Eight University of Minnesota Duluth student-athletes - Ben Cook, Jodi DeGrote, Nicole Heinks, Tobias Lemke, Eric Olson, Alex Paffrath, Megan Rubesh, Brandon Wood - representing four UMD sports, have earned the first-ever Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Myles Brand All-Academic with Distinction Award, announced today.

The honor, named for the late NCAA President Dr. Myles Brand, is bestowed upon senior NSIC student-athletes who have a cumulative grade point average of 3.75 or higher, are exhausting their eligibility and are on track to graduate after the season.

A total of 72 student-athletes from the conference's 14 member institutions received the award in its inaugural year.

Name Sport Hometown Major
Ben Cook Track & Field Rush City, Minn. Chemical Engineering
Jodi DeGrote Track & Field Sauk Rapids, Minn. Molecular Biology
Nicole Heinks Track & Field Cambridge, Minn. Chemistry
Tobias Lemke Football Essen, Germany Political Science/Criminology
Eric Olson Track & Field Park Center, Minn. Political Science/Criminology
Alex Paffrath Soccer Owatonna, Minn. Biochem/Molecular Biology
Megan Rubesh Track & Field Hayward, Wis. Geological Sciences
Brandon Wood Football Menomonie, Wis. Biology