WOOSTER, Ohio --- Tusculum College's Simon Holzapfel has been named to the 2011 Capital One Academic All-District IV Men's College Division Cross Country/Track & Field First Team. This marks the third straight year Holzapfel has garnered Academic All-District First Team honors.

Holzapfel, a native of Nuremburg, Germany, graduated from Tusculum last month with a perfect 4.00 cumulative grade point average while majoring in Sport Management and Sport Science. Holzapfel advances to the Academic All-America® ballot, which will be announced later this month. He was named to Academic All-America® First Team last season and to the Third Team in 2009.

He is the two-time South Atlantic Conference Runner of the Year and has won 16 individual titles during his career, including the first six races this past fall. The three-time NCAA Division II All-Southeast Region selection closed his career with a streak of 21 consecutive top-10 finishes, a run that spanned three seasons, including a 10th place finish in his final meet at the NCAA II Southeast Regional, barely missing out on a berth to the national championship.

Holzapfel owns the 12 best 8,000-meter times in school history including his TC-record 8K time of 25:04 at the 2010 SAC Championship, which is also a new league meet mark.

He received many academic honors while at TC, including the prestigious Tusculum President's Award, which is the highest honor bestowed at Tennessee's oldest college, which is celebrating its 217th year.

Holzapfel also earned the Duffield Academic Award three times, which is presented to the TC student-athlete with the highest GPA. He also received the Tusculum Freshman Student-Athlete of the Year Academic Award in 2008 and was a member of the SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll, Tusculum Athletic Director's Honor Roll, Dean's List, Charles Oliver Gray Honors List and the Tusculum President's List. He is a recipient of the 2010 Alpha Chi Academic Excellence Award, which is presented to the highest academically ranked junior. He also received the James E. Ward Student Honor Award from the Tennessee Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (TAHPERD).

Holzapfel served as a student ambassador for the Tusculum President's Society and was active in community and campus activities, including serving as a senator with the Tusculum Student Government Association, vice president of the Pioneer Student-Athlete Advisory Council, a tutor, the Tusculum Religious Life Center, campus recycling and energy-saving projects, Physical Education and Sports Majors Club and Theatre at Tusculum.

He has volunteered with painting and other projects at a local nursing home and fundraising efforts for a local elementary school and the Tusculum College athletic department. He has also volunteered with the Pioneer Green Team, Tusculum Quality Enhancement Program Committee and the Tusculum Presidential Inauguration.

Members of the Capital One Academic All-District Team are selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), which includes all colleges and universities from Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Ohio and Michigan comprising District IV. The College Division includes all schools in NCAA Division II, III and NAIA.

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2011 Capital One Academic All-District College Division Cross Country/Track & Field First Team
Student-Athlete School GPA
Kale Booher Ohio Wesleyan 3.98
Simon Holzapfel Tusculum 4.00
John Donkersloot Hope 3.90
Stephen Williams Oberlin 3.88
Jordan Karnes Heidelberg 3.84
Seth Robertson Heidelberg 3.86
Devin O'Neill Lake Erie 3.88
Sharif Kronemer Ohio Wesleyan 3.77
Scott Thomas Mount Union 3.75
Kyle Griffin Lake Erie 3.88