Thursday, February 04, 2010

MACON, Ga. - The College Sports Information Directors and ESPN The Magazine named its Academic All-District teams Thursday with two Atlantic Sun student-athletes earning first-team honors.

Lipscomb’s Jenna Bartsokas and USC Upstate Nick Schneiders earned First-Team All-District honors, qualifying them as finalists for academic All-American honors. Both Schneiders and Bartsokas boasted grade point averages over 3.70 with Bartsokas notching over a 3.90 cumulative GPA.

Bartsokas, a junior guard, ranked as one of only two juniors in the district to receive first-team honors. The exercise science major earned Academic All-Conference honors for the third consecutive season in 2009-10. The native of Franklin, Tenn. earned Freshman All-Conference honors in 2007-08 to go along with an Atlantic Sun Player of the Week award on Dec. 14.

Schneiders, a Rietberg, Germany native, carries a 3.71 GPA as a graphic design major. The senior center recorded a perfect 4.0 GPA in the fall semester, the third time he has turned in a semester without a blemish.  Schneiders has developed into quite an artistic individual. He was one of 20 student-athletes in all of the NCAA to have artwork on display at the 2009 NCAA Convention in Washington D.C. and was featured on the NCAA Web site. The graphic design major has earned Academic All-Conference honors and was a two-time selection for the Peach Belt Conference’s Presidential Honor Roll prior to USC Upstate’s move to Division I and the A-Sun in 2007.

The CoSIDA and ESPN The Magazine Academic All-Americans will be announced on Tuesday, Feb. 23 for the women’s awards and Wednesday, Feb. 24 for the men’s honors.

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The Atlantic Sun Conference is an 11-member league committed to Building Winners for Life. The A-Sun stands for achievement with integrity in both the academic and athletic arenas, with a focus on the balance between the two for our student-athletes. Headquartered in Macon, Ga., the A-Sun boasts six of the top eight media markets in the Southeast. The A-Sun includes a blend of the most prestigious and dynamic private and public institutions in the region: Belmont University, Campbell University, East Tennessee State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Jacksonville University, Kennesaw State University, Lipscomb University, Mercer University, University of North Florida, University of South Carolina Upstate and Stetson University.