Strode honored by CoSIDA

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Off the heels of an appearance in the semifinals of the NCAA Championships, University of Arkansas men’s tennis student-athlete Blake Strode was named a member of the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America second team, it was announced Tuesday by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). This is the first academic All-America recognition for Strode, also a three-time all-district honoree.The St. Louis, Mo., native recently graduated from the University of Arkansas with a double major in international economics and Spanish and a 3.97 GPA as a Bodenhamer Fellow. In addition to this recognition, Strode, a two-time SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year, was the 2009 recipient of the ITA/Arthur Ashe Award for Leadership & Sportsmanship.Strode became just the third Razorback in program history to advance to the semifinals of the NCAA Championships and ended his career in Fayetteville with 97 singles victories, the fifth most in men’s tennis history at Arkansas. He finished the season with a No. 13 ranking, tied for the highest of his career, and his first ITA All-America honor. During his career, Strode also earned three All-Southeastern Conference awards for his play on the courts.With a focus on a professional tennis career in the immediate future, Strode has also secured a spot at Harvard Law School for his postgraduate studies. He is one of five student-athletes from the SEC named to the CoSIDA men’s at-large teams.To be eligible for Academic All-America consideration, a student-athlete must be a starter or key contributor to their respective team, maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.30 (on a 4.0 scale) and be at least a sophomore athletically and academically.Since the program’s inception in 1952, CoSIDA has awarded Academic All-America honors to more than 14,000 student-athletes in Division I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.