AUSTIN, Texas – The College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced the 2019-20 Academic All-America® Division II Men's and Women's At-Large teams Thursday, with three Greyhounds appearing on the prestigious list.
Payton Staman (first team) and
Brody Conner (second team) were each repeat winners, while
Pilar Echeverria (second team) picked up her first career nod.
The at-large segment for the Academic All-America® program draws from a vast number of sports, including fencing, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, swimming and diving, tennis and water polo for both men and women; bowling, crew and field hockey for women; only and volleyball and wrestling for men only.
UIndy's three honorees join softball's Hallie Waters and volleyball's Alyssa Spears to bring the Hounds' 2019-20 Academic All-America® total to five. Track & field/Cross Country award winners, the year's final set of Academic All-Americans, will be released June 24.
Diver
Payton Staman became the first two-time Academic All-America® First Team honoree in UIndy swimming & diving history. The Roscoe, Ill., native graduated with a 3.92 GPA in mechanical engineering as one of the best to every climb the boards for the Crimson and Grey. He racked up seven All-America First Team accolades in his career to go with five GLVC event titles and two GLVC Diver of the Year awards. Recently named the GLVC Paragon Award winner, Staman was the national runner-up on the one-meter board in 2019, while also taking third place on the 3-meter that same year – both good for the highest-ever finish by a Greyhound in each respective event. He currently holds both the six- and 11-dive school records on the one-meter board.
A third-team honoree a year ago,
Brody Conner is the first UIndy wrestler to garner two Academic All-America® accolades. He qualified for the NCAA DII Wrestling Championships for the third time in his career this past season after placing third at the Super Region 3 tournament and earning All-GLVC Second Team honors. A product of Paw Paw, Mich., Conner earned a bachelor's degree (finance, 3.94 GPA) and an MBA (3.92 GPA) in just five years, racking up 93 career wins along the way – good for 19th in program history. The 184-pound grappler has earned NWCA All-Academic honors four times and has been an NCAA Elite 90 finalist on three occasions.
Finally,
Pilar Echeverria added to perhaps the most-decorated career in UIndy Athletics history with her first Academic All-America® honor. Now a UIndy graduate in Industrial & System Engineering, Echeverria earned her second consecutive WGCA Division II Player of the Year nod and GLVC Paragon Award accolades recently after setting school and league records by earning a fourth straight All-America First Team award and a fourth consecutive GLVC Player of the Year selection.
The Guatemala native owns a number of other school benchmarks, including lowest single-season scoring average (71.56), lowest career scoring average (72.96), lowest 36-hole tournament score (135), lowest 54-hole tournament score (209, twice), most GLVC Player of the Week honors (16) and most tournaments won (16). Counted among her individual titles are three NCAA DII East Regional medals and the conference crown in 2019, as well as tournament wins at Ohio State and Kentucky.
