Burnsville, Minn. – The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference released this morning the 2019 Myles Brand All-Academic with Distinction Award recipients. 2019 brings the tenth annual year of the award, which is named for the late NCAA President Dr. Myles Brand, and is bestowed to senior NSIC student-athletes who have a cumulative grade point average of 3.75 or higher, are exhausting their eligibility and are on track to graduate.
Northern State landed 15 honorees on the list, the most out of any NSIC institutional alongside Concordia-St. Paul. The Wolves recipients including Josh Coyle, Alyssa Deobler, Ashley Dunn, Jamie Fisher, Anika Fredrick, Bo Fries, Alex Gray, Olaf Hanson, Tyler Jones, Tori Mekash, Sierra Ohm, Cassidy Schaar, Courtney Sjerven, Hanna Wahl, and Maida Walters.
Each student-athlete will be recognized by the NSIC with a certificate of achievement and a wristwatch. Furthermore, each institution is highly encouraged to have these student-athletes be publicly recognized at a home athletic event. A record number 156 student-athletes from the NSIC's 16 institutions will receive the award in its tenth year, nine more than last year's record of 147.
Dr. Myles N. Brand, visionary leader, educator and reformer, served as the President of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) from 2003-2009. He passed away in September 2009 at the age of 67 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Brand presided over passage of the most comprehensive academic reform package for intercollegiate athletics in recent history – a package that refocused the attention of student-athletes, coaches and administrators on the education of student-athletes.
Brand also changed the national dialog on college sports to emphasize the educational value of athletics participation and the integration of intercollegiate athletics with the academic mission of higher education. His impact on Division II ran deep by implementing an identity campaign and a strategic-positioning platform tied to specific divisional attributes. He challenged Division II to continue its game environment and community engagement focus, and improve academic success rates.
