For Release: Thursday, March 3 – 12 noon ET UNIVERSITY OF IOWA’S ALLY DISTERHOFT & JARROD UTHOFF HEADLINE 2015-16 CoSIDA DIVISION I MEN’S AND WOMEN’S BASKETBALL ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICA® TEAMS AUSTIN, Texas – A pair of talented student-athletes from the University of Iowa headline the 2015-16 CoSIDA Academic All-America® Division I men’s and women’s basketball teams as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Junior Ally Disterhoft has been selected as the 2015-16 Academic All-America® of the Year for Division I Women’s Basketball and graduate student Jarrod Uthoff has been named the 2015-16 Academic All-America® of the Year for Division I Men’s Basketball. Disterhoft is a business major studying accounting and finance and was a third team CoSIDA Academic All-America® selection last year. The Iowa City, Iowa native owns a 4.03 G.P.A. She is an academic All-Big Ten selection, Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and a two-time Presidential Committee on Athletics Scholar-Athlete. Disterhoft earned second team All-Big Ten honors as a sophomore when she led Iowa to the Sweet 16. During her first season, she received Big Ten All- Freshmen Team and Big Ten All-Tournament Team accolades as a freshman. She is a WBCA Allstate Good Works® Team honoree for her efforts in raising helmet awareness on mopeds. On the court, Disterhoft has led the Hawkeyes to an 18-12 record while averaging 16.9 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. She is shooting 53 percent from the field. In less than three seasons, she has accumulated 1,485 points (11th in school history), 106 three-pointers (14th) and 594 rebounds (18th). Disterhoft has played in exactly 100 career games entering the Big Ten tournament and has started the last 81 in a row. Uthoff, a native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has an economics degree and is pursuing a Master’s in leisure studies. He has a 3.42 G.P.A. including a 4.0 G.P.A. during the fall semester. He was named an NABC/ESPN Midseason second team All- America, and is a finalist for the Oscar Robertson Trophy. Uthoff is also on watch lists for the John Wooden Award and the Lute Olson Award. He was the Big Ten Co-Player of the Week on December 14 and the CBS Sports Player of the Week on January 4. Uthoff has led the Hawkeyes to a 20-9 record and a No. 16 national ranking. He leads the Big Ten in blocked shots (2.7 blocks per game), and is second in scoring (18.4 points per game) and 12th in rebounding (6.4 rebounds per game). Uthoff is one of two players in the last 20 years to average at least two made three-pointers per game and two blocks per game. In less than three years he has accumulated 1,209 points, 127 three-pointers, 557 rebounds and 169 blocks. CoSIDA Academic All-America® Division I Women’s Basketball Team Twelve of the 15 members of the 2015-16 CoSIDA Academic All-America® Division I women’s basketball team have at least a 3.80 G.P.A., with four student-athletes sporting a perfect 4.0 G.P.A. or better. The five members of the first team have an average G.P.A. of 3.912. CoSIDA Academic All-America® Division I Men’s & Women’s Basketball Teams…Page 2 The CoSIDA Academic All-America® Division I women’s basketball first team includes four repeat selections. Liberty University graduate student Ashley Rininger is a returning first team member while Oregon State University senior Ruth Hamblin was on the second team, while Princeton University senior Michelle Miller and Disterhoft were both on the third team. Rininger has completed a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a master’s degree in human services counseling, and is currently working toward a second master’s degree in criminal justice – all with a 4.0 G.P.A. Hamblin is a mechanical engineering major, and Miller is a chemistry major. UNC-Greensboro senior Lucy Mason rounds out the first team. The Academic All-America® Division I women’s basketball second team features three seniors and two juniors. UTEP senior Cameasha Turner is a criminal justice major and highlights the second team with a 4.0 G.P.A. Tiffany Mitchell of the University of South Carolina and Megan Podkowa of DePaul University are the other two seniors, while juniors Sigi Koizar of the University of Maine and Kelsey Plum of the University of Washington round out the second team. There are four juniors and one senior on the Academic All-America® Division I women’s basketball third team. Northern Arizona University junior Rene Coggins is studying accountancy, finance and hotel & restaurant management and has a 4.0 G.P.A. The