Six wrestlers earn national academic recognition

Six UW-Parkside wrestlers were recently honored by being named to the 2008-09 NCAA II All-Academic Wrestling Team, thus earning Academic All-American honors. Three of them were named to the first team, Cody Zimmerman, Luke Rynish and Lucas Haag. Two were named to the second team, Eddie Stefonek and Ryan Katona. Sean Shanahan earned honorable mention honors.

Cody Zimmerman, a red-shirt sophomore from Hartford, Wisconsin won first team honors for the second year in a row. He is a biological science major with a 3.45 cumulative grade-point average. His goal is to be a physician’s assistant. Cody had a season record of 46-8. His 46 wins were the most by any wrestler in the NCAA II and tied for the most in all of collegiate wrestling. His 46 wins is also the most ever by a UW-Parkside sophomore. Cody placed third or higher in eight tournaments, winning four of them. He was an NCAA II National tournament qualifier and was ranked number five among NCAA II wrestlers at his 125 pound weight class.

Lucas Haag, a junior from Mishicot, Wisconsin won first team honors for the second year in a row. He is a biological science major with a 3.40 cumulative grade point average. His goal is to be a pharmacist. Lucas had a season record of 36-13. His 36 wins were the eleventh most wins in the NCAA II. Lucas was a finalist in eight tournaments, winning three of them. He was an NCAA II National tournament qualifier and was ranked number three among NCAA II wrestlers at his 184 pound weight class. During the season, he defeated wrestlers who placed first, fourth, fifth and eighth at the NCAA II National Tournament.

Luke Rynish, a red-shirted freshman from Hortonville, Wisconsin won first team honors. He is a mathematics major with a 3.50 cumulative grade point average. His goal is to be a high school math teacher. Luke had a season record of 42-16. His 42 wins were the fifth most wins in the NCAA II. His 42 wins is also the most ever by a UW-Parkside freshman wrestler. Luke placed in eight tournaments, winning two of them. He was a NCAA II National tournament qualifier at 174 pounds.

Eddie Stefonek, a sophomore from Rhinelander, Wisconsin earned second team honors. He is a pre-nursing major with a 3.39 grade point average. Eddie had a 21-13 season record. He placed in three tournaments, winning one of them.

Ryan Katona, a red-shirted freshman from Hartford, Wisconsin earned second team honors. He is a business management major with a 3.77 cumulative grade point average. Ryan had an 11-10 season record and he placed in two tournaments.

Sean Shanahan, a red-shirted junior from Reedsburg, Wisconsin won honorable mention honors for the second time. He is a criminal justice major.

The Rangers finished tenth in the team competition with an overall cumulative grade point average of 3.176 for their regional starters plus two reserves. This is the third year in a row that they have finished among the top ten teams. They won the first ever academic competition for NCAA II Wrestling teams in 1994 and were crowned the Academic National Champions. UW-Parkside’s five members on the first or second teams were second only to the University of Nebraska’s seven members. Selections were made by the NCAA II Wrestling Coaches Association All-Academic Selection Committee.