July 12, 2010

Ogden, UT --- Idaho State University placed 36 spring sport student-athletes on the Big Sky All-Academic teams for the 2010 spring season, giving the Bengals 105 honorees for the year. The total marked the fourth consecutive year that ISU has broken the century mark, and the 36 spring honorees is the most for ISU since 2001.

The track programs for ISU led the way, with 14 men and 13 women earning the nod, including Michael Tucker, who was ISU's Big Sky Scholar-Athlete Award winner as well. Among the women's track team members was Cassie Merkeley, who earned All-America honors by finishing eighth in the heptathlon at the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Rounding out the honorees for Idaho State were two from women's tennis, three from men's tennis, and four from women's golf.

The 36 spring honorees is the most for Idaho State since 37 were so honored back in the spring of 2001, but that was before a rule change in how the all-academic teams were configured that made it subsequently more difficult to earn the honor, a change that took effect in 2002-03.

For the Bengals, the 105 ties with the 2007-08 season for the second-best year in terms of the number of total Big Sky All-Academic selections. The 2006-07 season saw ISU get 108. This past year marked the fourth consecutive year that ISU has broken the century mark in terms of the total number of honorees, and only Montana, Eastern Washington, and Weber State have longer current streaks.

"Academically this has been an excellent year for our student-athletes, and to have over 100 Big Sky All-Academic honorees for a fourth straight year is a source of tremendous pride," said Director of Athletics Jeff Tingey. "Thirteen of our 15 sports had grade point averages above a 3.0, and the other two sports were right there, so I'm very proud of the work our student-athletes have put in this year."

To earn Big Sky All-Academic, a student-athlete must have participated in at least half of the team's competitions, he/she must have a 3.2 average (on a 4.0 scale) cumulative GPA at the conclusion of the most recently completed term, and they must have completed at least one academic term at the current Big Sky institution.

Men's Tennis (3)
Name				Class		Major
Nate Gross			Freshman	Undecided A&S
Francisco Royo			Senior		Civil Engineering
Dakota Pate			Sophomore	Marketing
Women's Tennis (2)
Name				Class		Major	
Madison Snevily			Senior		General Studies
Therese Karlsson		Junior		International Studies
Women's Golf (4)
Name				Class		Major	
Katie Phillips			Senior		Physical Education
Kylie Smith			Junior		Civil Engineering
Julia DiGiallonardo		Freshman	Sign Language
Sadie Venn			Junior		History
Men's Outdoor Track and Field (14)
Name				Class		Major	
Ryan Davis			Junior		Management
Jon Dalley			Sophmore	Chemistry
Trevor White			Junior		Civil Engineering
Sam Pierson			Senior		Nursing
Cody Jenkins			Freshman	Nursing
Eric Strand			Junior		Secondary Education
Michael Tucker			Senior		Spanish
Michael O'Farrell		Freshman	Chemistry
Sam Corbett			Freshman	Mass Communications
Andrew Lish			Freshman	Pre-Pharmacy
Matthew O'Farrell		Freshman	Chemistry
John Ricardi			Senior		Civil Engineering
Michael Standley		Freshman	History
Tyson Gunter			Junior		Management
Women's Outdoor Track and Field (13)
Name				Class		Major	
Sasha Buylova			Senior		International Studies
Chloe Palakovich		Freshman	Nutritional Sciences
Erica Wendt-Richardson		Junior		Secondary Education
Kris Thomasburg			Junior		Pre-EMTP
Bradi Hutchinson		Sophomore	Undecided Arts & Sci.
Nicole Anderson			Senior		HU Exception
Kylee Gleason			Junior		Nutritional Sciences
Cassie Merkley			Senior		Secondary Education
Kerynn Davis			Junior		English
Carrie Talbot			Senior		Mathematics
Amanda Vink-Johnston		Freshman	Biology
Tiera Weaver			Freshman	Undecided
Hailey Hathhorn			Freshman	Undecided