Becca Kueny

University of Missouri-Rolla senior Becca Kueny, a two-time conference champion in the javelin throw, is now a two-time ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America selection.

Kueny was named to the team that was released today as a first team selection for the 2006-07 season. The award comes on the heels of a second straight appearance at the NCAA Division II Championships where she finished ninth in the javelin, the event in which she repeated as the Great Lakes Valley Conference champion just a month earlier.

A ceramic engineering major who was also the recipient of the women's Gale Bullman Award following the 2006-07 athletic season, Kueny earned All-America honors in the javelin in 2006 after posting the second-best throw in the event in school history of 148-6.

In addition, Kueny placed seventh in the discus throw at the conference meet this season to help lead the Lady Miners to a fourth place finish in the meet. She is also a member of the GLVC All-Academic team for the 2006-07 season and has earned four academic all-district awards, two in track and field and two more as a member of the women's basketball team.

Kueny is the fifth UMR student-athlete to earn ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America honors during the 2006-07 school year. She joins Dan Gravlin (men's soccer), Kandi Wieberg (women's soccer), Bill Gaul and Andy Shelley (swimming) as recipients of the award. UMR has had 47 Academic All-America awards given to its student-athletes throughout its history including 24 since 2000, the fifth-highest total among NCAA Division II institutions.

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Ashton Gronewold

For the second time in a little over a week, Ashton Gronewold has been named to a pre-season All-America team.

Just days after being chosen to a pre-season team by Lindy's Football magazine, Street and Smith's has awarded a similar honor to the Miners' senior wide receiver for the upcoming year in its publication that is currently on the newsstands.

Gronewold, one of the top receivers in the nation over the last two seasons, was picked at that position on the Street and Smith's team after being chosen as an all-purpose player by Lindy's. Either position would be appilicable for him, as he compiled a school record 1,788 all-purpose yards during the 2006 campaign.

Last year's Great Lakes Football Conference "Offensive Player of the Year" broke 12 school records over the course of the 2006 campaign, including marks with 78 catches for 1,120 yards.

He also set the UMR career marks in receiving and scoring during the season and established new single-game records for receiving yards (229 vs. Morehead State) and all-purpose yards (294 vs. Saint Joseph's). In all, Gronewold scored 17 touchdowns for the season, 15 receiving, one on a kickoff return and another on a punt return.

Those efforts led to additional post-season honors for him, as he was selected to the Associated Press' Little All-America second team, Football Gazette's third team and D2Football.com's honorable mention squad for the second straight year.

Gronewold holds UMR career records for receptions (191), receiving yards (2,699), receiving touchdowns (39) and overall touchdowns scored (42) heading into the upcoming campaign.

The Miners will open the 2007 season at home August 25 against Truman State University after going 6-5 in 2006.

STREET & SMITH'S FOOTBALL 2007 PRE-SEASON ALL-AMERICA TEAM

-- Offense --
QB: Zach Miller, Sr., Nebraska-Omaha
RB: Joique Bell, So., Wayne State (Mich.)
RB: Danny Woodhead, Sr., Chadron State
RB: Xavier Omon, Sr., Northwest Missouri State
WR: Ashton Gronewold, Sr., Missouri-Rolla
WR: Weston Dressler, Sr., North Dakota
WR: Brahin Bilal, Sr., Bloomsburg
OL: Brandon Barnes, Sr., Grand Valley State
OL: Heath Benedict, Sr., Newberry
OL: Christian Morton, Sr., South Dakota
OL: Ben Hochstein, Sr., Nebraska-Omaha
OL: Tim McCutcheon, Sr., California (Pa.)
RS: Brandon Toles, Sr., Southern Connecticut State
PK: David Chudzinski, Sr., Wayne State (Mich.)

