Salvatore leads gymnastics

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The spring 2009 semester has come to a close with 32 University of Arkansas student-athletes including Razorback gymnast Genny Salvatore earning perfect grades and 190 above a 3.0 mark it was announced recently. Salvatore was a freshman on the 2008-09 Razorback gymnastics team. Majoring in art, she redshirted the year with a knee injury. Four gymnasts were named to the Athletic Director’s List with grades in the 3.50-3.99 range. NCAA Super Six participants Amy DeFilippo, Alex LaChance, Sarah Nagashima and Jaime Pisani were recognized on the AD’s List. DeFilippo, LaChance and Pisani are all kinesiology majors with Nagashima studying apparel studies at Arkansas. LaChance, Pisani and Nagashima were all first-time All-Americans in 2009. Stacy Bartlett, Casey Jo Magee, Michelle Stout and Alyssa Strodel all earned selection to the Academic Honor Roll with grades from 3.00-3.49. Bartlett is a nutrition major and All-Americans Magee and Stout are majoring in kinesiology and marketing, respectively. Strodel, who also redshirted last year with an injury, is a general business major. Women’s swimming and diving paced the department with eight Academic Champions. They were closely followed by five members of the women’s track and field/cross country team and four members of the soccer team. Softball and men’s track and field/cross country each had three student-athletes with 4.0 GPAs. Baseball and women’s tennis had two and there was one member from women’s golf, football, volleyball, gymnastics and men’s tennis with perfect semester grades. “We are proud of the many academic accomplishments of our student-athletes,” Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Jeff Long said. “These academic champions balance the rigors of a full-time academic schedule with the demands of practice, training and competing athletically in their given sports. This special group of student-athletes has demonstrated the ability to not only compete, but succeed both in the classroom and in athletic competition.” A pair of tennis All-Americans headlined the list of Academic Champions. Aurelija Miseviciute and Blake Strode are both economics majors. The seniors recently capped off their careers at the NCAA Women’s and Men’s National Championships. Nanar Airpetian from women’s tennis also earned Academic Champion honors. The Razorback swimming and diving teams always seem to excel in the classroom and this semester was no exception. They had eight perfect semesters from Gina Bargiachi, Stephanie Carr, Jessica Clark, Sarah Howard, Summer Jackson, Lisa Lunkenheimer, Erin Neumann and Madison Palmer. The men’s and women’s track teams were represented by Lane Boyer, Tara Diebold, Erin Gray, Sarah Landau, Angela Scott, Mitchell Scott, James Strang and Katie Stripling. The soccer Razorbacks are under the direction of first-year head coach Erin Aubry and placed four members on the Academic Champions list. They are Megan Fawley, Kat Moffett, Erin Moskos and Rachel Smith. The rest of the Academic Champions include: Jessica Bachkora, Hillary Freeman and Sandra Smith from softball, Scott Limbocker and James McCann from baseball, Lucy Nunn from women’s golf, Chase Philpot from football, Mackenzie Rhea from volleyball and Genny Salvatore from gymnastics. In addition to the 32 4.0s, Arkansas had 65 student-athletes who earned selection to the Athletic Directors list with 3.50-3.99 GPAs, and 93 who were on the Athletic Department Honor Roll in the 3.00-3.49 range. Jeff Poppell’s swimming and diving team again led the way on the AD’s List with 13 selections, followed by eight for soccer, seven for women’s track and field/cross country, six for men’s track and field/cross country and five for softball. For more information about Arkansas Razorback athletics log on to ArkansasRazorbacks.com.Academic Champions — 4.00

Athletic Director’s List — 3.50-3.99

Athletic Departmental Honor Roll — 3.00-3.49