June 12, 2007
WACO, Texas - Men's tennis student-athlete Michal Kokta was named to the 2007 ESPN The Magazine CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) Men's At-Large Academic All-America first-team (university division) for his contributions in the classroom and on the tennis court. Kokta joins football's Daniel Sepulveda as the only Baylor student-athletes to earn Academic All-America honors thus far this season. In addition, he is one of just two tennis players to earn first-team honors in 2007.
The Men's At-Large program for the Academic All-America program includes the sports of fencing, golf, gymnastics, hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, tennis, volleyball, water polo and wrestling.
Kokta has been named academic all-district first-team twice but this is his first All-America distinction. Kokta, a senior, maintains a 3.90 grade point average while majoring in economics and finance.
The Prague, Czech Republic, native finished the 2007 season ranked No. 22 in the national tennis rankings and posted a 27-11 singles record while maintaining a 21-9 mark in doubles. He completed his three-year Baylor career with 101 singles victories which ranks him No. 5 all-time and 79 doubles wins which ranks No. 7 on Baylor's career list. In addition, he shares the program's best career doubles winning percentage (.790) with former standout Benedikt Dorsch and ranks No. 4 in singles winning percentage (.777).
Joining Kokta on the University Division Academic All-America first-team squad are Stanford's Ben Wildman-Tobriner (Swimming, Academic All-America of the Year) and teammates Dylan Carney (Gymnastics) and Tanner Gardner (Wrestling). Alabama and Cornell also placed a pair of student-athletes on the first team with the Crimson Tide's Vlad Polyakov (Swimming) and Joseph Sykora (Golf) as well as Cornell's Mitch Belisle (Lacrosse) and Matt McMonagle (Lacrosse) earning the nod. Also earning spots on the team were Dartmouth's Nick Bonacci (Lacrosse), Georgia Tech's Roberto Castro (Golf), Louisiana State's Kevin Dessauer (Tennis), Ohio State's Kellen Harkness (Swimming), Oklahoma's Sam Hazewinkel (Wrestling), Eastern Illinois' Anthony Imburgia (Golf), New Mexico's Lars Loeseth (Skiing), Oklahoma State's Pablo Martin (Golf), Michigan's Eric Tannenbaum (Wrestling) and IUPUI's Justin Wenger (Golf). The second team University squad is led by Adam Cole (slalom, giant slalom) and Rene Reisshauer (classical) from the University of Denver. Also earning spots on the second team were Army's Patrick Beverly (Golf), Edinboro's Alex Clemsen (Wrestling), Duke's Ed Douglas (Lacrosse), Georgia Tech's Ofer Finkler (Swimming), East Carolina's Geoff Handsfield (Swimming), IPFW's Colin Lundeen (Volleyball), Navy's Chris Renninger (Golf), Air Force's Kyle Schafer (Water Polo), Brigham Young's Daniel Summerhays (Golf) and Alabama's Apostolis Tsagkarakis (Swimming).
The Academic All-America teams are voted on by members of the College Sports Information Directors Association (CoSIDA). In order to be nominated for Academic All-District and All-America honors, a student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve, must have a 3.20 cumulative grade-point average and must have completed at least one full academic year at his institution.
