May 22, 2009

DeKALB, Ill. - Three Northern Illinois student-athletes earned recognition on the 2009 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District 5 at-large teams released Thursday by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). NIU gymnast Jessica Marston (Glendale Heights, Ill./Glenbard East HS) was named to the women's at-large squad first team, while Huskie men's golfers Andrew Frame (Manteno, Ill./Manteno HS) and Tim Kay (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett HS) were selected to the men's at-large second team.

Marston, who earned the honor with a 3.97 grade point average in chemistry, graduated from Northern Illinois earlier this month. As a first team academic all-district team member, she will be among the candidates for the at-large Academic All-America squad. As a senior in 2009, Marston participated in nine of 10 meets on the uneven parallel bars and achieved her career best score of 9.750 in a meet versus Eastern Michigan. She ranked third on the Huskie team on the bars during the season, scoring a 9.575 or higher in six of nine meets, and was one of three NIU gymnasts named to the 2009 Academic All-MAC team. Marston is trying to join former NIU gymnasts Ashlee Williams (2006) and Jody Yednock (2007) as an ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America selection.

Frame and Kay posted outstanding grade point averages while also ranking among the best golfers on the Huskie team as juniors in 2008-09. Kay owns a 3.96 grade point average in accountancy while Frame boasts a 3.91 GPA in elementary education. The juniors helped lead NIU to a fifth-place finish at the Mid-American Conference Championships in 2009, the best placing for the Huskies since rejoining the MAC in 1997.

Frame ranked third on the NIU team with a scoring average of 75.6 while playing in nine tournaments in 2008-09. He earned two top 10 and six top 25 finishes and was Northern Illinois' number two finisher at the MAC Championships. Frame shot a season-best one-under par 71 in the final round of the Boilermaker Invitational and he totaled 13 rounds below 75 on the year. The 2009 MAC Commissioner's Award recipient was named to the NIU 4.0 Scholars List twice on the year.

Kay tallied a stroke average of 75.7 in 2008-09 to rank fourth on the NIU team, and he was the squad's number two golfer in four tournaments on the year. He fired a low round of 73 five times last season while playing in nine events. He earned a place on the 2009 MAC Commissioner's Award list and has been honored as an NIU 4.0 Scholar in each of the last two terms.

The ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District at-large teams are comprised of student-athletes who compete in the sports of bowling, crew, fencing, field hockey, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, swimming, tennis and water polo for women, and fencing, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, swimming, tennis, volleyball, water polo and wrestling for men. District V is comprised of schools in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

CoSIDA will name the 2009 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America women's at-large teams on June 11, 2009.

-- NIU --

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