Rupp, Scherer & Young Named Academic All-Americans
EUGENE - A trio of University of Oregon men’s track and field athletes continued to pile up laurels in the classroom and were named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Men’s Track and Field First and Second Teams.
Sophomore Galen Rupp (Pre-Business major, 4.05 GPA) and redshirt senior Andrew Young (Human Physiology, 3.83) were accorded honors on the 15-man first team, while senior Matt Scherer (Business, 3.57) was selected to the 15-man second team.
The trio were the only athletes on either squad selected from the Pacific-10 Conference, and Young and Scherer were second and third-team honorees as juniors in 2005
All three were also honored to the 2006 Pac-10 All-Academic First Team this month. Altogether in their careers, Young was a four-time Pac-10 All-Academic First Team selection, while Scherer was a three-time honoree.
The trio’s honors raised UO’s Academic All-America tally to 17 awards in men’s track and field history, including 15 since 1999.
First-team choices in that recent stretch included Ryan Andrus (2003, 04), Santiago Lorenzo (2003), Billy Pappas and Adam Bergquist (1992), and second-team selections included John Stiegeler (2001, ?03), Lorenzo (2001) and Steve Fein (1999, ’00). Other honorees prior to 1999 included Chris Nelson (second team, 1997) and Dub Myers (second team, 1986).
To be eligible for the national honor, a student-athletes must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his current institution and be nominated by his sports information director.
Since the program’s inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.
For more information about the Academic All-America Teams program, please visit the www.cosida.com website.
A native of Newberg, Ore., Young also shined on the athletic front in 2006, and claimed his fourth straight top-five Pac-10 decathlon finish in May (third, 7,071) after prior efforts in 2005 (second, 7,165), ’04 (third, 7,372) and ’03 (fifth, 7,017). Also in ’06, he was an NCAA provisional qualifier for the fourth straight season after he placed top-13 in the 2004 and ’05 NCAA Championships (13th, 7,302; 11th, 7,059) and bettered his pre-meet seed in both events. He was also a league scorer in the 2005 Pac-10 Championships pole vault (eighth, 16-0 3/4), and owned an impressive personal best of 17-0 3/4 ? more than two feet better than his pre-Duck best of 15-0 1/2. Overall in his career, he topped the 7,000 point barrier eight times, and his personal best (7,372) was just shy of the UO all-time top-10 (10th is 7,532).
The Sumner, Ill., native Scherer capped one of Oregon’s great sprint careers as a nine-time All-American in the 400m (3), 4x100m (2) and 4x400m (4). He recently competed in the 2006 NCAA Outdoors Championships in the 400 meters (fifth, 45.41), 4x100m (seventh, 39.48) and 4x400m (sixth, 3:04.85) relays and helped Oregon finish 12th as a team for its fourth top-15 team finish in six years. He ended his career as a four-time, top-six placer in the 400m in both the Pac-10 and West Regional Championships, and helped UO to a pair of Pac-10 team titles and two more runner-up finishes.
All-time individually for UO, Scherer climbed to second in the 400 meters with his personal best that won the 2006 Pac-10 Championships (45.19), and also scored for the Ducks in three other Pac-10 events, including the school’s first-ever relay victory (4x100m, first, 39.74; 4x400m, second, 3:06.75; 200m, fourth, 20.93, w:1.7). In other outdoor school rankings, he has run on 14 of the fastest 17 times on both of UO’s 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relay record lists, including school records of 39.20 and 3:00.81, respectively, from the 2006 NCAA Championships. Indoors, he is the school record holder in the 400m (45.95, 2005) and 4x400m relay (3:04.17, 2005) and ranks third in the 200m (21.40, 2006).
Rupp is a two-time NCAA outdoor qualifier in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters, and was the NCAA runner-up as a freshman in ’05 in the latter event. This year, the Portland, Ore., native overcame health issues to earn an NCAA 5,000m invitation after he took third in the West Regional. Two weeks before in mid-May, he ran his 5,000m season best (third, 14:00.94) less than 24 hours after he placed second in the league 10,000 meters in the Eugene-hosted meet (30:42.10). Indoors in ’06, he became the first UO athlete to score two individual All-America honors in the same NCAA Indoor Championships with his top-five finishes in the 3,000m (sixth, 8:07.85) and 5,000m (fifth, 13:56.41) and helped UO finish sixth as a team. During in the indoor season he debuted on UO’s all-time indoor lists in the 5,000m (first, 13:48.51) and 3,000m (third, 7:54.90). Last fall, he led UO in both of his cross country appearances in the Willamette and Pre-NCAA Invitational (sixth/12th). In 2005 as a freshman, he ran a U.S. junior record in the Oregon Twilight 10,000m (28:15.52) ? a mark that ranks him third all-time for UO. He also posted top-four finishes in the 2005 Pac-10 Championships 5,000m and 10,000m as a freshman (fourth/second).
