More Than 200 Huskers Honored for Academic Success

Lincoln - The Nebraska Athletic Department held its 17th annual Student-Athlete Recognition Banquet on Sunday evening at the Bob Devaney Sports Center, during which 206 student-athletes were honored for their academic achievement during the past year.

The banquet is a result of the generous contribution made by Dick and Dale Herman, and is sponsored by the University of Nebraska Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. Serese Cole, news anchor at KOLN/KGIN, was the emcee for the evening’s event. Nebraska Athletic Director Steve Pederson shared brief remarks with the crowd, and those in attendance also enjoyed an academic excellence video.
 
The student-athlete-of-the-year awards were presented by Pederson, with senior fullback Dane Todd (football) earning the men’s honor, while senior Stephanie Carter (gymnastics) picked up the women’s award. Todd is the second Husker fullback in the past four years to win the award, joining 2004 honoree Judd Davies. Todd marks the ninth football player to receive the men’s honor in the 17 years of the banquet. Carter is the fourth member of the women’s gymnastics team to be named Female Student-Athlete of the Year, joining Richelle Simpson, Shelly Bartlett and Nicole Duval.
 
Todd continued Nebraska’s long-standing tradition of Academic All-Americans in football. The Lincoln native earned first team ESPN/CoSIDA Academic All-America honors in 2005 and was a second-team honoree in 2006. He completed his undergraduate work in May of 2006 with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average in biological sciences. He was also named a first-team Academic All-Big 12 pick three times and was one of 11 Division I-A players named to the 2006 American Football Coaches Association Good Works Team.

On the football field, Todd was a two-year starter for the Huskers at fullback. He provided a reliable blocking force in the Nebraska backfield and as a senior, he was honored as the first-team All-Big 12 fullback by the Big 12 Coaches. He played in 42 games in his Nebraska career and finished with 13 career receptions.

Carter has been a solid contributor in three events for Coach Dan Kendig’s women’s gymnastics team in her final season with the Huskers. In 2007, she earned All-Big 12 honors in the uneven bars and the vault and last season she was a second-team All-American on the floor. Her performance this season has helped the Huskers rank in the nation’s top 10 throughout the 2007 campaign.

A native of Bryn Athyn, Pa., Carter is a three-time first-team Academic All-Big 12 selection. She has also been named to the Big 12 Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll six times in her career and was a NACGC Scholastic All-American in each of her first three years in the program.
 
Also presented Sunday were the 13th annual Herman Awards, named after the Dick and Dale Herman families, for the highest team grade-point average. The awards went to the men’s cross country team and the women’s rifle team. The men’s runner-up was the men’s golf team, while the rifle team barely edged the tennis, volleyball and golf teams on the women’s side.  
 
The NU men’s cross country squad posted a 3.096 team GPA, marking the sixth time Coach Jay Dirksen’s squad has won the Herman Award. The rifle team collected the women’s Herman Award for the first time by posting a 3.675 cumulative grade-point average.
 
Sunday also marked the fourth annual presentation of the Life Skills Award, which honors the team that demonstrated the strongest commitment to all phases of the life skills program over the past year, including outreach, education and leadership. The volleyball team earned the award, edging the women’s basketball team, which won the award in 2004 and 2006. Six other teams earned Gold Level status in the Life Skills competition including wrestling, football, softball, women’s gymnastics, women’s golf and rifle. 
 
A total of 206 student-athletes were honored as Medallion Award winners, including: 61 with highest honors for students with 3.75 to 4.0 grade-point averages in the past year; 48 with high honors with 3.5 to 3.749 GPAs; and 97 with honors with a 3.0 to 3.49 GPA.
 
Approximately 800 people were in attendance, including student-athletes, parents, athletic staff and coaches and UNL instructors. The 2007 banquet was one of the most well-attended academic banquets in its 17-year history.