Gabriel Cunha

Adam Keithly

UMR had four individuals selected to the ESPN The Magazine academic all-district football team today for their play both on the field and in the classroom.

Two of the four -- offensive lineman Adam Keithly and linebacker Gabriel Cunha -- were selected to the first team and will be eligible for Academic All-America honors when that team is released in December. The other two, wide receiver Ashton Gronewold and defensive tackle Derek Drussa, were named to the second team.

Keithly is a first-team selection for the second consecutive year and has started on the Miners' offensive line throughout the 2006 season. The Miner offense ranks 11th nationally in total offense and No. 1 in passing heading into the team's season finale Saturday against Kentucky Wesleyan. Keithly is majoring in aerospace engineering at UMR.

Cunha, a business major at UMR, is one of the Miners' top tacklers on the year from his linebacker position. He is third on the team in tackles with 58, including 25 solo stops, one sack and three tackles for losses. In addition, he has forced three fumbles, two of which came during the Miners' comeback win at Morehead State that earned him the Great Lakes Football Conference's "Player of the Week" award.

The Miners swept the GLFC weekly awards after the Morehead State game, as the offensive award went to Gronewold after he had one of the best single-game performances in Miner history. The junior wideout, who is majoring in engineering management, had a school record 229 yards in receptions that night and is on the cusp of breaking his own receiving records that he established a year ago.

Gronewold has 72 catches for 1,018 yards and 13 touchdowns and has scored 15 times overall on the season. He has a school record 1,686 all-purpose yards and set a UMR single game mark when he had 294 in a game against Saint Joseph's in September. Gronewold is ranked among the top 10 in NCAA Division II in four statistical categories, including a No. 2 ranking for receiving yards per game.

Drussa leads the Miners in quarterback sacks with four and is among the team leaders in tackles for a loss with six. He has a total of 25 tackles during the 2006 season. His older brother, Cole, was a two-time Academic All-America selection when he played for the Miners from 2001-04. Drussa is majoring in mining engineering at UMR.