NSIC Release (PDF)

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Southwest Minnesota State University student-athletes Kevin Andrews, Leah Ashburn, Sara Graf and Danielle Hildebrandt have earned the first-ever Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Myles Brand All-Academic with Distinction Award, NSIC Commissioner Butch Raymond announced on Thursday.

The honor, named for the late NCAA President Dr. Myles Brand, 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.  Each student-athlete will be recognized by the NSIC with a certificate of achievement and a wristwatch.

“The NSIC is excited to have this opportunity to honor an elite group of our student-athletes for their accomplishments,” Raymond said.  “We feel very privileged to name the award after Dr. Brand in recognition of his strong support and the continued emphasis he placed on academics in the 'Life in Balance' theme of Division II.”
 
Andrews, a native of Marion, Iowa, is a four-year letterwinner for the Mustang men's basketball team.  He is a three-time Academic All-NSIC honoree and is a three-time CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District honoree, earning second team honors in 2009 and third team honors in both 2008 and 2010.  Andrews has played in 115 career games ranking tied for eighth in school history and has scored 813 career points with 350 rebounds, 167 assists and 102 steals. Andrews is an accounting and finance major.

A native of Hector, Minn., Ashburn had a productive two seasons with the SMSU volleyball team before suffering a career-ending injury.  As a sophomore in 2007, Ashburn was named to the NCAA North Central Regional All-Tournament team, AVCA All-North Central Region honorable mention and All-NSIC first team.  That same season, Ashburn also earned Academic All-NSIC honors and was selected to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District V second team.  She also picked up Academic All-NSIC honors as a junior in 2008. 

A native of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, Graf wrapped up a successful career with the SMSU volleyball team in 2009.  She finished as SMSU's all-time leader in assists with 4,348 and holds single-season records for total assists (1,671 in 2007) and assists per set (13.48 in 2007).  Graf also holds the single-match assists record of 73, a feat she accomplished against MSU Moorhead on Oct. 3, 2008.  An All-NSIC selection in 2008 and honorable mention pick in 2007, Graf also earned ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District honors three times.   In 2007, she picked up third team honors, while she was a first-team selection in 2008 and 2009.  Also in 2009, Graf was honored as the program's first Academic All-America selection, earning second-team honors.  Graf was also a three-time Academic All-NSIC honoree.

Hildebrandt enters her senior season with the SMSU tennis program this spring.  A two-time Academic All-NSIC honoree, Hildebrandt has compiled a 32-37 career singles record and 31-24 career doubles record.  The St. James, Minn., native was most recently named All-NSIC honorable mention singles in 2009.  Last season, she also captured a third-place finish at No. 3 doubles with Angie Wiegmann at the NSIC Individual Championship.  In 2008, she also earned All-NSIC honorable mention accolades in both singles and doubles.

Dr. Myles N. Brand, visionary leader, educator and reformer, served as the President of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) from 2003-09. 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.