-- Defense --
DL: Andre Bernardi, Jr., North Greenville
DL: Travis Carpenter, Sr., Abilene Christian
DL: Ron Ellington, Sr., Catawba
DL: Jake Visser, Jr., Ferris State
LB: Anthony Adams, Sr., Grand Valley State
LB: Michael Eubanks, Sr., Delta State
LB: Jared Brock, Jr., West Texas A&M
LB: Lateef Ferguson, Sr., West Chester
DB: Brandon Carr, Sr., Grand Valley State
DB: Kendall Ricketts, Sr., Central Missouri
DB: Quincy Skinner, Sr., Arkansas Tech
DB: Josh Jones, Jr., Minnesota State-Moorhead
P: Wayne Durham, Jr., Adams State

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Bill Gaul

For the second consecutive year, Bill Gaul has landed the top award on the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America team.

Gaul, a senior on the Miner swimming team in the 2006-07 season, was selected as the Academic All-America "Player of the Year" in the at-large category in the College Division on the squad for the second season in succession.

He was a first-team Academic All-America recipient for the second year in a row as well in the program sponsored by the College Sports Information Directors of America. He is one of two UMR swimmers that made this year's Academic All-America team, as fellow senior Andy Shelley was chosen to the third team.

The at-large category covers all sports that do not have a designated team in the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America program, which includes sports such as swimming, tennis and wrestling.

Gaul earned All-America honors this season as part of the Miners’ 200-yard medley relay team that finished sixth at the NCAA Division II Championships and earned 11 All-America awards in his four seasons with the Miner program.

He finished among the top 16 in the nation in the two breaststroke events at the national meet in 2006 and was also part of the Miners' 200-yard medley relay team that placed sixth. He was also a 2005 selection to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America second team.

Gaul, a native of West Des Moines, Iowa, received his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering at UMR's May commencement ceremony.

Shelley, who also made the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America team in 2005 as a second-team selection, was part of the Miners’ 800-yard freestyle relay team that placed fourth at this year’s national meet. He has earned five All-America awards during his career as a Miner and was a consistent scorer for the Miners at meets throughout the last four seasons.

Shelley, a native of Katy, Texas, also received his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering at the May commencement.

Last month, Gaul and Shelley were named as recipients of NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarships worth $7,500 towards graduate school work. Both individuals were selected to the College Swimming Coaches Association of America’s all-academic team, where the Miners as a team have been the top-ranked team in NCAA Division II throughout that span.

It is the third time in the last four seasons that a UMR swimmer has earned the top academic award on the ESPN The Magazine team. Jack Pennuto was the recipient of the 2004 award before Gaul earned the 2006 and 2007 honors.

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Kandi Wieberg

The Great Lakes Valley Conference named Kandi Wieberg as its "Player of the Year" in softball for the 2007 season -- and now has tacked on another top honor for her performance both on the field and in the classroom.

Wieberg, the Lady Miners' junior second baseman from St. Elizabeth, Mo., has been named as the GLVC's "Scholar-Athlete of the Year" for the sport for the recently completed 2007 season. The conference announced its scholar-athlete awards for the winter and spring seasons Friday.

It is the latest award garnered by Wieberg, as she has been named to two All-America squads and as an Academic All-America during the last six weeks.

Wieberg batted .402 with a team-high 12 home runs and 39 runs batted in during the 2007 season in which the Lady Miners made their first-ever appearance at the NCAA regional tournament. As UMR's leadoff hitter, she also led the GLVC in doubles (21), total bases (127) and slugging percentage (.751), while ranking second in runs scored (46), hits (68) and home runs. She ranks among the top five in the GLVC in nine categories and is sixth nationally in doubles per game.

During the year, Wieberg has broken UMR career records for doubles (42) and home runs (24) and tied the record for the longest hitting streak of 18 games. She had a .494 average in conference play with five homers and 16 RBI for the Lady Miners.

Those numbers helped her land on the Louisville Slugger/National Fastpitch Coaches Association squad as a second team selection and on the inaugural Daktronics Division II first team as voted on by sports information directors from Division II institutions. She was named to the all-region first team on both squads and was a first-team All-GLVC selection as well.

She was named to the All-America squads along with centerfielder Ashley Winter as the first on-field All-America selections in softball in school history.

In addition, Wieberg was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America third team in the College Division as the only player from a GLVC school to be named to the academic squad.

