Rob Rohn of Lehigh, and Joe Heskett of Iowa State. Rohn the NCAA Champion at 184lbs is a 3.62 student in accounting while 165lbs champion Heskett is a 3.27 student in Speech Communication. Heskett is a three-time first team All-Academic Team member.

The Other members of the first team include Iowa's Jessman Smith, Michigan duo of Erick "Otto" Olson and Ryan Bertin, Owen Elzen of Minnesota, Nebraska's Brian Snyder, Northern Illinois' Scott Owen, and Greg Parker of Princeton. Olson, Elzen and Snyder are repeat performers on the first team.

The University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan each placed three wrestlers on the All-Academic Team. The team features wrestlers from 32 universities, 38 NCAA qualifiers, and 17 All-Americans.

Mike Moyer, Executive Director of the NWCA commented, "The results of the 2002 NWCA Academic All-American Rankings confirms the NWCA's belief that many of our nations top collegiate wrestlers are committed to the highest level of achievement in the classroom as well as the wrestling mat. These results demonstrate that the sport of wrestling is building leaders for life as many of these athletes will go onto be our leaders of tomorrow."

NWCA Top 25 All-Academic Wrestling Team
1 Sacred Heart University, 3.4
2 Duquesne Univerity, 3.393
3 Stanford University, 3.375
4 Princeton University, 3.365
5 Central Michigan University, 3.23
6 Brown University, 3.2
7 Harvard University, 3.187
8 Lock Haven University, 3.126
9 Columbia University, 3.117
10 Lehigh University, 3.092
11 Penn State University, 3.086
12 Michigan State University, 2.98
13 University of Pennsylvania, 2.975
14 Cleveland State, 2.97
14 University of Iowa, 2.97
16 University of Michigan, 2.967
17 James Madison University, 2.954
18 University of Illinois, 2.944
18 University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2.944
20 Indiana University, 2.935
21 University of Oklahoma , 2.934
22 Eastern Michigan University, 2.92
23 Millersville University, 2.919
24 Northwestern University, 2.918
25 Oklahoma State University, 2.887


NWCA ALL-ACADEMIC INDIVIDUAL WRESTLING TEAM

NWCA All-Academic First Team
Name/Institution/GPA/Achievements/Major

Joseph Heskett, Iowa State University, 3.27, 165 NCAA Champion, Speech Communication

Robert Rohn, Lehigh University, 3.62, 184 NCAA Champion, Accounting

Eric Owen, Northern Illinois University, 3.61, 5th NCAA Championships, Biology

Greg Parker, Princeton, 3.5, 2nd NCAA Championships, Computer Science

John Lockhart, University of Illinois, 3.54, 3rd NCAA Championships, Kinesiology

Jessman Smith, University of Iowa, 3.15, 3rd NCAA Championships, Psychology

Ryan Bertin, University of Michigan, 3.907, 6th NCAA Championships, Undecided

Erick Olson, University of Michigan, 3.7, 5th NCAA Championships, Education Technology

Owen Elzen, University of Minnesota, 3.402, 4th NCAA Championships, Health and Wellness

Bryan Snyder, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, 3.272, 2nd NCAA Championships, Sociology and Communication Studies


NWCA All-Academic Second Team

Patrick Owens, Boise State University, 3.779, NCAA Qualifier, Physical Education

Jordan Webster, Central Michigan University, 3.84, NCAA Qualifier, Math-Education

Adam Gilmore, Eastern Michigan University, 3.83, MAC Conference Placewinner, Elementary Education

Patrick Diaz, James Madison University, 3.9, 3rd CAA Championship, International Business

John Wechter, Michigan State University, 3.763, NCAA Qualifier, Kinesiology

Shane Roller, Oklahoma State University, 3.248, 4th NCAA, Psychology-Pre-Med

Anthony Reynolds, Sacred Heart University, 3.77, NCAA Qualifier, Mathematics

Paul Hynek, University of Northern Iowa, 3.19, 6th NCAA Championships, Mathematics

Witt Durden, University of Oklahoma, 3.09, 3rd NCAA Championships, Mathematics

Brian Watson, University of Oregon, 3.76, 2nd PAC 10's, General Science

Richard Springman, University of Pennsylvania, 3.5, 6th NCAA Championships, Mechanical Engineering / Applied Mech.


NWCA All-Academic Honorable Mention Team

Nick Ciarcia, Brown University, 3.7, NCAA Qualifier , Undecided

Jason Borrelli, Central Michigan University, 3.6, MAC Championship 3rd, Business

Wayne Watts, Citadel, 3.42, NCAA Qualifier, Physical Education

Rocco Mansueto, Cleveland State University, 3.44. NCAA Qualifier, Psychology

Benjamin Chunko, Drexel University, 3.42, 2nd in CAA Championship, Business

Zachery Pyles, Eastern Michigan University, 3.644, 21-13 season record, Chemistry

Eddie Magrys, Eastern Michigan University, 3.425, MAC Conference Placewinner, Business

Gregory Schaeffer, Indiana University, 3.732, NCAA Qualifier, Teacher-Prep-HPER

Ty Matthews, Indiana University, 3.459, NCAA Qualifier, Biology

Steve Kodish, James Madison University, 3.4, 20-13 record,Kinesiology

Travis McCormack, Lock Haven University, 3.71, NCAA Qualifier, Health and Physical Education

Michael Maney, Lock Haven University, 3.342, 8th NCAA Championships, Secondary History

Gregory Eyno n, Millersville University, 3.49, NCAA Qualifier, Technology Education

Jeff Ratliff, Ohio State University, 3.36, NCAA Qualifier, Political Science

Chad Reid, Oklahoma State University, 3.686, 20-6 record, Biology/Pre-Med

Peter Mielnik, Penn State University, 3.53, NCAA Qualifier, Administration of Justice

Bryan Lauer, Rutgers University, 3.73, 23-13 season record, Biological Science

Robert Belville, Sacred Heart University, 3.62, 4th CAA, Undecided

Adam Renner, Slippery Rock University, 3.42, 3rd East Regional, Political Science

Levi Weikel-Magden, Stanford University, 3.708, 4th Pac Ten, Human Biology

Matt Gentry, Stanford University, 3.498, 35-11season record, Undeclared

Kyle Smith, University of Michigan, 3.276, 7th NCAA Championships, Organizational Studies

Kenneth Burleson, University of Missouri, 3.55 28-11 season record, Business

Kyle Hansen, University of Northern Iowa, 3.17, 8th NCAA Championships, Construction Management

Jason Harless, University of Oregon, 3.71, NCAA Qualifier, General Science

Michael Faust, University of Pennsylvania, 3.37, 6th EIWA Championships, Business

Carl Fronhofer, University of Pittsburgh, 3.46, NCAA Qualifier, Sociology

Brady Reinke, University of Wisconsin, 3.402, NCAA Qualifier, Elementary Education

Clarence Toney, Virginia Military Institute, 3.547, 3rd at Southern Conference, Chemistry

Adam Britt, Virginia Military Institute, 3.484, NCAA Qualifier, Civil Engineering

Ryan Kehler, West Virginia University, 3.62, NCAA Qualifier, Physical Education