The St. Cloud State University wrestling team led the nation by placing four student-athletes on the First Team of the 2012 Division II All-Academic Wrestling Team. Overall, a total of eight St. Cloud State wrestlers gained Division II All-Academic honors this season.
SCSU student-athletes named for First Team honors included redshirt sophomore Chris Brassell (Park Ridge, Ill.), redshirt junior Jacob D. Horn (Ephrata, Wash.), redshirt junior Jacob Kahnke (Shakopee, MInn./Prior Lake H.S.) and redshirt senior Lucas Munkelwitz (Forest Lake, Minn.). SCSU junior Jacob R. Horn (St. Michael, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville) and redshirt freshman Ben McPhail (Pine Island) received Division II All-Academic Second Team honors.
Redshirt junior Trent Herold (East Bethel, Minn./St. Francis H.S.) and redshirt freshman Tyler Mathison (Fremont, Neb.) both were named as All-Academic Honorable Mention award winners for 2011-12.
As a team, the Huskies ranked among the top 20 Division II All-Academic Teams with a team grade point average of 3.021. University of Mary led the list at 3.334, while the Huskies ranked 19th among the DII squads. The team GPA is calculated by averaging the cumulative grade point averages of 10 wrestlers from the team and eight of those wrestlers must have competed in the NCAA qualifying regional.
The 2011-12 Division II All-Academic team consists of 164 student-athletes from 40 schools. Thirty-seven members were named to the First Team and SCSU led the list of Division II teams with four athletes being selected to the First Team. Of note, SCSU’s Jacob D. Horn gained All-Academic honors for the fourth time.
In order for a student-athlete to be nominated to the All-Academic team, he has to have a minimum 3.00 cumulative grade point average of a 4.0 scale. He must also be at least in his second full year at his school, be a varsity member on his team or a key reserve, demonstrate a degree of skill and have a minimum of two letters of recommendation submitted on his behalf.
Brassell (197) ended his season with a 17-7 record, while Jacob D. Horn qualified for the NCAA championships at 149 this season with an 18-9 record. Kahnke posted an impressive 36-3 mark in 2011-12 and finished second in the nation at 285-pounds for the Huskies at the NCAA championships this winter.
Munkelwitz (29-7) also gained All-America status with a fourth place finish at 197-pounds at the NCAA championships for the Huskies. Jacob R. Horn was 15-14 for SCSU this season at 149/157 and McPhail was 11-12 for SCSU this season at 174.
Herold competed at 125 for SCSU in 2011-12 and Mathison wrestled for SCSU this year at 141.
As a team, SCSU finished with impressive numbers once again in 2011-12. The Huskies set a new team record with 21 dual match wins (21-0) and also won the NSIC championship with a 7-0 mark. The Huskies captured first place at the 2012 NWCA Division II National Duals and also posted a championship finish at the 2012 NCAA Division II Super 3 Regional tournament.