All-Academic Teams
The National Wrestling Coaches Association has announced its annual Division I All-Academic Top 30 Teams and the NWCA Individual All-Academic wrestling team for the 2009-10 wrestling season.
Harvard is honored as the nation’s top academic wrestling program for the first time, while five NCAA champions made the individual list.
In addition, NCAA Runner-ups Craig Brester of Nebraska and Kirk Smith of Boise State were also named to the All-Academic Team.
“The student-athletes on this All-Academic Team are a great example of the hard work and dedication that the sport of wrestling teaches these young men,” said NWCA President Jim Beichner. “Not only are they achieving winning a National Championship, but they are also showing that they are champions in the classroom as well.”
The 2009-10 All-Academic individual team includes 61 NCAA qualifiers, 23 NCAA All-Americans, seven NCAA finalists and the five NCAA champions. In all, 74 individuals representing 45 schools are being honored on this year’s All-Academic Team.
Sitting at the top of the All-Academic Team is NCAA All-American Nicholas Amuchastegui of Stanford, who holds a 3.949 in Mechanical Engineering. Amuchastegui was honored earlier this year by the NCAA with the “Elite 88 Award.” The award is presented to the top athlete qualifying for a post-season championship in each of the NCAA’s 88 national championship events.
Rounding out the top five individuals were Nebraska’s Tucker Lane (3.933), Aaron Pickrel (3.867) of South Dakota State, Justin Kerber (3.85) of Cornell and Phil Moricone (3.83) of Edinboro.
To qualify for the All-Academic team, a wrestler must have at least a 3.2 cumulative GPA, and either been an NCAA qualifier or won 60 percent of his total schedule -- and must have competed in at least 60 percent of said schedule. The other way to qualify for the All-Academic team is to have a 3.0 GPA and been an NCAA All-American.
Out of the 45 schools represented: Edinboro, Nebraska, and UT-Chattanooga each have four wrestlers earning All-Academic accolades followed by American, Ohio State, Purdue and Utah Valley, each with three individuals named to the All-Academic Team.
“The All-Academic team is a testament to our member coaches that they are striving to make their program as competitive as they can,” said NWCA Executive Director Mike Moyer. “Academics plays a huge role for the student-athlete, especially after they are done competing and out in the working world as our next generation of teachers, coaches, and businessmen.
“There is so much more to wrestling than what is done on the mat and the All-Academic Team is a great way to acknowledge those efforts,” said Moyer.
Topping the team standings is Harvard, representing the Ivy League and the EIWA. After finishing second last year, coach Jay Weiss’ team finishes atop of the rankings for the first time in school history.
The Crimson lead the pack with a team GPA of 3.3098, followed closely by last year’s top team American, with a team GPA of 3.296. Rounding out the top five teams are Nebraska, Duke and Davidson.
All eleven conferences were represented in the top 30 teams with the EIWA leading the way with seven teams representing the conference: Harvard, American, Columbia, Brown, Cornell, the United States Military Academy, and Princeton.
For teams to be eligible for consideration, the team GPA is comprised of 12 student athletes, including the 10 wrestlers that were the entries in the NCAA tournament conference qualifier. If teams had less than 10 entries for their respective qualifier, they may fill those spots with wrestlers that competed in at least one varsity dual during the season.
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