BRISTOL, Conn. --- Tusculum College's Simon Holzapfel has been named to the 2008-09 ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District IV Men's College Division Track & Field/Cross Country First Team announced officials Friday.

Holzapfel, a 5-5 sophomore from Nuremberg, Germany, has emerged as the top runner on the Tusculum cross country team. He has a perfect 4.00 cumulative grade point average, majoring in Sport Management and Sport Science. Holzapfel advances to the Academic All-America® ballot, which will be announced later this month.

He had a banner season this year as he posted three individual wins in his seven competitive meets. Holzapfel captured titles at the Tusculum Invitational, Lenoir-Rhyne Invitational and the Camp Bethel Open. His 8,000-meter time of 26:20.05 at the L-R Invitational is a new school record. For his efforts, he was named the South Atlantic Conference Runner of the Week. In fact, he owns three of the top 8K times in school history.

He finished runner-up at the 2008 SAC Championship to earn a spot on the All-Conference First Team. His second place showing is the best-ever by a Pioneer harrier at the league championship. He followed that effort with his ninth place performance at the NCAA Division II Southeast Region Championship. He posted a time of 33:17 on the 10K layout to garner All-Region accolades.

Holzapfel is the 2008-09 recipient of the prestigious Duffield Award, which is presented to the Tusculum student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average. He is also a member of the President's List, Dean's List and Charles Oliver Gray Honors List. He was also named to the SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll and the Tusculum Athletic Director's Honor Roll. In 2007-08, he was named the Tusculum Academic Freshman of the Year Academic Award honoree.

Members of the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District Team are selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America, which includes all colleges and universities from Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Ohio and Michigan comprising District IV.

- TC -