May 15, 2002

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Two Southeast Missouri State University athletes, golfer Bryan Johnson and gymnast Amy Cole, have been selected for the Verizon Academic All-District VII University Division at-large team.

Johnson, a senior from Thayer, Mo., was one of ten men named to the District VII men's at-large team. He graduated earlier this month with a 3.835 grade point average in speech communication and was named to the 2002 all-OVC golf squad.

A four-year member of the golf team, Johnson was a Southeast Scholar Athlete and a member of the Ohio Valley Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll for four years. He was also a recipient of the 2001-2002 Ohio Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete Award that goes annually to three men and three women senior athletes for their accomplishments in the classroom and in athletics, as well as their leadership qualities.

Cole, a junior from Palmyra, Ill., was named to the District VII women's at-large team after compiling a 3.988 grade point average while majoring in health management. She was an all-around competitor for the Southeast gymnastics team and earned a spot as first alternate in all-around for the NCAA South Central Regional. On bars, Cole recorded the second-highest score in school history with a 9.900 against Iowa.

As members of the Verizon District VII at-large team, Johnson and Cole will both be on the national ballot for Academic All-America consideration.

The at-large team represents athletes from crew, gymnastics, skiing, fencing, ice hockey, swimming, water polo, field hockey, lacrosse, tennis, golf and rifle.

District VII includes all schools within the states of Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Earlier this year, soccer player Nicole Thiele was named to the Academic All-District VII soccer team and Emmy Kisaka and Katie Cerneka were named to the Academic All-District VII softball team.