COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee Tech golf team co-captain Josh
Simer has been named to the Men's At-Large Academic All-America
Team, sponsored by ESPN The Magazine and selected by CoSIDA.
Simer is a third-team pick, one of just two players from the Ohio
Valley Conference voted to the At-Large squad which includes the
sports of fencing, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle,
skiing, tennis and water polo.
Simer is the 35th Tech student-athlete to be named Academic
All-America, the first in men's golf since Jim Cornelius in
1988.
"Josh deserves this honor and I'm extremely proud of him," said
head coach Craig King. "He's just an outstanding young man and we
were fortunate to have him in our program."
A senior from Bolivar, Tenn., Simer recently received his degree
from Tech, graduating with a 4.00 GPA in business. Winner of the
team's Gilbert Darcy MVP Award, he led the men's golf team with a
73.7 average and earned three all-tournament honors during his
final season. He finished in the Top 10 in tournaments five times
during 2009-2010. He tied for fourth place at the Murray State
Invitational in October for his first all-tourney honor, was third
at the Frito-Lay Invitational n February, and fourth at the North
Alabama Classic in March. He narrowly missed a fourth all-tourney
honor with a tie for sixth at the UTM Grover Page Classic.
A three-time recipient of the Ohio Valley Conference Academic
Medal of Honor for achieving the highest GPA in the OVC in men's
golf, Simer lettered four years on the golf team (with a redshirt
year in 2007-08) and was named to the 2007 OVC All-Newcomer
team.
On May 8, he graduated Summa Cum Laude and received the W. A.
Howard Award from TTU, and was inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma
Business Honor Society.
In the 2009 Fall semester, he was a member of the President’s Ambassadors, assisting with the Dixie College Celebration. Among his community services activities, Josh helped raise financial support for Lighthouse Boys and Girls’ Ranch, and participated in Feed The Multitudes, delivering Thanksgiving meals to homes in the region through the Stevens Street Baptist Church.
Simer has been named to the OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll four consecutive years and the Tennessee Tech’s Athletic Director’s Honor Roll every semester since arriving at Tech.
He is the son of Ronnie and Annette Simer.
"This award is a wonderful reflection on Josh, on the team and
on the University," said Director of Athletics Mark Wilson. "It
speaks to his success as a player as well as a student. Any time a
young man like Josh gets recognition such as this, it helps our
university and our athletics programs. It's great for our
recruiting, not only to the golf program but also to our
school."
The previous Tech Academic All-America winners and their years
are: 1976 Donley Canary, Baseball; 1978 Pat Kannapel, Basketball;
1982 Jerilynn Harper, Basketball; 1985 Angie Duncan, Volleyball;
1986 Andy Rittenhouse, Football; 1986 Angie Duncan, Volleyball;
1987 Derek Lane, Baseball; 1987 Angie Duncan, Volleyball; 1987 Andy
Rittenhouse, Football;1988 Jim Cornelius, Golf; 1990, Lisa Johnson,
Softball; 1993 Andrea Roark, Softball; 1996 Dena Adams, Track &
Field; 1996 Stacy Hughes, Softball; 1996 Dena Adams, Cross Country;
1997 Dena Adams, Track & Field; 1997 Rachel Melchiorre,
Volleyball; 1998 Jenny Adams, Track & Field; 1999 Adnan
Hadzialic, Tennis; 1999 Wes Gallagher, Football; 2000 Diane Seng,
Basketball; 2000 Nick Solomon, Football; 2001 Janet Holt,
Basketball; 2002 Janet Holt, Basketball; 2002 LeeAnne Mongar,
Softball; 2003 Stephanie Ward, CC/Track; 2003 LeeAnne Mongar,
Softball; 2004 Stephanie Ward, CC/Track; 2005 Anne Morrow,
Volleyball; 2007 Beth Boden, Softball; 2008 Thomas Nelson,
Baseball; 2008 Beth Boden, Softball; 2008 Stephanie Fischer,
Softball; 2009 Taylor Askew, Football.
Simer is joined by Alex Das of Eastern Kentucky's tennis team as
the only OVC selections.
To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key
reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 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.
For more information about the Academic All-America Teams program,
please visit http://www.cosida.com.