In the classroom, Wieberg is a civil engineering major who has been on the honor roll at UMR and has served as the softball team's representative on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. She is the second UMR student-athlete to earn the GLVC's Scholar-Athlete award.

Additional academic honors earned by UMR student-athletes

The GLVC also announced its all-academic team for the 2006-07 season, a group that includes 94 student-athletes from the University of Missouri-Rolla.

A total of 17 individuals from the men's soccer team led the list, while 13 from the Miners' track and field team made the squad. The baseball team had 12 members on the team, while the women's basketball and women's track and field teams had 11 apiece named to the squad.

There were also eight from the men's cross country, women's soccer and softball teams, five from women's cross country and one from men's basketball. The GLVC All-Academic team only awards the academic honors in sports in which the conference sponsors a league championship.

In order to make the team, a student-athlete must have completed two semesters at his or her institution with a minimum 3.4 grade point average, or have a grade point average of 3.2 and posted a 3.4 average in each of the last two semesters.

For the complete list of GLVC All-Academic team members, click here.

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Ashton Gronewold

Ashton Gronewold has earned All-America in each of the last two seasons while playing for the Miner football team -- and the early 2007 honors are beginning to head his way.

Gronewold, a senior wide receiver in the upcoming year for the Miners, has been named to the pre-season All-America first team by Lindy's Football magazine in its 2007 preview magazine that is currently on the newsstands.

After a year in which he compiled a school record 1,788 all-purpose yards, Gronewold was named to the first team as an all-purpose player. Last year's Great Lakes Football Conference "Offensive Player of the Year" broke 12 school records over the course of the 2006 campaign, including marks with 78 catches for 1,120 yards.

He also broke the UMR career marks in receiving and scoring during the season and set new single-game records for receiving yards (229 vs. Morehead State) and all-purpose yards (294 vs. Saint Joseph's). In all, Gronewold scored 17 touchdowns for the season, 15 receiving, one on a kickoff return and another on a punt return.

Those efforts led to additional post-season honors for him, as he was selected to the Associated Press' Little All-America second team, Football Gazette's third team and D2Football.com's honorable mention squad for the second straight year.

Gronewold holds UMR career records for receptions (191), receiving yards (2,699), receiving touchdowns (39) and overall touchdowns scored (42) heading into the upcoming campaign.

The Miners will open the 2007 season at home August 25 against Truman State University after going 6-5 in 2006.

LINDY'S FOOTBALL 2007 PRE-SEASON ALL-AMERICA TEAM

-- Offense --
QB: Willie Copeland, Sr., Valdosta State
RB: Xavier Oman, Sr., Northwest Missouri State
RB: Danny Woodhead, Sr., Chadron State
WR: Weston Dressler, Sr., North Dakota
WR: Michael Washington, Jr., West Chester
TE: Mike Peterson, Sr., Northwest Missouri State
OL: Brandon Barnes, Sr., Grand Valley State
OL: Heath Benedict, Sr., Newberry
OL: Mackenzy Bernadeau, Sr., Bentley
OL: Ben Hochstein, Sr., Nebraska-Omaha
OL: Tim McCutcheon, Sr., California (Pa.)
AP: Ashton Gronewold, Sr., Missouri-Rolla
PK: David Chudzinski, Sr., Wayne State (Mich.)

-- Defense --
DL: Andre Bernardi, Jr., North Greenville
DL: Kevin Dixon, Jr., West Liberty State
DL: Ron Ellington, Sr., Catawba
DL: Alex Hall, Sr., St. Augustine's
LB: Anthony Adams, Sr., Grand Valley State
LB: Scott Hayden, Jr., Merrimack
LB: Cody Stutts, Sr., Abilene Christian
DB: Brandon Carr, Sr., Grand Valley State
DB: Sevohn Greer, Sr., Harding
DB: Divon Hughes, Jr., Henderson State
DB: Josh Jones, Jr., Minnesota State-Moorhead
P: Jason Davis, Sr., Western State

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The University of Missouri-Rolla athletics program finished in 107th place among the institutions in NCAA Division II level in the final U.S. Sports Academy Director's Cup standings for the 2006-07 academic year.

