Three More Named Academic All-District

ABILENE, Texas — Women’s tennis player Lisa Mertz and track athletes Ashley Huston and Haylee Allen have been named first-team College Division Academic All-District VI by ESPN The Magazine and the College Sports Information Directors of America.

Mertz was named to the at-large team, which is all of the sports that do not have their own contest. Allen and Huston were both named to the track team. All three will go on the ballot for academic all-American honors.

Huston was a five-time All-American and three-time national champion in 2009 and Allen provisionally qualified for two events into the NCAA Championships. Mertz was the ASC West player of the year in 2009

Mertz has a 4.0 GPA as a nursing major, Huston graduated with a 3.72 GPA as an Education major and Allen is a 4.0 as an Education major.

For the 2008-09 school year, Hardin-Simmons had 13 players receive academic all-district honors, which was second among the school’s in District VI. West Texas A&M had the most selections with 14. College Division District VI includes all of the Division II, III, NAIA and junior colleges in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

HSU was the top American Southwest Conference team, with UT-Tyler being closest with eight selections. Among the three Abilene schools -- HSU had 13, Abilene Christian had five selections and McMurry had no selections.

So far, HSU has two players - Allen in basketball and Courtney Clark in softball – that have been named to the All-American teams this season. All first-team all-district selections go on the ballot for all-American. The teams are voted on by the sports information directors in the district and they take in account athletic and academic achievements.