Probasco, Yazhbin Earn Academic All-America Honors

Lincoln - Seniors Nate Probasco and Issar Yazhbin of the Nebraska men’s track and field team were both named ESPN the Magazine first-team academic All-Americans by the College Sports Information Directors of American (CoSIDA) on Tuesday.  Only one other school, <?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Wisconsin, posted two first-team selections.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

Nebraska now has a total of six selections this season and 245 all-time.

 

Probasco earned his second CoSIDA Academic All-America award after capturing second-team honors in 2006. The Scribner, Neb., native is a four-time first-team academic All-Big 12 selection, a three-time member of the NCAA Division I Track Coaches Association All-Academic team and a six-time selection to the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll. Probasco graduated from Nebraska in August 2006 with a degree in history, finishing his collegiate career with an outstanding 3.95 grade-point average.

Probasco ended his athletic career as a three-time NCAA All-American and is engrained the Husker annals as the school record-holder in the 200-meter dash (20.59) and as part of the 4x100 relay (39.19).

 

Yazhbin claimed his first CoSIDA Academic All-America honor after producing a perfect 4.0 GPA in biological systems engineering. The Yavne, Israel, native has earned a plethora of academic accolades, including three consecutive first-team academic All-Big 12 awards and six appearances on the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll.  Yazhbin was also as well as an Arthur Ashe Scholar Award winner.

One of NU’s top throwers in 2007, Yazhbin owns the Nebraska school record for the outdoor hammer throw (207-7), taking the 2004 Big 12 Championship in the event and finishing 17th overall in the hammer at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Championships earlier this month.

Probasco and Yazhbin’s awards give the Nebraska men's track and field program a total of 12 CoSIDA Academic All-America honors in school history, six of which have come in the last three seasons. They are just the second and third first-team selections for the program all-time.

The 2007 women’s track and field CoSIDA Academic All-America selections are expected to be announced later this week. A complete list of Nebraska’s 2006-07 ESPN the Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-Americans is provided below.

 

2007 Nebraska Academic All-Americans
Nate Probasco, Track, First Team
Issar Yazhbin, Track, First Team
Sarah Pavan, Volleyball, First Team
Imke Reimers, Women’s Tennis, Second Team
Dane Todd, Football, Second Team
Stephen Tetrault, Men’s Gym, Third Team