A first for Felger: Academic All-District Honors

ORANGE, Calif. -  She's already a two-time All-America selection for Chapman University. This week, senior volleyball player Jill Felger added another award to her impressive resume: 2008 ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District VIII.

Felger was named to the All-District second team by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) after leading the Panthers with 278 kills (3.7 per game) and a .346 hitting percentage this season. The senior middle blocker has a 3.69 grade-point average while majoring in sociology.

It's the first such honor for Felger who last month became just the fourth Panther to reach 1,000 kills for her career and ranks second all-time in that category with 1,148.

The ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America Teams program honors 816 male and female student-athletes annually who have succeeded at the highest level on the playing field and in the classroom. Individuals are selected through voting by CoSIDA, a 2,000 member organization consisting of sports public relations professionals for colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.

To be eligible, student-athletes must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.3 on a scale of 4.0, 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.

Chapman is a member of the District VIII College Division, which includes Division II, III and NAIA schools from throughout the Western United States.