June 3, 2008

Champaign, Ill. - Four Illinois athletes have been honored as ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District five. The award is selected by district members from College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

District Five includes Division I universities in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba. In order to be considered, athletes must be in their second year academically at the school, have a minimum 3.20 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale and be a starter or regular contributor. The at-large category consists of those from bowling, crew, fencing, field hockey, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, swimming, tennis and water polo.

Senior tennis player Ruben Gonzales from Terre Haute, Ind., was named to the First Team Men's At-Large. He shared the No. 1 singles spot this year, compiling a record of 9-3 at No. 1 and 19-12 overall. That boasted his career record to 89-41 in singles to go along with a 70-35 mark in doubles. He finished the season ranked no. 41 in the nation in singles and no. 35 with partner Marc Spicijaric in doubles. Gonzales is a four-time Big Ten Player of the Week honoree, including three such honors in 2008, and was a unanimous selection as First Team All-Big Ten. He helped lead the Illini into the NCAA Sweet 16 for the seventh straight season. The sport management major was honored for having the highest senior GPA among all athletes at the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics' Scholar-Athlete Banquet.

Senior tennis player Momei Qu from Portland, Ore., and junior swimmer Marissa Clapp from Danville, Ill., each were named First Team Women's At-Large. Qu, a finance major, earned the top GPA among all-senior female athletes at the Scholar-Athlete Banquet. The finance and computer engineering major is a repeat winner of the All-District honor. The three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection and ITA Scholar-Athlete posted a 17-13 record in singles this season. Clapp was the high points scorer for Illinois at the Big Ten Championships, swimming the seventh- and eighth-fastest times in school history in the 400 individual medley and was the only Illini to earn second swims in all three of her individual events at the conference meet. The kinesiology major won the 200 breaststroke in seven of eight dual meets this season and swam the third-fastest 400 IM time in school history.

Senior gymnast Tyler Yamauchi from Sugarland, Texas, was named second team All-District. Yamauchi is a four-time All-American, earning the honor on the vault in 2008. The kinesiology major is also one of only three gymnasts nationally to earn All-America honors each of the past four seasons. Yamauchi earned second team All-Big Ten this season after earning first team honors following his conference championship vault in 2007.

First team selections move to Academic All-America consideration. Those teams will be named on June 10 (men) and June 12 (women).