June 22, 2004

Duquesne University's Ryan Bender (Indiana, Pa. / Indiana) earned a spot on the Men's University Division Track & Field / Cross Country Academic All-America Team it was announced today. Bender is the third Duquesne student-athlete to be honored as an Academic All-America this year.

Bender, the Atlantic 10 Men's Cross Country Student-Athlete of the Year, was named to the second team. The junior pharmacy major with a 3.93 GPA is a two-time Atlantic 10 All Conference pick. He set a new school record in the 10,000 meters with a time of 30:43.07 in the 10,000 meters at the IC4A Championships last month.

Bender joins Jason Kutney (first team men's soccer) and Mike Hilliard (first team football) who were named Academic All-America earlier this year. This marks the ninth consecutive year Duquesne has produced at least one national Academic All-American. DU has had 23 different student-athletes named to national teams a total of 37 times.

The Academic All-America Teams 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, the College Sports Information Directors of America; 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 G.P.A. of 3.20 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing 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 Division I, II, III and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.