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