2007 AVCA All-Central Region Awards

ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Team (pdf)

MOORHEAD, Minn. (11/12/07)-- Concordia senior standout Michelle Honek (Staples, Minn./Staples-Motley HS) capped her career by earning two more postseason honors it was announced on Friday. Honek was named to the AVCA All-Central Region First Team and was also named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Second Team.

Honek was one of five MIAC players to be named to the AVCA All-Central Region First Team and one of only three players from the conference to earn ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District honors.

Honek continues a recent trend of Cobber players earning All-Region First Team accolades. She is the seventh CC player to earn first team honors in the past five seasons.

Honek was the captain of the Cobber team that finished tied for second in the MIAC regular season and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth straight season. The team was also ranked in the top 25 in the nation in the AVCA poll for the entire year. Honek spent all but one week of her four-year career at Concordia ranked in the top 25 of the nation. She is the first Concordia player to earn a berth in the national tournament every year she played.

Honek led the Cobbers in kills in 2007. Honek finished the season with a career-high 374 kills and had 962 kills for her career. She ended her four-year stint tenth on the school's all-time kill list. She had at least 10 kills in 22 of the team's 26 matches this year. She had a career-high 24 kills against Washington University (Mo.) on Sept. 8.

During the season Honek set the school record for digs in a career. She currently has 391 digs on the season and 1,259 for her career. She also had 174 digs during MIAC competition and had at least 10 digs in all 11 matches. Honek was named the MIAC Co-Hitter of the Week on Oct. 29.

Academically, Honek carries a 3.84 grade point average while majoring in Psychology and Exercise Science. The prestigious award is given to only 20 players in the College Division of the Academic All-American award. The College Division team includes players from Division II, III and NAIA from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ontario and Manitoba. To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at her current institution and be nominated by his sports information director.

The ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District team is part of the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America program, administered by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) a 2,000-member organization consisting of sports public relations professionals for colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. The Academic All-America program annually honors over 1600 student-athletes who have succeeded at the highest level on the playing field and in the classroom.

Honek was one of 100 players nominated for the 20 spots for the district award. It is one of the toughest sports and districts to earn Academic All-District honors in all of college athletics.

She becomes the first Cobber player to earn the academic award since Jessica Walden earned ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American honors in 2004.