Nov. 7, 2008

The University of Dayton has placed 13 Flyer football players on the 2008 University Division ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District IV Team, the most of any team in the country, it was announced Thursday. The Dayton list included seven first-team selections which tied with Penn State's seven for the most first-team selections of any Division I program. In the district, the 13 Flyers named to the first and second teams were more than twice as many as the next team, Ohio State, who had six.

Senior defensive tackles Sean Heenan (St. Joseph, MI) and Kalen Hemmelgarn (St. Henry, OH) were repeat all-district selections. Heenan was named to the 2008 first team, while Hemmelgarn made the second team. Both were on the 2007 second team all-district team.

Heenan is a Pre-Med major. Hemmelgarn majors in Finance & Entrepreneurship.

Joining Heenan on the first team were senior tight end Bart Bergfeld (Delphos, OH), senior offense guard Patrick McCormick (Louisville, KY), senior Flyer Steve McDonald (Newark, OH), sophomore linebacker Joe Ries (Cincinnati, OH), senior safety Corey Vossler (St. Mary's, OH) and junior defensive end Brandon Wingeier (Newark, OH).

Bergfeld is a Philosophy & Religion major. McCormick is a Pre-Med major. McDonald is an Adolescence-to-Young-Adult Education major. Ries majors in Sport Management. Vossler and Wingeier are Mechanical Engineering majors.

Named to the second team along with Hemmelgarn were senior running back Joe Gulick (Medina, OH), senior offensive guard Marcus Overman (New Bremen, OH), senior offensive tackle Ryan Pollock (West Chester, OH), senior defensive back Matt Smyth (Highlands Ranch, CO) and sophomore wide receiver James Ward (Pataskala, OH).

Gulick majors in Criminal Justice. Overman majors in Middle Childhood Education. Pollock is a Philosophy & Spanish major. Smyth is an Economics major, and Ward is an Entrepreneurship & Leadership major.

The ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District team is the first step in selecting this year's Academic All-America team. Everyone named to the district first teams appears on the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America national ballot.

The district teams are made up of student-athletes from Division I-A and I-AA schools in Alabama, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. To be nominated, student-athletes must be a starter or important reserve, and carry a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 or higher. Team members are selected by a vote of members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) within the district. The Dayton football program has produced 14 Academic All-Americans since the 2000 season. That's the most by any school at any level of college football, and includes the 2007 Division I ESPN The Magazine All-American of the Year, Brandon Cramer.

In the history of the Academic All-America program, UD has had 44 Academic All-Americans. Among schools currently playing Division I football, only Nebraska (95), Notre Dame (51), Penn State (48), Ohio State (47) and Oklahoma (45) have had more. UD has had at least one football player named Academic All-American in 15 of the last 16 years. Covering all sports, at least one University of Dayton student-athlete has been named an Academic All-American for 24 straight years.

Dayton is 8-1 overall and in first place in the Pioneer Football League with a 5-0 record this season. UD plays at Butler Saturday at 1:00 p.m. ET.