UMR was able to add to its overall point total in the spring season when the softball team earned a berth to the Great Lakes Regional tournament and won a game while at the event. The 25 points posted as a result gave UMR a final total of 168.75 points for the year and it finished among the top 40 percent of all schools at the NCAA Division II level.

Two other teams from UMR also had scoring results from NCAA events in the past school year to lead to the final point total. The swimming team placed fourth at its national meet to earn 80 points, while the men's track team finished in a tie for 12th finish at its NCAA meet to pick up 63 3/4 points.

Among the teams in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, UMR ranked eighth overall. Drury was the top finisher among the GLVC schools with a ninth place finish, followed by Southern Illinois Edwardsville in 11th, Indianapolis in 18th and Southern Indiana in 41st. The other GLVC schools ahead of UMR were Wisconsin-Parkside (57th), Lewis (76th) and Northern Kentucky (97th).

The other GLVC schools with points were Bellarmine (180th), Quincy and Rockhurst (tie for 187th) and Saint Joseph's (221st). Kentucky Wesleyan and Missouri-St. Louis did not have a team compete in or score at a national event during the 2006-07 school year.

UMR finished one spot ahead of Barton College, which won the national championship in men's basketball this season.

Grand Valley State won the U.S. Sports Academy Director's Cup trophy with a total of 995.75 points through the entire season. The Laker program won the national championship in football and had 12 other top ten finishes this season on the national level; one of the 12 was its softball team that eliminated the Lady Miners from the Great Lakes Regional in a 13-inning game.

A total of 262 schools compete at the NCAA Division II level.

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Two members of the University of Missouri-Rolla track and field team have been named to the academic all-district track and field team for the 2007 season.

Becca Kueny, who finished ninth recently at the NCAA Division II Championships in the javelin throw, was named to the all-district first team on the women's side, while Jordan Henry, a sophomore pole vaulter who won All-America honors during the indoor season, was selected to the men's second team for District VII.

Kueny, a senior ceramic engineering major who was also the recipient of the women's Gale Bullman Award following the 2006-07 athletic season, finished ninth this season in the javelin after earning All-America honors in the event a year earlier. She has the second-best throw in the event in school history of 148-6 and won the last two Great Lakes Valley Conference titles in the javelin.

In addition, Kueny placed seventh in the discus throw at the conference meet this season to help lead the Lady Miners to a fourth place finish in the meet. She is also a member of the GLVC All-Academic team for the 2006-07 season.

Henry, an electrical engineering major, took seventh in the pole vault during the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships in March with a clearance of 16-feet, just below the mark of 16-1 3/4 that earned him a third place finish at the conference meet. Henry also finished fourth at the GLVC Outdoor Championships in March with a mark of 15-9 3/4 that made the provisional qualifying mark for the national meet.

Also a member of the GLVC All-Academic team for the 2006-07 season, Henry competed at the Division II Championships in the pole vault during his freshman year.

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Kerry Darting, who has been a part of the University of Missouri-Rolla men’s basketball program for the past six seasons, is resigning from the assistant coaching position at UMR to become the administrative assistant on the coaching staff at Illinois State University.

Darting has spent the last two seasons as the full-time assistant coach in the program after serving as a student assistant in the 2004-05 campaign. Prior to that, Darting was a three-year letterman and one of the top three-point shooters for the Miners after transferring from Kansas State University.

“This is a great move for Kerry and a good move forward for him in his career,” said Miner head coach Dale Martin. “I’m very appreciative of what he has done for us over the last three years on the staff. He is a tireless worker and think he will do very well in his new position.

“He is our fourth alum in the coaching world and that speaks very highly of our program,” Martin added. “I wish him the best in this new endeavor.”

"I have enjoyed working with Kerry as a student-athlete and as a coach," said UMR director of athletics Mark Mullin. "He contributed a great deal to our program and we wish him nothing but the best in his future."

The search to fill the position is underway.

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Kyran Weaver

Kyran Weaver, a four-year letterwinner for the University of Missouri-Rolla football team, has joined the Miner coaching staff as the new defensive line coach.

