May 8, 2008

LANCASTER, Pa. - Franklin & Marshall's rising senior 174-pounder, Justin Herbert, was named to the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) All-Academic Team for the second consecutive season. Herbert is the first Diplomat wrestler to earn the honor twice.

The New Milford, PA, native majors in Geosciences, and carries a Grade Point Average well above the required 3.2. He posted a season record of 27-4 with 17 pins, smashing the Franklin & Marshall record for falls in a season. 14 of his pins came in the first period. He became Franklin & Marshall's first Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) place winner since 2005, taking sixth place in the 174-pound weight class at the 104th EIWA Championship Tournament.

Individually, wrestlers must have at least a 3.2 cumulative GPA, been an NCAA qualifier or won 60 percent of his total schedule - and must have competed in at least 60 percent of said schedule. The other way to qualify for the All-Academic team is have a 3.0 cumulative and been an NCAA All-American. Last season, 57 wrestlers were named to the All-Academic team. This year, that number increased 35 percent to 88 total wrestlers.

The 2007-08 All-Academic team was highlighted by 27 Division I All-Americans and three national champions - Brent Metcalf of Iowa (149), Jordan Leen of Cornell (157) and Mike Pucillo of Ohio State (184).

Four other finalists also made the squad: Eric Tannenbaum (165) and Steve Luke (174) of Michigan, Wynn Michalak of Central Michigan (197) and J.D. Bergman of Ohio State (285).

Five All-Americans were named to the All-Academic team at 197 pounds, the most of any weight single class. Nine of the 10 weights had at least two All-Americans represented on the All-Academic team.

"We're seeing more teams and more coaches aware on how important being recognized for academics can be," said NWCA Executive Director Mike Moyer. "We had mountains of data to look through and reference while compiling this information. Our staff was impressed with not only the volume of nominations, but the number of new programs who were submitting All-Academic recommendations."

"The All-Academic Team represents more than just fine work in the classroom, because the impact of the Academic Progress Report is more important to a sport like wrestling now more than every," said Moyer. "These programs are making the grade."