NU Places Five on Academic All-District Team

For the second consecutive year, five Nebraska track and field student-athletes were recognized for their success in the classroom and on the track as seniors Ashley Selig, Nate Probasco and Issar Yazhbin and juniors Jenny Green and Kim Shubert were named to the CoSIDA ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District VII first team on Thursday.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

 

The five student-athletes are currently in <?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Sacramento, Calif., as each earned a berth to the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Selig, Probasco and Green were repeat selections to the academic team and the Huskers’ five honorees were two more than any other school in the district.

 

Selig earned her undergraduate degree with a 3.63 grade-point average in exercise science in May of 2006. The 2005-06 Nebraska Female Student-Athlete of the Year, Selig is a four-time Big 12 Champion and a five-time All-American. The 2005 NCAA indoor champion in the pentathlon, Selig was in sixth place in the heptathlon at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Championships following Thursday’s first day of competition.

 

A native of Scribner, Neb., Probasco is a two-time academic selection, as well as a two-time All-American on the track and a four-time Big 12 champion. A three-time first-team academic All-Big 12 selection, Probasco finished 10th in the semifinals of the 200-meter dash at the outdoor championships on Thursday, narrowly missing a spot in the finals.

 

Yazhbin was the Huskers’ third senior represented on the squad as he earned his first career spot on the academic all-district team. A three-time academic All-Big 12 first-team selection, he was the 2004 Big 12 hammer throw champion and holds the school record with a throw of 207-7. A native of Yavne, Israel, Yazhbin recorded a throw of 202-7 in the preliminaries of the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Championships on Thursday to finish in 17th place.

 

A native of Grand Island, Neb., Green also appeared on the list for the first time. A two-time member of the academic All-Big 12 first team, Green was the 2007 Big 12 Outdoor pole vault champion. Green ended her run at the outdoor championships by tying for 14th in Wednesday’s pole vault prelims.

 

Rounding out the Huskers’ five selections was Schubert, who has been named a first-team academic All-Big 12 selection in each of the last three years. She finished fourth at the Big 12 Outdoor Championship in the heptathlon, while tying ninth in the high jump. Schubert qualified for the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Championship in the high jump and tied for 19th place in Wednesday’s preliminary competition.

 

Of the Huskers’ five academic All-District VII selections, Selig was the only one still competing at the NCAA Outdoor Championships on Friday. In addition to Selig’s final day of competition in the heptathlon, 10 other Huskers were still alive at the NCAA Championships on Friday including: Gable Baldwin (pole vault), Dusty Jonas (high jump), Lee Martin and Skyler Reising (decathlon) and Scott Wims (200) on the men’s side and Dace Ruskule (discus), Brysun Stately (pole vault), Jeni Steiner (shot put) Zarinah Suluki-Drakes (triple jump) and Casie Witte (heptathlon) on the women’s side.