Weaver finished his playing career after the 2005 season and spent the 2006 campaign as a student assistant coach while completing work on his bachelor’s degree in biological sciences. He coached the defensive line during the 2006 season when the Miners finished with a 6-5 record.

Weaver is filling the defensive position vacated by Erik Kruppe, who left after the 2006 season to accept the linebacker coach post at Arkansas Tech University.

“I’m real excited about this opportunity,” Weaver said. “It is a chance to build on the experience that I had as a student and player in the program and relate that to the players on the current team. I’m looking forward to being able to pass along my own knowledge to this group and also learn what I can from this coaching staff.”

“This is a great opportunity for us to have a UMR graduate on our staff, which I feel is a key to recruiting to our university,” said Miner head coach Kirby Cannon. “Kyran is well ahead of his experience level as he has a great football mind. I believe that he will be a productive coach on our staff from day one.

“Kyran also has a great knowledge of the high school football scene in the Chicago area, which is going to be his recruiting area,” Cannon added. “We’re very excited to have him on our staff.”

"I am pleased to have Kyran joining our staff." said UMR director of athletics Mark Mullin. "He has been a strong contributor as a student-athlete and as a student coach. I know the current players hold him in high esteem as we do. He understands the institution and the program. I believe he will be an excellent addition to the football staff and the department."

During his career at UMR, Weaver played on the defensive line and had a career-high 47 tackles during the 2002 season. He had 14 tackles and three sacks in his senior year and also had an interception which he returned for a touchdown.

His younger brother, Kellen, is a redshirt freshman linebacker on the 2007 Miner roster.

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Three members of the University of Missouri-Rolla swimming team have been named to the academic all-district team for the 2006-07 season, with two of the three being selected to the first team.

Bill Gaul, who was named as the ESPN The Magazine "Academic All-America of the Year" last season, repeated as a first-team selection on the all-district squad and was joined on the first team by Andy Shelley. Travis Stensby, one of the Miners' top scorers at the national meet this season, was a second-team selection.

The at-large category covers all sports that do not have a designated team in the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America program, which includes sports such as swimming, tennis and wrestling.

Gaul earned All-America honors this season as part of the Miners’ 200-yard medley relay team that finished sixth at the NCAA Division II Championships and earned 11 All-America awards in his four seasons with the Miner program. He also earned numerous academic honors, including the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America "Player of the Year" award in the at-large category in the College Division for the 2005-06 school year.

He finished among the top 16 in the nation in the two breaststroke events at the national meet in 2006 and was also part of the Miners' 200-yard medley relay team that placed sixth. He was also a 2005 selection to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America second team. He is majoring in chemical engineering at UMR.

Shelley, a mechanical engineering major who also made the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America team in 2005 as a second-team selection, was part of the Miners’ 800-yard freestyle relay team that placed fourth at this year’s national meet. He has earned five All-America awards during his career as a Miner and was a consistent scorer for the Miners at meets throughout the last four seasons.

Last month, Gaul and Shelley were named as recipients of NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarships worth $7,500 towards graduate school work.

Stensby, who majors in mechanical engineering, finished second in the 100-yard butterfly at the national meet in March and also took third in the 100-yard backstroke. In addition, he earned All-America honors as part of both of UMR’s medley relay teams and honorable mention status in the 200-yard backstroke.

In his three seasons as a Miner after transferring from the University of Minnesota, Stensby won 13 All-America awards and set four individual school records; he is also a member of the record-setting 400-yard medley relay team. He was the recipient of the Gale Bullman Award following the 2006-07 season which is given to the top senior student-athlete in the UMR program.

In addition, he earned five finishes among the top three in his events at the New South Intercollegiate Swimming Championships which the Miners won as a team. At the NCAA Championships, the Miners finished fourth overall, the second-highest finish ever by a UMR athletic team at a national competition.

All three individuals were selected to the College Swimming Coaches Association of America’s all-academic team, where the Miners as a team have been the top-ranked team in NCAA Division II throughout that span.

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