June 14, 2007
Center Valley, Pa. - Four Patriot League student-athletes were named to the 2007 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America list on the At-Large Teams. Those honored were Navy's Chris Renninger and Kelly Zahalka, American's Heidi Hershberger and Army's Patrick Beverly.
Renninger earned second-team status as a junior golfer for the Mids, ranking first in his class with a 4.00 grade-point average while majoring in chemistry. In 2007 Renninger was named First-Team All-Patriot League after finishing second at this year's Patriot League Golf Championship.
Zahalka was tabbed both the 2007 Patriot League Swimmer of the Meet and Scholar-Athlete of the Year in the sport of women's swimming and diving. The sophomore history major was a third-team Academic All-American selection with a 4.00 grade-point average.
Already working towards her masters degree at American, Hershberger was the only Patriot League student-athlete to be named to the first team on this year's At-Large Academic All-America list. The 2006 Patriot League Field Hockey Scholar-Athlete of the Year earned her bachelor's degree in three years and currently holds a 4.00 grade-point average in her master's work in international affairs: foreign policy. Hershberger was a forward on a nationally-ranked Eagle squad that won its fourth-straight Patriot League title in 2006.
For Army, Beverly was a Second-Team Academic All-American as a junior golfer with a 3.92 grade-point average, while majoring in economics. Beverly garnered Second-Team All-Patriot League recognition after finishing ninth at the 2007 Patriot League Championship and is the reigning Patriot League Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
The Patriot League has produced 11 Academic All-Americans this season including American's Heidi Hershberger (field hockey), Army's Nick Hill (baseball), Lindsey Gerheim (softball) and Patrick Beverly (golf), Bucknell's Shannon Curd (women's soccer) and David Frisbey (football), Lafayette's James Conrad (baseball) and Navy's Lizzie Barnes (women's soccer), Kari Weniger (women's soccer), Chris Renninger (golf) and Kelly Zahalka (women's swimming and diving).
To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade-point average of 3.20 on a scale of 4.00 and have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing. The academic at-large team represents athletes participating in bowling (w), crew (w), fencing (m/w), field hockey (w), golf (m/w), gymnastics (m/w), ice hockey (m/w), lacrosse (m/w), rifle (m/w), skiing (m/w), swimming (m/w), tennis (m/w), volleyball (m), water polo (m/w) and wrestling (m).
