CWU LEADS NCC WITH SIX ACADEMIC ALL-CONFERENCE SELECTIONS

November 6, 2006

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Six Central Washington University football student-athletes have been named to the Academic All-North Central Conference (NCC) Football Team, as announced Monday by the NCC office. The Wildcats' six selections were more than any of the other eight football-playing members in the NCC.

A total of 27 student-athletes were selected to the Academic All-NCC team. Selected by a vote of the conference's nine sports information directors, the team had representatives from eight of the nine football-playing schools. The select group has a combined grade point average of 3.65.

North Dakota ranked second to the Wildcats with five selections, followed by four each from Augustana and Minnesota State; South Dakota, three; Nebraska-Omaha and St. Cloud State, two; and Minnesota Duluth, one.

Central Washington was represented by three offensive and three defensive players. Sophomore quarterback Mike Reilly (Kalispell, Mont./Flathead HS), senior wide receiver Josh Boonstra (Sedro-Woolley, Wash.) and redshirt freshman wide receiver Johnny Spevak (Edgewood, Wash./Puyallup HS) were the Wildcats' offensive selections, while senior defensive end Phil Dougherty (Anchorage, Alaska/Robert Service HS), senior linebacker Chris Burch (Inchelium, Wash.), and senior safety Ryan Andrews (Lake Stevens, Wash.) were defensive selections.

Spevak, Central Washington's leading receiver as a redshirt freshman, has the highest grade-point average of the Wildcats' six selections with a 3.76 GPA. Dougherty, a double major in biology and food science & nutrition, owns a 3.71 GPA, followed by Andrews with a 3.63 GPA as a construction management major.

Boonstra, an exercise science major, and Reilly, a mechanical engineering technology major, both have 3.53 cumulative grade-point averages during their time at CWU. Burch, a two-year starter and team co-captain, was selected with a 3.34 GPA in physical education.

Overall, nine of the 27 academic all-conference selections were repeat honorees. One student-athlete, Minnesota State defensive lineman Spencer Dickinson, has a perfect 4.00 grade-point average as a pre-medicine major.

In addition to the academic all-conference team released Monday, the North Central Conference will have an academic honor roll, to which student-athletes with a cumulative grade-point average of 3.20 or better and experience against outside competition during the 2006 season, are eligible for selection. That academic honor roll squad will be announced next week.

Contact: Jonathan Gordon (509-963-1485/fax 509-963-2351/e-mail: gordonj@cwu.edu)