WINONA, Minn. — A whopping 42 Saint Mary's University student-athletes earned Academic All-Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference recognition for the 2021 fall academic semester.
 
On Wednesday, the MIAC announced its Academic All-Conference Teams for the 2021 fall academic semester, which included a record 777 student-athletes. The previous fall-sport high was 721, set in the 2020-21 academic year.

In order to qualify for Academic All-MIAC status, student-athletes must be sophomores, juniors, or seniors by academic standards with a minimum cumulative grade-point average (GPA) of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale. Students must also have completed one full-time academic year at their current institution prior to becoming eligible for the honor.

After two years of altered athletic requirements for Academic All-MIAC consideration due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on competition seasons, MIAC administrators have approved permanent changes to conference policy. Beginning this year, an athlete must be a member of an MIAC-sponsored varsity sports team, be academically and athletically eligible, have utilized a season of participation per NCAA and MIAC definitions, and have remained on the sports roster through the conclusion of the sports season in order to be eligible for Academic All-Conference honors.

The total number of Academic All-MIAC honorees for fall sports has increased every year since 2011, with five of six MIAC fall sports seeing record numbers of Academic All-Conference honorees this year. Football led the way with 173 honorees - 24 more than last year and reaching triple-digits for the third year in a row. Women's soccer had 159 honorees, up five from the previous high of 154 in 2020-21. Men's soccer crossed the century mark for the first time ever with 119 honorees to break the previous sport high of 98, set last year. Women's cross country also had 119 honorees - five shy of the sport's all-time record. Volleyball added ten more honorees from its 2020-21 total to set a new sport high of 117 this fall, and men's cross country broke its own sport record by one with 90 honorees in 2021-22.

The Cardinal women's soccer team led all Saint Mary's fall sports teams, landing 12 members of the Academic All-MIAC squad. Among those named included: Allysa Barlow (Appleton, Wis.), Keaton Cloven (Castle Rock, Colo.), Claire Fletcher (Woodbury, Minn.), Dara Kaiser (Bozeman, Mont.), Leah Lebrun (Antioch, Ill.), Jordyn Matthews (Seattle, Wash.), Brooklyn McKinney (Thornton, Colo.), Lindsey Monnet (Rochester, Minn.), Paige Morris Chandler, Ariz.), Maya Wachter (Dubuque, Iowa), Abbi Westhoff (Marion, Iowa), and Jenna Zimmer (Calgary, Alberta).
 
Led by College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-America Eli Szymanski (La Crosse, Wis.), the Cardinal men's soccer team was right behind their female counterparts, boasting 11 academic all-conference honorees. Joining Szymanski were Aidan Adamek (Helena, Mont.), Wally Barros (Santa Maria da Boa Vista, Brazil), Marshall Briggs (Phoenix, Ariz.), Jacob Clements (Holmen, Wis.), Zack Frantzen (Urbandale, Iowa), Jack Hurley (Homewood, Ill.), Kristian Lindanger (Haugesund, Norway), Kyle Palmberg (Holmen, Wis.), R.J. Vazquez (Antioch, Ill.), Jacob Wing (Verona, Wis.).
 
The SMU volleyball team also had 11 members honored, with Elise Amerongen (Lake Elmo, Minn.), DeJaye Baab (Wabasha, Minn.), Larkin Clem (Elk River, Minn.), Kylie Davidson (Pine Island, Minn.), Grace Gilles (Apple Valley, Minn.), Ciarra McNally (Lewiston, Minn.), Braidyn Ruetten (Holmen, Wis.), Mandy Schmidt (Mitchell, S.D.), Jessica Schneider (Brooklyn Park, Minn.), Hannah Skroch (Savage, Minn.), and Faith Van Erp (Sartell, Minn.) all being named academic all-conference.
 
Saint Mary's women's cross country members Caroline Gearin (Osceola, Wis.), Emily Kern (Buffalo, Minn.), Emma Ririe (Darien, Ill.), Rachel Simon (Foley, Minn.), and Amanda Tuvey (West St. Paul, Minn.); and Gabe Bickerstaff (Rollingstone, Minn.), Isaiah Brindamour (Hinckley, Minn.), and Quinn Steinbrecher (Holmen, Wis.), rounded out the Cardinal academic honorees.