August 16, 2007

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA . . . The Luther College men's and women's tennis teams and 15 individuals from Luther and Wartburg have been recognized by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) for their work in the classroom.

Luther was one of 37 NCAA Division III men's teams and one of 58 NCAA Division III women's tennis teams to received the ITA All-Academic Team award. The ITA All-Academic Team award is open to any ITA program that has a cumulative team grade point average of 3.20 or above (on a 4.00 scale). All eligible student-athletes whose names appear on the NCAA/NAIA/NJCAA eligibility form and have competed in one or more varsity matches must average into the GPA for the current academic year (including fall 2006 and spring 2007).

A total of 15 student-athletes from the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference were also recognized as ITA Scholar Athletes, including Bjorn Hanson, Brad Nelson, Matt Olson, Thomas Orser, Jared Wiklund, Heidi Bothun, Annalise Conaway, Justine Allen, Sara Evans, and Amy Christenson of Luther and Tylor Schlader, Amanda Barkema, Audrey Hesse, Susie McArdle, and Jodie Pearson of Wartburg. In order to earn ITA Scholar-Athlete status a player must meet the following criteria: 1.) be a varsity letter winner, 2.) have a grade point average of at least 3.50 (on a 4.00 scale) for the current academic year, and 3.) have been enrolled at their present school for at least 2 semesters (including freshman thorough senior year).

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