May 18, 2006
Irish senior football player Rob Woods earned top honors Monday night at the 14th annual Academic Excellence Awards Dinner organized by the University of Notre Dame’s Office of Academic Services for Student-Athletes and sponsored by the Athletics Department.
The dinner, held in the Monogram Room of the Joyce Center on April 10, honored 324 student-athletes who possess a 3.2 cumulative grade-point average or higher. Also honored were the student-athletes on each varsity team with the highest cumulative GPA (athletic trainers, managers and cheerleaders included), plus the teams with the highest combined GPAs in each semester.
Fernand “Tex” Dutile, professor in the University’s Law School and current chairman of the Faculty Board on Athletics, served as guest speaker.
Woods (from Atlantic, Iowa), a mechanical engineering major (in the College of Engineering), was honored with the Top Gun Award as the graduating senior with the highest cumulative GPA (3.953).
The Irish team with the highest GPA for the spring semester of 2005 with a 3.400 was the women’s track team. The team with the highest GPA (3.510) for the fall semester of 2005 was the women’s cross country squad.
Eleven student-athletes graduated following the spring semester of 2005 and received 4.0 GPAs in that final semester: Christi Arnerich (Track – Huntington Beach, Calif.), Kelli Barton (Swimming – Scottsdale, Ariz.), Mary Boland (Soccer – Hudson, Ohio), Rebecca Chimahusky (Fencing – Bartlesville, Okla.), Jacqueline Dammann (Manager – Manning, Iowa), Petra Dankova (Track – Kladno, Czech Republic), Elizabeth Franzosa (Manager – Cincinnati, Ohio), Stanley Revelle (Football – Poplar Bluff, Mo.), Casey Rotella (Golf – Keswick, Va.), Brent Weiss (Baseball – Cockeysville, Md.) and Kevin Wiseman (Golf – South Bend, Ind.).
Three student-athletes received their second 4.0 in the spring 2005 semester: Brian D’Arcy (Hockey – Western Springs, Ill.), John Stephens (Soccer – Woodridge, Ill.) and Elizabeth Webster (Track – Dearborn, Mich.).
Five student-athletes received their first 4.0 in the spring 2005 semester: Patrick Davis (Swimming – Clearwater, Fla.), Maryann Erigha (Track – Stone Mountain, Ga.), Wade Iams (Football – Mishawaka, Ind.), Sunni Olding (Track – Minster, Ohio) and Michael Popejoy (Track – Wheaton, Ill.).
Four student-athletes received their second or third 4.0 marks in the fall 2005 semester: Ashley Jones (Soccer – Westlake Village, Calif.), Grant Osborn (Athletic Trainer – Monroe, N.H.), Elizabeth Webster (Track – Dearborn, Mich.) and Robert Woods (Football – Atlantic, Iowa).
Eight student-athletes received their first 4.0 in the fall 2005 semester: Erika Bohn (Soccer – Brookfield, Conn.), Mary Carpenter (Women’s Lacrosse – Rochester, N.Y.), John Daly (Cross Country/Track – Louisville, Ky.), Kathryn Dobbertin (Manager – Rochester, N.Y.), John Goetz (Fencing – Jericho, Vt.), Martin Mooney (Football – Cincinnati, Ohio), Susan Pinnick (Soccer – South Bend, Ind.) and Todd Ptacek (Cross Country/Track – Benton Harbor, Mich.).
The Chuck Linster Award, given annually to a senior member of the support
group (athletic trainers, cheerleaders, and student managers) with the highest
GPA, went to hockey student manager David Preston (Ft. Collins, Colo.) with a 3.922 average. Preston plans to return to Notre Dame to pursue a master’s degree in accountancy. Linster was a photographer for the athletic department for years, filming many practices and games.
The following student-athletes received awards for achieving the highest cumulative GPA on their athletic teams (each student-athlete must have completed or be a member of the team for three semesters):
| Sport | Name | Hometown | Major | GPA |
| * Baseball | Edward Smith | Olympia, Wash. | Spanish | 3.636 |
| * Basketball | Christopher Murphy | Downers Grove, Ill. | Finance | 3.317 |
| Amanda Tsipis | Perry, Ohio | Finance/Psychology | 3.588 | |
| * Cross Country | Michael Popejoy | Wheaton, Ill. | Philosophy/Theology | 3.822 |
| Sunni Olding | Minster, Ohio | Science/Pre-Professional | 3.958 | |
| * Fencing | Craig Brede | Bloomfield Hills, Mich. | Finance | 3.681 |
| Jack Goetz | Jericho, Vt. | Mechanical Engineering | 3.681 | |
| Colleen Walsh | Monticello, Ill. | Anthro./Bio. Sciences | 3.891 | |
| * Football | Robert Woods | Atlantic, Iowa | Mechanical Engineer | 3.953 |
| * Golf | Edward Peckels | Pinehurst, N.C. | Business | 3.533 |
| Lauren Gebauer | Columbus, Ohio | Anthropology/Pre-Prof. | 3.688 | |
| * Hockey | Brian D’Arcy | Western Springs, Ill. | Arts and Letters | 3.956 |
| * Lacrosse | William Liva | Bryn Mawr, Pa. | Accountancy | 3.702 |
| Mary Carpenter | Rochester, N.Y. | Psychology/Pre-Prof. | 3.936 | |
| * Rowing | Clara Park | Seoul, Korea | Biochemistry | 3.842 |
| * Soccer | John Stephens | Woodridge, Ill. | Economics | 3.804 |
| Ashley Jones | Westlake Village, Calif. | Business | 3.974 | |
| * Softball | Katharine Laing | Chandler, Ariz. | Business | 3.462 |
| * Swimming | Patrick Davis | Clearwater, Fla. | Computer Science | 3.795 |
| Julia Quinn | Evanston, Ill. | Classics/Latin | 3.867 | |
| Georgia Steenberge | Granbury, TX | Arts and Letters | 3.804 | |
| * Tennis | Lauren Connelly | Oklahoma City, Okla. | Marketing | 3.691 |
| Brandon Pierpont | St. Petersburg, Fla. | Business | 3.419 | |
| * Track/Field | Ryan Regula | Johnstown, Pa. | English | 3.814 |
| Maryann Erigha | Stone Mountain, Ga. | Sociology/Comp. Apps. | 3.794 | |
| * Volleyball | Adrianna Stasiuk | Park Ridge, Ill. | Business | 3.687 |
| * Ath.Training | Daniel L’Heureux | Oak Park, Ill. | Biological Sciences | 3.862 |
| * Cheerleading | Christine Williford | Kountze, Texas | Accountancy | 3.754 |
| * Managers | David Preston | Ft. Collins, Colo. | Accountancy | 3.922 |
The fall 2005 semester saw 101 Dean’s list selections among 654 student-athletes, while 93 achieved that status for the spring 2005 semester.
Other fall 2005 semester highlights included:
* For the first time all 24 teams had semester GPAs over 3.000.
* Four teams – women’s cross country, hockey, women’s soccer and women’s tennis – had team GPAs over 3.400.
* Five teams — baseball, men’s basketball, football, hockey and women’s soccer – had their highest fall semester averages ever. Those same five teams also currently have their highest cumulative teams GPAs ever.
* Six student-athletes already have earned Academic All-America honors in 2005-06 – Erika Bohn (women’s soccer), Annie Schefter (women’s soccer), Megan Duffy (women’s basketball) and Chris Quinn (men’s basketball) won first-team honors, while John Stephens (men’s soccer) and Lauren Brewster (volleyball) won second-team honors.