Blue Hose Tennis standouts Hector Rincon and Lauren Brown named to ESPN The Magazine® First team Academic All-America® Squads

June 13, 2006

CLINTON, S.C. - Presbyterian College tennis players Hector Rincon and Lauren Brown have been named to the 2006 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American men's and women's at-large teams, respectively.

Rincon, a 5-10, 170 lb senior from London, England (Heathside Sixth Form), was named to the first team. He compiled a 14-6 mark at No. 1 singles and a 17-1 mark at No. 1 doubles while being named SAC Player of the Year for this second time in his career (2004 & 2006) and earning first team All-SAC honors for the fourth straight year. In addition, he was named the 2006 Food Lion SAC Tournament MVP and finished the year ranked No. 14 regionally in singles and No. 5 in doubles. Last week, he was named the 2006 SAC President's Award winner as the league's top male scholar-athlete for the 2005-06 academic year.

In the classroom, he carries a cumulative GPA of 3.86 while double majoring in mathematics and business administration with a concentration in economics. He has been selected to the SAC Academic Honor for four straight years, while being named to the school's Dean's List (3.3 GPA) for four semesters and to the President's List (4.0 GPA) for four semesters. He was named the SAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for men's tennis for the second straight year and graduated with Summa Cum Laude Honors. He is a member of the Sigma Kappa Alpha Honor Society and has been accepted to the London School of Economics, Vanderbilt University, and Notre Dame University for graduate studies in economics. Rincon will start work on his PhD in economics at Duke University in the fall.

For his career, Rincon went undefeated in 4 years of league play in singles (20-0), earned SAC All-Tournament honors three times (2004-06), and was named the 2003 SAC Freshman of the Year and 2003 ITA Southeast Region "Player to Watch."

Rincon helped lead the 2006 Blue Hose squad to an 14-7 overall record, the South Atlantic Conference regular season & Food Lion Tournament titles, a No. 16 final national ranking, and a bid to the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Tourney. The senior duo helped lead the Blue Hose to a 68-26 overall record, three SAC regular season titles (22-1), three SAC Tournament titles, a top 25 national ranking all four years, and four trips to the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Tournament.

Brown, a 5-8 junior from Gaffney, S.C. (Gaffney HS), was named to the first team after compiling a 15-6 mark at No. 2 singles and a 17-5 mark in doubles, while being named the 2006 SAC Player of the Year, and earning first team All-SAC honors for the third straight year. In addition, she was named the 2006 Food Lion SAC Tournament MVP.

In the classroom, she carries a cumulative GPA of 3.87 while majoring in chemistry. She has been selected to the SAC Academic Honor for three straight years, while being named to the school's Dean's List (3.3 GPA) for three semesters and to the President's List (4.0 GPA) for two semesters. This spring, she was named the 2006 SAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for women's tennis. She serves as the institution's and league's national representative on the NCAA Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

This year, Brown helped lead Lady Blue Hose team to an 18-4 overall record, the SAC regular season & SAC Tournament titles, a No. 21 national ranking in the final poll, and a bid to the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Tournament.

For her career, Brown has helped lead the women's tennis program to a 59-14 overall record, two SAC regular season titles, two SAC Tournament titles, a top 25 national ranking all three years, and three trips to the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Tournament. Along the way she has been selected to the Food Lion SAC All-Tournament team all three years.

Brown and Rincon move into elite company in Blue Hose history with these honors. Since the athletic department moved to NCAA Division II in 1993, 10 student-athletes have been named to the Academic All-American Teams. Rebecca Hardiman from women's soccer was named to the third team in 1994 and the first team in 1995 & 1996. Elizabeth Roe of women's soccer was named to the first team in 1995 & 1996, while Eric Sribnick from men's cross country was named to the third team in 1997. Donny Thoresen from men's tennis was selected to the third team in 2001 while Jessi Adair from women's soccer was named the first team in 2001 & 2002. Doug Belknap of men's soccer was a third team selection in 2002 and a first team selection in 2003. Curtis Bell of baseball was named to the first team in 2004 and earlier this year, Rebecca Wessinger of women's basketball was named to the third team.