University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Athletics Announces 2003-04 Scholar-Athlete Awards
4/12/2004 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
The scholar-athlete award is in recognition of outstanding academic achievement while participating in intercollegiate athletics. To qualify for the award, student-athletes must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0. Of the Minnesota student-athletes, nearly 50 percent are scholar-athletes.
Volleyball's Cassie Busse and track & field's Adam Steele each earned the Outstanding Achievement Award. The Outstanding Achievement Award seeks to recognize student-athletes who are accomplished in the four major areas emphasized by the NCAA Life Skills Program: Leadership, Academics, Volunteerism and Athletics.
The Inspiration Award went to women's basketball student-athlete Lindsay Whalen. The award is given to a student-athlete who has inspired all by making an extraordinary effort to succeed regardless of difficult circumstances, persevering during a time of tremendous adversity and overcoming a great challenge.
Richard Wilson, the football team's wide receivers coach, earned the ACSS Partnership Award. The award is presented to a member of the coaching staff in recognition of superior partnership with ACSS in support of student-athlete success.
Five men's and five women's student-athletes were recognized for having the Top-Five GPA in intercollegiate athletics. To qualify for the Top Five award, a student-athlete must have three continuous years as a member of a Minnesota athletic team, have participated in the current year, be an undergraduate student and have earned one of the highest cumulative grade point averages. The Top-Five scholar-athletes averaged a 3.91 GPA for the 2003-04 campaign.
For the women's student-athletes, the list includes track and field's Laura Bjork, Sarah Hesser, and Paula Hoffert, swimming & diving's Sarah Solfelt, and gymnastics' Mary Skokut. The Top-Five men's student-athletes are track and field's Andrew Tilstra, Steffen Landgraf, John Albert and Mikael Jakkobsson, and gymnastics' Guillermo Alvarez. Bjork and Tilstra are both second-year Top-Five honorees.
