Three Senior Student Princes Earn Academic All-OAC Honors

Seniors Ryan Bowers (Lima, Ohio / Elida), Ryan Fogliano (Maple Heights, Ohio / Maple Heights), and Max Norris (Toledo, Ohio / Springfield), all student-athletes at Heidelberg College, have earned a spot on the 2008 Men’s At-Large Academic All-Ohio Athletic Conference team. The men at-large winners consist of student-athletes from the sports of golf, swimming and diving, tennis and wrestling.  A total of 25 men from the conference have been named Academic All-OAC and Academic All-OAC Honorable Mention.

Bowers and Fogliano both wrestle for the consistently nationally-ranked Student Princes and placed at the national tournament, earning All-American status. Bowers placed sixth at heavyweight, while Fogliano took seventh at 197 pounds. Both were also named Academic All-Americans for their efforts on both the mat and in the classroom.

Fogliano, a sports management major, finished the season with a 16-3 record and carries a 3.43 GPA in the classroom. It is the second time in a row that Fogliano has received the academic honor from the OAC.

Bowers, a sports management and business major, finished the season with a record of 32-8 while maintaining a GPA of 3.73. The two-time national qualifier is also earning accolades from the OAC for his academic abilities for the second straight time.

Overall, the wrestling program finished first in the OAC for the second time in three seasons and won its third OAC Tournament title in as many years. The team sent five wrestlers to the national tournament, placing two, and finished the year with a cumulative record of 11-2, 6-0 in the OAC. Head Coach Jason Miller also won his third-straight OAC Coach of the Year award.

Norris is a member of the Heidelberg tennis team and holds down a 3.7 GPA while majoring in communications at the college. It is the third time overall Norris has been recognized for his academic prowess by the OAC, previously earned honorable mention in 2005 and All-OAC in 2007.

He finished the year with a 9-8 record at first singles and a record of 8-8 in doubles, where he spent the majority of the year in first position. On April 21, Norris finished his career by posting his 80th career win. His career record of 80-50 places him second on the all-time win list for the Berg, just behind Aaron Coch, a ’98 grad, who racked up 87. As a team, Heidelberg finished 7-10 overall, 2-7 in the OAC.

The academic award winners are selected by the OAC faculty representatives. To be eligible for Academic All-OAC, a student-athlete must have at least a 3.25 cumulative GPA, be a starter or key reserve and be in at least her second year of participation in the sport.