Hess Named to ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Softball Team

May 28, 2009

Kim Hess, a 2005 graduate of Paynesville High School, has been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Softball Team as a third-team selection. With this award, Hess becomes the 45th Luther athlete to be so honored.

Hess was selected from a pool of first-team all-district honorees from eight regions. This year’s ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Softball Team consists of 11 first-team, 11 second-team and 13 third-team honorees, for a total of 35 athletes chosen for this outstanding honor.

This is an annual award sponsored by ESPN The Magazine and the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) and is presented to student-athletes who excel both in the classroom and on the field of competition. They must maintain a grade point average of 3.20 or greater and be a major contributor to their sport. Sports information directors nominate and vote on the athletes selected. 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, II and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.

Hess is a health and physical education major who graduated with a grade point average of 3.78. She is the daughter of David and Barb Hess of Paynesville, Minn.

Hess, who started 42 games in center field, completed her senior year batting a team best .420 driving in 18 runs. She was 31-for-31 in stolen bases increasing her career school record total to 72. She also set the career record for hits with 203 after recording a team best 63 this season. She helped lead Luther to a third consecutive 30-win season, and a second appearance in the NCAA III National Tournament in the past three years. The Norse completed the year with a record of 35-11.

For her efforts, she was named second team all-Iowa Conference, first team all-Midwest Region, and was also named to the National Tournament Regional All-Tournament team.