Hess and simonson named to espn the magazine academic all-district team

May 7, 2009

The College Sports Information Directors and ESPN The Magazine has released the eight all-district academic teams. Kim Hess and Anna Simonson were named to the District VII first and third teams respectively. All first team honorees from the eight districts advance to the national Academic All-America ballot that will be announced next week.

To be eligible for this honor, a student-athlete must have maintained a grade-point-average of 3.20 or greater on a 4.0 scale, be at least a sophomore and if a transfer, must have been at her college or university for at least one complete academic year. The student-athlete must also play a significant role on their softball team.

Hess is a four-year starter for the Norse in the outfield who has a grade-point-average of 3.78. She is a health and physical education major. This season she has led the Norse in hitting producing a batting average of .431 driving in 18 runs. She leads the teams with 49 runs scored and 29 stolen bases. Defensively, she has tallied 54 putouts, three assists and two errors. For her efforts she was named first team all-Midwest Region and second team all-Iowa Conference. Eleven players were named to the first team all-district academic team.

Simonson is a biology major who has a grade-point-average of 3.64. She has started 42 games at second base producing a batting average of .377. She has scored 44 runs and is 8-for-8 in stolen bases. Defensively, she has tallied 82 putouts, 37 assists and eight errors for a fielding percentage of .937. For the first time of her career she was named first team all-Iowa Conference and all-Midwest Region.