2005-06 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America? Men’s Track & Field/Cross Country Teams
(University Division) as selected by CoSIDA
FIRST TEAM
NAME SCHOOL DIS YR HOMETOWN GPA MAJOR
Brian Babcock Morehead State IV Sr. Sand Point, Id. 4.00 University Studies
Chris Brandriff VMI III Sr. Chesapeake, Va. 3.91 Civi; Engineering
Michael Breshears Missouri State VII Jr. Excelsior Springs, M. 4.00 Administrative Management
Nathan Brown Wisconsin V Sr. Madison, Wis. 3.95 Biochemistry
Jarrod Davis Youngstown St. IV Gr. E. Canton, Ohio 3.70 Computer Info. Systems
Javier Garcia-Tunon Florida State III Sr. Tallahassee, Fla. 4.00 Business Management
Jimmy Grabow Long Beach State VIII Sr. Running Springs, Ca. 4.00 History
Garrett Johnson Florida State III Gr. Tampa, Fla. 3.81 Public Administration
Donovan Kilmartin Texas VI Jr. Eagle, Id. 3.48 Petroleum Engineering
Tom Lancashire Florida State III Jr. Bolton, England 3.93 Exercise Science
Ian Mayne UT-Chattanooga IV Sr. Pickering, Ont. 3.86 Pre-Med
Galen Rupp Oregon VIII So. Portland, Ore. 4.05 Pre-Business
John Tumbleston Elon III Sr. Boone, N.C. 4.00 Physics/Science Education
Jaanus Uudmae Arkansas VI Gr. Tallin, Estonia 4.00 Computer Science Eng.
Andrew Young Oregon VIII Sr. Newberg, Ore. 3.83 Human Physiology
SECOND TEAM
NAME SCHOOL DIS YR HOMETOWN GPA MAJOR
Danny Alge Clemson III Sr. Summerville, S.C. 3.82 Biosystems Engineering
Andy Allstadt Albany I Gr. Endicott, N.Y. 3.67 Ecology
Joe Detmer Wisconsin V Jr. Lodi, Wisc. 3.52 Computer Engineering
Robert Healy Duquesne II Gr. Pittsburgh, Pa. 3.45 Communication Studies
Chris Helwick Tennessee IV Jr. Greeley, Colo. 3.60 Business/Economics
Frank Hemingway New Mexico VI Sr. Las Cruces, N.M. 4.04 Electrical Engineering
Aaron Hill Northeastern I Sr. Ben Wheeler, Texas 3.94 Electrical Engineering
Greg Liebl North Dakota St. VII So. Montevideo, Minn. 4.00 Business Administration
Travis Mack Missouri State VII Gr. Liberty, Mo. 4.00 Master of Bus. Admin.
Sean O’Donnell Notre Dame V Gr. Kansas City, Mo. 3.48 M.B.A./Mechanical Eng.
Aaron Plas Nebraska VII Sr. McCook, Nebr. 3.60 Business Education
Nate Probasco Nebraska VII Jr. Scriber, Nebr. 3.76 History
Zach Sabatino Tennessee IV Sr. Charleston, W.V. 3.79 Sport Management
Matt Scherer Oregon VIII Sr. Sumner, Ill. 3.57 Business
Heath Smith North Texas VI Jr. Lake Dallas, Texas 4.00 Criminal Justice
THIRD TEAM
NAME SCHOOL DIS YR HOMETOWN GPA MAJOR
John Albert Minnesota V Sr. Bloomington, Minn. 3.78 Business
Jesson Baumgartner Southern Utah VIII Jr. Cedar City, Utah 3.89 Chemistry
Keith Bechtol William & Mary III Jr. Alexandria, Va. 3.95 Physics
Martin Bingisser Washington VIII Gr. Bellevue, Wash. 3.87 Philosophy
Brett Carter Portland VIII Sr. Naches, Wash. 3.95 Biology
Thomas Chamney Notre Dame V Jr. Tipperary, Ireland 3.52 History/Film
John Crews North Carolina St. III So. Glasgow, Va. 4.00 Mechanical Engineering
Kevin Dick Western Kentucky IV Sr. Bowling Green, Ky. 3.91 Electrical Engineering
Nathan Egger Michigan State IV Sr. Mason, Mich. 3.97 Physiology
Bret Ferrier Weber State VIII So. Winnemucca, Nev. 3.97 Computer Engineering
Adam Grossman UMBC II Sr. Baltimore, Md. 3.68 Environmental Science
Andrew Heath Auburn IV Sr. Marietta, Ga. 3.84 Civil Engineering
Jon Korhonen Massachusetts I Sr. Gardner, Ma. 3.95 Communication
Tim Moore Notre Dame V Sr. Novi, Mich. 3.38 Finance/Mathematics
Adam Perkins Arkansas VI Jr. Liberty, Mo. 3.40 Finance
Caleb Wells U.S. Military Acad. I Sr. Spearfish,, S.D. 3.65 Systems Engineering
Nicholas Wilson U.S. Air Force Acad. VII Sr. Jacksonville, Fla. 3.45 Mechanical Engineering
Bryan Wolfe UT-San Antonio VI Sr. Raymondville, Texas 3.66 Acturial Science
ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America Team Member of the Year: Garrett Johnson, Florida State
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