Northwestern College contributed 51 student-athletes to the total number of 307 winter and spring student-athletes who earned Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Academic All-Conference honors, the league announced on Tuesday. The 307 join the 355 fall individual academic all-conference awards to account for a total of 662 accolades throughout the 2009-10 academic year.

To be eligible for nomination, student-athletes must meet the following criteria:

1. Post a 3.50 or better semester grade point average based on a 4.0 scale.
2. Compete in the sport in which he or she is nominated in the season that corresponds with the selection.

Northwestern took third amongst member institutions following the College of St. Scholastica and Martin Luther College. After St. Scholastica’s 74 academic all-conference honorees, Martin Luther edged NWC by one with 52 individual accolades. The University of Minnesota, Morris was fourth with 43 awards.

While the top three sports categories of baseball, women’s track and field and men’s track and field didn’t change from a year ago, their ranking did. Women’s track and field posted a league-best 53 awards, followed by baseball’s 44 accolades and men’s track and field’s 42 honors. Men’s and women’s basketball tied with 38 academic all-conference awards to take fourth place in the conference race. All but one of the eight winter and spring sports boasted 30 or more individual accolades.

The 307 winter and spring individual accolades is a new high for the UMAC after a previous high-254 academic all-conference awards were distributed in 2008-09, when all student-athletes were eligible for nomination. Prior to the 2008-09 academic year, the award’s criteria required an individual to have completed two previous academic semesters at the nominating institution.

In the team academic all-conference awards competition, Martin Luther College, Presentation College and the College of St. Scholastica all claimed the best grade point averages (GPA) in two sports. Northland College and North Central University nabbed the remaining two sports.