March 3, 2005
WALTHAM, Mass. - Senior Kate Endress of Ball State University heads the 2004-2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Women's Basketball Teams, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Baylor's Steffanie Blackmon was named to the third team and becomes the program's first-ever Academic All-American. Besides maintaining an impressive grade point average, Blackmon, a senior business major, ranks among the Big 12 Conference's top players. The Dallas native is averaging 16.2 points and 8.3 rebounds a game for the seventh-ranked and Big 12 champion Lady Bears. She is Baylor's all-time leading shot blocker as well with 153 for her career. In addition, she is on the midseason list for the Naismith Trophy and the Wooden Award, on the Wade Trophy watch list and a Bayer Senior CLASS Award.
Joining Endress on the University Division Academic All-America first team squad were Harvard's Reka Cserny, North Dakota State's Lacey Johnson, Iowa State's Anne O'Neil and St. Francis of Pennsylvania's Beth Swink. The second team was comprised of Laurie Koehn of Kansas State, Nicole Lehman of Southwest Missouri State, Tiffany Mor of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Lindsay Shearer of Kent State and Kristal Tharp of Liberty. Rounding out the University Division Academic All-America team were third team members Steffanie Blackmon of Baylor, April Calhoun of Minnesota, Jamie Carey of Texas, Liz Shimek of Michigan State and Lindsay Thomas of Colorado State.
Dietz was joined on the College Division Academic All-America first team were Coast Guard's Elisabeth Bosma, Capital's Sara Heitkamp, Saint Martin's Martina Kartikova and Pittsburgh-Johnstown's Melissa Patterson. The second team was comprised of Deedee Arnall of Pacific (Ore.), Michelle Bruns of Southwest Minnesota State, Kelli Freeman of Minnesota State-Mankato, Donna Lohrey of Molloy and Sarah Shogren of Whitworth. Rounding out the College Division Academic All-America team were third team members Lauren Hansen of Wheeling Jesuit, Tracey Little of Frostburg State, Robyn Milne of Montana State-Billings, Tara Rohde of Trinity (Tex.) and Natalja Tsurbakova of Angelo State.
The Academic All-America Teams program honors 816 male and female student-athletes annually who have succeeded at the highest level on the playing field and in the classroom. Individuals are selected through voting by CoSIDA (the College Sports Information Directors of America), a 2,000 member organization consisting of sports public relations professionals for colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.
To be eligible, a student-athletes must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.
ESPN The Magazine - winner of the 2003 National Magazine Award for General Excellence - is a provocative and innovative sports publication. Full of insight, analysis, impact and wit, the oversized bi-weekly with a circulation of 1.85 million looks ahead to give fans a unique perspective on the world of sports.
2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® Women's Basketball Team (University Division) as selected by CoSIDA
First Team
Name, School, Year, Hometown, GPA, Major
Reka Cserny, Harvard, Sr, Budapest, Hungary, 3.62, Economics
Kate Endress, Ball State, Sr, Evansville, Ind., 3.95, Entrepreneurship
Lacey Johnson, No. Dakota St., Sr, Wessington Springs, S.D., 4.00, Business Admin.
Anne O'Neil, Iowa State, Sr, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 3.86, Comm. Studies
Beth Swink, St. Francis (Pa.), Sr, Connellsville, Pa., 3.71, Biology
Second Team
Laurie Koehn, Kansas State, Sr, Hesston, Kan., 3.97, Elementary Educ.
Nicole Lehman, Southwest Mo. St., Sr, Lamar, Mo., 4.00, Dietetics
Tiffany Mor, Wis.-Green Bay, Sr, Appleton, Wis., 3.77, Elementary Educ.
Lindsay Shearer, Kent State, Jr, Minerva, Ohio, 3.96, Business-Finance
Kristal Tharp, Liberty, Sr, Chillicothe, Ohio 3.95 Interdisc. Studies
Third Team
Steffanie Blackmon, Baylor, Sr, Dallas, Tex., 3.43, Business Admin.
April Calhoun, Minnesota, Jr, New Hope, Minn., 4.00, Accounting-Finance
Jamie Carey, Texas, Sr, Thornton, Colo., 3.33, Sports Management
Liz Shimek, Michigan St., Jr, Empire, Mich., 3.83, General Mgmt.
Lindsay Thomas, Colorado St., Jr, Sioux Falls, S.D., 4.00, English & Spanish
ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICA OF THE YEAR: Kate Endress, Ball State
