The National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) is proud to announce its 2002 NWCA Division I wrestling academic teams.  Each year the NWCA honors its Academic Top Twenty-five Division I wrestling teams, as well as a First Team, Second Team and Honorable Mention All-Academic Team.     Sacred Heart University captured honors as being the top ranked academic wrestling tream with a team GPA 3.4.  This is the first time that Sacred Heart has won was honored with this achievement.  The Pioneers were closely followed by Duquesne University which finished second with a 3.393 followed by Stanford University (3.375), Princeton University (3.365) and Central Michigan (3.23).  Rounding out the top ten teams in order were: Brown University, Harvard University, Lock Haven University, Columbia University and Lehigh.  Team rankings are selected by taking the average GPA of each team's starting ten wrestlers along with two backups that wrestled in at least one varsity match.  The average grade point average of the top-25 teams was 3.071.    The individual Academic All-American team is highlighted with two NCAA Champions and two runner-ups on the first team.  The first team is led by NCAA Champions Rob Rohn of Lehigh, and Joe Heskett of Iowa State. Rohn the NCAA Champion at 184lbs is a 3.62 student in accounting while 165lbs champion Heskett is a 3.27 student in Speech Communication.  Heskett is a three-time first team All-Academic Team member.    The Other members of the first team include Iowa's Jessman Smith, Michigan duo of Erick "Otto" Olson and Ryan Bertin, Owen Elzen of Minnesota, Nebraska's Brian Snyder, Northern Illinois' Scott Owen, and Greg Parker of Princeton.  Olson, Elzen and Snyder are repeat performers on the first team.    The University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan each placed three wrestlers on the All-Academic Team.  The team features wrestlers from 32 universities, 38 NCAA qualifiers, and 17 All-Americans.    Mike Moyer, Executive Director of the NWCA commented, "The results of the 2002 NWCA Academic All-American Rankings confirms the NWCA's belief that many of our nations top collegiate wrestlers are committed to the highest level of achievement in the classroom as well as the wrestling mat. These results demonstrate that the sport of wrestling is building leaders for life as many of these athletes will go onto be our leaders of tomorrow."     NWCA Top 25 All-Academic Wrestling Team  1 Sacred Heart University, 3.4  2 Duquesne Univerity, 3.393  3 Stanford University, 3.375  4 Princeton University, 3.365  5 Central Michigan University, 3.23  6 Brown University, 3.2  7 Harvard University, 3.187  8 Lock Haven University, 3.126  9 Columbia University, 3.117  10 Lehigh University, 3.092  11 Penn State University, 3.086  12 Michigan State University, 2.98  13 University of Pennsylvania, 2.975  14 Cleveland State, 2.97  14 University of Iowa, 2.97  16 University of Michigan, 2.967  17 James Madison University, 2.954  18 University of Illinois, 2.944   18 University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2.944  20 Indiana University, 2.935  21 University of Oklahoma , 2.934  22 Eastern Michigan University, 2.92  23 Millersville University, 2.919  24 Northwestern University, 2.918  25 Oklahoma State University, 2.887      NWCA ALL-ACADEMIC INDIVIDUAL WRESTLING TEAM    NWCA All-Academic First Team  Name/Institution/GPA/Achievements/Major    Joseph Heskett, Iowa State University, 3.27, 165 NCAA Champion, Speech Communication    Robert Rohn, Lehigh University, 3.62, 184 NCAA Champion, Accounting     Eric Owen, Northern Illinois University, 3.61, 5th NCAA Championships, Biology    Greg Parker, Princeton, 3.5, 2nd NCAA Championships, Computer Science    John Lockhart, University of Illinois, 3.54, 3rd NCAA Championships, Kinesiology    Jessman Smith, University of Iowa, 3.15, 3rd NCAA Championships, Psychology    Ryan Bertin, University