Merrill-Johnson Receives another Academic Honor (May 26, 2005)

BILLINGS, MT – Montana State-Billings senior Margot Merrill-Johnson was named to the 2005 ESPN The Magazine CoSIDA Women’s At-Large Academic District VII team on Thursday.  The honor is one in a long list that Merrill-Johnson has received throughout her senior season as a two-sport athlete.

Merrill-Johnson, a native of Salt Lake City, UT, graduated this spring with a double major in history and sociology.  She was a CoSIDA Academic All-America first team selection in soccer during the fall.  For the last three years she has played on the Yellowjacket tennis team in the spring.  The CoSIDA At-Large teams are comprised of student-athletes from tennis, swimming, bowling, crew, fencing, field hockey, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, swimming, and water polo.

The All-District VII team has five seniors and the ten athletes have a median GPA of 3.95.  Merrill-Johnson finished at MSU Billings with a 3.90 cumulative grade point average.  Each of the ten All-District VII members will advance to the national ballot for the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America team.

The College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-America program divides the country into eight districts.  Sports Information Directors from each of the eight districts select their Academic All-District teams with student-athletes from the eight first teams advancing to national balloting for Academic All-America honors. 

The CoSIDA College Division includes all schools in NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and the NAIA.  Schools from Montana are part of District VII, which also includes Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Alberta and Saskatchewan.  Nominees for the District VII College Division team could come from any Division II, Division III, or NAIA school in any of those states and from any of the 14 eligible sports.

Merrill-Johnson received one of the 28 prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships in the fall.  She will use the $7,500 scholarship to attend BYU Law School next year.  Merrill-Johnson was also a two-time MSUB Soccer Student-Athlete of the Year and a three time MSUB Tennis Student-Athlete of the Year.  Along with being accomplished in the classroom, she holds eight different school records in soccer and accumulated 44 combined career singles and doubles victories in tennis.

2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America
College Division Women’s At-Large District VII Team

Diana Betsworth, Truman State, Senior, 3.94, Exercise Science
Sarah Dance, Truman State, Senior, 4.00, Exercise Science
Barb Gombosi, Missouri Southern, Sophomore, 4.00, Psychology
Sarah Halsey, Chadron State, Junior, 4.00, Human Biology
Gena Lindsay, Northwest Missouri, Junior, 3.90, Elementary Education
Lacey McMunn, Missouri Southern, Senior, 4.00, Elementary Education
Margot Merrill-Johnson, MSU Billings, Senior, 3.90, History & Sociology
Vonni Moorman, Coe College, Junior, 3.943, Biology, General Sciences
Abby Souders, Truman State, Senior, 3.97, Exercise Science
Erin Sullivan, University of North Dakota, Junior, 3.89, Education

To be eligible, a student-athletes must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the program’s inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.