May 23, 2003

MOUNT VERNON, IOWA . . . Nine Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) student-athletes were named to the Verizon Academic All-District VII College Division At-Large Teams selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) on Thursday. Six were named to the women’s at-large team and three were named to the men’s at-large team.

Cornell College senior Ingrid Spiegel (Lemont, Ill./Providence Catholic HS), Loras College junior Natalia Fernandez (Bogota, Columbia/Santa Francisca Romana HS) and Coe College junior Nick Barnes (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Washington HS) were all named to the Verizon Academic All-District VII At-Large First Team. The three student-athletes, all tennis players, now advance to the Verizon Academic All-America® Team ballot. The Verizon Academic All-America® Men’s At-Large Team will be announced on Tuesday, June 10. The Verizon Academic All-America® Women’s At-Large Team will be announced on Thursday, June 12.

Spiegel, a politics major was a First Team Academic All-District selection last year. Fernandez is an international business major and Barnes is an English/Spanish double-major.

Earning Verizon Academic All-District VII At-Large Second Team honors were Buena Vista University swimmer Sara Becker (Carroll, Iowa/Carroll HS) and tennis player Tim Meyer (Denison, Iowa/Denison-Schleswig HS), Coe College golfer Beth Rohlena (Sioux City, Iowa/North HS), Loras College swimmer Meghan Hesseling (Dubuque, Iowa/Senior HS) and wrestler Paul Cleary (El Paso, Ill./El Paso HS), and Wartburg College tennis player Kelly Dotson (Mount Vernon, Iowa/Mount Vernon HS).

Becker is a computer science/mathematics major, Meyer is a finance/banking major, Rohlena is undeclared, Hesseling is a public relations major, Cleary is a history major and Dotson is a writing major.

Student-athletes participating in sports that do not have its own Verizon Academic All-District and All-America Team are eligible for the At-Large Team including swimming, tennis, golf and wrestling.

To be eligible for selection to the Verizon Academic All-District Team and the Verizon Academic All-America® Team, a student-athlete must have reached sophomore academic and athletic standing, be a starter or key reserve and possess at least a 3.20 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale).

District VII College Division includes NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA schools in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

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