July 10, 2012 – In today's culture where student-athletes are defined by numbers, the current class of Concordia University Chicago student-athletes can stand proudly behind the numbers 93 and five.
           
Ninety-three Cougar student-athletes are among the 1,151 Northern Athletics Conference (NAC) Scholar-Athletes named today by the 13-member Division III conference for the 2011-12 academic year. The number five represents the fifth consecutive year that Concordia's list of NAC Scholar-Athletes has increased from the previous year.
           
To be eligible, a student-athlete must have been a full-time student and maintained a grade point average of 3.25 or higher for the past academic year. Each academic year stands by itself for determination of the award.
           
In 2007, the first year of the award, 55 Cougar student-athletes earned the honor. The list has increased in succeeding years to 57, 73, 89, 91 and 93 this year. The Cougars' 2012 list is broken down into 22 seniors, 29 juniors, 17 sophomores and 25 freshmen. Twelve of Concordia's honorees are multi-sport athletes.

Also showing an increase this year is the number of senior student-athletes who have been recognized as NAC Scholar-Athletes for all four years of their collegiate careers. Two seniors earned that distinction last year while this year's total is six. Those recognized are Michael Dingman (Glendale, AZ/Goldwater) of the football team; Kelly Engelking (Elgin, IL/Burlington Central) of the women's soccer team; Justin Hineman (Hartland, WI/Arrowhead) of the men's basketball team; Kasey Ray (Glendale, AZ/Goldwater) of the football team; Briana Steffenhagen (Chicago, IL/DeLaSalle) of the volleyball team; and Tim Zbytniewski (Grafton, WI/Living Word Lutheran) of the football team.

 “I am very proud of our six four-time NAC Scholar-Athletes and happy for all 93 student-athletes who qualified for this year's honor,” said Pete Gnan, Concordia-Chicago director of athletics. “Their ability to combine academic success with the pursuit of athletic excellence sets a high standard for all our student-athletes and is to be commended.

“In addition, I would like to recognize Concordia's faculty and academic support team for their contributions. Dealing with athletes' ever-changing schedules is a constant challenge, but their flexibility and willingness to help are a large part of why so many of our student-athletes succeed. We appreciate our faculty's efforts greatly.”

The complete list of Concordia's scholar-athletes can be viewed at: http://northernac.org/awards/scholar-athletes/2011-12/cuc. The conference's official release can be viewed at: http://northernac.org/releases/20120710scholar.