50 UM athletes earn top academic honors
By GoGriz.com
Fifty student-athletes from Montana's fall teams have studied and competed their way to Academic All-Big Sky Conference honors, the league office announced recently.
To be eligible student-athletes must have a 3.2 cumulative GPA and have competed in at least half of their teams' competitions during the previous season.
Nineteen of coach Mark Plakorus's soccer players made the list, tying for the league lead in that sport.
Montana's football team had 15 players honored, followed by eight for women's cross country, which tied for second, six for volleyball and two for men's cross country.
Five athletes capped their careers by making Academic All-Big Sky Conference for the fourth time: Aaron Held of the football team, Sadie Ahearn and Raegan Lindsey of the volleyball team, and Tess Brenneman and Mary Gintz of the soccer team.
Academic All-Big Sky Conference
Men's cross country: Jonathan Eastwood (So., Women's, gender and sexuality studies); Dawit Mengistu (Fr., Biology)
Women's cross country: Jessica Bailey (So., Health and human performance); Reagan Colyer (Sr., Journalism); Bridget Creel (So., Biology); Samantha Engebretsen (Fr., Social work); Megan Franz (So., Biology); Madison Nagle (Gr., Economics); Emily Pittis (So., Business administration); Lauryn Wate(Sr., Marketing)
Football: James Banks (Jr., Chemistry); Colin Bingham (Fr., Health and human performance); Devon Dietrich (Sr., Marketing); Evan Epperly (So., History/political science); Brady Gustafson (Sr., Accounting); Aaron Held (Sr., Health and human performance); Ryan Johnson (Sr., Management); Robert Luke (Jr., Sociology); Dante Olson (Fr., Wildlife biology); Tim Semenza (Fr., Health and human performance); Makena Simis (Jr., History/political science); Cy Sirmon (Fr., Health and human performance); Jackson Thiebes (Sr., Geography); Reggie Tilleman (So., Finance); Eric Williams (So., Finance)
Soccer: Madison Adams (So., Psychology); Payton Agnew (Sr., Elementary education); Tess Brenneman (Sr., Health and human performance); Charlene Burger (Jr., Elementary education); Jenna Castillo (Sr., Psychology); Kaitlin Crowell (Jr., Psychology/neuroscience); Janessa Fowler (So., Health and human performance); Mary Gintz (Sr., Marketing); Natalie Hein (So., Marketing); Allie Lucas (Jr., Communication studies); Taryn Miller (So., Economics); Kailey Norman (Sr., Management); Ellie Otteson (So., Health and human performance); Ashlee Pedersen (Jr., Health and human performance); Chanelle Pederson (Jr., Communication studies); Aspen Peifer (Sr., Biology); McKenzie Warren (So., Management); Raquel Watts (So., Health and human performance); Hallie Widner (So., Health and human performance)
Volleyball: Sadie Ahearn (Sr., Media arts/sociology); Missy Huddleston (Fr., Undeclared); Cassie Laramee (So., Sociology); Raegan Lindsey (Sr., Marketing); Katie Peck (So., Biology); Alexis Urbach (So., Sociology)