Tusculum’s Simon Holzapfel, Wingate’s Jayce Watson Named To Academic All-District Teams

BRISTOL, Conn. -- Tusculum College's Simon Holzapfel and Wingate University's Jayce Watson have been named to the 2008-09 ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District Men's College Division Track & Field/Cross Country First Team.

Members of the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District Team are selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Holzapfel earned the honor in District IV, which includes all colleges and universities from Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Ohio and Michigan. Watson was named in District III, which includes all non-NCAA Division I schools (Division II, III and NAIA) in Florida, Georgia, Virginia and North and South Carolina.

The first-team selections advance to the national ballot for 2009 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® honors.

Student-athletes selected for ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District honors must be a starter or important reserve with legitimate athletic credentials. They must possess at least a 3.30 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.00 scale). They must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing and must have completed at least one full academic year at his or her institution.

Tusculum

Holzapfel, a 5-5 sophomore from Nuremberg, Germany, has emerged as the top runner on the Tusculum cross country team. He has a perfect 4.00 cumulative grade point average, majoring in Sport Management and Sport Science. Holzapfel advances to the Academic All-America® ballot, which will be announced later this month.

Simon Holzapfel

He had a banner season this year as he posted three individual wins in his seven competitive meets. Holzapfel captured titles at the Tusculum Invitational, Lenoir-Rhyne Invitational and the Camp Bethel Open. His 8,000-meter time of 26:20.05 at the L-R Invitational is a new school record. For his efforts, he was named the South Atlantic Conference Runner of the Week. In fact, he owns three of the top 8K times in school history.

He finished runner-up at the 2008 SAC Championship to earn a spot on the All-Conference First Team. His second place showing is the best-ever by a Pioneer harrier at the league championship. He followed that effort with his ninth place performance at the NCAA Division II Southeast Region Championship. He posted a time of 33:17 on the 10K layout to garner All-Region accolades.

Holzapfel is the 2008-09 recipient of the prestigious Duffield Award, which is presented to the Tusculum student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average. He is also a member of the President's List, Dean's List and Charles Oliver Gray Honors List. He was also named to the SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll and the Tusculum Athletic Director's Honor Roll. In 2007-08, he was named the Tusculum Academic Freshman of the Year Academic Award honoree.

Wingate

Watson (Millersport, Ohio) is a three-time honoree, as he earned first team laurels in 2007 and 2008.

Jayce Watson

Watson won the 2008 South Atlantic Conference championship meet, earning SAC Runner of the Year honors for the second year in a row. In 2008, he won five races. His top times were 26:02 (8K) and 32:13 (10K). During the 2007 campaign, Watson won three races (Greensboro Invitational, Erskine Invitational and SAC championship). He posted a school-record 25:12 8K time in the 2007 pre-national race in Joplin, Mo. (Sept. 15, 2007).

Watson has qualified for the NCAA Division II national championship meet as an individual three times. In 2006, he posted a school-record 10K time of 31:50 at the national championship meet in Pensacola, Fla. He is four-time All-SAC and All-Region performer and a three-time team MVP. Watson was the 2005 SAC Freshman Runner of the Year.

A Mathematics major with a 3.75 GPA, Watson is a two-time recipient of the SAC Scholar-Athlete Award for men's cross country. He graduated with honors at Wingate's recent commencement exercises. In the campus community, Watson is a member of the Wingate University Singers. He has participated in the Up 'til Dawn fund-raiser to help the children of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.