May 21, 2009
Notre Dame, Ind. – Four Notre Dame student-athletes have been selected to the 2009 ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic all-District Five At-Large team in voting done by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) for the 2008-09 school year with three named to the men’s team and one to the women’s squad.
Three of the athletes – rower Lauren Buck (Sr., Flint, Mich.) and hockey players Erik Condra (Sr., Livonia, Mich.) and 2008 second team Academic All-American, Jordan Pearce (Sr., Anchorage, Alaska) – were first team all-District choices and move to the national ballot for Academic All-American honors that will be announced in June.
Joining those three on the District Five At-Large second team is men’s lacrosse player Peter Christman (Sr., Simsbury, Conn.). The at-large program includes women’s bowling, women’s crew, men’s and women’s fencing, women’s field hockey, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s gymnastics, men’s and women’s ice hockey, men’s and women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s rifle, men’s and women’s skiing, men’s and women’s swimming, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s volleyball, men’s and women’s water polo and men’s wrestling.
Nominations for the at-large teams are limited to three student-athletes per school per gender. Thus, each institution may nominate a total of three men’s at-large candidates and three women’s at-large candidates. There is no limit to the number of candidates that may be nominated for a particular sport.
Voting is done by the College Sports Information Directors of America with 10 players chosen to the first and second teams in each district with the 10 first team selections moving to the national ballot.
Buck is a senior and four-year member of the Irish rowing program, where she was a member of Notre Dame’s top boat, the first varsity eight, for three seasons after rowing with the novice eight crew as a freshman. She has been part of teams that have won four BIG EAST titles and two gold medals with the varsity eight crew.
An alternate on Notre Dame’s 2006 NCAA team as a freshman, Buck earned a spot with the varsity eight crew as a sophomore and helped that boat reach unprecedented heights when it earned a top-five finish in the final rankings, climbing to a program-best third during the year. The boat placed 12th at the 2007 NCAAs after advancing to the Petite Final.
In April, Buck earned the highest honor given to a student-athlete when she was awarded Notre Dame’s Byron V. Kanaley Award.
Buck has a 3.87 overall grade-point average and is enrolled in a joint degree program within the College of Science and MBA Program. She will graduate in May 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in biological science and an MBA. A Dean’s List honoree four times, she earned a perfect 4.00 grade index following the 2008 spring semester and was a member of Notre Dame’s prestigious Academic Honors Program.
She has been an undergraduate researcher since 2007 for the Indiana University-South Bend Medical School. She represents Notre Dame on the BIG EAST Conference Student Advisory Committee and is her team’s representative on Student Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC). An accomplished musician, she earned a superior rating in the Flint Institute of Music Piano Competition.
Erik Condra is one of four Notre Dame student-athletes to be named to ESPN The Magazine’s District Five All-Academic Team. He is a candidate for Academic All-American honors.
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For Condra, this is the second time he has been selected to the District Five all-academic team, as he was a second team selection in 2008. Notre Dame’s team captain in 2008-09, the talented right wing led the Irish icers in scoring for the fourth consecutive season, this past year, scoring 15 goals with 23 assists for 38 points. He led Notre Dame to its second Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) regular-season and post-season title in the last three years as the Irish were 31-6-3 overall and spent seven weeks ranked number one in the nation.
A 2006 Ottawa Senators’ draft choice, Condra finished his career ranked 13th on the all-time points list with 158 points on 48 goals and 110 assists. His 110 assists are the seventh most in the program’s history as he is just one of 10 Notre Dame players all-time to have 100 or more assists. He also finishes his career third all-time in games played (159), fifth in game winning goals (11) and tied for fourth with six short-handed goals.
A second team AHCA/Reebok All-American in `08-’09, Condra was a second team all-CCHA selection, a finalist for the conference’s top defensive forward award and the winner of the Terry Flanagan Memorial Award for perseverance, dedication and courage as he overcame a serious knee injury suffered in the 2008 playoffs and returned in time to start last season.
Nationally, he was recognized by Lowe’s as a finalist for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award while at Notre Dame, he earned the highest honor given to a student-athlete when he was awarded the Byron V. Kanaley Award while also receiving the Francis Patrick O’Connor Award that honors male and female student-athletes who best display the total embodiment of the true spirit of Notre Dame as exemplified by their contributions and inspirations to their respective teams. To be considered, student-athletes must possess those qualities attributed to Pat O’Connor: caring, courage, confidence, encouragement, humility, honesty, humor, kindness and patience.
Condra graduated on May 17 with a 3.55 grade-point average with degrees in psychology and pre-professional studies (pre-med).
Jordan Pearce was a first team ESPN The Magazine All-District Academic Selection for the second year in a row. He now will look to become an Academic All-American for the second consecutive year.
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Condra’s teammate, Jordan Pearce, ranked among the top goaltenders in the nation in `08-’09 and is making his second appearance on the District Five at-large first team as he took first team honors last season on the way to becoming a second team ESPN The Magazine CoSIDA Academic All-American.
This season, Pearce picked up on the ice where he left off a year ago, turning in a 30-6-3 overall record with a 1.68 goals-against average, a .931 save percentage and eight shutouts. His 30 wins and eight shutouts led the nation in each category while his goals against was second and save percentage ranked fifth.
An honorable mention all-CCHA selection and a finalist for the CCHA player of the year, Pearce was the conference’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year and a member of the CCHA scholar-athlete team. He was chosen as the Notre Dame Monogram Club’s team Most Valuable Player and the Notre Dame Club of St. Joseph Valley’s Rockne Scholar-Athlete Award. Along with Condra, he was one of 10 finalists for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award.
Pearce finished his career as Notre Dame’s all-time leader in wins (59), goals-against average (1.98), save percentage (.918) and tied for the lead in shutouts with 12.
In the classroom, Pearce finished his collegiate career with a 3.816 grade-point average and graduated on May 17 with degrees in anthropology and pre-professional studies (pre-med). In April, he signed a two-year entry-level contract with the Detroit Red Wings. He is the sixth Notre Dame hockey player to be named Academic All-American since 1997.
Men’s Lacrosse team member Peter Christman was a second team ESPN The Magazine All-District selection for the 2009 season.
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Christman rounds out the group of four, as he was a second team selection on the men’s at-large all-District Team.
The senior midfielder recorded 33 points on 15 goals and 18 assists in helping lead Notre Dame to a 15-1 record during the 2009 season. He also grabbed 26 ground balls and was selected to the All-Great Western Lacrosse League first team while being a candidate for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award.
For his Irish career, Christman had 40 goals and 45 assists for 85 points while playing in a school record 63 games. A team captain in 2009, he graduated on May 17 with a 3.622 grade-point average and a degree in political science.