For the fourth consecutive year, Sam Houston State athletics has won the unofficial Southland Conference academic championship by placing the most student-athletes on the annual Capital One/Southland Conference Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll.

The Bearkats totaled 144 student-athletes on the honor roll. In the fall, Sam Houston had 55 student-athletes make the honor from football, cross country, volleyball, and soccer. This spring, the Bearkats produced 89 honor roll selections from the baseball, basketball, golf, softball, tennis, and track and field.

Highlighting the Bearkats' selections are Student-Athlete of the Year recipients Ryan Bright in men's basketball and Jennifer Heinz in women's golf. Bright and teammate Shamir McDaniel received first team CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-Region honors and Bright was selected for Academic All-America.

McNeese State was second in the Southland Conference academic standings with 140 honor roll selections followed by by Texas State-San Marcos (135), Northwestern State (129), Central Arkansas (117), Southeastern Louisiana and Stephen F. Austin (116 each), Nicholls State (101), Texas-Arlington (100), Texas-San Antonio (97), Lamar (91), and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (61).

Presented by Capital One Bank, the honor roll recognizes student-athletes who competed in league championship sports and maintained a 3.0 grade point average during the semester in which the individual's sport championship is held. Each student-athlete must be enrolled in a minimum of 12 hours. A total of 1,347 athletes from the league's 17 sports were recognized on the honor roll.

"We are extremely proud of our student-athletes' achievements in the classroom and commend our coaching staff for the tremendous job they do in recruiting quality young men and women," Sam Houston State director of athletics Bobby Williams said. "Congratulations also go to Chris Thompson, our associate athletic director for student services, and her staff for the outstanding job they do coordinating the academic support program for our student-athletes."

Included among the honor roll selections were 42 student-athletes who received either first team, second team or honorable mention Academic All-Southland Conference recognition.

Joining Bright, McDaniel, and Heinz as first team Academic All-SLC honorees in 2007-08 were Bobby Verbick and Todd Sebek (baseball), Brett Hicks, David Branch, Nolan Bucek and Eric Mikolojchak (football), Brandon Frankhouser and Beau Willis (men's golf), Kristi Hermes, Tiana Lee and Tiffany Singleton (women's track and field), Chris Cralle (men's track and field), and Kendra Spivey (softball).

"This is such a tremendous accomplishment by our student-athletes.," Thompson said. "They take a lot of pride in their achievements both on the playing field and in the classroom and are such outstanding representatives for Sam Houston State University and Huntsville, Texas. Also, credit must go to our coaches who bring these quality student-athletes onto our campus."

The complete list of 2007-08 Capital One/Southland Conference Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll selections for Sam Houston State University follows:

BASEBALL
Adam Albright
Will Alvis
Guillaume Duguay
Seth Hammock
John Kiger
Jon Lindenberger
Tyson Mire
Ryan Mooney
Zach Neal
Spencer Parish
Brent Powers
Stephen Price
Heath Pugh#
Todd Sebek*
Casey Springer#
Cody Springer
Bobby Verbick*
Nick Zaleski

MEN'S BASKETBALL
Ryan Bright*+
Josten Crow
John Falkner*
Domas Kvedys
Shamir McDaniel
Jeremy Thomas#

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Ratysha Alexander
Brittany Brooks#
Lydia Gonzales#
Katie Sanders

MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Joshua Altman
Mark Amann
Dustin Joubert
Colton Langridge
Julius Michael
Raymundo Venegas
Nathan Zajicek

WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Bridget Costello
Pernilla Nordberg
Amanda Warren

FOOTBALL
Travis Best#
Maxwell Boe
Jordan Bowersox
David Branch*
Joshua Brown
Nolen Bucek*
Chris Crockett
John Dirk
R. C. Fairchild#
Jonathan Goree
Brett Hicks*
Justin Humphrey
Stanley Garrett
Eric Mikolajckak *
Jarvis Pippins
Derrick Raymer
Shane Richburg
Justin Rock
Hunter Schmidt
Jeff Sparks#
Travis Watson
William Welch
Jordan Williams

MEN'S GOLF
Stewart Bannatyne
Chris Carson
Brandon Frankhouser*
John Hurley
Benjamin Smith
Beau Willis*

WOMEN'S GOLF
Emily Bartholet#
Ashley Brown
Ani Carrillo
Amanda Carmona
Kate Hathaway
Jennifer Heinz*+
Wendy Joyner#
Stefani Page
Landa Stewart

SOCCER
Rheannon Bullock
Debbie Campbell
Kayla Elwood
Brittany Foerstner#
Yoanna Garcia
Laera Gattoni
Ariana Jaff
Charity Lett
Monica Madden#
Catherine McNamee
Luana Miessa
Alison Oakland#
Jenny Pence
NastachaPollock
Kelley Sikinger
Nichole Watkins
Noelle Wiggins

SOFTBALL
Amy Brown#
Lauren Burns#
Brandi Crnkovic#
Krystal Gay
Tanya Hooser
Mandy Huckabee
Amanda Lindsey#
Sarah Parich
Janaye Richardson
Kendra Spivey*
Tiffani Woodrum

TENNIS
Eleonora Kuruc#
Patricia Manzur#
Lilit Martirosyan
Irina Sotnikova*
Peta Taylor
Lidiya Tsurkanu

MEN'S TRACK AND FIELD
Josh Altman
Joseph Anderson
Leon Banks
Michael Courtney
Chris Cralle*
Jonathan Harris
Josh Hawkins
Dustin Joubert
Julius Michael
Chris Nelson
Taylor Ray
Adam Santos
Josh Schwartz
Ray Venegas
Nathan Zajicek

WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD
Darnell Barnett
Kendall Bass
Renae Bignall
Natalia Clark
Bridget Costello
Molly Farrell
Allison Ferries
Jessica Fisher
Brittany Henson
Kristi Hermes*
Benita Jones
Jessica Jones
Karen Klintoe#
Tiana Lee*
Dess Meek
Regina Offord#
Whitney Rister
Tiffany Singleton*
Desiree Taylor

VOLLEYBALL
Anna Ferguson
Sarah Hazelwood
Kim Loving
Launa McClung
Megan McNamara*
Katie Phillips#
Lizzy Stuller
Brittanie Wallace

+ Southland Conference "Student-Athlete of the Year"
* Academic All-Southland Conference
# Honorable mention Academic All-Southland