June 13, 2006
Release courtesy of Larry Happel, Central College sports information director

PELLA, IOWA . . . Central College men’s tennis MVP Nick Cochrane, a recently graduated senior from Fort Dodge, has been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America men’s at-large team as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Cochrane, a third-team college division selection, graduated with a 3.92 grade point average and an English major. He was a second-team academic all-district choice last year.

He’s Central’s second academic all-America honoree this spring. Senior Adam Duerfeldt of Urbandale was named the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America player of the year in baseball. Central student-athletes have received academic all-America recognition 45 times since 1979, including six times in the past three years.

The at-large teams include athletes competing in sports for which a separate academic team is not selected including tennis, wrestling, golf, gymnastics, hockey, field hockey, lacrosse and swimming.

One other Iowan was honored. Bill Gaul, a junior swimmer at Missouri-Rolla with a 4.0 GPA in chemical engineering, is from West Des Moines. He was a first-team college division pick.

Cochrane, a Central co-captain, was a four-time all-Iowa Conference selection in singles, a three-time honoree in doubles and a three-time academic all-Iowa Conference honoree. He was named Central’s team MVP all four years and set the school record for career singles wins, posting an 81-30 mark (.729) He was 22-5 in 2006 and finished third in the Iowa Conference A flight singles after placing second a year ago. Cochrane was named the league’s player of the week seven times in his career, including three times this spring.

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