Cresta earns ESPN Academic All-District Honors

ORANGE, Calif. - Chapman University football player Tony Cresta has been named to the 2008 ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District VIII team as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). It is the first such honor for Cresta in his career.

Cresta, a senior strong safety, has been amongst Chapman's team leaders in solo (13) and total tackles (18) all season while maintaining a 3.82 GPA as a business major with a double emphasis in management and marketing. He is the 28th player in school history selected to the Academic All-District teams since 1996.

The 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.