Thursday, May 25, 2006

Crusader senior Bob Pedersen (Urbana, Ill./Urbana) has been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District V First Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), for his work in the pool and in the classroom, it was announced today.

Pedersen is the fourth Crusader this year to be named to an All-District First Team, joining basketball's Betsy Rietema (Grand Rapids, Mich./Christian) and Dan Oppland (Saint Louis, Mo./Whitfield) and volleyball's Liz Mikos (Dundee, Ill./Jacobs).

Pedersen, who carries a 3.97 GPA in Electrical Engineering, is a two-time member of the Mid-Continent Conference's All-Academic Team.

In the pool, the senior is one of the top freestyle swimmers ever to attend Valpo, ranking in the top 10 all-time in the 200m, 500m, 1000m and 1,650m free. At the Mid-Continent Conference Championships in February, Pedersen swam the fastest 500m freestyle in school history (4:47.27), only to see teammate Adam Jajtner (Port Washington, Wis./Port Washington) break his record later in the day.

Pedersen earned All-Conference honors at the Mid-Con Championships when he teamed with Jajtner, David Peterson (Schererville, Ind./Highland) and Travers Smith (Huntley, Ill./Huntley) to break the school record in the 800m freestyle relay, finishing second in the event.

Pedersen is also an accomplished butterfly swimmer, ranking in the top 10 in school history in both the 100m and 200m butterfly, as well as the 200m individual medley.

The All-Academic Team is voted on by members of CoSIDA from District V which encompasses the states Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, along with the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario. To be eligible for Academic All-District, student-athletes must hold at least sophomore status, own a minimum grade-point average of 3.20.