June 17, 1997

Three Notre Dame Athletes Earn GTE/CoSIDA Spring At-Large Academic All-America Honors

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Lacrosse defenseman DAVE CASHEN (Chester, NJ) and track All-Americans JEFF HOJNACKI (Solon, Ohio) and JASON REXING (Pickerington, Ohio) have been named to the GTE/CoSIDA Men’s Spring At-Large Academic All-America teams.

The three brings Notre Dame’s total number of Academic All-Americans to 12 for the 1996-97 school year, the most ever in a single athletic season.

CASHEN earned second team honors. One of the team’s top defensive players, he was a Dean’s List student in the College of Science and will attend Columbia Medical School in the fall. CASHEN had his best season ever in anchoring the Notre Dame defense that allowed just 8.91 goals per game as the Irish finished ninth in the final United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) poll with a 9-3 mark. A two-year starter, he served as a captain in 1997 and was a first-team Great Western Lacrosse League (GWLL) honoree.

CASHEN earned four monograms as Irish teams made four NCAA tournament appearances during his career.

HOJNACKI and REXING earned third-team at-large honors for the first time. HOJNACKI ran the 800 meters and distance medley relay at the 1997 NCAA indoor track and field championships and earned All-America honors in both events. He also ran in the 800 meters at the NCAA outdoor championship, becoming just the third runner from Notre Dame to participate in the same event at both the indoor and outdoor NCAA championships in the same year. HOJNACKI joins Ed Dean in the mile in 1965 and Mike O’Connor in the 5,000 meters in 1990 as the only runner to accomplish this. He captured three BIG EAST indoor championships in the 1,00 meters in 1996 and 1997 and in the distance medley relay. HOJNACKI holds school marks in the indoor and outdoor 800 meters. He graduated from the College of Science with a major in pre-professional studies and a 3.478 cumulative grade-point average. HOJNACKI will attend medical school in the fall.

REXING earned All-America honors for the third time at the 1997 NCAA indoor championships as a member of the distance medley relay team. During his career, he has garnered All-America honors in cross country and indoor and outdoor track. REXING placed 13th in the 10,000 meters last year’s NCAA outdoor championships and was 26th at the 1996 NCAA cross country championships. In the 1997 NCAA outdoor championships, REXING placed 16th in the 10,000 meters, becoming the first Notre Dame runner to participate in the same event in consecutive years since Bill Hurd ran in both the 100 and 200 meters in 1968 and 1969. The six-time BIG EAST champion was named the most outstanding performer at the 1996 BIG EAST outdoor championships after winning both the 5,000 and 10,000 meter events. REXING recently finished his junior year in the College of Engineering and has a 3.550 cumulative GPA with a major in mechanical engineering.