Jump to content
  • Playwire Ad Area



  • Photo:

    Photo:

    Three Oklahoma wrestlers earn academic award

    NORMAN, Okla. -- Brittney Schumann, Sam Hazewinkel and Russell Czeschin were named to ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District at-large teams today. Selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), the teams honor excellence in the classroom and competition. Schumann and Hazewinkel were named to the first team and will advance to the national ballot for the Academic All-America teams. Czeschin was named to the second team. A total of 10 student-athletes from each of the eight CoSIDA districts were named to the first team and will be considered for national honors by a CoSIDA committee. The men's Academic All-America at-large team will be announced June 12 with the women's team to follow on June 14.

    Nominated by members of CoSIDA, candidates for the Academic All-America team must be a starter or key reserve with legitimate athletic credentials and at least a 3.20 cumulative grade point average on a 4.0 scale. They must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at the school and they must have completed one full academic year at the school. The at-large teams are filled with student-athletes from sports that don't have individual Academic All-America teams. At OU, those teams include wrestling, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's golf, and men's and women's gymnastics.

    Schumann, who completed her Sooner eligibility by earning first team All-America honors on the vault at the 2007 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships, earned CoSIDA Academic All-America honors as a junior. The McQueeney, Texas, native has a 3.95 GPA in health and exercise science and will be attending medical school after completing her undergraduate degree in December. She was the 2007 NCAA Regional beam champion and the 2007 Big 12 champion on the vault. She earned Big 12 Gymnast of the Week honors three times in 2007 (seven times in her career) and is OU's nominee for NCAA Woman of the Year and Big 12 Sportsperson of the Year. She is a three-time NCAA All-American and won Big 12 titles on the floor exercise in 2007 and the all-around in 2006. She also was the co-champion of the all-around at the 2006 NCAA Regional. Schumann was part of four consecutive NCAA-qualifying gymnastics teams at OU and helped the Sooners to an all-time best finish of eighth in 2007 and a first-ever NCAA Regional team title in 2006.

    Active away from competition, Schumann is completing her second term as president of the OU Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. She also served this year as chair of the Big 12 SAAC and was vice chair of the conference SAAC in 2005-06. She has served two terms as a representative on the NCAA SAAC in addition to the three terms on the Big 12 and OU SAAC groups. She is a three-time honoree on the Big 12 All-Academic first team and was named a 2006 Women's Gymnastics Coaches Association Academic honoree. She is a six-time member of the President's Honor Roll at OU (4.00 grade point average) and has been named as an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipient. She has won the OU Athletics Director's Leadership Award twice and was OU's 2007 Big 12 Conference Medal Award winner for excellence in athletics and academics. She also is an eight-time honoree on the Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll and as a Sooner Scholar.

    Hazewinkel closed his Sooner career with a runner-up finish at the 2007 NCAA Wrestling Championships at 125 pounds. He finished the season 24-1 and ended his Sooner career with a 131-10 record. A native of Pensacola, Fla., Hazewinkel has a 3.52 GPA in communication. He is a four-time NCAA All-American, one of only nine Sooner wrestlers all-time to earn All-America honors four times. His 2007 runner-up finish followed three third-place finishes. He won the Big 12 title at 125 pounds three times and was second once. He was named the Oustanding Wrestler of the 2007 Big 12 Championships and ended his career ranked ninth all-time on the career win list. He is a two-time Academic All-Big 12 first team honoree and this marks his first selection to the CoSIDA All-District Academic team. He is a two-time member of the President's Honor Roll and has been selected to the Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll and Sooner Scholar list 10 times.

    He has been very involved with the Olympic wrestling program and currently is ranked number one of the Olympic ladder. He won the 2005 U.S. National title and added the 2007 Greco-Roman national title after entering competition unseeded. He was named Most Outstanding Wrestler after the 2007 title following his wins over the number one and number two seeds.

    Czeschin, a sophomore from Independence, Mo., has a 3.75 cumlative GPA in health and exercise science. He earned NCAA All-America honors on the floor at the 2007 NCAA Championships after finishing tied for third. He helped the Sooners to a second-place NCAA team finish after competing on OU's 2006 national championship squad. He tied for second on the floor during the team finals, tying his career high with a 9.65. He also finished tied for third on the floor. He was the runner-up on the floor at the 2007 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference meet, helping the Sooners win their third consecutive MPSF team title. He posted his career high on the vault as a freshman at the 2006 NCAA Championships. He earned MPSF Gymnast of the Week honors in 2006 after winning the vault and tying for first on the floor exercise in OU's win over Air Force. He was named to the 2006 All-America Scholar Athlete first team by the College Gymnastics Association and was named to the 2007 MPSF All-Academic first team in April. This is his first all-district selection by CoSIDA.

    User Feedback

    Recommended Comments

    There are no comments to display.



    Create an account or sign in to comment

    You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

    Create an account

    Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

    Register a new account

    Sign in

    Already have an account? Sign in here.

    Sign In Now

  • Playwire Ad Area
×
×
  • Create New...