July 31, 2007

WALTHAM, MASS. - Volleyball All-America Sarah Pavan of the University of Nebraska and diving national champion Jamie Wolf of Clarion University have been selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) as the 2006-07 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-Americas of the Year. University of North Carolina women's soccer player Heather O'Reilly finished third in the voting for the NCAA Division I award behind Pavan and Wisconsin ice hockey player Sara Bauer. O'Reilly earlier this year was named the Academic All-America of the Year for women's soccer.

CoSIDA and ESPN The Magazine combine to sponsor 24 Academic All-America programs on the University (NCAA Div. I) and College (NCAA Div. II, III and NAIA) levels. For each program, an Academic All-America of the Year is selected. Pavan and Wolf were selected from a ballot that included each programs Academic All-America of the Year.

Pavan compiled 172 points in the voting system. A total of 48 of the 62 voters ranked her among their top three selections, including 21 first-place votes. Wisconsin's ice hockey standout Sara Bauer finished second in the University Division balloting with 117 points (15 first-place), while North Carolina soccer All-America Heather O'Reilly (6 first-place votes, 47 total points), Tenessee women's basketball star Lindsay Schutzler (41) and Oklahoma men's basketball all-star Aaron Ivey (40) rounded out the top five.

The Academic All-America of the Year honor, which began in 1987-88, is awarded to the most outstanding student-athlete of the year and is chosen from the student-athletes who have been awarded Team Member of the Year honors. From over 360,000 student-athletes in the nation, just 816 are selected as Academic All-America Team members each year, twenty-four are selected as Team Members of the Year and two are named Academic All-America of the Year.

"With nearly 12,000 student athletes being nominated for Academic All-America each year, and considering the number of athletes completing in intercollegiate sports, to reach the epitome of what it means to be a successful student-athlete and be selected as the best of the best is quite an amazing achievement," said Bentley College's Dick Lipe, CoSIDA Academic All-America chair.

ESPN The Magazine winner of the 2006 and 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 1.9 million looks ahead to give fans a unique perspective on the world of sports.