University of Minnesota Athletics
Seven Gophers Named To All-Academic Team
6/2/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Park Ridge, Ill. - The University of Minnesota Softball Team had seven athletes honored on the Big Ten Spring All-Academic Team, announced today (June 2) by the league office.
The honorees included Whitney Erickson (San Ramon, Calif.), Sammie Howard (Shoreview, Minn.), Alissa Koch (Racine, Wis.), Mallory Mitchell (Forney, Texas), Natalie Neal (Frisco, Texas), Dannie Skrove (Zimmerman, Minn.) and Tina Watts (Minneapolis).
Mitchell, Neal and Watts are all named to the All-Academic team for the second straight year, while Erickson, Howard, Koch and Skrove are each honored in their first year of eligibility. Erickson leads the way with a 4.0 grade point average, as one of 15 athletes from across the Big Ten on the team with a perfect GPA.
To be eligible for Academic All-Big Ten selection, student-athletes must be letterwinners who are in at least their second academic year at their institution and carry a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher.
All seven players spent time in the starting line-up this season, starting a combined 200 contests. Skrove led the way with 53 starts and was joined by Howard (51) as two of only seven players to start over 30 games. Koch started 27 games it the circle, including the Gophers' last 12 games.
The Gopher contingent is part of 71 total softball players named by the Big Ten to the Spring All-Academic team, and their mark of seven in tied with Indiana and Northwestern as the third most in the league. Penn State leads the way with 10 and Ohio State is second with nine. Minnesota had 126 total athletes honored, second only to Ohio State (186) for the most honorees on the team.
Softball 2010 Big Ten Spring All-Academic Team Members
Whitney Erickson, Jr., Applied Kinesiology / San Ramon, Calif.
Sammie Howard, So., Elementary Education / Shoreview, Minn.
Alissa Koch, So., Undeclared / Racine, Wis.
Mallory Mitchell, Jr., Kinesiology / Forney, Texas
Natalie Neal, Jr., Finance / Frisco, Texas
Dannie Skrove, So., Undeclared / Zimmerman, Minn.
Tina Watts, Sr., Psychology / Minneapolis, Minn.
