Ring Named First Team Academic All-American
December 07, 2005 | Women's Soccer
Wisconsin women's soccer player Jessica Ring is one of 13 players to be named to the ESPN The Magazine First Team Academic All-America, College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) has announced. She is the program's first two-time Academic All-America honoree.
Ring, a fifth-year senior and captain from Rockford, Ill., is in her first year of law school at the University of Wisconsin. She graduated with a 4.0 cumulative grade point average in May 2005 and earned her bachelor's degree in sociology.
Ring was a three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection and also was named to the Academic All-District V team three times. On the field, Ring helped Wisconsin win its first Big Ten tournament championship since 1994 in November. She was named the tournament's defensive most valuable player.
Ring was the fifth Wisconsin women's soccer player to become an Academic All-American in 2004 when she was named to the third team. She is the third to be named to the first team ' Heather Taggart (1992) and Julie Johnson (1996) also were selected to the first team.
The Academic All-America 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 consisted of sports public relations professionals for colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.
To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 on a scale of 4.00, 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.