of Michigan, 3.907, 6th NCAA Championships, Undecided    Erick Olson, University of Michigan, 3.7, 5th NCAA Championships, Education Technology    Owen Elzen, University of Minnesota, 3.402, 4th NCAA Championships, Health and Wellness    Bryan Snyder, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, 3.272, 2nd NCAA Championships, Sociology and Communication Studies       NWCA All-Academic Second Team    Patrick Owens, Boise State University, 3.779, NCAA Qualifier, Physical Education    Jordan Webster, Central Michigan University, 3.84, NCAA Qualifier, Math-Education    Adam Gilmore, Eastern Michigan University, 3.83, MAC Conference Placewinner, Elementary Education    Patrick Diaz, James Madison University, 3.9, 3rd CAA Championship, International Business    John Wechter, Michigan State University, 3.763, NCAA Qualifier, Kinesiology    Shane Roller, Oklahoma State University, 3.248, 4th NCAA, Psychology-Pre-Med    Anthony Reynolds, Sacred Heart University, 3.77, NCAA Qualifier, Mathematics    Paul Hynek, University of Northern Iowa, 3.19, 6th NCAA Championships, Mathematics    Witt Durden, University of Oklahoma, 3.09, 3rd NCAA Championships, Mathematics    Brian Watson, University of Oregon, 3.76, 2nd PAC 10's, General Science    Richard Springman, University of Pennsylvania, 3.5, 6th NCAA Championships, Mechanical Engineering / Applied Mech.      NWCA All-Academic Honorable Mention Team    Nick Ciarcia, Brown University, 3.7, NCAA Qualifier , Undecided    Jason Borrelli, Central Michigan University, 3.6, MAC Championship 3rd, Business    Wayne Watts, Citadel, 3.42, NCAA Qualifier, Physical Education    Rocco Mansueto, Cleveland State University, 3.44. NCAA Qualifier, Psychology    Benjamin Chunko, Drexel University, 3.42, 2nd in CAA Championship, Business    Zachery Pyles, Eastern Michigan University, 3.644, 21-13 season record, Chemistry    Eddie Magrys, Eastern Michigan University, 3.425, MAC Conference Placewinner, Business    Gregory Schaeffer, Indiana University, 3.732, NCAA Qualifier, Teacher-Prep-HPER    Ty Matthews, Indiana University, 3.459, NCAA Qualifier, Biology    Steve Kodish, James Madison University, 3.4, 20-13 record,Kinesiology    Travis McCormack, Lock Haven University, 3.71, NCAA Qualifier, Health and Physical Education    Michael Maney, Lock Haven University, 3.342, 8th NCAA Championships, Secondary History    Gregory Eyno n, Millersville University, 3.49, NCAA Qualifier, Technology Education    Jeff Ratliff, Ohio State University, 3.36, NCAA Qualifier, Political Science    Chad Reid, Oklahoma State University, 3.686, 20-6 record, Biology/Pre-Med    Peter Mielnik, Penn State University, 3.53, NCAA Qualifier, Administration of Justice    Bryan Lauer, Rutgers University, 3.73, 23-13 season record, Biological Science    Robert Belville, Sacred Heart University, 3.62, 4th CAA, Undecided    Adam Renner, Slippery Rock University, 3.42, 3rd East Regional, Political Science    Levi Weikel-Magden, Stanford University, 3.708, 4th Pac Ten, Human Biology    Matt Gentry, Stanford University, 3.498, 35-11season record, Undeclared    Kyle Smith, University of Michigan, 3.276, 7th NCAA Championships, Organizational Studies    Kenneth Burleson, University of Missouri, 3.55 28-11 season record, Business    Kyle Hansen, University of Northern Iowa, 3.17, 8th NCAA Championships, Construction Management    Jason Harless, University of Oregon, 3.71, NCAA Qualifier, General Science    Michael Faust, University of Pennsylvania, 3.37, 6th EIWA Championships, Business    Carl Fronhofer, University of Pittsburgh, 3.46, NCAA Qualifier, Sociology    Brady Reinke, University of Wisconsin, 3.402, NCAA Qualifier, Elementary Education    Clarence Toney, Virginia Military Institute, 3.547, 3rd at Southern Conference, Chemistry    Adam Britt, Virginia Military Institute, 3.484, NCAA Qualifier, Civil Engineering    Ryan Kehler, West Virginia University, 3.62, NCAA Qualifier, Physical Education