Heising, Shimeall Voted First-Team Academic All-District

Swimmer Kayla Heising (Wauseon, Ohio / Wauseon) and lacrosse goalkeeper Courter Shimeall (Worthington, Ohio / Thomas Worthington) were named to the 2004 Academic All-District First Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America, for men’s and women’s at-large sports, respectively, announced CoSIDA Thursday. By earning first-team recognition in the district, they will both be forwarded to the national ballot for Academic All-America® honors, which will be announced in June.

The nominees for the prestigious award spanned NCAA Divs. II and III and NAIA institutions across Ohio’s five-state district of Alabama, Kentucky, Michigan, and Tennessee, while at-large sports refer to crew, fencing, field hockey, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, swimming, tennis, and water polo.

Heising, a first-team Academic All-American® last season and recent recipient of an NCAA postgraduate scholarship ($7,500), capped her collegiate athletic career in March by earning her 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th All-American certificates at the NCAA Div. III Championships. Highlighting Heising’s 2004 results at nationals was a fifth-place finish in the 50 freestyle (23.96), her third top-five performance in that event. She also swam the opening legs of the fourth-place 200 freestyle relay (1:36.69) and the seventh-place 400 freestyle relay (3:32.71) to boost her first-team All-American honors to nine.

Academically, Heising graduated magna cum laude, receiving a bachelor of arts degree while majoring in mathematics. She was a two-year member of the Phi Beta Kappa honorary society, and presented her junior independent study at the 2003 National Conference of Undergraduate Study.

Shimeall, the only sophomore among the 10 men’s honorees, helped lead Wooster’s lacrosse team to a share of its first-ever North Coast Athletic Conference championship as well as the program’s initial NCAA Tournament appearance this spring. He earned first-team all-conference honors after compiling 111 saves (67 goals allowed) and a league-leading .624 save percentage, while his GAA of 6.22 currently stands as the second-lowest across all of Div. III.

A classical studies major, Shimeall has maintained a 3.89 GPA through his first three semesters at Wooster.