Three MIAA student-athletes have been named to the 2016 Academic All-America® Division III At-Large Teams, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
On the women's side, Olivet senior Leah Lupu has been named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America At-Large Division third team. On the men's side, Calvin junior Brett Stoughton has been named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America At-Large Division second team and Adrian senior Michael Mertz to the third team.
All three individuals are receiving CoSIDA Academic All-America honors for the first time.
Lupu is a native of Ovid, Michigan. She is a graduate of Ovid-Elsie High School. A member of the Olivet women's swimming and diving team, Lupu competed in the 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly at the 2016 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Championships. Captain of the team, she posted career-best times of :27.90 in the 50 free, 1:00.84 in the 100 free and 1:10.54 in the 100 fly.
Lupu finished her Olivet academic career with a final GPA of 3.98 while carrying a double major of insurance & risk management, and financial planning. A President's Leadership Institute fellow, she was also a member of Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Gamma Iota Sigma, Hosford Society of Scholars and served as a secretary for the Society of Financial Service Professionals. A four-time selection to the MIAA Academic Honor Roll, Lupu volunteered for community service projects in Olivet and St. Joseph County. She was graduated from Olivet last month and recently moved to South Bend, Indiana, to become a commercial insurance agent for Gibson Insurance Group.
Stoughton is from Centerville, Indiana. He is a graduate of Centerville High School. Stoughton recently completed another standout season on the Calvin men's swimming and diving team.
At the MIAA Championships, Stoughton repeated as league champion in the 200 butterfly with a school record time of 1:51.28. He also placed third in the 100 butterfly with a personal-best time of 49.60 and third in the 200 IM with a school record time of 1:52.55. He also swam on Calvin's MIAA champion 400 medley relay team.
In addition, he was part of Calvin's 400 medley relay team that qualified for the NCAA III Championships and placed 10th to earn honorable mention NCAA III All-America status with a school record time of 3:18.29.
A three-time national qualifier, he was part of an honorable mention All-America 400 medley relay in 2015 that placed 16th. In 2014, he was part of Calvin's 400 medley relay team that placed 12th at the NCAA III Championships and also garnered honorable mention NCAA III All-America status.
Stoughton is a three-time All-MIAA selection. During the 2015-16 season, he was selected MIAA Swimmer of the Week once.
At the 2015 NCAA III Championships, Stoughton was named the men's swimming and diving recipient of the NCAA's Elite 89 Award for maintaining the highest cumulative grade point average of any male competitor at the national meet.
A business finance major at Calvin, Stoughton carries a 4.0 grade point average.
Merts hails from Farmington, Michigan. He is a graduate of North Farmington High School. Mertz, who made the third unit, is the first Adrian male CoSIDA Academic All-American since Football's Steve Mauk in 2011, first tennis player at the institution chosen, and 20th student-athlete overall in school history.
Mertz earned All-MIAA First Team honors this year after posting a 20-3 overall No. 2 singles record in dual matches, including 6-1 in conference action. He also was 19-4 with No. 1 doubles partner Joey Loselle in duals, and they were 6-1 in the MIAA.
A two-time MIAA Player of the Week during his career, he led the Bulldogs in singles victories for the second season in a row--recording a 12-match win streak from March 1-April 23. He is the program's all-time leader in singles (75) and doubles (66) wins. As a junior in 2015, he made the all-conference second team and helped the Bulldogs advanced to their first-ever MIAA Tournament final.
In the classroom, Mertz was the co-winner for the Dr. Lawrence Green scholar-athlete award which recognizes a MIAA men's tennis senior who combines excellence on the court with academics. Mertz earned his degree in biology from Adrian this spring while maintaining a 3.97 grade point average.
This is the fifth year of the expanded Academic All-America® program as CoSIDA moved from recognizing a University Division (Division I) and a College Division (all non-Division I) and has doubled the number of scholar-athletes honored. The expanded teams include NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III participants, while the new College Division combines NAIA, Canadian and two-year schools.
The CoSIDA Division III Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division III national governance structure, to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2015-16 Division III Academic All-America® teams program.