other three juniors on the third team are Jessica January of DePaul University, Kendall Noble of Western Kentucky University and Mikaela Shaw of the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Elizabeth Wood from the University of Maine is the lone senior on the third team. Academic All-America® Division I Men’s Basketball Team The CoSIDA Academic All-America® Division I men’s basketball first team is comprised of a graduate student, three seniors and a junior. Uthoff is the lone graduate student and is joined by senior Joshua Braun of Grand Canyon University, senior Marcus Paige of the University of North Carolina, senior Shavon Shields of the University of Nebraska and junior Canyon Barry of the College of Charleston on the first team. The five members of the CoSIDA Academic All- America® Division I men’s basketball first team have an average G.P.A. of 3.68. Shields is a two-time Academic All-America® first team choice, while Barry and Paige were each on the second team last year. Shields is a biological sciences major from Olathe, Kan., who has a 3.72 G.P.A. and was named to the NABC Allstate Good Works® Team earlier this year. Paige is a double major in media & journalism and history. The Marion, Iowa native has a 3.43 G.P.A. He is a three-time Academic All-America® selection, two-time winner of the Skip Prosser Award as the top men’s basketball scholar-athlete in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and is an honorary recipient of an ACC Weaver-James-Corrigan Post-Graduate Scholarship. Barry is a physics and computer science major from Colorado Springs, Colo. He is the only student-athlete on the Academic All-America® team with a perfect 4.0 G.P.A. Barry was the Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Week three times this year and led the league in scoring at 19.7 points per game before suffering a season-ending injury. Braun, a native of Anthem, Ariz., carries a 3.83 G.P.A. in business management. A two-time WAC Player of the Week and on the Lou Henson Award Watch List, he is averaging 16.5 points per game and shooting 87.4 percent from the free throw line. The Academic All-America® Division I men’s basketball second team is led by Belmont University senior Craig Bradshaw and University of Iowa graduate student Mike Gesell, who were both third team selections in 2014-15. Bradshaw is a public relations major from Ridgetop, Tenn., who has a 3.47 G.P.A. He was the 2014-15 Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association Men’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Gesell earned a finance degree and is working on his master’s degree in leisure studies. The South Sioux City, Neb., native has a 3.94 G.P.A. He is one of 30 candidates for the 2016 Senior CLASS Award. Joining Bradshaw and Gesell on the second team are Duke University sophomore Grayson Allen, Gonzaga University sophomore Domantas Sabonis and University of Kentucky senior Alex Poythress. The CoSIDA Academic All-America® Division I men’s basketball third team includes a pair of sophomores, a junior and two graduate students. North Dakota State University teammates A.J. Jacobson and Paul Miller are the two sophomores. Belmont University junior Evan Bradds, The Citadel’s graduate student Derrick Henry and Drake University graduate student Kale Abrahamson make up the rest of the third team. FOR MORE INFORMATION: Jeff Schwartz, North Dakota State University ([email protected]) (701) 231-8332 Academic All-America® Vice Co-Chair for Publicity/Communications Shane Meling, University of the Incarnate Word ([email protected]) (210) 805-3071 Academic All-America® Coordinator of Publicity 2015-16 CoSIDA Academic All-America® Division I Women’s Basketball Team FIRST TEAM Name School Yr. Hometown GPA Major Ally Disterhoft (3) Iowa Jr. Iowa City, Iowa 4.03 Accounting / finance Ruth Hamblin (2) Oregon State Sr. Houston, B.C. 3.85 Mechanical engineering Lucy Mason UNC-Greensboro Sr. Stone Mountain, Ga. 3.80 Economics / African American studies Michelle Miller (3) Princeton Sr. Pasadena, Calif. 3.88 Chemistry Ashley Rininger (1) Liberty Gr. Canton, Ohio 4.00 Criminal justice (UG) / human serv. (G) SECOND TEAM Name School Yr. Hometown GPA Major Sigi Koizar Maine Jr. Vienna, Austria 3.96 Biology Tiffany Mitchell South Carolina Sr. Charlotte, N.C. 3.64 Retail management Kelsey Plum Washington Jr. Poway, Calif. 3.33 Communication Megan Podkowa DePaul Sr. Glenview, Ill. 3.84 Mathematical sci. / actuarial sci. Cameasha Turner UTEP Sr. Dallas, Texas 4.00 Criminal justice THIRD TEAM Name School Yr. Hometown GPA Major Rene Coggins Northern Arizona Jr.