Following the recent completion of the 2014-15 school year, the Western Wrestling Conference announced Tuesday its All-Academic Team and Coaches' Honor Roll for the past season. Utah Valley University led the conference by landing 18 of its grapplers on the two teams.
UVU's Abel Gomez (3.69 GPA), Koleton Hardy (3.44), Dalton Harmon (3.60), Matthew Ontiveros (3.42) and Ross Taylor (3.66) made the All-Academic Team, while Logan Addis (3.03), Aryton Almberg (3.01), DJ Argyle (3.78), Logan Blackwood (3.48), Jesse Christensen (3.80), Dustin Dennison (3.01), Adam Fager (3.13), Raider Lofthouse (3.56), Jarod Maynes (4.0), Jed Mellen (3.16), Bracken Nipko (3.62), Josh Temple (3.49) and Derek Thomas (3.18) landed a spot on the Coaches' Honor Roll.
To qualify for the All-Academic Team, student-athletes had to secure a minimum 3.20 cumulative GPA and be a starter or key reserve. The Coaches' Honor Roll recognizes all student-athletes who have maintained a 3.0 cumulative GPA.
Overall, 71 student-athletes from the six conference schools were honored for their work in the classroom. The All-Academic Team features 31 wrestlers, while the Coaches' Honor Roll has 40 on it. North Dakota State and South Dakota State led the way with seven grapplers apiece on the All-Academic squad, while Utah Valley posted the most wrestlers on the Coaches' Honor Roll with 13. UVU also combined to put up the most grapplers on the two teams with 18, while SDSU was next with 15.
The Jackrabbits and Bison were also recognized for their academics by the NWCA a couple of weeks ago as SDSU had the 23rd best team GPA in the nation with a 3.090 GPA and NDSU was 24th with a 3.078. Individually, Air Force's Jesse Stafford; NDSU's Evan Knutson, Ream and Hayden Zillmer; Northern Colorado's Brian Macchione; SDSU's J.J. Everard, Nate Rotert, Brance Simms and Luke Zilverburg; and Wyoming's Tanner Harms were named to the NWCA Individual All-Academic Team.
The Western Wrestling Conference is comprised of six schools including the Air Force Academy, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, South Dakota State, Utah Valley and Wyoming.
James Warnick is an assistant sports information director at Utah Valley University. For more information about Wolverine athletics, visit WolverineGreen.com.