Murray Earns Second Academic All-America Honor

NU wrestler Matt Murray was honored Tuesday as a member of the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America? University Division Men’s At-Large Team. Murray, named a third-team academic All-American, picked up his second career Academic All-America honor after being named to the University Division Men's At-Large second team last year.

The departing senior from Colby, Kan., has a 3.796 GPA as a mathematics major. Murray was one of only two wrestlers honored on the Men's At-Large Team, and one of only five Big 12 athletes on the team. Illinois' Alex Tirapelle (first team) was the only other wrestler honored, while Texas swimmer David Kahn (first team), Oklahoma State golfer Zach Robinson (first team), and Michael Innerebner (first team) and Bojan Szumanksi (third team) of the Texas Tech tennis team joined Murray as Big 12 representives on the Academic All-America team.

With his selection to the Academic All-America University Division Men's At-Large Team, Murray earns the fourth such honor for NU and becomes the first Husker wrestler to earn the honor twice. Along with Murray, former NU wrestlers Ryan Tobin (1998, first team) and Justin Ruiz (2002, second award) have been honored with the award.

Along with his academic honors, Murray qualified for his second straight trip to the NCAA Championships at 141 pounds for Nebraska in 2005. In his first trip in 2004, Murray finished second at 141 pounds. Murray finished his career with a 62-21 record in three years of varsity wrestling for Nebraska.

The CoSIDA Academic All-America program honors 816 male and female student-athletes annually who have succeeded at the highest level on the playing field and in the classroom. Individuals are selected through voting by CoSIDA, a 2,000-member organization consisting of sports public relations professionals for colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.

To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.20 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the program’s inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Division I, Division II, Division III and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.

THIRD TEAM

Name	School	Sport	Yr	Dist	Hometown	GPA/Major
Lowell Bailey	Vermont	Skiing	Sr.	I	Lake Placid, NY	3.67/Environmental Science
Leon Cannizzaro	LSU	Swimming	Sr.	VI	New Orleans, LA	4.00/Biology
Roberto Castro	Georgia Tech	Golf	So.	III	Alpharetta, GA	3.86/Industrial Engineering
Dov Grumet-Morris	Harvard	Ice Hockey	Sr.	I	Evanston, IL	3.223/Government & Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations

Shane Hoelz UW-Green Bay Skiing Sr. V Wales, WI 3.932/Chemistry & Human BiologySeth Hoffman North Carolina St. Swimming Jr. III Cary, NC 4.00/Mechanical EngineeringJames Lawler Harvard Swimming Sr. I Greenwich, CT 3.506/Romance Language & LiteratureLars Loeseth New Mexico Skiing So. VI Oslo, Norway 3.99/General ManagementMatt Miklius Seton Hall Swimming Jr. II Palatine, IL 4.00/PhysicsMatt Murray Nebraska Wrestling Sr. VII Colby, KS 3.796/MathematicsMark Rotella Providence Lacrosse Sr. I Smithtown, NY 3.91/MathematicsLee Stempniak Dartmouth Ice Hockey Sr. I West Seneca, NY 3.57/EconomicsBojan Szumanksi Texas Tech Tennis So. VI Opole, Poland 4.00/Personal Financial PlanningAlex Vlaski Washington Tennis Sr. VIII Belgrade, Yugoslavia 3.51/Business AdministrationJustin Zumsteg Florida Swimming Sr. III Rochester Hills, MI 3.97/Astrophysics/Astronomy