Celebrating DIII Week - Academics

4/1/2024 10:00:00 AM

With Division III week well underway, Illinois Wesleyan University athletics joins its fellow NCAA Division III members in celebration. IWU athletics is committed to excellence in academics, athletics, and service. Today's #d3week focus takes a deep dive into the academic successes of Titans past and present.

Illinois Wesleyan has had 150 Academic All-America selections in its history, tied for 28th-most among NCAA Division I, II, and III institutions, as well as the 10th-most in Division III. The men's basketball program accounts for 26 Academic All-America selections, the most of any men's basketball team across all divisions. UCLA, Indiana, Kansas, and Duke are tied for second with 20 honorees each. To view a full list of IWU's Academic All-Americans click here.

The Titans have seen eight student-athletes named Academic All-American of the Year in their respective sports. Most recently, Matthew Leritz earned the honor in men's basketball in 2022. Prior to that, Meg Stanley (Women's Swimming and Diving - 2017), Rachel Anderson (Women's Track and Field - 2008), Keelan Amelianovich (Men's Basketball - 2006), Korey Coon (Men's Basketball 1999 & 2000), James Rinne (Baseball - 1998), and Lon Erickson (Football - 1996) garnered the distinction. Additionally, Jack Sikma was voted into CoSIDA's Academic All-America Hall of Fame in 1998. He is one of 49 basketball players, male or female, to be inducted since it was created in 1988.

Most recently, IWU saw three Titans named to the CSC Academic All-America At-Large teams as Quinn Clifford (men's golf), Lexi Onsrud (women's golf), and Sarah Gleason (women's lacrosse) garnered the distinction. The Academic All-District and All-America teams for winter and spring sports will be announced in the coming months.

At the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin level, Illinois Wesleyan will finish the year with more than 200 Academic All-CCIW selections.

For more info on IWU's national reputation, including national rankings, click here, or to find information regarding Illinois Wesleyan outcomes click here.

What is D3 Week?
Division III Week is a positive opportunity for all individuals associated with Division III to observe and celebrate the impact of athletics and of student-athletes on the campus and surrounding community. During the week, every Division III school and conference office is encouraged to conduct a type of outreach activity that falls into one of three categories: academic accomplishment; athletic experience; or leadership/community service/campus involvement.

About CSC's Academic All-America Program
The College Sports Communicators (CSC) selects Academic All-America teams in 12 programs: football, women's volleyball, men's soccer, women's soccer, men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, softball, men's track & field/cross country, women's track & field/cross country, men's at-large and women's at-large. A first team, second team and third team are selected in both the University (Division I and I-AA) and College (Division II, III and NAIA) Divisions. Football consists of just first and second teams. To be nominated, the student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.30 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) for his/her career. No athlete is eligible until he/she has reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at his/her current institution (thus, true freshmen, redshirt freshmen and ineligible transfers are not eligible). In the cases of transfers, graduate students and junior college graduates, the athlete must have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution to be eligible.

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