Football Student-Athletes Named First-Team Academic All-District

Chad Thompson

Skip Ivery

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - Two members of the Wittenberg football team have been selected to the 2003 CoSIDA Academic All-District IV College Division Football Team. Wide receiver Skip Ivery, a senior management major from Columbus, Ohio, made the first team for a second straight year, and offensive lineman Chad Thompson, a senior psychology major from Ft. Thomas, Ky., moved up from second team in 2002 to first-team in 2003.

Ivery, who carries a 3.8 grade point average, also earned second-team Academic All-District for track and field/cross country in 2002 and second-team Academic All-America for track and field/cross country in 2003. He has won five North Coast Athletic Conference individual hurdles championships (two indoor, three outdoor), and in 2003 he became the first Wittenberg athlete in 39 years to win an individual national championship when he finished first in the 110-meter hurdles at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships in St. Lawrence, N.Y.

On the football field, Ivery will earn a fourth varsity letter this season, his third as a starter. He has 36 receptions, second-most on the team, 670 yards and 10 touchdown, both of which rank first on the team. A first-team All-NCAC and third-team All-North Region honoree in 2002, Ivery ranks third in school history with 124 career receptions and 1,898 yards.

Thompson, who carries a 3.74 GPA, is a three-year starter and four-year letterwinner, and he has been a key member of an offensive unit that has ranked first or second in the NCAC in total yards and total points each of the last four years. He was a first-team All-NCAC, second-team All-North Region and second-team Hewlett Packard All-America honoree in 2002.

Ivery and Thompson are two of nine seniors on a Tiger football team that is 7-2 overall and 3-2 in the NCAC with one game remaining in the 2003 season.

The College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) selects Academic All-America teams in 12 programs: football, women's volleyball, men's soccer, women's soccer, men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, softball, men's track & field/cross country, women's track & field/cross country, men's at-large and women's at-large. A first team, second team and third team are selected in both the University (Division I and I-AA) and College (Division II, III and NAIA) Divisions. Football consists of just first and second teams.

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